Down The Road A Piece ... in a 5th wheel: The drive to Coeur d' Alene, Idaho from Gardiner, Montana

Last night while walking the dogs for the final time we went up to the dog park at the rv park in Gardiner, MT and saw the largest elk we have ever seen. This elk had a rack that was around four feet wide and three to four feet tall. A work camper at the park said he probably weighed around 600 lbs. The work camper told us he walks about five or six female elk up to the other side of the park and back then he sometimes comes back by himself. I wish I would have had the camera. Also, Sydney went crazy in the middle of the night for the second night in a row. I am sure there was something snooping around outside the rv that freaked her out but I am probably better off not knowing. After about a half hour she calmed down and we were able to get back to sleep.

Today we drove about eight hours which is a long time for us. We like to keep our max in the four to five hour range but have schedule where we want to be in Salt Lake City on September 25th. Also we need to save things for the next time we come out this way. Today's drive consisted of going up and down a lot of mountain roads. We crossed the Rockies in Montana but also crossed a tall mountain range after just getting into Idaho. I think this was still part of the rockies called the Bitter Root Range, The motorhome performed great. We won't win any races going up hill but that's ok. We went up some seven percent grades for ten miles or so and the slowest we ever got to on the steepest parts was 45 mph. The engine temperature and transmission temperature stayed at the same place they are at on level driving. The transmission always stays between 194 and 199 degrees while the engine temperature varies between 183 and 208 degrees. The engine is designed to run best right at 200 degrees.

The only stop we made today was at a place that advertised they had $50,000 worth of silver dollars on display. We decided to stop here for fuel and to check this place out. We also hit one rest stop in order to take the dogs out. Huli was going to take a shower while we were on the road but said the mountain driving with all of the curves made it too unstable for her to feel comfortable standing in the shower.

For the next two nights we are in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. From what little we have seen of the town by driving to the rv park it seems very nice. It is known for it's lakes and has a population of 44 thousand people. When we arrived I was the only person in the rv park that had on a tee shirt and shorts sine the temperature was around 58 degrees when we got here.

Here are a few pictures I took on an occasional basis as we made our way across Montana today.