Day 281

Priest River, ID to La Grande, OR
Had an awesome visit with my brother Bruce. We were able to park the trailer next to his house, so it was almost like boondocking, with all the benefits of home.
One of the best parts of the trip was being able to spend our 25th wedding anniversary with Bruce. He was there when we got married, so it was great sharing that milestone with him.
There were several deer that walked through Bruce’s neighborhood. We saw momma, daddy and 3 babies one day. Believe it or not, I have never seen a deer out in the wild. We saw at least one doe every evening, but last night there were two. One evening we saw just a fawn, but I am sure momma wasn’t too far away.
Met a bunch of Bruce’s friends and co-workers. It was great to see how well liked he is. One woman asked if we were twins, and I laughed and said yes, but I shaved my beard so people could tell us apart. For those of you wondering, Bruce is actually 3 years older than I am. Hum…do I look that old or was he looking particularly youthful?
We went fishing on the Priest River where it meets the Pend Orielle River. Lee and I got skunked, but Bruce caught one. Went fishing another day on Priest Lake. Lee and I got skunked again, but Bruce caught 4. Both areas are awesomely beautiful.
We ran into Sandpoint to the Walmart. Bought Bruce an air fryer for putting up with us. Showed him how to use it and off he went. No stopping those home cooked meals now. LOL
Lee and I had breakfast at the VFW (Veterns of Foreign War) post on Saturday while Bruce was at work. It was really cool. I had never been inside a post before and was impressed by all the memorabilia they had. Frank, Lee’s dad, was a big supporter of the VFW, so it was cool to be able to make a donation to them.
Priest River only has about 1800 people in it, but believe it or not there were 5 thrift stores. I was in heaven.
We finally found a tire shop that was able to fix the trailer brake that broke when we had the blowout in June. Didn’t think that was ever going to happen.
We decided to come home through Washington and Oregon instead of driving through Idaho. Much nicer as the roads were mostly 4 lanes. Less tension for Lee. The GPS took us off the main highway and took us on a country drive. It was okay since we traveled quite a few miles right along the Columbia River. It was weird because the water looked as high as our road. The only thing between the highway and the river were the railroad tracks.
We were a little worried about pulling the grade up the blues, but the ‘Blue Beast’ (my affectionate name for our truck) did awesome. Never fell below 45 mph. Pulled easier than up White Bird in Idaho. We were really impressed.
Checked out the Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area, near Meecham, OR on top of the Blues mountain, hoping to camp for the night, but they did not have any pull through spaces and we didn’t want to unhook just for one night. We ended up finding an RV Resort just off the highway in La Grande. Glad we stopped when we did since there was a storm rolling in.