Leavenworth

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blog 09-07-17 Leavenworth, WA

On the road by 9:30 heading west on I-90. Our night was surprisingly restful despite the traffic and sirens.

There was traffic through Spokane but not bad and we saw 4 Walmarts which made Ginnie say "Here they all are, not where we want them". The road took us over the Columbia River, starting to look impressive but about half as large as it will be later.

We exited onto Rt 2 which runs west but a little north of 90 and is a 2 lane 60 mph highway through wheat fields that would rival Kansas. Some of the wheat was still standing but much had been harvested and the fields resembled a little blond boy with his crew cut for school. It was over 60 miles of the same view, rolling hills and yellow fields with an occasional ranch house. Then there were fields of rocks with sage brush and pretty yellow flowers on dried up bushes, some used as pasture land. The rocks were in 4 inch squares (about) neatly piled together but looking like they could fall apart at any minute. I have to look up the geographic history of this area to see if this is volcanic or not.

We were headed for the Grand Coulee Dam to see the enormous structure that it is said to be. This area had more rocks and sage brush and the rock piles got very tall. Stopping at an overlook the dam came into a clouded view because of the smoke in the air but it was impressive enough. I took a picture of the information sign so that will give the stats on the dam. picture





As we tried to find the road south, Rt 155, I made a decision to go down a dead end road, not knowing it was dead end until I was committed. Here I am driving a 31 ft motorhome and towing a car behind and it can't be backed up. I had sweaty palms! There was a church on this short street and we noticed it had a circle driveway. I tried to turn left into the driveway but a truck parked on the right side of the street prevented a wide swing. OH! Then we saw they had a large parking lot and maybe we could turn around in it, but no there were cars parked in such a way that was not possible, but by this time the camper was in the parking lot. OK, regroup. Ginnie saw the drivway out, it was tight with overhanging trees, but do-able. Now I was sweaty all over. She guided me out of the parking lot then finally onto the street, we made it! I have driven the motorhome for a few thousand miles but this was the first time in a tight situation. I was very relieved we made it but a little more confident. Ginnie sat back and breathed a big sigh of relief, she had a lot more to loose then I did.

Our ride on Rt 155 was pretty, all along Banks Lake for 26 miles til we caught up with Rt 2 again and headed west then south. We intended to stop at Dry Falls where water had rushed over a cliff wider than Niagra Falls centuries ago but there was too much smoke and we couldn't see anything.

The road started it's decent, a 4 mile 7% grade curvy and narrow. It was slow going and the motorhome was in the capable hands of Ginnie so we did fine. pictures.

As we headed south we followed the Columbia River and saw orchard after orchard of Washington State fruit. Along with apples they have plums, pears, nectorines, peaches and cherries. There were 4' X 4' wooden boxes piled in the fields ready for the pickers. The fields are irrigated from the Columbia River and there are giant fans that circulate the air to keep the crops disease free.

Leavenworth came into view and we found our turn north on a very small 2 lane road with some hairy curves. By this time Ginnie was driving, I knew about the road ahead of time, we needed the expert. We drove through the little town of Plain and headed up a hill. Well, there was a right turn that the GPS said too late to turn onto and we continued on the wrong road because we couldn't turn around. I had just thought in the morning how well we were doing with directions and not taking a wrong turn. Well here we are twice in one day.

The GPS said to go 4 miles on this road then turn right and a few miles more we would be at the campground. Ok we can do that. Except there was construction and we were stopped behind 5 trucks loaded with blacktop material. We didn't move. A trucker behind us got out and talked to the foreman on the job then came running back, said "talk to the guy" to Ginnie then whipped his truck into the other lane and dissapeared. So Ginnie went and talked to him, the result was we discovered a construction vehicle had broken down and there was no way past it. But we could go this way and that way and end up in Plain again and take the road we missed in the first place. So that is what we did and just before the entrance to the campground there was construction again. They were not stopping us this time and yes we got there, only an hour later than we should have.

We found a campsite with full hookup in beautiful tall pine trees, set up the fence for the kids, hooked up electric, sewer and water, got our chairs out, our drinks made and gave out a huge sigh! What a day. Thank goodness we stay here 3 days.

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