Nine days out and counting!  Finally spent enough time in the Palouse region of southwest Washington to get some decent images.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the incredible landscapes in this area.  A friend from Bellevue, Dirk, made a stop from his own road trip to come and explore the region with us for a few days.   Drove most all of the farm roads, both paved and unpaved, and saw wonderful sites - - Palouse Falls, Steptoe Butte, etc.

I'm happy to report that small town, rural America is alive and well in this part of the country!  The pictures below attest to that fact and the things we saw only enriched our explorations and added some great fun to our journey.  Each small farm community had its own character and were a delight to visit.

So far, the RV experience is going very well.  Towing 'Kody' the trailer over a mountain pass (Snoqualmie) for the first time was nearly effortless for 'Kermit' the Tahoe, and once again, I was able to back into our camp spot at the Lyons Ferry KOA and Marina on the Snake River near Starbuck.  I must admit, however, that the backing process was a little more time consuming and a bit more tedious this time - - my guide and spouse had trouble deciding just where I should be backing to, and how far, so my vision in the side mirrors was of him frantically waiving both arms in circles while our friend and guest stood chuckling.  We WILL get better at this!  All systems seem to be A-OK at this point.  We're getting hooked and unhooked a little faster each time we do it.

During a rainstorm a few days ago 'prudence' came calling to our little home on wheels and we decided to secure some campground reservations in areas where we intend to be during busy tourist times.  Sure glad we did - - even at the end of September, the campgrounds in Zion NP were nearly full already!

Tomorrow we'll hitch up and drive to Boise, ID to visit a friend from high school and get acquainted with that region.  Then we're heading east to Craters of the Moon National Monument where we'll explore the lava flow and the surrounding areas.  We were supposed to leave today, but some pretty high winds blew in and I decided I really did not want to tow in those conditions.  Nice to have the freedom to make those decisions on the spur of the moment.  That's one of the things we're enjoying about the RV adventure so far . . . nine days out and counting!