Here Comes the Sun

I woke up several times in the night wondering if the coach would start in the morning at 20 degrees. We turned on the block heater as soon as we leveled out in the Snake River RV Park, so it had been on for 16 hours, but I worry about stuff like that. I shouldn't have, because it fired immediately....not even a hesitation. The picture to the right is what our first 100 miles looked like....snow in every direction, and a lot on the road. However, I get ahead of myself, as usual.

After successful ignition, the second task was to see if I could get the right rear up to near ride height before heading out of the park....I tried raising the right rear while in the "level" mode and was successful in getting it up to almost ride height, but as soon as I would switch to "ride height" it lowered back down so the mud flap was dragging a little. I found that as long as I kept the engine idling at about 1500 rpm's it would stay up, so we just headed out slowly, but at 1500-2000 rpm's. Our first stop was Fred Meyer's for diesel....they had it for $2.79...everyone else was selling it for 10 cents more. I was only at about 1/2 tank, but it will only cost more the rest of the trip so I added 81 gallons at a cost of $225.

Interstate 15 was forboding, yes even forbidding. Snow was everywhere...on the highway, and off to the horizon. A few miles up the road we drove into a cloud bank....OK, I guess low lying clouds are better than zero visiblity and a driving snow storm. It was like driving in a long tunnel with a very low ceiling. On top of that we were heading for a 7,000 foot pass called Monida...all the local Idaho Falls folk spoke with reverence about this pass, but it was quite tame compared to Wolf Creek Pass. The approach from both sides was very gradual so all was good.

We gained the pass around 11am, and as if by magic the clouds vaporized, and we had bright sunshine and dry roads....apparently the snow and clouds are not allowed into Montana....we were at the border.

The rest of the day, which I had not been looking forward to because of the dire weather projections, ended up being a walk in the park. I sat in cruise control for the next 4 hours as we slowly descended to Missoula, MT which is situated at around 3,000' elevation.

We went directly to the local KOA and then called Jennifer Stackpole to let her know we had arrived. She drove over, picked us up and took us over to where her coach is stored (indoors), and we spent about an hour touring her 1987, 40' Newell. She is standing just to the left of the coach door....forgive my bad aim!

After that we returned to our coach and gave her a reciprocal tour, and then went out to dinner for Thai food.....that was a first for me. I have never eaten Thai food before, but it was great, and I am now hooked.

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with Jennifer. She is quite an accomplished person, and has worn many, many professional hats in her life to date.....welder, blacksmith, musician, dancer, natural gas industry, and on it goes.....there are at least 6 other professions in her past, but my brain is full, and I'm sure I'll remember more of them tomorrow. We look forward to returning to Missoula in the near future. Tomorrow, Spokane, WA and lots of Turkey!