Into the Maelstrom that is the GPNW

The weather was kind to us this morning, it did not rain on us during departure. Happy we were about that. 
If you're in a Class A, does the space between your driver and passenger chairs look like this?  I need to apply some organization to our traveling paradigm.  It's not so bad when we're not forced to wear shoes, but still.

 

It was a windy drive, I think it was the worst day so far, because it was very gusty.  Look out there on the lake, see the white streaks?  Those are whitecaps, there were waves on the beach.

 

The wind turbines near Vantage were all moving.  The clouds were starting to gather as we headed west, into a big fat weather system.

 

Coming down Snoqualmie Pass.  Parking the bus and doing utilities was just the pits.  I hate wet arrivals, HATE HATE HATE.

 

Yesterday set a new record for wettest day in Seattle in September.  This usually doesn't happen until late October or November.  I think it's for me, since I'm back.

Starting about 7 pm tonight the coast is supposed to receive 70 mph gusts, we are expecting 55 mph gusts inland.  Our site is fairly sheltered by other RVs, so we are hoping not to have to bring the slides in.

Why, you ask, would any sane person come back to the GPNW at the end of September?   It's for the accursed foot.  Tomorrow morning there will be an MRI.  If there is, indeed, a neuroma in there, surgery is scheduled for the 9th.  It has just reached the point, that even after the monumental disaster that was the previous surgery on the right foot, I'm just done with the left foot being like this.  I can't hike for hours, I can't buy shoes, it just makes me nuts.
For those of you not blessed with thin flexible feet, a Morton's neuroma is formed when the sensory nerve (as opposed to a motor nerve) between the 3th and 4th metatarsal heads is repeatedly impacted by the met heads.  They aggravate the nerve, it forms a sheath, it swells, it hurts.  As a rule, they don't get better.  Surgery, when done well, is a reasonable response.

So that's what's new with  us. Rain and feet.

Spokane RV Resort

How you feel about the Alderwood RV Resort will very likely depend on the size of your RV.  It's an old park, built before the advent of giant RVs with giant slide outs.  Sites are about 9 feet wide.  When we came in we were instructed to get the right tires on the concrete curb that defines the site so we could put out our slides.  Walking through the park, there are multiple RVs with slides right up against trees.
Due to the narrowness of the patio, one gets half a picnic table.

 

This is our big slide, it's difficult to see, but we're up against a maple in the back, and the landscaping is such that we can not open any of the storage bay doors with the slide out.

 

This is Jim getting the grill out, with the pull out tray in a tree.

 

I get that it's an old park, however if they would take the plantings between the sites and most of those wretched trees, people could put their slides out.  It's a new world, prune accordingly!  Some trees could be kept, but the ones that are growing into the sites really need to go, as do the ugly bushes that are growing everywhere.  They're over run with grass, add nothing to the ambiance of the park, and limit access to the storage bays.
Having said all that, I will say that the staff is friendly and welcoming. Our site is too short for the bus and the pickup, so the manager let us park in the slot not used by one of the "cabins."  There is a small swimming pool if you like that.
Satellite reception is good, the Jet Pack is running 4G which ranges from good to slow.
We would not come back.  Actually we would not come back to Spokane, period. There is stuff to see and do outside, but it's just not a destination for us.  RVparksreview reveals that all of the parks around here get poor ratings. Originally we had intended to go to a new RV park in Deer Park.  A failure on my part to read and comprehend the map caused us to not grasp how far away it is from Spokane. It's about 30 miles out.  That's what caused us to stay here, after driving and driving and driving we decided that was stupid and washed up here. 
As I previously mentioned, we're about 10 miles north of the freeway.  There is no good way to get to the freeway.  All routes are through suburban sprawl with plenty of traffic lights.  If events compel you to come here, try not to arrive after 4 pm on a weekday so that you can avoid the epic traffic jams.

Spokane

Thursday dawned crystal clear, if a trifle chilly.  One thing that northwesterners know for sure; if it's not raining get up and get out of the house.  We drove in to downtown Spokane.  It's a pleasant downtown core.  In 1974 the World's Fair was held on a small island next to the city.  See the clock tower mid photo?   That's all that remains of the Great Northern depot and railyard.  This article has photos of what things looked like before the fair, and the controversy surrounding it.
Wonderfully, Spokane has preserved the open space, put in bike and walking trails, and made it a very appealing place to be.

 

The old world's fair site.  The mesh thingy in the back was covered in vinyl and covered the US pavilion.

 

We pressed on to the Gonzaga campus.  The university was founded in 1887 by Father Francis Caltaldo. This is St. Aloysius, a Catholic church on campus.

 

 

 

The interior is beautiful

 

There is much more stained glass.

 

This is the first building on campus.

 

After leaving the campus, we headed back to the retail section for lunch.  Then on to the downtown.  This is the Davenport Hotel.  She's old, she's restored.  It is such a cool old building.

 

Continuing on up the street, we were amused by the sign for ella's Supper Club on the third floor.

