Aug 7 - Riverside State Park, Spokane, WA

So, it looks like we'll be in Spokane until next Monday afternoon at the earliest, maybe even Tuesday morning. The transmission is being rebuilt and beefed up considerably, so hopefully this won't be something we have to worry about again.


Today we ventured out to downtown Spokane and Riverside State Park. Unfortunately, Bear isn't able to do much walking (arthritis and old age) and with the heat we aren't able to leave him in the Jeep so can't do a lot of exploring past driving around. However, we did get out for a short time at Riverside - a very nice state park along the Spokane & Little Spokane Rivers. The park encompasses 10,000 acres and has a large number of campsites. We viewed a few and while not very private, they were large and spacious. The ones we saw looked like they had hookups. There is also a 600 acre ORV park for dirt bikes and snowmobiles and miles of hiking trails.


We took a short, handicap accessible trail to the swinging bridge for some photos and then headed back. That's about the extent of Bear's adventures anymore. Poor guy. At least that's our story and we are sticking to it!

Aug 6, 08 - Steptoe Butte State Park, WA

Today we visited Steptoe Butte State Park located 12 miles north of Colfax, WA – maybe 50 miles south of Spokane. Steptoe Butte a 3,612 foot-tall quartzite butte and is over 400 million years old. The state park encompasses 150-acre most of which was donated by Virgil McCroskey in 1946 and the Butte is also a National Natural Landmark due to its unique features. Thimble-shaped, the quartzite butte looms over the rolling hills of the Palouse area. Steptoe Butte was named for Lt Col E.J. Steptoe; however, the term Steptoe is now used worldwide to describe other “islands” of ancient rock.

You can see the butte from a few miles away, it is the only hill around that isn’t covered in wheat, the prevailing crop of the Palouse. We approached Steptoe Butte by traveling south out of Spokane on Hwy 195, then east on SR-271 through the small town of Oakesdale, the a right onto Hume Rd. The route was very scenic, through miles and miles of rolling wheat fields. They looked so soft & fluffy, like a curly-haired dog. Golden in color, although there were spots of green here and there.

The top of the peak is accessed by a paved road that spirals to the very top. There you will find several microwave/cellular/who-knows-what-kind of towers and a very clean port-a-potty. Good to have after the narrow road (with no guard rails) going up. For the first time, the Jeep almost overheated. (I’m blaming Bryan’s slow, careful drive up and the blowing AC to keep Bear cool) We got out of the Jeep & heard this awful gurgling noise… nothing boiled over but it was pretty hot.

The views were fantastic, although a bit cloudy/hazy in the distance. Certainly worth the drive we thought. Not many amenities, some picnic tables at the base along with another port-a-pot, and then a bench up on top.

Aug 5-6 - Stuck in Spokane

Regarding the transmission issue: Bryan called around Monday night looking for a place to take it to have it looked at - preferrably NOT a Ford house. Three choices - Ford house in Omak - they could see us next Tuesday, Ford house in Wenatchee - maybe this Thursday and a truck after market place in Spokane - they could get us in as soon as we go there! So they won the ‘who gets to fix the ^#$#%!($& truck’ contest.

For those of you who haven’t been to Pearrygin Lake State Park, it is a nice campground. About half the sites are standard and the other are full hook-ups (including sewer). There is also a dump station as well. Restrooms are clean with showers; boat ramp, swimming location and we noticed this time there was a ‘general store’ down by the ramp. Most sites are not very private however but still, it’s a good place to stay and explore the area. There is quite a bit of wildlife around; you are almost guaranteed a deer sighting. Warning though if you are in a tent – they do turn on sprinklers in the early morning hours! We were wondering why there were no kids screaming in the ‘field’ behind us at 6 AM and it was because the sprinklers were on - they didn’t have a place to play. The area in general is a bit arid – not desert arid but certainly nothing like Western WA. Temperatures were in the high 90’s when we stopped, fire danger is always high in the summertime, but sunshine abounds so after a wet week in Seattle, we aren’t going to complain. OK, for those of you that have never heard me not complain about something I will throw this out there – the mosquitoes were TERRIBLE. Great big striped ones (and NO they were not bees!). They swarmed the side of the camper and the skylights – kinda creepy really.

Of course, we forgot to take pictures of the camp & Winthrop.

Winthrop is also a neat-looking place as well. I say looking as we’ve never really stayed long enough to explore it – this was going to be that time but we really wanted to get the truck seen about. All western-type buildings, much like Leavenworth but set in the American West vs a German alpine village.

Tuesday morning found us sleeping in & cooking a hearty breakfast. We left the camp around 11 AM and headed to Spokane. There really isn’t a ‘fast’ way to get from Winthrop to Spokane. We also wanted to avoid steep climbs so we did a sort of circuitous route. Starting out on Hwy 20 heading east to Twisp, from there we hooked up with Hwy 153 south through the Methow Valley – an absolutely beautiful route, highly recommended. After an hour long break in Pateros, we picked up Hwy 97. A brief note on Pateros – we stopped and gassed up and then drove down to a waterfront park to stretch our legs. For $10/night you can camp there – no hook-ups but you are right on the water (Columbia River). A very nice park with restrooms and views. It was warm but under the shade trees and with the breeze off the water, it was very pleasant.

Bryan & Bear at Pateros

Back on the road, we headed east & connected to 173 at Brewster – not the best choice of road as it was small and we had a semi that was in a much bigger hurry than we were – I felt like a reverse Bandit (Smokey & the Bandit reference for those of that remember) trying to run interference between Bryan & the semi. When he got so close to the back of the Jeep that I couldn’t really see anything but his hood, I tapped my breaks and watched his panic-stricken face as he attempted to not plow into me. He backed off and stayed away the rest of the trip. We eventually hit 17 then Hwy 2 to I-90 and on into Spokane. The truck did fine – no more leaking red transmission fluid but we did make frequent stops and Bryan didn’t push it at all. We were going to try to off-load the camper and camp somewhere while repairs were made but the campground we chose – Alderwood RV Resort (http://www.alderwoodrv.com/ ) had the tightest sights we’ve ever seen. The pad was about the width of the outside dually wheels and there were bushes brushing the sides so that we couldn’t hardly walk around the vehicle. We opted for a motel room and just took the truck on over to Terry’s Truck Center.

And that’s where we are, well, not at the truck center but a Super 8 Motel, waiting for word on the transmission. We should hear something today. The hope is that it is just a leaky seal like Bryan found on the Diesel-Stop Forum and can be quickly replaced and us back on the road. Worst-case, is that we have to replace the whole transmission – which means we’ll be in Spokane until next Tuesday most likely.
This is Bear’s first ‘hotel’ stay… he’s a bit weirded out but once we hoisted on the bed – he adjusted fine. He’s currently snoring his head off – and Bryan is waiting for me to finish this up so we can go make the most of our stay in sunny Spokane.