Out of Washington

We are at the Kootenai River Inn and Casino in Bonners Ferry, Idaho (map), along the Kootenai River and operated by the eponymous tribe. We had a nice dinner in their restaurant overlooking the river.

We had a pleasant and uneventful drive yesterday from Colville. We opted to take the slightly shorter and certainly flatter route along US395 and US2, crossing over on the Deer Park-Milan Road. We'd actually done the remainder of Washington 20 in the car seven years ago, when we were looking at property in the state to constitute our domicile. There is an ownership RV park along the Pend Oreille, across from Usk, where we looked at lots. We've had our fill of twisty mountain passes in the last few days, and we'd never done this stretch of 395, which pushed us a little in that direction, and the lousy weather sealed the deal.

Either route would have brought us into Sandpoint, where we knew there was an Elks lodge. In fact, we nearly had our mail forwarded there, until we realized that we'd be there on a postal holiday, and instead directed it to Kalispell, MT. Following the faster route, we hit Sandpoint earlier in the day, and decided instead to proceed here, where we knew the casino allowed overnight parking.

This morning we could just catch a glimpse of the city's Memorial Day parade as it rounded a corner a couple blocks away. It was pouring rain, so we watched what we could from the bus, rather than brave the elements. Unfortunately, it looks like the rain will be with us all the way to Kalispell and beyond. We should be there tonight, and our mail should arrive tomorrow sometime.