Spokane Washington to Drummond Montana

August 24, 2016 - Day #5

We left Yakima, WA for Spokane – 200 + miles on a good highway we saw our 1^st Trump Sign along the road (some rancher in WA is mislead).  The route today revealed a highly agricultural focus: fruit trees, vineyards, carrots, corn, hay and…    An interesting look was the huge circular hay fields we saw several  times along our drive. While on the drive we realized that we had gotten a crack in the driver’s windshield. Calls to Insurance, and glass shops were made. We are going to try and make it to Connecticut for the repair.

We enjoyed an evening in downtown Spokane. Our first stop was at the Volstead Act Bar (named after the prohibition act of 1919). Good Manhattans served with GREAT Amareima Cherries (Italian) – Chelsea the bar owner explained to us why we got 3 yummy cherries: 1 or 3 is a good sign in your cocktail (cherries or olives) 2 is not good, the Mob is looking at you unfavorably.  The Manhattans were a 3.5 on the 4.0 cherry score; made with Nob Creek and not too sweet! Dinner was at the Wave Restaurant, good steamed pot stickers and a stew with shrimp, clams, mussels and Portuguese sausage. The Manhattans there were pretty good, a 3. - on the cherry scale. 

crack in windshield

fire near Spokane

Lake Coeur  d'alene

August 25, 2016 - Day #6

Montana was our goal for the day. We left Spokane driving most of the day along Route I - 90 to Drummond, MT. We traveled through Coeur d’alene Idaho – reminded us of driving in the Mt. Tahoe Lake area with a big blue lake and beautiful treed mountains. Most of our 200+ mile journey we followed the Clark Fork River. The river paralleled, crossed and re-crossed our path most of the day. The Clark Fork River flows 310 miles from Butte, MT to Eastern ID. Our travels were fairly uncomplicated with only a few miles of construction and speed limits of up to 80 MPH for cars – 70 MPH for Motorhomes.  The Manhattan Quest was disrupted for the evening, Happy Hour the Rough Stock Bar (the bar closest to our boon docking location) had limited inventory  (no sweet vermouth, no bitters, no bar tender who really cared). We had simple beer and wine for libations and visited with the locals, always interesting talking with people from other areas.

Clark Fork River