29 May ‘08
Friday
We finally arrived back at River Walk, “our” campground in Coeur d’Alene. Just a year ago we were here for Amy’s graduation, our oldest granddaughter, and now we are here for the Trev’s, our oldest grandson. It’s amazing how fast time has passed and the grandkids are already graduating from high school.
Leaving the campground in Rapid City was almost more exciting than we had wanted. The last 2 days while we were there were rained like hell and unfortunately made the soil all around our motor home really soft. We had no more than started our turn out of the site and the right rear duels started to sink into the grass. You could immediately feel that things weren’t looking so good. Fortunately for us, I was able to back out of the hole and get another start forward. It was a go slow and as straight as possible until we got up enough momentum to carry us forward and out of the trouble area. We stopped by the office to apologize only to find out that it was an “expected” happening after a rain…hell, they could have warned us… Oh well, we made it. The rest of the trip West through the remainder of South Dakota, Northeastern Wyoming, and across Montana was uneventful.
We did have a fair amount of rain to travel though and of course a head wind. Isn’t it amazing how as soon as you get out on the road, the wind direction changes and decides that it has to blow directly in your face??? Our first stop after leaving Mt. Rushmore Shadows was the parking lot of Toys or Us in Billings. We were heading to the Wal-Mart parking lot, but found that it was completely covered with “shoppers”…what the hell happened so that there wasn’t any room for those of us that want to park our “big motor homes” in OUR Wal-Mart parking lot??? It just happened that Toys or Us were right next door and their parking lot was empty, save about 4 cars in a lot that would hold well over 2 or 300. It was about 6pm when we arrived and I went into the store to ask the manager if it would be possible to park around back or on the side of the store for the night. Her reply was “the store policy is no overnight parking”, but…I think it would be OK. The next stop was in Missoula. There is a large dirt area in front of “The Largest RV Dealership In Montana” that we had thought before would work for a night of dry camping. After checking at the office and getting their approval, we set up for the night. There has been something bothering me lately, with the fuel prices climbing like they have, that the “un-locked” fuel doors on the motor home could be too inviting to the unscrupulous. Well Britz RV had the perfect locks so we bought and installed them right there in the dirt…just kidding, it was great of them to open the lot for a night. The total ride from South Dakota to Coeur d’Alene was beautiful. We couldn’t see the snowy mountains because the rain clouds were so low, but the green rolling hills, the wild and the cultivated flowers, and of course the swollen rivers were outstanding.
The unfortunate thing of course was the flooding that was accruing because of the rain and heaving melting of the snow in the mountains. We went pass the Wolf Lodge Campground that is located about 10 miles east of Coeur d’Alene and found that it was about 5 or 6 feet under water. We were there last year to visit and camp with Bruce and Peggy who were doing a stint of “work camping”. We were given a grand tour of the campground and saw all the work that they had accomplished to get it looking so good and now...well it just isn’t the same.