Saturday, April 26, 2008

Cour d? Lane

My daughter is off on an overnight camping trip with friends from school; "somewhere in Idaho, Mom". She's driving herself and three others from Spokane with tents and sleeping bags and they plan to meet up with several dozen other students from her "Business Fraternity" for their annual camping event.

She knows by now that a retort like that about "somewhere in Idaho" will be followed by a merciless list of questions on my part, especially when I learn that she can't let me know when she arrives "cuz it's out in the middle of no where". Admonishments by text message stating, "don't drink" were followed by responses like, "don't drink where?" which translates to an agreement not to drive while under the influence but leaves open the possibility of drinking at said campsite. Ahhhh. Deep breath in; deep breath out. Then, my mind drifts to the next adrenalin fix as I consider the typical association between camping sites and bodies of water (and drinking); another ominous mix. So, I texted her again with a second admonition, "promise me you won't do anything involving water; water and drinks are as bad as DUI" to which she responded, "Yea, I won't go in water."

The best part was her text to me: "check ur email". She had promised to forward me the driving directions she'd be using to navigate to the campsite so that I'd have some idea in what general area of the great state of Idaho she might be pitching her tent for the night. I've learned that it is northeast of the delightful township of "Cour d? lane". Looks like the apostrophe key morphed into the question mark key on this keyboard and the proud city of Coeur d'Alene has a new American cousin. Gotta love it!

Directions to the campsite
1. Take East I-90 towards Cour d? lane
2. Keep going past the city towards Kellogg
3. Take exit #43, Kingston/Thomson pass (if you make it to Kellogg you went about 10 miles to far)
4.-6....etc etc.... (I omitted the boring in between details)You will see signs that say campground, DO NOT FOLLOW THEM)
7. Pavement will end. Drive slowly and watch for potholes (they?re really hard to see).
8. Its 5.2 miles in on the left from the left hand turn. I will post a sign for you all to see. If your car is low to the ground you may want to leave it on the road. Good Luck!!!!

Oy.

2 comments:

  1. Deep breaths Kitty. This might make you feel better (and I can't remember if my mom knows this or not). I stayed in AZ after my junior year and was working in a pizza joint. My roommate and I met a guy in a record shop buying an Allman Bros. cd while we were buying a Blues Traveler cd. We commented that we liked each other's tastes in music... He said that in two nights there was a 3 day music festival in Telluride, CO (along with Jackson Browne, Joe Cocker, Dave Matthews - pre tons of fame - and many other bands). My roommate and I looked at each other and knew - we were IN! The guy asked if he could hitch a ride (rather than to buy a plane ticket back). Sure. Long story short. We left two days later around midnight (I had to work at the pizza joint that night...)and drove through the night to Durango, CO (just outside of Telluride - where this guy lived actually - his name was Pete). We got in around 6am I think. Went to this guy's apartment to take a nap (he seemed like a nice guy - he was). Then off to the concert the next day (after his buddies joined us). The concert was awesome that first night. The only catch with Telluride was that all the attendees couldn't camp in Telluride....so we drove just outside the city limits and parked on the side of the road and slept outside in sleeping bags with our new friends. The rest of the weekend was a lot more like this - and then we drove home just in time for me to work my next shift at the pizza place. Laura's fine. Relax... =) I have many more of these stories (much to my mom's chagrin) that I can share to always reassure you that there is much worse that can be done. =) Much love to you.

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  2. Jeanne - I am not sure these comments make Kate feel better ;-)

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