We left home at about quarter to six Saturday morning, after a hearty breakfast of eggs-over-easy and toast with peanut butter. Grumpy always lasts longer on peanut butter than just butter and jam. Topping off our gas tank on our way out of town, we were on I-90 heading east at legal speed -- more or less. The Grand Mother muttered uneasily about "what was the speedlimit?" and "shouldn't we be higher off the ground if we are going to fly?" -- other comments equally humorous.
We had told my cousin Ed Zierlein and his wife Sara that we would like to have lunch with them in Coeur d'Alene around noon. As the miles whizzed by, however, Grumpy realized that we were going to arrive in C d'A much before noon. This in spite of some road work slow-downs and two rest stops along the way (Grumpy had planned on three rest stops, but the Grand Mother was more accommodating than that!). So, at the last rest stop near "our dream home site" (Sprague Lake) Grumpy contacted the Zierlein household via cell phone to advise of our impending arrival in an hour or so.
We were pleasantly surprised to meet Ed & Sara's daughter, Mia, who had arrived just that previous night after several days journey from Iraq. We had an enjoyable visit and then went to lunch with Ed and Sara (Mia preferring to stay at the house and catch up on some much-missed shut-eye) at a little restaurant called Moontime Cafe. The sandwiches there looked delicious -- Grumpy had soup and the Grand Mother had a salad, which also looked particularly scrumptious.
Hopping back on the Interstate we were soon over the Mullan Pass into Montana and at the Silver Dollar Bar/Restaurant/Motel/Gas Station/Casino. Having travelled 351 miles, we were glad for our reservations and immediately freshened up in our room before having an early dinner at the restaurant, buying a few souvenirs and then early to bed.
The next morning (Sunday) we had breakfast at the restaurant and topping off the gas tank (@$3.099/gal) headed on to Livingstone MT, our next night's lodging. Again, encountering no obstacles other than some more one lane detours for road repairs, we arrived early in Livingstone (10:30). We were told that, although we had reservations for our room, it wouldn't be ready until about 4 in the afternoon. So we spent several hours exploring Livingstone (one of my favorite Montana towns because of some hospitality shown to us many years ago), finding Sacajawea park, the Rodeo Grounds and a tent market in the park downtown.
Tomorrow (2 July) should be a more eventful day as we meet our old friends from 1949 or so, Dee and Wilbur Warnick (ex-School of Mines) and also our former foster twin-children, Kathy and Karl Wurtz in Buffalo WY. We hope to be there by about noon.
Tune in again for Part II.
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