Holiday Inn Express Suites Hayden

... br> Leaving Saturday for L.A. where I'll meet up with Terry Chamorro and stay at her place Saturday night. Sunday morning we have a 7:45am flight out of LAX which means going to the airport at 5:45am. Ungodly time. We are flying on Mexicana Airlines via Mexico City to Guatemala City. <br>Not exactly sure yet where we'll meet up with Rose and Jim....probably at LAX before the flight.<br><br><br>

Finally got the truck back, all fixed and running beautifully. Decided to get on the road, though it was already 2 pm. Headed south along Flathead Lake through green forests and valleys to I-90, then west, west, west. All uphill, what a climb, to Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, then downhill into Washington State. Spent almost two hours trying to find Riverside State Park in the city of Spokane, finally set up the camper and tried to settle down for the night.

... would win a silver belt buckle.  <br><br>We have to mention at this stage and without fear of offending our American brothers and sisters how flabbergasted Ian and I were with the build up to the Mutton Bustin race.  In the ring was a fit looking cowboy who told everyone to give themselves a round of applause for being here and supporting the fair, then went on to "thank the troops abroad who were fighting to protect America and Americans right to independence, freedom and ...

The rest of the week followed the same formula except that we were riding in the adult trek in the morning.  In the afternoon you could ride again or indulge in another activity, shooting, kayaking, archery, fly-fishing.  Ian, Steve, Tim and Robert took a day out and went to Coeur d'Alene golf course (Ian to write on this) and another day left early to go fly-fishing The kids programme was also full with another afternoon on a river boat and swimming in a ...

... rakes for clearing the bunkers! I teamed up with Tim to form a Brits team against Rob and Steve &#8211; the Yanks- in a Ryder Cup style four-ball match. Tim and Rob played really well with Steve and I contributing on some holes with the match going down to the last green for me to hole a 6 footer to halve the hole and win the game 1 up. A fantastic game on a gem of a course.

... we went to the ring first to learn the basics on how to ride the horses fast.  I can honestly say I was really nervous as you tear around the ring with your reigns flapping and bottom wedged into the saddle creating a wave movement.  After ten minutes of showing Alison what we could do and her correcting us she announced we were ready to hack and we had no idea what was about to happen.  <br><br>This is a great time to ride, slightly cooler ...

... en gländewage ;o) am bowman lake acho, hämm** eus wand**tüchtig gmacht und sind loszoge, in wald ine und em see nah. Trotz warntafle hämm** kei<br>grizzlies atroffe, was eus ehrlich gseit rächt gsi isch. Wo mir zrug gsi sind, hani mi wiä üblich uf **kundigstour im see gmacht. S'isch gar nöd sooo chalt gsi, au wänn en iheimische gfunde hät, ich spinni und ob ich vo schwede chäm ;o) isch ä h**rlichi abchüelig gsi!<br>

... and never grip the side of the horse with your legs.  The stirrups were longer and you bottom wedged into the saddle pretending that you were balancing a bowl of punch between your legs with a curved back &#8211; as if you were riding a Harley. Forget posture, slouch those shoulders and you are off.  The only similarity was that the balls of your feet were on the stirrups.  <br><br>It was hard to erase all that we learnt and we looked a couple of ...

... the kids were cooking smores (called smores from the term &#8220;do you want somemore &#8211; s&#8217;mores)  This is a gooey cocktail of charcoaled marshmellows  with a layer of chocolate wedged between two sweet biscuits  - great for the kids as they roasted their own marshmellows on twigs.  Fun evening finishing with us all crashing into the crisp linen and soft mattress after a warm, clean shower with crisp towels (things we used to take for granted. 

... as I wanted. There aren't many campgrounds east of Seattle and one appears by its website to be near the interstate and is all pavement and I am waiting for a call back from another one. Some people we met from TN at the Yellowstone campground told us about a campground near the Olympic National Park so they have a site for us when we leave Seattle. After that Oregon and then heading for home.