Our goal was to go from Whitefish, Mt. halfway to Palouse, WA., ending up on the 14^th in Palouse. First off, TADA needed attention. She wanted her oil changed and she informed us she needed a bath. We found a Jiffy Lube in Columbia Falls, MT who took her in, and fixed her up.  We pulled into a rather seedy car wash, she was not as happy with that, however despite the car wash appearance, we managed to scrub her getting most of the flies off her front. We did get her name plate cleaned so that made her happy. She is very proud of being one of the only vans on the road from Vermont.

We went up to Whitefish Mountain to see if we could take the gondola up as there was no way I was going to be able to hike it. Not only did I have a cold, but the altitude would have finished me. The gondola was not running so we decided to have lunch in Whitefish and then leave

Driving down on the backroads we passed beautiful mountain scenes but for the first time since we left we did not stop and take pictures. Our destination for the night was a Blueberry farm somewhere near Priest River, Id. or was it Washington. We kept going back and forth between the states, so I was never sure.

Pulling into the farm, I spotted another Solis van, this is the first time I have seen one on the road. After settling in, I strolled over to introduce myself and mainly to ask him if he was able to figure out how to get hot water. Apparently, the only thing we were doing wrong was not being patient by waiting 20 minutes for it to heat up.

What a lovely Harvest Stay, parked in between blueberry bushes, a small flower garden outside our door, we were really happy. It is free, but they do ask for you to buy something which is never hard to do. We left with blueberry syrup, vinaigrette and goat milk soap. As we pulled out of the road, we spotted a huge yard of goats with two Emu’s guarding the herd. I could not resist stopping to take pictures of the goats. However, the Emu’s wanted to have their picture taken first. Not being a bit bashful they stuck their heads right up to the camera and pecked at the lens. Meanwhile, little goats were nibbling my clothes, and another wanted my face mask.

Cute, would hardly be the right word for them. They were so curious, soft little mouths, beautiful faces of all different colors and stripes, so engaging I could have stayed for hours.

The goat owner I believe took better care of his goats than his house, he clearly loved them. They all had names. He did not have a big enough herd for goat milk or cheese and did not make the goat milk soaps the blueberry farm sold. He had names for all of them and talked to them as if they were all pets. I found out later he sells them to people that want goats but tends to keep many of them.

We began our journey down to Palouse as Shap was in hopes of getting pictures of at least one large combine thrashing the wheat. Come to find out with the drought, they harvested early in August. Still, the scenery was not to be believed. The camera did not capture the beauty of the  undulating hills, or the vastness of the open land. One could see for miles and miles, as the terrain rolled before us like a gold carpet. Lines made from the combine as it cut the wheat showed through in the afternoon light while in the depressions of the hills, there were circles interconnecting with each other adding another dimension to the landscape. I could only imagine flying over these fields seeing these markings and thinking this was a message from aliens. The color of the landscape amazed me as we drove mile after mile on roads cutting through these fields. Once in a while a homestead would appear with trees around it or nestled against a large hill. The winds were fierce, and I could only imagine how barren this would be in the winter.

Following our map to the Boyer Park State Park and Marina in Colfax,WA., we are settled in for night along the Snake River. We came down a winding road providing us views of the Snake River and the valley below. Now we sit on the banks of the river, a river boat has just passed by with passengers enjoying the view from their cabins and we watch the sunset as the geese settle down for the night, our only companions.

Tomorrow we take off for Bainbridge Island. Looking forward to seeing our kids and granddaughters, a real bed, and nursing my cold (not Covid) in one place. This trip has been amazing. More to come when we wind our way back to Stowe. TADA has anxiety issues, like our dog, and did not want to be left alone in Seattle for the winter. She informed us, she needed to come back home. I think she wants another adventure before winter sets in.

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