We woke up as the sun was beginning to rise on the lake and made our plans for the day. Here's what we planned:
We would have a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs and eat the huge cinnamon roll we had bought the day before at a bakery in Polson after I had figured out a way to warm it up. We'd pack up quickly and head out on Highway 28 for Hot Springs where we could soak our cares away and probably get a much needed shower. After that, we would drive to Plains, turn right onto Highway 200 and drive to Thompson Falls to stay in the campground there. On the way, we would keep our eyes peeled for a laundromat, because we were running out of clothes again.
Here's what we actually did:
We had a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs and ate the huge cinnamon roll we had bought the day before at a bakery in Polson after I had cleverly figured out a way to warm it up. We packed up quickly and headed out for Highway 28. When we were about five miles out of the campground and entering our phone service area, our cells started dinging like crazy. Our emails began coming in, so we pulled over to see what needed our attention. We have one file that's been giving us fits since we left, but we thought we had done everything we needed to do on it yesterday; and it could now wait until we got home. Alas, that was not the case. So phone calls were made, and soon it became evident that we had more work to do, and we had to do it quickly. Which meant we needed to make another trip into Polson (over 20 miles away) to the library there and get it done.
I feel like I should explain something here--we might be workaholics of sorts; but we can leave work behind for a time and have a vacation. We've actually done it before. The problem here was that this customer is paying over $86 a day in interest and we needed to get him out of that loan and into a better one. The Timing Gods were not smiling upon us, so it had to be done today.
We were still relatively cheerful when we left Polson, we'd only lost about two hours there and we still had the whole afternoon ahead of us with just under 100 miles to cover. We drove back to Hwy 28 and headed South and West. We got to Hot Springs and as we drove through it, we quickly agreed that we wouldn't sit in a dining chair there, much less a pool of hot water! Not to worry, we still had our plan B which was Quinn's Hot Springs at the junction of Highways 135 and 200, about eight miles south of Plains.
We got to Plains and found a very nice laundromat with a restaurant two doors away. Perfect!! We started our laundry and stepped over to Benji's for a quick lunch (which was very tasty). Herb ran back and changed the laundry to the dryers during lunch; so when we got done, we only had to wait about 15 minutes for everything to be done. We were so efficient!
After we got our clothes repacked, we headed down Hwy 200 towards Quinn's. We were still looking forward to a good soak and a shower. We found it (mostly by accident), and it was a lovely place. The people were nice and the pools were open until midnight. Better yet, there was a state campground three miles down the road! Change of plans--we would stay there for the night instead of Thompson Falls; and we would go set up camp first and THEN come have our well-deserved soak. We were full of great ideas!!
We got to the Cascade Campground only to find that it was just barely off the road. AND THERE WERE TRAIN TRACKS JUST ACROSS THE RIVER! Since this would obviously not do, we left. On our way back out, we decided we would have to bag the hot springs altogether because it was getting late. So we kept North, then turned left on Hwy 200 back through Plains towards Thompson Falls. Hopefully there would be showers there, but if not, we could take a quick dip in the river to get some of the crud off of our bodies.
We got to Thompson Falls a little before six and found the campground. Of course, there were no showers there. But there was an RV Resort just up the road, so we thought we'd check that out first. Yes, they had one tent site, and showers were a whole TEN minutes for a dollar. She told us to check out the site and if we liked it, we could come back and pay. We didn't like it. The showers were enticing, but the tent sight was in the middle of a field surrounded by RV's without a level spot for our tent. It just wasn't up to our "high" standards. So we snuck out of the resort and went back to the campground. We found a spot by the river where it flowed slowly. We could wade in and muscle out a fast swim even though it was getting cool out. The road noise was pretty loud, but it was late and we'd just have to tough it out.
We got the tent up quickly, and as we were putting on the rain fly, the ground began to rumble. The rain fly was suspended in mid-air. Then the horn blast came! We looked at each other and began to take the tent down. We were out of there in about 15 minutes. Twenty miles down the road, our cell phones started dinging again. This file has now officially become the Transaction from Hell!
So it's 8:30 (9:30 Montana time), and we're in the La Quinta Hotel in Sandpoint, Idaho. We have Wi-Fi and we'll be able to easily take care of business from here in the morning. But the shower was glorious!! Herb didn't think I'd ever come out; if I hadn't been so hungry, I might not have. Now we're eating ham and cheese sandwiches that I put together and are enjoying the last part of HBO's "John Adams". I think I hear a train in the distance, but "distance" is the operative word here.
I have my own adjectives for this day. What would you call it?.....
