Not sure why the route changed from right up US 97 to the Canadian border to a run to the east to Spokane WA, but it did. It may have had something to do with fewer miles and less time in fuel pricier Canada. It may have been the availability of an Elks Lodge (#228) with an RV park run by The Wheelin’ Elks. Add to both of the above the opportunity to continue through Idaho and add yet another state to our rapidly filling map and I guess there are enough reasons.
On the way we stopped at Steamboat Rock State Park just south of Grand Coulee Dam for a couple of nights so we could tour the dam 
and see the area. 
Got to Spokane on Friday and could not agree on how long we would stay so we paid for three nights. It is now Tuesday and Carol is doing laundry so we will not be moving before Wednesday. I have a faucet to replace in the rear sink which if all goes well should take less than an hour. Well it took almost an hour and I am not sure that it is totally tight, but it will hold. The pump is not cycling which means any leak is minimal if not just my imagination.
Last night we had a complete Seder for two. Carol prepared a wonderful meal to which I added chicken to satisfy my craving for meat to make it a feast for me. We dug out the Haggadot, which we have carried for several years now, and took our time over the entire order. It was very interesting, but certainly the children and grandchildren were missed.
As we relaxed after clearing up the remains Carol noticed that the furnace was running and running and blowing cool air. At 10:30 pm it did not seem likely I would find a service person. We turned off the furnace, which kept on blowing. I disconnected the electric and turned off the master power to the coach which did shut the furnace down until I turned the power back on and it resumed blowing, not good. As I undid the screws to open the furnace compartment, it shut down, at last! After a brief hesitation, the usual count to 10, I had Carol turn the furnace back on while I held my breath. The fan resumed blowing and after the usual pause the gas valve opened and the flame ignited. We did not have a chilly night after all. There is no good explanation for this heart stopper, but I will have it looked at when we get into an RV service place.
In Spokane we have been to the Post office, to mail tax stuff to various government entities, toured the river front and attended a play. Oh yes we also drove to Coeur D’Alene, ID just because we could. The post office turned into a mess. They only have General Delivery at the main post office in downtown Spokane. I had had our mail directed to a branch in Spokane Valley, about 2 miles from the Elks Lodge. The mail was delivered to the branch and was there on Friday when we went to pick it up, but they would not acknowledge that they had it as they don’t do general delivery there. We went downtown, but the package had not been transferred there and would not be there until Monday. Little did I know that the package had a checkbook that would have saved a lot of grief in finalizing my tax payments. I found that out on Monday after I mailed all the checks and returned to the coach with the still unopened package. Lesson learned, but I am not sure what the lesson is.
While we wandered downtown Spokane after the post office we found the Loof Carrousel – sorry about the lighting –
and the Spokane Falls Skyride. 
Had to go on the skyride. 
More walking around brought us to
which has a companion store “Atticus” which sells goods for a more mature clientele.
Retracing to Portland for just brief paragraph. We had not been to the northwestern most corner of Oregon by the time we got to Portland and we had wanted to see where Lewis and Clark had wintered so we drove to Astoria OR and then out to Fort Clatsop. Since it is all reconstructed we did not bother with many pictures, but we did stop to see a demonstration of firing a muzzle loader.
This is a fairly typical shot, nice frame and balance not much interest. Sometimes you just get lucky with the timing:
