STW3 Hop 5
202 miles via I-90 and local roads. Cumulative tow miles: 759. Truck miles: 224. Cumulative truck miles: 935.
Another very simple hop for the navigator. Pretty much follow I-90 west for 200 miles. The only hard part was finding our destination, which was a bit off the beaten track. But we made it, despite the rain.
Ah, the rain. There were periods when it wasn’t raining, but there were many more when it was. Cloudy, dreary, damp. Not great for sightseeing. Not great for photo-taking. Except for the spectacular crossing of the Columbia River. There were a few sprinkles, but the view was still breathtaking.
The I-90 crossing of the Columbia River
Fireplace
Lake Coeur d’Alene
Downtown park
Our site
Indoor pool
Our home for two nights in Post Falls ID was the Coeur d’Alene RV Resort, a very interesting medium-sized park (about 200 sites) just off of I-90 and just west of its namesake city, Coeur d’Alene. What made it interesting is that it clearly accepts long-term renters and is clearly open all year because dozens of the RVs were prepared for snow and coldd. Insulation, taped seams, plywood around the base. But there were also clearly no rules about the ages of the units or how the winterization was done. There were some truly ancient and very ugly RVs in the park. It was reminiscent of the Circle Cg Farm Campground in Bellingham MA, which we regard as one of the tackiest campgrounds we have ever seen. Yet Coeur d’Alene calls itself a “resort” and does so with some justification. It has an indoor pool – only the third we have ever seen – and a wonderful community center featuring a fantastic fireplace. The place is a bundle of contradictions.
Despite the lousy weather, I made the trip into Coeur d’Alene because I had heard that it is a beautiful city. Well, maybe it was the weather, but it just didn’t strike me as anything special. Yes, it was very clean and yes, it does have some very nice public spaces downtown. But overall it didn’t strike me as a place I would want to come back to. It was not, for example, as interesting as Burlington VT.
With our stay in Post Falls we were able to add Idaho to our map. Our 43rd state.
#43 – Idaho