Part II- The Moscow Debacle- or was it?

Friday August 8 through Saturday August 9- CONTINUED

We left the Nez Perce Reservation not long after crossing the Clearwater. Arriving in Moscow, the GPS leads us to the Latah Fairgrounds. The partial hookup RV sites are dead ahead and to the right.. We notice the full hookup sites has no vacancy and are designed for small RV’s . We didn’t go far enough and wound up on the other side of a fence from the partial hookup sites. It appears as if only one is available. Driving back to where we can access the sites we find a lady in a SUV holding down the only available site, waiting for her RV to come fill the spot. We drove by them on the way in………. She waits and waits. It appears as if we got snaked out of the site so we set the brake and start calling around looking for available RV spots. We are batting .1000 meaning no one has availability due an event in town We’d better find a spot or we’ll be camping in a turnout alongside US95!

The RV finally drives up and the man and woman start yacking- for at least 15 minutes but don’t back the RV into the site. We can’t wait for them to make a decision. By this time we have a lead on an available site, are about to leave when both of them get in their vehicles and move to the no fee dry camping area, I guess to save a buck on site fees- even though they are camping in a $500,000 rig. Well, thanks for letting us know you were not taking the site. After all we were parked a whole 100′ away and watched as you made your indecions and you never thought to tell us the site was available. Humph!

City of Palouse, Washington Municipal RV Park

No matter. A municipal RV park has availability in Palouse WA about 14 miles up the road. Palouse (1015 souls) is named for the geographic region in which it lies. The Palouse River runs through town. It’s only 20 minutes away, has full hookups and a pull through site available. We’ll take it! The drawback is that its only available tonight. That’s OK, we’ll find another one night stand up the road.

Palouse, Washington

The Palouse RV park is small, maybe 20 sites with 6 pull throughs. There is a municipal park across the street, ideal for walking the mutzos. This park is much nicer than the fairgrounds in Moscow so rather than badmouth the inconsiderate RVing couple by at the Latah Fairgrounds I should thank them.

The park across from the RV Park. Notice the very modern children’s amenities

We enjoyed our stay at the Palouse RV Park. Our neighbors were courteous and quiet, even the young’uns. And everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

We can’t go to our next reserved spot as we are still a day early. i don’t like making reservations for this reason- what if there are unplanned changes such as the fairground debacle? And we do have reservations across three states through the middle of September. I’d much rather wing it but that’s been very hard to do since the beginning of COVID. Luckily another RV Park up the road has lots of sites available. It’s located on the road to Heyburn State Park I think Idaho 5.. It’s not located near the lake like the state park is so it isn’t as popular. Our Garmin GPS can’t find the RV park nor Plummer (1015 souls), the town it is near. The Google Maps found it easily. Maybe there’s an update for the Garmin……… We’ll be staying at Soaring Hawk RV Resort in Plummer ID.

Saturday morning is not a normal for a travel day. We don’t have far to go, maybe an hour down the road. So we take the dogs across the street to the park, do a little cleaning, look for interesting things to see on our route. We leave after 10oo hours and take a leisurely drive up US95.

Palouse means short thick grass. Today many crops are raised on the Palouse- wheat, lentils, barley, garbanzo beans are the major crops grown Additionally some canola and other oilseed crops are also cultivated. The palouse extends from Idaho to southeastern Washington.

As we head back to US95 we enjoy the beauty of the crops growing on the Palouse. Heading once again north on US 95 we leave the Palouse in favor or rolling hills covered with forest then back into farmland. Tiny Tedsed (84 souls) is the first sign of civilization we come to.

We enter another Native American Reservation, that of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe. Worley (257 souls) is a small town within the Rez. Not far up the road is the Coeur d’Alene Casino.

The Coeur d’Alene Casino

We are back into forested hills once again. Reaching Plummer (1015 souls) we turn onto Idaho 5 traveling 3 miles east looking for the sign that will lead us to our campground, Going a steady speed up the hill we see a small sign mounted down low. We can’t read it but the GPS confirmed that’s where we turn.

Wonderful Views from Soaring Hawk RV Resort

We hang a hard right and another quick right and a the gravel road up the hill. If not for the GPS we would have missed the turnoff for sure! Not a road one normally finds leading to an RV resort. The office is a nice building with a beautifully finished pine floor, large picture windows overlooking a killer view. Wow! The gal at the check in states that she is related to the owners and she comes to visit and help out every summer. I mention how difficult it is to read the sign. She states that the tribe will not allow anything larger. She hops in a golf cart and takes us to our site. The RV park is on top of a hill with killer views. Although they call themselves a “resort” there are zero amenities which would qualify it as a “resort” in my opinion. It’s an RV park, sites are gravel and nicely spaced, and it’s nice one at that. There is lots of open space to walk the dogs amongst the pines which is much appreciated by all four of us.

It’s a good stop. Sometimes changed plans work out for the better. It did this time!