G&T's Excellent Adventure

SUN., JULY 7th thru MON., JULY 15th, 2024

We left West Glacier and traveled 149 miles south. The Flathead Lake, with its 185 miles of shoreline, was by our side for part of the journey. Beautiful. We also saw a bright yellow crop growing profusely in this area. My app said it was “rapeseed,” a type of canola.

We spent two nights in Missoula, MT at Jim & Mary’s RV Park. Since becoming full-time nomads, we’ve stayed in 200 different campgrounds. No place has had as many gorgeous plantings as here! Flowers and small sculptures are everywhere and in all different displays and arrangements. Just lovely!! It’s remarkable for a campground this size… there’s only 70 sites. And, to top it off, there’s train tracks nearby! We love trains! We saw trains traveling past our tiny home large back window multiple times a day. It was way cool! Thankfully it wasn’t all that noisy.

Next we move on to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and the Pacific Time Zone.

Most travel days go smoothly, and then there was today! On Tuesday, July 9th, 2024, we traveled from Missoula, MT to Coeur d’Alene, ID… 160 miles on I-90 West. I thought this would be easy. Traffic should be light, and it’s a straight shot. I should know by now… expect the unexpected. It started out fine… beautiful scenery, then construction… and more construction which, of course, backs up traffic. There were winding (serpentine) roads over hills and dales through National Forest areas which were very pretty but also tiring to drive. Did I mention it was hot? High 90s which messes with the pressure in the tires and causes the Tire Pressure Monitoring System to start beeping LOUDLY as a couple of the tires heated up. The tires are still ok, it’s just that they’re over the percentage threshold Gary set. We may have to “up” the threshold because yours truly jumps out of her skin every time the sensor beeps. 

But that was just the precursor to the real fun… 30 minutes from our destination the truck dash starts beeping, never a good thing. We lose engine power and get a message saying “Engine Power Reduced.” Gary’s like “No Sh#t.” There was NO power. If this had happened a few minutes before we would have been in the one-lane-from-hell-construction area. As it was, we were able to just barely pull over to the breakdown lane. Naturally there’s virtually no cell signal to make a call. Now what? First thing I did was text Joe because he and Cheryl were about 5 minutes behind us. I said “We’re stopped on the side of the road – engine trouble – just keep going. We’ll figure it out.” But, being the kindhearted people that they are, they ignored my message and were able to stop a little ways in front of us. After a discussion with Joe, Gary tries turning off the engine and turning it back on to see if that does anything. Similar to re-booting our electronics when they get wonky. Turns out it works… sort of. We still have the Engine light on but we have power again. Yay! We manage to get to our destination, Blackwell Island RV Resort in Coeur d’Alene. We track down a Chevy dealer that happens to be 15 minutes from the campground, but they’re booked out until August. Great. They will try and “fit us in” if we can leave the truck for a few days. We picked up a rental car at 9am the next morning and dropped off the truck. Fingers crossed they can figure out why this happened, and we can get the truck back before we leave here in 6 days. To add to Gary’s fun, he had a little issue with the black water hose when setting up here. But, I won’t go there. lol

Makes us appreciate the travel days when things go swimmingly. Our drive here wasn’t one of them, but things could have been way worse. We got here safely and didn’t have to call for a tow and have great friends parked nearby who are more than willing to lend assistance. We’re still feeling blessed, just with a little hiccup.

On Thurs., July 11th (2024) we took a 90-minute boat ride on Lake Coeur d’Alene. It was hot on the top deck but worth it for the views. Lake Coeur d’Alene is 26 miles long and 10 miles wide (at its widest point) with 135 miles of shoreline. Fun fact – Idaho has 2,000 lakes. Holy cow! 

The city got its name from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Native Americans, who were given the name by French traders and trappers in the late 18th century. It means “Heart of the Awl” referring to the sharpness of their trading skills in dealing with French traders and trappers!

We saw some gorgeous homes surrounding the lake. We also saw a lot of Canadian Geese leaving poo on one lucky lawn! Many of the lake houses had a funicular-type apparatus to shuttle things, and I assume people, down to the water. I’d hate to get down to the bottom and realize I’d forgotten something important. Then there was the home that was built on top of a rock! That was unique. 

We passed by the world’s only floating golf green at Couer d’Alene Resort Golf Course. Players get two chances to make it on to the green from the shore. Then they’re taken by boat to finish their shot on the green! 

After our boat ride we were able to pick up the truck! They checked it all out and found nothing wrong. The following was the diagnosis for why we got an “Engine Power Reduced” message, which was really the engine losing ALL power after climbing a mountain pass: “LML Duramaxes can set turbo boost performance codes due to high engine load towing over mountain passes, and the ECM (electronic control module) is not able to adjust for quick elevation changes which can throw off the map/baro reading which is what determines boost reference. Unfortunately this is a normal condition for the LML Duramax. Recommend to clear code, and drive lighter and slower over steep mountain grades to help the ECM read more correctly.” So that’s the story. I would have preferred to hear it’ll never happen again but apparently that’s not an option. We can drive slower over mountain passes but it’s a little hard to lighten our load.. unless Gary wants to leave me by the side of the road. We were happy to get the truck back though and hear that everything is supposedly ok. One of those good news, bad news situations. 

Our week in Coeur d’Alene is drawing to a close, but we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time here in this charming lakeside town in northwest Idaho. Along with our boat ride, we enjoyed:

• Walking in City Park with all of its blooming flowers and statuary. 
• We passed by several endearing Mudgy Moose statues around town. Mudgy & Millie is a children’s book, published in 2008, following the antics of a moose named Mudgy searching for his friend Millie Moose in Coeur d’Alene. 
• We visited several gorgeous galleries. The Art Spirit Gallery was 4,000 sq ft of stunning works over 3 floors. We even got to visit the basement which, in truth, was a tad creepy. We also visited Ciscos, “The Greatest Collection of Western Art & Artifacts found anywhere in the world.” Who could resist going in there? They had everything! Vintage roulette wheels, Pendleton blankets, old slot machines still with coins in them, a $70,000 totem pole and WW1 artillery shells among many other amazing fines… none of which we purchased. 
• We walked on the World’s Longest Floating Boardwalk. It was completed in 1985. It’s 3,300 ft long with a 60 ft long bridge on the west side, and has a 362-slip marina. 500,000 board feet of lumber was used to create it.
• After all that walking we treated ourselves to Huckleberry Gelato. Huckleberry is a thing around here! 

Lastly, at the campground we were able to float in tubes on the Spokane River. We also were able to walk over to a nearby restaurant on the water called Cedars Floating Restaurant. It had a very nautical interior. Felt like we were on a cruise ship with the movement of the restaurant! 

Unfortunately we did not take advantage of the outstanding biking and hiking trails in the area because of the 90+ degree temps. A reason to come back again! 

Next the pod moves on to Washington state.