 

The Spokane Civic building.  I love a building with arches.

 

Next door, with all of those columns is the Masonic Temple.  It's for sale, all of this could be yours.

 

Downtown Spokane was fun.  It's a clean space and not creepy.  They have done a good job of not tearing down all of their cool old buildings.
The outskirts of  Spokane are not as groovy.  The park we are in is about 10 miles north of downtown.  We've been on three of the major north/south arterials, and they consist of sprawl; big box stores, fast foot, gas stations, gridlocked traffic and the like.  Clearly growth management has not been a priority.  It is an unlovely area.

Butte to Missoula to Spokane

Monday we left Garryowen, MT and drove to Butte.  It had been our intention to spend two nights in Butte at the KOA.  It's not a terrible KOA, by the way.  However a winter storm warning which included the word snow was issued for our area. We do not like snow.  So Tuesday, we got up and went to see the Berkeley Pit. 
The mine was opened in 1955 and closed in 1983.  For reasons that are not clear to me, the water pumps were turned off when the mine closed, and ground water has been leaching into the pit ever since, it's now 900 feet deep.  If the pit water level reaches the natural water table, estimated to occur by around 2020, the pit water will reverse flow back into surrounding groundwater, polluting into Silver Bow Creek which is the headwaters of Clark Fork River.  Remediation is taking place, and one hopes it will be successful.  You may view the status of the water level at pitwatch.org.

 

 

 

The far side of the pit.

 

The structure with the stacks is the water treatment plant.  It doesn't look big enough to me.

 

This is a mansion which used to belong to a copper baron.  Now it's a bed and breakfast.

 

 

 

Butte is suffering economically, as are most old mining towns.  They've made an effort to create a historic downtown with a walking tour.  We had planned to spend time looking at the town, but the desire to not be snowed on trumped our desire to see Butte.  We were gone by noon, heading back to Missoula where it was warmer.

After over nighting at Jim and Mary's RV park in Missoula, we pressed on westward.  It pretty much rained all day today.  We saw this a lot.

 

We felt bad for these people.

 

This was crossing the border into Idaho.

 

Now we are in Spokane where it is currently not raining.  We had originally planned to stay in Deer Park until we reassessed how far out in the middle of no where it was.  It's really far. This park is ok.  We're pretty much killing time until we return to Issaquah, and this is as good a place as any.

In sporting news, Emirates-Team New Zealand did not win the America's Cup. 

7th Ranch Campground

While in Garryowen to visit the Little Bighorn National Monument, we stayed at the 7th Ranch Campground.  Over all it's a nice RV park.  It's built on the side of a hill, so you drive up to your site.  Most sites are fairly level, our first site was not doable, but we moved one up the hill and it was fine.

 

Here's the bad.  The sites on the eastern most edge of the park are difficult to exit.  You must trace an acute angle to leave.  Since we are a 40 foot Class A, we were forced to back out of the site in order to get on an interior road to exit.  This was complicated by the presence of decorative boulders.  Other sites don't have this issue, if you're 40 feet or more, I would avoid that side of the park.  The water is unbelievably bad, it is so soft.  Showering felt like a life threatening activity because the floor was so slippery.  However, it doesn't spot!  It tastes really bad, we had to go buy bottled water and ice.

The people running the park could not be nicer.  They escort you to the site, and assist with parking.  The Verizon Jet Pack was weird, it would cycle between 3G and 4G, and the 3G was actually better.  Satellite reception was excellent.  It's a nice looking park.  There was very little noise from the freeway or the railroad tracks.  You will hear some mooing from the local cows.
If you go, take food, there are no shopping opportunities.  Take bottled water and ice, as well.

Garryowen to Butte, MT

Oy!  It has been a day!  The wonderful tail wind we had going east was a rollicking head/cross wind all day.  I can not count the number of times the bus was pushed on to the rumble strip by unexpected gusts.  When we reached Butte I was feeling very jangled from the noise and the motion.  It's 5:45 and it is still hooting.

 

This is what it looks like.

 

I am certain you wonder, what happened with the entry way step?  There is a drive shaft that moves the step in and out, and it has sheared.  The mobile tech arrived after 4 hours (64 mile drive) and removed the wiring to the motor.  Using Jim's giant zip ties and some baling wire (really), he got the step stowed and restrained.   Every time either one of us approaches the door, we both yell in unison "no step" so that we don't step out as usual and break an ankle.  We have to get the part from Monaco, and we'll go back to Harrisburg to get Erik to fix it.
So - about Good Sam roadside assistance when something is broken.  They pay for mileage for the tech to reach you.  That's it.  Be aware of that fact because the tech who came out for the step tried to bill us for mileage in both directions, at $2 a mile.  That's a party foul.  
In sporting news, Oracle has come from behind and is now within 3 races of winning the America's Cup.  I swear, it's like aliens took the Emirates-New Zealand crew up into space and replaced them with weekend sailors.  The Oracle is boat is now faster, but E-NZ has made some astoundingly bad decisions that have cost them races.  I just can't stand it.