Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire No place to go and nothing to do when I get there

I was born and raised in S. Florida, lived there for most of 30 years and I've never been to Key West. Just never got around to it.

Been living in Idaho for 24 years now and until Friday had never been north of Riggins. Decided not to make the same mistake I made back in Florida, so went "north" this weekend. I need to burn some vacation time so am taking 4 day weekends every other week. Decided to use this one just driving around to places I'd never been before. I have no wife, no kids and my dog died three years ago so I am beholden to no one and need no one's permission to just get up and go somewhere.

Only a few rules. No set destination. No interstates, local roads only. No eating at chain restaurants and no sleeping at chain motels. Wanted to find all the little local joints. Managed three out of four but due to lack of rooms and time not quite the latter. Friday morning I started up US 95 and figured I'd get a motel when I got tired of driving, eat when I was hungry. If a road veered off and it looked good then follow it. Stop and look at all those scenic overlooks and historical sights that we just drive by. Found out that a lot of folks did a lot of stuff at one time or another north of here.

Long story short, it was fun. Lots of driving but fun. No motel rooms to be had from Coeur D'Alene to Canada thanks to some big music fest thereabouts, so at 9:00 PM and close to Canada I turned around and drove back to Spokane to find a room. Almost didn't find one there but managed to get one at a cheap motel. Apparently pot tourism is thriving already as there was a distinct odor wafting down the corridor. Slept late, ate a huge breakfast at a little roadside joint near Sandpoint and wandered around North Idaho all day, ended up back in Lewiston Saturday evening to catch the smoke from the latest fire.

Ate way too much good food, talked to some nice people and saw some spectacularly pretty country. Took some touristy pictures of whitewater, smokey valleys, old trestle railroad bridges and kitschy restaurants. Also found out that a lot of Idaho looks like a lot of other parts of Idaho.

1134 miles in 2 1/2 days. My butt is kind of sore but after a little rest I think I'll do it again in a couple of weeks. Maybe flip a coin to see which way I'll head then.

Sounds like my kinda trip!

But maybe take it a bit slower.

Idaho is HIGHLY varied. If you haven't been there, next trip go from CDA east over the border then south through Salmon and Challis. From there, you can go west through Stanley or south through Arco. The 2 places couldn't be any more different. There's a lot of history along the upper Salmon.

That sounds like a fine way to burn some vacation time.

I spent one winter going from Port Townsend to Calgary. Went up 95 and enjoyed every mile of it. Some day I would like to do it in a car instead of a truck with 26 tires on the ground. They made some great breakfasts at the truck stop north of Bonner's Ferry.

Somewhere along there I'd bet you wished you had someone along to share that with. I like to do those trips on the Harley, sleep on the ground, nowhere I have to be, no deadlines, no schedule. Just pick a direction.

You put on some serious miles Jim.

The smoke is bad right now and will probably stay that way until the rains come or some of the local fires burn themselves out.

Glad you had fun. If you ever need anything while up this way, give me a shout.

I've been contemplating making a similar trip on my Goldwing in the spring.

Hope you took 12 along the Clearwater River on your way from Lewiston to Grangeville, if not, then next time.

+1

Salmon to Hailey, or vice-versa, would be a pretty nice ride, with a ton of history.

Sycamore

Should have let me know and you could have spent a night or two at our place outside Sandpoint. Breakfast at "The Hoot Owl" by chance?

If you get back up there make time for the St. Joe's River. Fantastic trout stream!

It's worth the trip up the Yankee Fork to tour the old mining dredge and the town of Custer.

Jim: Two things here. 1. I'm glad you took a trip. I hope you'll do it again as doing these things refreshes a man's soul. 2. I'm sorry you had no one to share it with.

Will try to reply to all.

Lots of driving but I stopped often to get out and look around. Took the driving easy as well, always at or below the speed limit. Not a lot of traffic on the roads (except 95) but if someone came up behind me I'd slow way down and move over at the first passing zone and let them by. Even had time for shopping. They have a Black Sheep sporting goods store in Lewiston, they used to have one in Boise but it closed. Anyway, I went in and found a good supply of powder, no .22 ammo but did buy a box of 500 Speer 148gr. HBWC for my .38 - figured I had to buy something from Speer since their factory is right there in Lewiston.

Did drive on 12 and 3 - that area east of Coeur D'Alene is really beautiful, but I can see why real estate is expensive around CDA. Also, I finally learned how to spell Coeur properly.

EdM - ate at The View, south of Sandpoint along 95. Nice place, had the home made meatloaf and mashed potatoes. It was so good I drove from Spokane to CDA and back up 95 to have breakfast there the next morning.

Wanted to head east to Missoula along 12 from Lewiston (Lewiston-Clarkston - nice names for towns, wonder where they got them from? ), then take 93, 75 and 21 back to Boise but it would have taken two more days and I knew I'd need a day of down time before heading back to work. Thinking of going the other way next time - north 21/75/93 to Missoula then find my way back through Rexburg and the southern route.

I appreciate the sentiment about having company but I'm used to being alone. I like people in small doses and like to talk to folks along the way but have found out through experience that I don't like to be stuck with someone for 48 or 72 hours straight - unless it's a dog, they don't talk much.



Not a McDonalds - good meatloaf and home of the self proclaimed "Best Breakfast in Town". Considering that the nearest town was Athol a few miles away I'm sure they're right!



Lakes and stuff east of Coeur D'Alene - we don't have too much scenery like this in SW Idaho.




But there is a lot of this everywhere in the state - road work!

don't think they will ever finish that stretch between Athol and Sandpoint.

If your in Lewiston again stop in Lolo Sporting Goods. We used to buy bulk Speer Bullets purchased by the pound there. Ownership changed and bulk was no longer available, but I have read since I was there last that bulk was available again.
Hopefully that is so.

Is that the Hoot Owl Caf�? Best biscuits and gravy I have ever had.

Jim, sounds like a good trip. Wife has been after me to do some driving around. I like the trip to Bozeman a couple of times a year, been a long time since I've been to Couer D'Alene may have to do that at some point again myself. Headed back to Alaska at the end of the month for a few days so I'll probably wait till it cools off some. Glad you had fun.

If you're touring Idaho, a MUST HAVE is the book 'Idaho for the Curious' by Cort Conley. It takes every highway in the state starting at mile 1 and follows it through to it's end. It gives all kinds of info on history, points of interest, side trips, and things to see and do. It's well worth the money. Many of his historical notes are surprising and fascinating.

Just as an example: did you know that the Cambridge area used to be the home of one of the world's largest apple orchards? One year they had a deep freeze during harvest and lost over 100,000 boxes of apples that were already picked and wiped out everything that hadn't been picked yet. It started the demise of the business.