Wednesday August 3

Canyon Pines RV Park

Polluck,ID

9AM.  67°  clear

Breakfast at Country Coffee Cabin in Midvale, ID.

We continue south on Rt95 to Weiser looking for US Bureau of Land Management property and Jonathan Rd. We end up on a 12 mile long gravel road that had more ripple than ruffle potato chips. Along this road was our first sighting of the Snake River. No sign of Evel Knievel but Hell's Canyon was further north.

We pass through Weiser Dunes and arrive at a dead end in Steck State Park. It's 96° so we stop to walk along the river looking for what else ROCKS.

We're in Idaho; that's Oregon on the other side of the Snake River. After returning to paved roads we take a wrong turn getting on Rt 201 and end up in Payette, Oregon for a few miles until Rt 201 merges with Rt 84.  The tire pressure sensor on the trailer sounds. We have a flat on the driver side front trailer tire. We pull off at a highway gas station and replace the flat with the spare and continue on. Within a few miles the alarm sounds again and the rear tire on the passenger side is loosing air.our next stop is at the Les Schwab Tire Center in Nampa, ID. One new tire and one plug.

Back on Rt 84 and drove to Mountain Home, ID where we stayed at Gem State RV Park. The Park was closed for the night so we found a site hooked up and had dinner Spam Fettuccine Alfredo. 

Tuesday August 2

Wolf Lodge RV Park

7:30AM  67°  Clear

Today we head south on Rt 95 along the Salmon River.  Lewiston, ID is supposed to be an area to find agate & jasper.

We stop for lunch at McDonald's and then visit the Nes Perce Historic Park. We watch a cultural video on the Nez Perce nation and walk around the museum.

This a huge canoe carved from one log.

The first RV Park we stopped at there was no office and no one around so after driving through we continued south to Polluck, ID and stayed at Canyon Pines RV Park.

Monday August 1

6 AM 🤪

 

This morning we are headed to Garnet Creek collection area in the Saint Joe National Forest. I found this on the National Parks app but could only get one ticket but there are always no-shows. It's a 2 hour drive ( Wolf Creek was the closest campground with an available site). 

When we arrive at the parking lot there is nothing. No signs no trails, nothing. We drive further up the gravel road but there's nothing except the parking lot. I walk back down the road and find a sign pointing up a side road. It's a 1/2 mile hike up hill with a sign stating "No Ticket,  Don't Come". We continue on. 

We find a small operation with a couple of rangers, a dirt pile, a sifting area and a sluice. I show my ticket and try to get them to let Bob partake. But no way. He can watch but not dig or sift.

Did you notice she didn't mention sluice?😁

I'm given 2 - 3 gallon buckets and head to the digging area, then sifting what I've dug and head to the sluice. There is plenty of room so Bob sits to "watch". Well 1/2 of the bucket ends to in front of Bob, nobody says anything so for the next 3 hours I dig, sift, and Bob sits at the sluice and washing the material. AND we find 16 Oz of garnets under my 3 hours Idaho Mining Permit.

As I'm weighing out the ranger said that she was sorry that Bob couldn't be involved and told me of a place outside the Park that had fossil and Garnet collecting for a fee. So we head...

But itunch time. Google maps says there's a place just down the road J&E Stop in Clarkia, ID.

We met Eva. She asked " What do you want.". Food , " I just returned from shopping", How about drinks, "There's a cooler out front "   Very customer friendly.

She sits that counter and takes a phone call then talks to a local guy who came in. I guess she figured we weren't leaves so she cooks a couple of cheeseburgers  

I ask her if there is anything to see in the area, " No  why".

Eva lightened up a little. She and her husband retired to Clarkia from Seattle where they owned 3 restaurants.  We ask about this fossil/ Garnet place. Turns out it's a motorcycle race track. "Just go and start digging and someone will catchup with you."

We find the place and there is no one around. The fossil bed is actually a ledge. The fossils are on dried clay that just crumble.  We move on to a set of tables under a tent. Bob's nervous that there's no one around but I start sorting stones on the table. A woman comes out of the house and explains that this is her brother's operation but he away after yesterday's motorcycle races. After about an hour we've found some large garnets and she charges us $20. 😁

We head back to to Wolf Lodge .

We light dinner of surf n turf 🤣🤣

Sunday July 31

Riverbend RV Park 

Twisp, WA

8AM  76°F.  Clear

Today we're heading south to Pateros, WA in order to bypass Okanogan Pass then east to the Grand Coulee Dam.

During one of the glacial events a lobe of a glacier in Montana created a dam that created a huge glacial lake the size close to one of the current day great lakes 2000ft deep. When the glaciers receded the lake emptied in 48 hrs and carved a path from Montana to the Pacific ocean.

