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O'Happenings
Sheila's Road Trip Notes
2007 Road Trip Notes
Satday, July 21st, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007 Happy Birthday, Grandpa!! We left our room at 7:25 and took our luggage down to the suburban and repacked everything in it. We then went to eat breakfast in the hotel. We ate waffles, pastries, cereal, and yogurt. We left the hotel at 8:00. It was 69 degrees and cloudy, maybe not as cloudy as yesterday. We decided to go to 2nd Street and get on the beginning/end of interstate 90. We were worried about rush hour traffic, but it is Saturday. There was no rush hour traffic. 2nd Street goes through downtown. It is a very pretty downtown. We followed the signs to interstate 90. We drove by the Qwest Field where the Seahawks play football. The Safeco Field (where the Mariners play baseball) was next to the Qwest Stadium. There was a parking garage in between the two stadiums. We took the beginning of interstate 90 at 8:12. Washington is a very pretty state. There is fog floating among the trees. The mountains are very green. We started listening to Sarah’s iPod on number 439. At 8:36 there was sunshine, white and grey clouds, and it was 65 degrees. We saw a “Bicycle Event Today – Share the Road” sign on the interstate. At 8:43 we saw our first 2 bicyclists. A little later we saw another one. We did not see anymore. We do not know if they were way ahead of everyone one else or way behind. At 9:30 we began to get out of the green mountains. The mountains became hills with light green and yellow grass. These mountains look a lot like southern Colorado. We saw a big wind mill farm. At 9:51 it was 68 degrees, sunny with clouds, but light blue sky. We stopped at a rest area at 10:00 for our 29 ½ bathroom break. We left at 10:06. We saw a sign that said “World’s Largest Potato Producing County” in Grant County. We passed a potato producing farm. We passed George, Washington at 10:27. Washington State uses George Washington’s head (well not his actual head, his silhouette) on their state highway signs. Utah uses beehives. We saw fields of crops that had signs on the fences telling what was planted. We like that. We saw field corn, sweet corn, peas, potatoes, wheat, Timothy hay, Alfalfa, seed, onions, and peppermint. We saw a car with a Bama elephant sticker. Yuck!!!! We saw lots of big piles of hay. Zach was thirsty so we decided to stop at the next rest area to eat lunch. We stopped at 11:08. We had our 30 ½ bathroom break. It was too windy to sit at a picnic table so we made sandwiches and ate in the suburban. I also peeled our peaches that we had bought in Oregon. They were yummy. We left at 11:40. We drove by giant wheat fields. They looked even bigger on the other side of the road. At 12:05 it was 80 degrees. We are driving north. The sky is blue with lots of fake looking clouds. We stopped at 12:12 at a fruit stand to buy some cherries. They did not have any. The lady said their cherry season was over, but she would get some from Montana next week, if we were coming back that way. We are not, but we will be in Montana this week. We did buy some raspberries ($3.50 for a small container). They were really good. We reached Spokane at 12:54. Spokane is a very pretty town. We saw a Frankie Doodle restaurant. We also saw a Sacred Heart Hospital. There was also an old church next to the road. It was very pretty. We took exit 291A to go to a Wal-Mart for supplies at 1:10. We used Naggie Maggie to find the Wal-Mart because the exit we needed to take was closed due to construction. We saw a Pizza Rita in a red and white barn. We found the Wal-Mart at 1:22 and parked at 1:25. We had our 31 ½ bathroom break. It was a very busy Wal-Mart, like the one in Ensley. We like our Wal-Mart a lot better. Sarah was very happy they had the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We bought 2 books, so Sarah and Zach could read it at the same time. We left the Wal-Mart at 2:16. We decided to get gas while we were stopped. We stopped at a Chevron where gas was $3.01 a gallon. We had been 305.8 miles. We had been a total of 2,129.0 miles. We left the gas station at 2:27 and followed the detour signs back to the interstate. We returned to the interstate at 2:33. We reached the Idaho state line at 2:40. Sarah and Zach are reading Harry Potter. We took highway 95 north at 2:51 at Coeur d’Alene. The mountains have green trees on them again. We passed the Silverwood Theme Park. We saw some aspen trees. We must be getting close to the Rockies. We crossed an IdaLake. Ron said if he had an IdaBoat he would IdaSki or Idatube. We stayed on 95/2 east. This road is the “Wild Horse Trail Scenic By-Way”, according to a sign, an unnotoriazied sign. Who knows if it’s true? We reached Bonner’s Ferry at 4:25 and stopped at a Shell Station for bathroom break 32 ½. There was Subway in the station and we were going to get subs for supper. They did not have pizzas though, so we did not. Zach only eats pizzas at Subway. We left at 4:33. We took highway 2 east at 4:40. We crossed the Moyie River. It is a very pretty river, very. At 4:50 it was 81 degrees, sunny with lots of while fluffy clouds. We have been 114 miles since our Wal-Mart stop. Sarah has read 225 pages and Zach has read 149 pages. AT 4:56 we finished the songs on Sarah’s iPod play list. We then listened to XM radio. At 4:57 we entered Montana and the Mountain Time Zone (5:57). At the state line the road was a loose gravel road and the speed limit was 35 miles per hour. At 6:04 the loose gravel road ended. We have not seen any speed limit signs. We crossed the Yaak River. We drove along the Kootenai River. It is a very pretty and beautiful area. The water was a really pretty green. We saw a speed limit sign, 45 to 35 entering the town of Troy. We saw a Booze n Bait Shop in Troy. After leaving Troy was saw a 70 mph speed limit sign. Montana is a very pretty state also. The mountains are getting bigger. We saw a big nest with a big bird with a white head in it. Eagle? Found a McDonald’s in Libby. We stopped at 6:33 and had our 33 ½ bathroom break. We decided to get it to go and left at 6:49. We saw another big nest with 2 big birds. They were osprey and not eagles. There was major roadwork on this road. Pavement ended at 7:11. We got back to pavement at 7:14. Dirt at 7:14 and pavement at 7:15. Dirt at 7:16 and pavement at 7:17. At 7:18 “End Road Work” signs. 70 mph speed limit on a 2 lane road. Ron saw little doe by the road which was amazing since we were going 70 mph. Zach said it must stink to be a medium size deer because everyone awwws over small deer and LOOK at big deer, but medium size ones no one notices. We saw Loon Lake at 7:29. It was 81 degrees, sunny with some clouds. We are traveling east. We stopped at 8:03 for a bathroom break at a Cenex Station. This was our 34 ½ bathroom break. We left at 8:08. Traffic stopped at 8:15. We saw a helicopter hover over the road and then it flew off. At 8:24 we started moving slowly, very slowly. There were lots of emergency vehicles, but we couldn’t see a vehicle, it may have run off the road. After we got by, Sarah looked back and saw a car on the side of the road. It looked like a pretty step drop off. At 8:27 the traffic was moving again. We reached Kalispell at 8:37. We can see the really big mountains again. At 8:45 we turned left onto 2 east, but it sure looked like we were going north. At 8:57 we made a right turn on to 2 east, but then made a u-turn at 8:58 and found the campground at 8:59. Sarah read to page 436 and Zach read to page 307. We all spent the night in Grandpa and Granny’s camper.