Kathleen's Window: Back in the States and Heading Into Montana!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

We cleared out of our overflow site by the ballfield at Pass Creek Regional Park at Castlegar, BC, and drove south and then east towards Creston. On the way we passed lots of cars leaving the dusty farm that hosted the annual Shambala Music Festival. The local police set up roadblocks in both directions and there were some very unhappy attendees who were stopped and had their cars searched. We guessed that it was for drugs. A bad way to end a fun weekend. I don't know anything about Canada's drug laws, but it looked like most of the cars were from out of province.

We liked the overflow campsite so well, we stayed there two nights.

We had the mountainside ballfield all to ourselves.

Gourmet grillin'

We continued on to Creston, near the Idaho border. The main street was busy with traffic heading over and back. We stopped for lunch on the outdoor deck of Jimmy's Pub and Grill, and spent some of the Canadian currency we had left. It was also an opportunity to try the local brewery's Kokanee Beer. The heat spell continued and it was almost too hot to sit outside. After lunch we drove the short distance to the border and after being questioned about our produce, an officer came on board and took two green onions, two apples and two oranges. Seriously? The apples were organic from New Zealand and were bought in Fairbanks. If they were grown in Washington State or Canada, and we transported them through Canada, we could keep them. But, since they came from New Zealand and traveled from the US to Canada and back into the US, they had to take them.

Nice shady patio along Main Street, Creston

The oranges, although grown in the US and bought in Fairbanks couldn't come back into the country because they had passed through Canada. They were banned because of the fear of orange canker. I joked with the officer that I guess they were afraid I would rub them against a “Canadian citrus tree” and spread disease. Last summer coming back in from Quebec we could only keep the tomatoes as long as we cut them in half first! So, I did so while they waited and then tossed them in a bowl, showed the officers and they waved us through.

Okay, enough on over-regulation of agricultural products! We were finally back in the US as we crossed into Idaho. We drove south to Bonner's Ferry and then kept going to Sandpoint. By the time we reached there the temperature was over 100 degrees! We finally gave in and put on the air conditioner. If a place is too hot, we leave. What's the point of extended travel if we wind up someplace too hot or cold? The ideal is to find temperatures in the 70's. Not always possible, but we work at it.

Welcome to Idaho! Bake like a potato!

Driving along Lake Pend Orielle, we found an Army Corps of Engineers campground at Riley Creek that offered my senior discount, so we were happy to check in for $12.50. The Army Corps' engineers design great campgrounds and we had electric, water and showers. It smelled like we were living in a cedar chest. The tall cedars gave off a strong fragrance, and the campfires smelled like cedar incense. We opened up all the windows to cool down, and the temperature dropped during the night for comfortable sleeping. We decided to stay a second night and catch up with phone calls and internet since we were back in the states again.

Luxury accommodations from the Army!

That afternoon it was overcast and the temperatures were 30 degrees cooler than the afternoon before. What a relief after the heat of British Columbia and Idaho! At dusk as we were getting ready to eat dinner, the camp host came by and told us that there was a forecast for severe thunderstorms. She said that the trees down around our campsite fell the week before in a severe storm. She urged us to drive to the boat launch parking lot along the lake away from the trees. Since we don't have another home to go to if this one is damaged, we decided to be better safe than sorry, and stowed the rig and drove down to the parking lot. Thankfully we were in a gap in the worst weather, and just had rain while we sat and ate our dinner. After the storm was over, we drove back to our site and hooked up again for the night.

Yesterday we decided we were desperate to do laundry after a month and four days since our last laundry marathon in Anchorage. We drove east back into Sandpoint and found a laundromat. As the day progressed the sky to the south got grayer, and we debated where to go for the night. After re-supplying our groceries and consulting the Weatherbug Oracle, we changed our plans to go west and north to Priest Lake and decided to head for Montana on Route 200. The radar looked better there, except for a band stretching across the area that we were going to have to drive through no matter where we went. At 5 pm we finally headed out to Montana and into the rain. We found a free forest service campsite near Route 200 a few miles over the border and pulled into the first empty site we saw. It was nice and level, so we shut off the engine and settled in for the night. The rain kept up a steady beat on the roof, but we escaped anything severe.

It was still raining steadily as we set out this morning. We turned off Route 200 and north onto Route 37 that took us to the east-west US Route 2. Still raining and the clouds were hanging low over the mountains. We followed the Kootenai River and stopped at Kootenai Falls. A path took us to view the falls and over the swinging bridge over the river. We hiked down in the rain along with a fair amount of other tourists, less prepared than we were to brave the rain! Greg studied the geology and found us some interesting ripple marks, mud cracks, and stromatolites (cabbage-like fossils of primitive algae) in the Phanerozoic age (about 1.5 billion year old) limestone and mudstone. We walked across the suspension bridge which would have been more fun with less rain! We came back to the rig, changed into dry clothes and by the time we reached the town of Libby, the rain had stopped. At Libby we went north along the Kootenai to Koocanusa Lake. Greg made a quick visit to the visitor center at the Dam. I am a bit dammed out, so I sent him off to explore on his own. Afterward we drove the scenic byway along the western shore and stopped for the night at McGillivray Campground in the Kootenai National Forest. Another deal at $5, but we are dry camping here.

Kootenai River

Well exposed Precambrian Belt Supergroup limestones and mudstones

Swinging Bridge

Cabbage-sized Stromatolites - fossil algae from 1.5 Billion years ago

Clear ripple marks in mudstone

Looking up at Kootenai Falls

Giant eagle statue in Libby

Quieter Kootenai River upstream from Libby

Libby Dam

The sun came out, the clouds cleared and we had a lovely warm, but not hot afternoon in a pretty empty campground. Nice after fighting the crowds in Canada. Tomorrow we'll finish following the lake almost to the Canadian border and then head towards Kalispell and Glacier National Park, this time in the US. It is the bust season there, too, so we shall see if it is worth exploring, if it is not too crowded!