Sunday, July 13, 2008

Idaho

After Abbey's passing, we re-evaluated our situation at Usk, WA. Our lot was at least 2 years out from being completed. Restrictions on rigs coming in were not being enforced. We felt very unsettled. While reading FMCA Magazine, Donna came across an ad for a motor home-only RV park in Blanchard ID. This park is located in a golf course community. After consulting our map book, we discovered that it was a mere 30 miles south of Usk. A road trip was in order!

We made the trip on a Monday, and stopped at the sales office to arrange a tour. WOW! The village has it's own lodge, pool and spa, and has concrete pads with utilities already installed. And, the purchase includes membership to the golf resort. We told them we'd think about it, and would come back down in a week or so. Bright and early Tuesday, we drove back down. Then again on Wednesday. On Thursday we came back with the rig. Made an offer. Done deal. We had relocated. We bought a golf cart, had a shed built, and settled in. Check out the resort's website at www.stoneridgeidaho.com.



Entrance to the Motor Coach Village

Front view looking thru greenbelt


View from the side showing the rig, golf cart & shed

Lake Sans Souci
We are approximately 40 minutes from either Spokane, WA or Coeur d'Alene, ID. Just far enough away to be away from traffic and big cities, but close enough to get there for errands. Also, each city has a Costco and a WalMart.

So far, the only drawback has been a lack of a good, consistent cell phone signal. This is Verizon territory, but coverage ends on the north and south sides of Blanchard. The owner of the resort, the community, as well as the emergency services people are lobbying hard for a new tower that will give us good coverage. We did take a Jeep trip up one of the local mountains that has a tower on it, so we saw 4 bars for a little while.


View of the resort from a nearby mountain

Since we now summer on a golf resort, I've been playing again. Poorly, but I'm working on it. I also decided to upgrade my clubs, which I got in the early 1980's. The new club technology should help me (at least that's what I've been told!). It's been fun hitting all the local golf shops and trying out clubs - their computers and lasers track your swing, and show you the results of each ball you hit. I finally settled on a complete "seniors" set from Adams Golf, so I now have no excuses! My first round with them did drop my score by 10 strokes - not bad for starters!

We've made lots of new friends, and Donna even has a quilter friend - I golfed with her husband, and he mentioned she was a quilter. They've started up a group that meets once a week.

I'll try and update the blog a little more diligently as we make little side trips in the area. We will be here until about the 3rd week in August, then will head to Albany, OR for a Country Coach rally.