Sixty days on the road! Before I started this trip I sort of thought that maybe I would have settled on a place by now. However, this journey has evolved into a little more than I expected, but in a good way. Initially my focus was set mainly on visiting various locations that I thought that I might like to live. That agenda, although important and the whole reason I left NJ, has taken the backseat to sightseeing. I have seen so many wonderful things and met just as many great people in the past two months. I thought that by this time I would be ready to hang up my car keys for a real bed, a bathroom and a kitchen. Instead, I’m having such a good time that I just want to keep going.
The past two days have been kind of aimless driving. Yesterday I left the Kalispell / Whitefish area and tracked north to Eureka, for no particular reason other than it was probably as close to the Canadian border as I was going to get. From Eureka I headed back south on SR-37 to the town of Libby. This was an absolutely beautiful drive through the colorful mountains and along Lake Koocanusa. I took US-2 back north again, crossing over the Montana-Idaho border to my next stop in Bonners Ferry to fill up the gas tank. I noticed a sign for “all you can eat” pasta for $5 at the restaurant attached to the gas station. 
After three plates of spaghetti with meat sauce, three servings of garlic bread and a side salad with huckleberry vinaigrette, I was ready to drive some more. It was already dark by this time and I knew I was missing a lot of nice scenery so I would call it a night once I reached Sandpoint, Idaho. It was almost 8pm when I arrived and I was pretty tired, (can you say carb crash?), so I found a WalMart parking lot and settled down for the evening. WalMart has been a good traveling companion for me so far. There has been a WalMart in most towns I’ve come across and they welcome travelers a place to stay. I know it’s not the most glamorous of accommodations, but when I’m sleeping in my car anyway, I really don’t care. And if it’s good enough for the couple driving a million dollar RV with a 50” flat screen TV, well then it’s good enough for me too.
This morning I drove around Sandpoint for a bit. It’s a nice town. It had an older feel to it, but the people didn’t give off the sense of being as welcoming as most other places I’ve been. Granted, my population sample was so small that it’s hard to form an opinion so quickly, but sometimes you just have to trust your gut. Schweitzer ski resort was only 12 miles away so I headed up to see what that was like. I have to say I was impressed. 2,900 skiable acres, 92 named runs, 300 feet of snow annually and apparently some of the best tree skiing in America (1,200 acres of trees). 
Anyway, it looked a lot nicer than I was expecting. From Sandpoint I drove south to Coeur D’Alene but first I had to get my fill of “all you can eat” pancakes for $2.99. I’m pretty much a sucker for anything “all you can eat”. Find me an “all you can eat” fish taco joint and I’ve found my spot! After breakfast I was treated to a nice visual in the parking lot. How do you like them apples?
Coeur D’Alene is the largest city in Idaho with a population over 35,000 and it’s often referred to as Lake City. The lakes and mountains make this another beautiful place. If it wasn’t an hour away from skiing I would have given it a little more of my time to look around. I set my sights on Spokane Washington and the GPS did the rest. Somewhere along the way I crossed over the Mountain-Pacific time zone and gained another hour. I’m now at a Barnes and Noble in Spokane and I found a mall across the street so I think I’ll go and do some people watching.
Mileage update: A few miles short of 8,000
It's Bullwinkle! I was wondering where he go to.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, where ever you settle, you'll have to do some scouting for some good big game hunting. How cool would that be?
Hey Jay, yeah I'll scout it if you wanna come out and join me.
ReplyDelete