INCH BY INCH

Inch by Inch we slowly make our way closer to Glacier National Park.  Yesterday we drove just 160 miles from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to just outside Missoula, Mt.

Landscape near our RV stopover at Missoula.

This morning we drove just over 60 miles to our current location in Polson, Montana.  Where is Polson you ask?  It is on the southern shores of Flathead Lake and on the Flathead Indian Reservation.

We watched the sky grow darker as we drove north and I was certain we would end up in major rain however it never rained a drop and we arrived bone dry.  The sky continues to threaten and we have watched the temperature go from 72 down to 60 and back up to 71 with a couple hours.  That probably sounds pretty good to our Las Vegas family.

For the two days we will be here we hope to drive all the way around Flathead Lake one day and the other we would like to visit the National Bison Range.

On a terraced hillside.....

... facing Flathead Lake.

On arrival.....

..not looking too friendly.

But, after all, ARE in the mountains in Montana...

View out our windshield with things starting to lighten up.

FLATHEAD LAKE FACTS

Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake by surface area that is west of the Mississippi River in the contiguous United States. With a surface area of between 191.5 sq mi and 197 sq mi, Flathead Lake is slightly larger in surface area than Lake Tahoe, but it is much smaller in volume.

The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake is 27.3 mi long and up to 15.5 mi wide. Flathead Lake has a maximum depth of 370.7 ft and an average of 164.7 ft . This makes Flathead Lake deeper than the average depths of the Yellow Sea or the Persian Gulf. It is one of the cleanest lakes in the populated world for its size and type.

Now you know and we can all sleep better.

QUICK UPDATE

Since our last post from McCall , ID we traveled north to Clarkston, WA for one night.  The Lewiston/Clarkston area is the confluence of the Clearwater and the Snake rivers.  The Clearwater runs through LoLo Canyon, one of the toughest places the Lewis and Clark expedition had to negotiate on their way to the Pacific ocean.

From Clarkson Larry and Linda departed early headed for their home near Sandpoint, ID.  We left a couple of hours later and stopped here in Coeur d'Alene.

Yesterday, as had been our plan all along, we took the coach to the Cummins Coach Care facility on the west side of Spokane and had some annual maintenance done on both the coach engine and the generator.  After that we fueled up and today I topped of the DEF fluid.  We are all set to head east again on Monday morning headed for Glacier National Park with a couple of stops in Missoula, MT and Polson, MT.  The place we are staying in Polson has a great view of Flathead Lake and I hope to have some decent pictures to post once we get there.  Not to mention Glacier NP.

This weekend Coeur d'Alene is full of classic cars for a big show here.  Many are in or on trailers here in the RV park.  Here are some pictures of what we have seen so far.

This one runs on special fuel.  See below.

Do you see it?  Arlyene is pointing it out.  Click on it to enlarge.

What a color combination!

Is it even legal to park a Corvette and and Edsel side by side?

McCALL, ID

(CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE)

We arrived in McCall after a twisty and somewhat tense 11 mile drive up from US Highway 95.  We now occupy our two favorite campsites in this part of the country.  Temps here have been very comfortable even occasionally cold.  Mid 60's today, low 40's at night.  What a contrast from Las Vegas.  We are at about 500 feet here.

Parked on the bluff over the Payette River.

View from our perch

We keep close watch on the river below and the other side for "critters"

Today we got lucky.  These fawns are just one day old.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is our last full day here.  Monday we head back down the twisty road and on up 95 to the Lewiston/Clarkston area for one night.  We will be camped next to the Snake River there.

NORTH TO MOUNTAIN HOME

Today's Route

The entertainment committee met yesterday before breakfast and it was determined that Yours Truely was the only one who really wanted to make the trek to Great Basin National Park and after deliberations the trip was cancelled.  We caught up on some reading.  Took a small two mile hike right from the RV Park, solved some more of the world's problems, ate too much and went to be early.  Today we have about a six hour drive north to Mountain Home, ID for fuel and an overnight stay before we continue on to McCall, ID where we will stay for several days.  More on that later.

ELY, NEVADA

Today we successfully escaped the excessive heat of the Las Vegas Valley and made our way north to the town of Ely which, as you can see below, is roughly even with Reno.

We had some concerns about a possible oil leak that developed in Larry's egnine on his way to Las Vegas from San Diego but there were no further leaks on today's trip so I think we found and resolved the problem.  After a earlier high here of 95 degrees at 8 pm the temperature here in Ely has cooled to 70 and continues to fall.  We are grateful for the cooler temps.

This is the view out our front windshield.  We are at 6,437 feet and there is still snow on some of the surrounding peaks.  Last year, from this same spot, we saw and elk making its way up the valley in this picture.  This evening, once again we saw some large animals grazing although we could not determine what they were - other then they looked bigger than deer.

Our original plan is to visit Great Basin National Park which is about 60 miles south of here.  There is a chance of rain tomorrow but no chance the next day so we may wait until Tuesday to make that trip.

So much for day one.  I think we will sleep very well tonight in the cooler temps with no AC's droning all night.

OUR FIRST MISTAKE

We have not departed yet and we have already made or first mistake....leaving too late.  As I type this it is 106 degrees outside and I can only stand to be out there for about 10 minutes at a time.  Thankfully the coach's air conditioners are doing a pretty good job of keeping us cool inside.

 We are sticking with our schedule and will be leaving here Sunday morning so one more day like this - only warmer.  (Frankly the difference between 106 and 110 in not noticeable except on the thermometer.)  It is hot all over the west but I think we are the high temp winners here.

Thankfully our destination, Ely, NV will be about 20 degrees cooler and even better at night for sleeping.  We are looking forward to cooler temps.

Las Vegas Sat and Sun.

Ely is looking much better.

MAP

This is a rough map from Google Maps for the first half of the trip to the Seattle area along with the forecast for departure date which is going to make it just a little easier to leave....

First half of 2016 trip.