Days 3 & 4—Pendleton to somewhere along the Lochsa River, ID

Even though we got an early start from Pendleton after using their thoughtfully provided dump and water supply at the old train depot, it is a hot morning. Shortly after leaving town, Marc pulls to the side of the road and we hitch up to tow the Saturn for the first time. It becomes pins and needles for the first day as we notice that it seems to add more bounce to the truck, accelerates much more quickly going downhill, and takes longer to stop. I’m amazed at the way it tracks behind the trailer however and finally give up worrying that I will see it in the rear view mirror jumping curbs and doing back flips. Actually, unless we’re on a sharp corner, we can’t see it behind us at all; we do however, see its shadow, so the Saturn has a new name.

Eastern Washington is wheat country and about all you see this time of year is rolling hill after rolling hill shaved of its haircut, looking like a butch cut, towheaded schoolboy. We pass through lots of small towns, all manicured and well kept. Walla Walla takes us through a winding truck route that seems to double back upon itself to catch Hwy. 12 from Hwy. 11, which we’ve been on, so it seemed particularly strewn out. Finally we have lunch at a small rest stop, signed with some of the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition just before a five mile downgrade into Clarkston, WA just across the Snake River from Lewiston, ID.

As we start up the Hwy. 12 canyon highway along the Clearwater River the temperatures are reaching the mid 90’s. The highway has lots of curves and is none too wide, with quite a bit of traffic on this Saturday. We decide to stay with a very nice couple who had made us an invitation off the Escapees discussion board. Joan and Don have their darling River View Gift Shop, home, and small RV park up for sale now in hopes of going fulltime themselves soon. We pull in and get parked in the field overlooking the river, set up and proceed to carry our lawn chairs and cold ones down to the river just like I promised in my last journal entry. It’s heaven. Marc says he wants this life to just go on and on.

Day 4

A hot and sultry night gave way to a rainy morning so we decide not to stay in the dirt field any longer, but to see what waits down the road. We find Sunday morning traffic much lessened on the highway; a good thing, since it gets even curvier and narrower than before. We like puttering along about 45 as then Marc gets the chance to view some of the scenery as well and my pucker factor is much reduced. The scenery improves as we travel until about 10:30 a.m. when we find a particularly large pull off with a dumpster and steps down to the river. Hummmmm—looks like camp to us.

This whole area is historically important as part of the Lewis and Clark Trail and just a short walk up the highway is the Fish Creek drainage. The mountains above mark the actual trail site. It’s a very pretty creek with a small winding paved road to the perfect boondocking spot, but not for a rig our size. We’ll have to be content at this roadside rest, where everyone who stops makes some comments or asks us questions. Some bikers stopping to take a break tell us they saw us down the road on Hwy. 97 outside of Bend a few days ago. I guess we’ll be like that now; easily spotted and easily remembered.