Due to brutal weather conditions this was not a good picture taking week... only one pic as shown below.
Well, the weather forecasts were not improving a lot. There looked to be a severe winter storm about to hit the Washington northeast area, so when we saw a brief window of opportunity, to get to Spokane, we jumped at it. The forecast for Sunday looked to be relatively clear. We got up early in Portland and hit the road.
The highway along the Columbia river valley was in excellent shape with no snow down that low yet. Just a bit wet with the danger of being slick with quite low temperatures. We stopped for a brief lunch along the way and arrived in Spokane late afternoon.
As we approached Spokane the temperature dropped, the wind increased and it started to snow. We had thought we might stay in the KOA just east of Spokane but that thought was dashed as we approached. We hit a couple of small black ice spots which made us think seriously about what we wanted to do. Listening to the local radio weather reports convinced us that we should head for a hotel instead of the KOA. While we could keep the small trailer fairly warm with our heater, the thought of having to go out to the restroom at 3:00 AM in very cold temperatures was less than appealing.
We had previously stayed in the Mirabeau Park Hotel so decided to give it a try. They were ok with us parking across multiple spaces just outside our room so that we could run electric cords out to both the trailer and the car (we had stuff in the trailer which we really didn't want to get frozen solid). As a bonus, after they found out we were Canadian, they reduced the rate about 10% (apparently a couple of the owners were Canadian as well). So we hunkered down for the night. It snowed about 3 inches overnight and the news/weather reports on the local tv stations showed a brutal situation with many cars off the road and numerous accidents. We decided it would be a good idea to sit tight for at least another day.
Never having driven with a trailer in these conditions, we took the opportunity to do a bit of test driving around Spokane. Sticking to main streets we soon realized that our small trailer pulled just fine in the road conditions at hand. No problems stopping and starting and no issues with skidding if we were careful. Turns out buying those new all season tires was a good move after all. We drove around a bit, went to a Starbucks for a coffee where we sat and read, then drove down to the Spokane Valley Mall where we went to the new Harry Potter movie then to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner before returning to the hotel to await what Tuesday would bring weatherwise.
Tuesday was not much better. In fact the news/weather reports indicated many local area highways were closed, high winds up in north Idaho and more accidents. The basic advise was "if you don't have to go out today then don't". We didn't so we decided to stay another day. Repeat of driving... Starbucks, movie and the Outback Steakhouse again. The movie was Due Date. Likely one of the worst we have seen in a long, long time if not ever. Even the dog wasn't funny.
Tuesday night the forecast changed a bit with news of a bitterly cold front hitting the area but little if any more snow. Wednesday morning forecast was clear and bitterly cold with the winds in north Idaho abating. We saw this as an opportunity as the forecast for Thursday was another arctic front hitting with the possibility of much more snow... time to make a dash if we could.
We got up Wednesday morning and were ready to leave by daybreak. As forecast it was clear and very cold. The temperature shown in our Nissan was -23 C. We decided to give it a go. If we could get to Cranbrook then we would be only one day from home. If we couldn't get that far then maybe we could get at least to Bonners Ferry in north Idaho and be just a jump from the border. Well, the freeway to Coeur d'Alene was clear and easy going. Turning north towards Sandpoint and the border we found the highway to be in excellent winter driving condition. The morning stayed clear and before we knew it we had completed a beautiful drive up through Sandpoint to Bonners Ferry and were on our way to the border. There was virtually no traffic on the roads. Nice.
When we arrived at the border it was -22 C and there were no other cars around. The border agent asked us the obligatory questions and sent us on our way. The road north of the border was more compact snow but again very little traffic so we took our time and headed to Cranbrook. Much to our surprise we made Cranbrook by noon so decided to take advantage. We stopped for a quick lunch then headed north to Radium.
We arrived in Radium mid afternoon but decided that was enough for one day. We stayed overnight at the Prestige Inn where they have a very nice indoor swimming pool and hot tub which we decided to use rather than drive up to the hot springs. Nice meal in the hotel restaurant and called it a night.
Thursday we hit the road around 10:00 AM. Again there was very little traffic on the highway to Banff. We were able to take our time and enjoy a beautiful clear (albeit cold) drive through the snowy mountains. Beautiful. After stopping for a quick coffee in Canmore we headed off on the final stretch to the trailer storage yard just west of Calgary. Parked the trailer, packed most things into the car and headed home to Calgary.
Arrived home about 4:00 PM on Thursday Nov 25th. That's it for this trip.
As a post mortem lookback... that dishwasher that went on the fritz just as we were preparing to leave on this trip... well, it turned out to be a wire short which almost caused a fire. The repair guy said we were lucky we stopped it when we did. A wire connection had come loose and the short burned it's way through two other wires. That's why when we tried to restart it we had no success. Well that's fixed. A relatively easy repair and we are back on track again.
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