Arriving in Coeur D’ Alene, Idaho by lunchtime, we set up camp quickly to meet with our Fantasy Tour Wagonmasters to have our pictures taken for the group roster, receive our name badges, and to fill out the consents absolving Fantasy of liability if we come to grave harm along this journey (always a morale booster!).

Our official Rally Day activities began at 3:00 with a meet and greet orientation.  With a heavily laden hors d’oeuvres table and drinks included our Wagonmasters and Tailgunners were good hosts.  At this meeting we all introduced ourselves and received pertinent information about how this tour works.  We learned about optional side trips like white-water rafting (no, thank you), float plane trips (again, no, thank you) and a dinner theatre evening in Denali (well, okay!).  We received our trip logs outlining each day’s drive and what to expect (grades, landmarks, bad roads, gas stops…) and we all set up our walkie-talkies to the same channel so we can communicate with one another on the road.  We have a total of 19 rigs in this caravan.  And, though we will be staying at the same places and doing the same activities, we do not necessarily drive down the road together.  We can stop where we want to stop, do what we want to do as we drive through these splendid places.  Our only responsibility is to let our Tailgunner know if we plan on arriving late to camp since he is the one who as the name implies brings up the rear to handle any unfortunate scenarios any of us may encounter along the way.

We had another full day in Coeur D’ Alene before our Welcome Dinner so we took advantage of the time to have the poor little Kia washed (she was mighty dirty) and to investigate the downtown area.  This little town is beautiful!  Restaurants and shops line its streets with flower baskets hanging from every light post.  It sits on Lake Coeur D’Alene which is huge and has a large city park and marina along its waterfront.  We were quite impressed!

Dinner with the group that evening was at a floating restaurant on this lake about ½ mile from the campground.  It was a great meal and a nice way to end our stay in this area.

ONWARD TO CANADA!