15 October 2022, Saturday 

At 5 am we’re up and packing Vincent. I take Lucy for a pre-sunrise walk. O sweeps the cabin floor, then I vacuum the rug and the lower of the bunks, which is a bit furry since Lucy decided to sleep there last night.

We drive along the narrow road that winds through the Jefferson River Canyon. I take it slowly in the dark. The sun has yet to rise when we find an Exxon station. We fill Vincent’s tank and purchase a precautionary jug of DEF. We are back on the road driving towards Missoula and the Catalyst Cafe when the sun finally rises, painting morning clouds pink and purple.

In Missoula we find the cafe easily. It’s the one with all the people clustered outside. The hostess is very friendly. She takes my order, chilaquiles for O (it’s why we chose this restaurant) and blueberry buckwheat waffles for me. She offers to fill our Yeti cups with coffee while we wait for our order which should be ready in 20-25 minutes. O and I walk back to Vincent to get our Yeti cups. We stand outside in the cool morning air sipping our coffee. Our order is brought out precisely at 10, 22 minutes after we ordered. Breakfast is delicious! I finish my waffles well before O finishes his gigantic “half order” of chilaquiles. He still has at least 1/3 of his breakfast to go, so I drive some more while he enjoys his favorite meal.

At the Quartz Flat rest area O takes over driving. Our next stop will be the Jeremiah Johnson Brewery and Restaurant in Coeur D’Alene. We had tried to get some of their scotch ale while we were in Three Forks, but the little grocery store there was out. Rather than search out a grocery in Missoula, I searched for Jeremiah Johnson on line and found out we would be driving very close to the brewery. O ends up doing a very long shift of driving to Coeur D’Alene. Once there he goes in search of beer while Lucy and I go for a walk. We meet back at Vincent. O is carrying a case of the scotch ale.

It’s my turn to drive for the final 45 minute shift to Pitcher and Bowl campground in Riverside State Park near Spokane. After we arrive and park Vincent at our campsite, Lucy, O and I walk over the “swinging bridge” across the Spokane River to view the Pitcher and Bowl. This is yet another feature carved by the great Missoula floods. It’s a pleasant walk through the ponderosa pine woods with basalt rock formations above the deep blue-green river which rushes by below. We see mergansers, geese and cormorants in the river. 

Back at camp we cook dinner – mostly for me. O is still pretty full from his chilaquiles. Then we go for a short walk through the woods overlooking the river. We’ll get up early again tomorrow to cook breakfast in camp before we begin our 280 mile home stretch. We are very much looking forward to seeing our granddaughter (and her parents, of course.) We are also looking forward to a shower. We’ve decided to skip showering here in the campground. There’s only one men’s and one women’s shower. Tokens are needed and 1 token only gets you three minutes of water. We can wait until we get home!