We would have a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs and eat the huge cinnamon roll we had bought the day before at a bakery in Polson after I had figured out a way to warm it up. We'd pack up quickly and head out on Highway 28 for Hot Springs where we could soak our cares away and probably get a much needed shower. After that, we would drive to Plains, turn right onto Highway 200 and drive to Thompson Falls to stay in the campground there. On the way, we would keep our eyes peeled for a laundromat, because we were running out of clothes again.
Here's what we actually did:
We had a quick breakfast of bacon and eggs and ate the huge cinnamon roll we had bought the day before at a bakery in Polson after I had cleverly figured out a way to warm it up. We packed up quickly and headed out for Highway 28. When we were about five miles out of the campground and entering our phone service area, our cells started dinging like crazy. Our emails began coming in, so we pulled over to see what needed our attention. We have one file that's been giving us fits since we left, but we thought we had done everything we needed to do on it yesterday; and it could now wait until we got home. Alas, that was not the case. So phone calls were made, and soon it became evident that we had more work to do, and we had to do it quickly. Which meant we needed to make another trip into Polson (over 20 miles away) to the library there and get it done.
I feel like I should explain something here--we might be workaholics of sorts; but we can leave work behind for a time and have a vacation. We've actually done it before. The problem here was that this customer is paying over $86 a day in interest and we needed to get him out of that loan and into a better one. The Timing Gods were not smiling upon us, so it had to be done today.
We were still relatively cheerful when we left Polson, we'd only lost about two hours there and we still had the whole afternoon ahead of us with just under 100 miles to cover. We drove back to Hwy 28 and headed South and West. We got to Hot Springs and as we drove through it, we quickly agreed that we wouldn't sit in a dining chair there, much less a pool of hot water! Not to worry, we still had our plan B which was Quinn's Hot Springs at the junction of Highways 135 and 200, about eight miles south of Plains.
We got to Plains and found a very nice laundromat with a restaurant two doors away. Perfect!! We started our laundry and stepped over to Benji's for a quick lunch (which was very tasty). Herb ran back and changed the laundry to the dryers during lunch; so when we got done, we only had to wait about 15 minutes for everything to be done. We were so efficient!
After we got our clothes repacked, we headed down Hwy 200 towards Quinn's. We were still looking forward to a good soak and a shower. We found it (mostly by accident), and it was a lovely place. The people were nice and the pools were open until midnight. Better yet, there was a state campground three miles down the road! Change of plans--we would stay there for the night instead of Thompson Falls; and we would go set up camp first and THEN come have our well-deserved soak. We were full of great ideas!!
We got to the Cascade Campground only to find that it was just barely off the road. AND THERE WERE TRAIN TRACKS JUST ACROSS THE RIVER! Since this would obviously not do, we left. On our way back out, we decided we would have to bag the hot springs altogether because it was getting late. So we kept North, then turned left on Hwy 200 back through Plains towards Thompson Falls. Hopefully there would be showers there, but if not, we could take a quick dip in the river to get some of the crud off of our bodies.
We got to Thompson Falls a little before six and found the campground. Of course, there were no showers there. But there was an RV Resort just up the road, so we thought we'd check that out first. Yes, they had one tent site, and showers were a whole TEN minutes for a dollar. She told us to check out the site and if we liked it, we could come back and pay. We didn't like it. The showers were enticing, but the tent sight was in the middle of a field surrounded by RV's without a level spot for our tent. It just wasn't up to our "high" standards. So we snuck out of the resort and went back to the campground. We found a spot by the river where it flowed slowly. We could wade in and muscle out a fast swim even though it was getting cool out. The road noise was pretty loud, but it was late and we'd just have to tough it out.
We got the tent up quickly, and as we were putting on the rain fly, the ground began to rumble. The rain fly was suspended in mid-air. Then the horn blast came! We looked at each other and began to take the tent down. We were out of there in about 15 minutes. Twenty miles down the road, our cell phones started dinging again. This file has now officially become the Transaction from Hell!
So it's 8:30 (9:30 Montana time), and we're in the La Quinta Hotel in Sandpoint, Idaho. We have Wi-Fi and we'll be able to easily take care of business from here in the morning. But the shower was glorious!! Herb didn't think I'd ever come out; if I hadn't been so hungry, I might not have. Now we're eating ham and cheese sandwiches that I put together and are enjoying the last part of HBO's "John Adams". I think I hear a train in the distance, but "distance" is the operative word here.
I have my own adjectives for this day. What would you call it?.....
Comments
Glad you finally got a shower.
Sounds like you are headed home; looking forward to seeing you.