We Are Back.

At The Coeur d’Alene Casino.

Monday morning, we had breakfast at the Huckleberry Deli in the hall along the front of the casino.
After breakfast Patti played on the machines for a while with mixed results. 

Waiting for the Rest of the Group.

Shirley and Bill were waiting for the rug cleaners to clean the carpets in their house. They live in Spokane, Washington about fifty miles from the casino. 
They figured that they would be here around noon.

Suzann and Roy are coming from Alberta, Canada and expect to be here by super time.

Jo Ann and Dave are coming from Idaho Falls, Idaho but aren’t arriving until tomorrow (Tuesday).

Arrivals.

We slept in and had a late breakfast at the Huckleberry Deli, in the front hall of the casino.
Shirley and Bill arrived some time after noon They went to have lunch. Patti, Shirley and Bill went off to gamble. I had a good book going so I headed for the room and read for a while.

Patti came out ahead this time.

Supper at the Sweet Grass Café.

Suzann called and said that they had stopped for supper and would be arriving later.

Around 5:00, we met Shirley and Bill for supper at the Sweetgrass Café. 
The food was fair, but a bit pricy.
I had a $10.00 hamburger that was so dry, I had a hard time swallowing normal sized bites. I ended up taking the meat out of the bun and eating it with a fork and a lot of catsup.
Bill said that his fish and chips were good.
Patti doesn’t remember what she had. It was that good.

Suzann and Roy.

Suzann and Roy arrived around 7:00.
We visited with them for a while.
Around 9:00 everyone headed into the casino to gamble.  I hung around and watched Patti play the machines for a while and then headed to the room.

Tuesday.

We met the others at the Sweetgrass. I had the Eggs Benedict. My eggs were poached very hard even after I asked the waitress for soft poached eggs. I mentioned this to the waitress and she offered to bring new eggs. Which she did when I was almost finished with the meal.

After breakfast everyone scattered to the machines. After watching Patti for a while I headed for the room.

Jo Ann and Dave.

After a while, we all met in the lounging area in the main hall and visited while we waited for Jo Ann and Dave.
They arrived around 2:30. We helped get them settled in and visited for a couple hours.
We all had supper at the Red Tail. The food was ok but a bit pricey.

Of course, after supper the group headed for the machines to try their luck. I hung out with them for a while but eventually went to the room.

Wednesday.

We all were sick and tired of being at the casino so it was decided that we should take a ride and see some of the country around the area.
We met up at the Huckleberry Deli for breakfast. After breakfast, Jo Ann and Dave got in Suzanne and Roy’s car. Patti and I took our car and we headed up Highway 95.

We took a turn off to the east and drove along Ferman Lake and into the Coeur d’Alene National forest.

At the east end of the lake are bunch of lily pads.

Jo Ann and Dave at one of our stops.

We Crossed the Coeur d’Alene River…

and continued in a northeasterly direction. We drove around in the woods for a long time and eventually decided that we were not going in the direction we wanted to go. The maps we had weren’t very helpful. Eventually I flagged down an on coming pickup to ask where we were.
I nice young guy got out his maps and showed us where we were and how to get back to 95. After a little discussion he said he had a map that we could have and gave us a really good map with all the road numbers on it. Once we left him we had no more trouble navigating the roads.

It is beautiful country but all the smoke makes it a little hard to see.

Eventually we found our way back to Coeur d’Alene. We decided that we would have supper at the Texas Roadhouse.

We have eaten here before and the food is excellent. I had a half rack of ribs and they literally fell off the bone. You don’t even need teeth to eat these ribs. Patti had a filet that  melted in your mouth. This place has been excellent every time we have eaten here.

Back to the Casino.

When we got back to the casino Jo Ann, Dave, Shirley and Bill wanted to gamble a little more.
Patti, Suzanne, Roy and I went to their room and played a game of Jokers Rummy (Rummy for Dummies).
We were almost finished with the game when Jo and Dave showed up. We finished the game and sat around visiting until around 10:00 when we left for our own rooms.

Thursday.

Today is departure day.

Around 9:00 we met everyone at the Huckleberry Deli for breakfast.

It is the last day and we are all trying to drag out leaving for as long as possible. We sat around until about 10:30 and eventually said our goodbye's and headed our separate ways promising to meet up in the fall in Arizona. All except Suzanne and Roy, who don’t go to Arizona in the winter any more. We will make arrangements to meet up with them again.

Heading South.

We decided to go south on US 95 to Winnemucca, Nevada and get on I–80, then go west all the way home.

A Smoky Ride.

The ride south was very smoky from the many wild fires in northern Washington and Idaho as well as fires in Montana and Nevada.

Following the Salmon River

Nice Bridge.

Agriculture.

As we got further south we saw Hop fields.

They went on for a couple miles along the highway and looked very healthy.

A Crop Duster.

A little further south we saw a crop duster doing it’s thing.
Patti got a couple of good pictures considering the plane was in the air and we were going about 60 mph.

Laying it down.

Over Night.

We spent the night in Ontario, Oregon and got back on the road around 8:30.
Our next overnight stop will be Sparks, Nevada.
The day started out very smoky…

and continued until we were almost to Sparks. It was still a little smoky in Sparks but not as bad as it was around Winnemucca.

Sparks, Nevada.

We got a room at the Motel 6 in Sparks and called my nephew, John who lives in Sparks with his wife, Cindy.
When they got off work they came to our motel and took us to the Sizzler for supper.

After supper, we went back to John and Cindy’s to visit for a while
Around 10:00 we went back to our room.

The Last Leg.

We figured that if we got an early start we could slip by the Sacramento traffic on I-80. After all it was Saturday and it should be an easy ride.

Around 8:30 we got on I-80 heading west; the traffic was light going through Reno. We stopped at Boomtown to top off the gas tank and have breakfast.
We were back on the road and in California by 10:30 .

Not much smoke and the traffic is light going over the Sierra’s. It’s looking good for an easy ride.

Gridlock Hell.

Everything was going smoothly until we got to where Highway 50 and I-80 come together. The river of traffic quickly became a lake. Everything came to a halt and was stop and go all the way to the Highway 12 (Napa) exit.

No one is moving.

When we got to the Highway 12 exit the traffic on 12 was just as bad as it was on 80. We didn’t get out of the stop and go traffic until we turned off at Old Napa Road, about 20 miles from home.

My friend Bob is right. It isn’t worth it to take I-80 from the Sierra’s. It is better take Highway 20 through the Sacramento Valley to 101 and go south from Ukiah. It’s longer but it is a much nicer drive.

We made it home around 2:30.

Okay, that was our trip to meet friends in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
It was fun to get together with everyone like that.
We will do it again but maybe at a different location.