Missoula and on to Grand Coulee Dam

Thurs Sep 22, Day 24 Clear & sunny, hot in Grand Coulee
Sheila wanted to go into Missoula to look around the historical district etc. So off she went returning about 12:15. I unhooked, relaxed, looked around & waited for Sheila to return. We left the RV park at 12:35. While driving down the hwy I came around a gentle curve at full speed to see a blown tire tread right in my lane in front of me; there was a car right beside me so I couldn’t move over, I hit it with my right front tire & ran over it, a thump at the front & that was it. We stopped for gas at a Flying J station 2 miles short of the WA border because I had looked up & found that gas is a lot cheaper in Idaho then in Washington, plus I get a 2 cent per gallon discount with my Flying J Frequent Fueler card; into Flying J at 145994, 3:40 & out at 4:00. Sheila phoned the Grand Coulee RV Park & made a reservation. Sheila drove after the gas stop until almost into Grand Coulee. I drove into Grand Coulee RV arriving at 6:30 at 146165. However as we had crossed back into Pacific Daylight time it was now 5:30. We unhooked I discovered that the connector plug from the RV to the Focus for the brake lights etc was pulled loose from the RV and was dragging on the ground & the RV plug end was gone, just loose wires. We also discovered that the electric steps wouldn’t come down and there were some loose wires dangling under the steps. And the fitting for the propane BBQ at the rear had pulled loose. I asked Dennis the camp ground owner if he knew of an RV place. He looked at the plug for the Focus & said he could fix that, and then he looked under the electric steps & found a plug that had separated. When plugged in the steps worked fine. He said he would fix the RV-to-Focus plug tomorrow morning. There are still one or two loose wires under & near the steps who knows what they are for.
Sheila cooked us a nice supper and we went down for the light show on the Dam. They opened the spillways and had water coming down over a 1650 ft (503 Metre) long expanse. They did the laser show on the water coming down the spillway. It was a story of the Columbia throughout history & a bit about the dam construction & benefits, interspersed with dancing coloured shapes to music. It was 35 minutes long and I enjoyed it, although Sheila wasn’t thrilled by the laser light shapes & designs. It started at 8:30 and it was nice & warm, the car showed 22C,(72F), on the drive back up to the campground, at 5PM it hadbeen 26C, (79F).

We drove 439 km, 273 miles- Sheila drove 1¼ hours.