We had a great time with the Olympia Shackelfords. It was nice to see Aunt Robin and Uncle David who were also visiting, swim at Lake Cushman, eat good food, walk around the farmer’s market, eat good food, play games, watch A’s dance routine, chat with D&H, and listen to animated blow by blow accounts by E.

Idaho was a nice drive. It was too bad that we were only driving a couple hours through the panhandle. Once we got into Washington, we were a little surprised at how eastern Washington was so barren (parts of it looked quite similar to North Dakota just with less farming). There were also places that were just shattered basalt, sage brush and tumble weed. We had always envisioned Washington as it is in the western part of the state, verdant, mossy, and cloudy. Once we got to Yakima Valley things started to look a lot nicer. There were tons of apple orchards and a huge Mexican population. Our first stop was a big grocery store called Fiesta Foods. They were selling avocados at 3 for $1!! We had bread and avocados for breakfast.

There was a coin-op laundry place around the corner so we washed our clothes there and rested from the road.

Our route to Washington brought us right past Mt. Rainer.

Wednesday night we stopped in Libby, Montana to go to the grocery store. While in the parking lot, a lady volunteered information about where we could stop to camp. The place she told us about was just around the corner. We were excited to find a free camping spot that was quite nice. 5 minutes into our dinner the campsite host came over and told us it actually wasn’t free (but only $5). We had driven in the wrong way and missed all the signs. Oh well. We decided to stay despite the fact that we would have to move to a “tent site” right near the main road going through the city. In the end, we did enjoy a bit of socializing with both the campsite host and our neighbor. Maybe seclusion out in nature in not always necessary.

It has been great to have Carcassonne with us.

A new angle.

Our campsite in Glacier was really sweet. It had a picnic table and fire pit in one spot with a little path that lead to an alcove for a tent. The sweet part about it was the hedge of blueberry bushes and dwarf aspens that surrounded it.

Nice weather, huh? Here is what we have been up to in an attempt to beat the heat. (We are caught between Havre and Glasgow!)

Free swimming and bath at Fort Peck. (We are quite fond of the hospitality of Montana. Free camping, free swimming and nice people!)

Even when we were driving the heat was too much. We started soaking our shirts at rest stops.

We had planned that in the middle of our trip we would take a break from camping and stay in a motel. Today was the perfect day. We stopped driving at around 3pm and retreated to an air conditioned room.

We entered North Dakota and found that almost every square inch of it has been farmed. That made it hard to find an ideal camp site in a 100 degree heat wave. So, we decided that we would continue riding to stay cool. We first pitched our tent at a rest area in Culbertson, Montana, but we were warned by an elderly fellow that the sprinkler system usually starts up between 1 am and 5. We heeded his warning and went to a nearby park to camp that he suggested. Under clear skies we set up tent and ducked away from the pesky gnats and mosquitoes. Late in the night the lightning started. We had enough time to cover our bags and put the fly on our tent before the rain started. In about 20 minutes the lightning had moved to within a kilometer. We were a little freaked out and went to the grounded covered area to wait it out. Our night was interrupted by a second thunderstorm a while later. We enjoyed the sound of the rain…we could have done without the lightning so close to home.

It was late afternoon when we approached the border into North Dakota. We had an place in mind where we wanted to stay thirty miles across the border, but there were strong winds that made driving difficult. We decided to try out one of those campsites you have to pay for. Manicured lawns… many RVs… few trees. Aside from that, it was OK.

After we started eating our rice and pemmican, a guy showed up and asked if he could share the site. Sure. We found out later that Zach was from California and had traveled around Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. We crossed paths a few more times in North Dakota.