Our Road Trips

6/2/14

We did a little putzing around the camper, ran some errands and went to lunch in Historic Downtown Lewiston. We had a waitress working her very first day after finishing school last Friday. She grew up a few miles out of Lewiston, so we asked her for a recommendation for a ride in the area that would give us history, beautiful scenery and be not too far away. She suggested Elk River, Idaho...what a great suggestion. We finished our lunch (out front at a sidewalk restaurant), and it being another beautiful day, we set sail for Elk River. The first 40 miles covered part of the route I covered in 2005 on my way to Coeur d'Alene, and took us right by the High School our young waitress graduated from in Kendrick. At Bovill, we turned east toward Elk River, a woods & water 4 season town that was originally settled as a timber/lumber industry place. It had upwards of 1500 folks in the early 1930's, but the depression wrecked that and there are but 125 there today. But it is a quaint little place that caters to hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, cross country skiing, etc. And of course the river, and a gazillion trees. Folks dry camp for $10/night by the river, and fish, etc. Not much to do except enjoy the surroundings. We then followed a road that turned from asphalt to gravel for about 30 miles and went up and over a group of mountains and ended in Orofino, after crossing the Dworshak Reservoir on what is called one of the most beautiful bridges in America (there are pictures, you be the judge), and there is still logging going on in the surrounding countryside. But the ride was beautiful and the last 30 miles were along the Clearwater River from Orofino to Lewiston. Tomorrow, we head north, first stop Coeur d'Alene. We are going to get the awning repaired on the motor home (had to order parts) that got damaged by the wind along I-90 in South Dakota, then move further north to an Army Corps of Engineer site near LaClede, ID, where we will be for 2 weeks. We will get some site seeing done and get ready for our jaunt to Alaska. Stay tuned.

Steve & Barb Larson