The coulees (eroded valleys) are today's evidence and the Columbia River.

During the 1940s the country was into building dams. The first one we come to this morning is the Chief Joseph Dam Powerhouse. 

The dam construction was started in 1949 and opened in 1955. It was expanded in the 1970s. It hydroelectric generation is the 3rd greatest in the USA. That's the good news. The bad news is that this dam blocks the salmon from their migration: no fish ladders. The dam was originally named the Foster Creek Project and Powerhouse in 1946 and renamed in 1948 in honor of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce nation who was exiled to a reservation. 

On to the Grand Coulee Dam. Along the way on Rt17 there are large basalt rock left by the ice age flood that scoured the area.

The Grand Coulee dam when built in 1941 it was the largest concrete structure in the world. The sign says it still is (?).

The temp is 96° so we bake for a few minutes and move on. We stop at the Billy Burger drive-in in Wilbur, WA for lunch.

We stop for the night at Wolf Lodge RV Park in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho.

In the evening we meet Delmara & Tom who stopped to talk Airstreams. It seems that not many people are aware that Airstream made trailers with a slide-out. They only did for about 5 years in the early 2000s. They are full timers traveling with their 3 kids. They restored their Airstream over a several year period. We never got a chance to see their work but it was fun talking to them about everything they went through getting back on the road.

Saturday July 30

Riverbend RV Park 

Twisp, WA

9AM

Local landmark in downtown Twisp.

We had seem a reference to a guy that travels around Washington, collects rocks, and comes to the Twisp Town Market Day every Saturday.  It's Saturday 😉.

First we stop at the Cinnamon Twisp Bakery for breakfast.

At the Market Day we meet Mike Melton, the rock guy. A fountain of knowledge about absolutely no organized thoughts. He was so excited to share locations that he'd move on to another location before finishing the last. At times I tried to slow him down. He'd stop for a breath and immediately launch into more locations.

His directions also required local historical knowledge like the last after the old bridge that got washed out near Aunt Sue's 🤪.

We decided we had enough info and headed.

We both remember one place off Rt97 so we went back over Okanogan Pass and follow what we'd remembered of this directions. The next 80 miles we spent on US National Forest fire roads, Indian Reservations and just wandering with occasional Google maps. At one point we passed a sign to a town and maps concurred. It wasn't as finished a road as the one we were on but a sign and google...45 minutes later we came to a washout. Yup the road was gone! 

We spent some time collecting rocks in the stream then backtracked. We eventually emerged from the forest and headed back to Twisp.

But we passed the 12 Tribes Casino and decided, given that we had spent a good part of the day using reservation fire roads, we'd stop and make a small donation 🤣🤣.

Friday July 29

Riverbend RV Park 

Twisp, WA

9AM

Laundry morning...

For lunch we head to Winthrop. Turns out to be a tourist town made up to look like a old western town. 3 Fingered Jack's is our choice. Very slow service and lots of kids.

It seems Jack was a chef at the restaurant and manager to cut two of his fingers off. I guess the word got around and he became an attraction. 

There were a number of carvred figures around town.

After lunch we wandered around town briefly before heading into the mountains: Ordell Creek National Forest on the recommendation of the campground owner interesting afternoon but few rocks. There had been a wild fire in the area a few years back.

Had dinner at Tappi in Twisp. Sat at the bar and watched John (owner) cook in a fruitwood fired brick oven. Excellent pizza.

Thursday July 28

Kamloops Municipal RV Park 

Kamloops,BC

8:30AM. 78°F.  Clear

We start the day stopping on a heavily travelled road at Monte Lake, BC to search a roadside ledge for agates. Found a number of good samples before heading further south.

 We have lunch at McDonald's in Vernon, BC before making the push to the border crossing.  The traffic is verrrrrrry slow.

Crossed the US border at about 3 PM in Oroville, Washington. Almost immediately we got cell service back; found a campground about an hour away. Called and made a reservation  at Riverbend RV campground in Twisp, WA. What the phone didn't say was there is a mountain range between us and Twisp. The Okanogan Pass rises 1500ft in about 10 miles. The trip up is slow but the trip back down is a thrill. Another no guard rail road along valley drop offs. We pull into Riverbend RV at about 6 PM. 

When we drove thru Twisp we saw them rolling in the sidewalks a we quickly unhitch and head into town to fund a place to eat: La Fonda Yucatan.

Back at the Park we meet another Airstreamer who had never seen an Airstream with a slide-out. ( they were only made between 2001-2005 ).

We end the evening by heading to the river to checkout the rocks. Turns out to be yet another mosquitoe feeding area. We don't last long..