After Seattle - or, I should say, Kirkland, because I was never really in Seattle - I drove back to Idaho, where I had been prior to my return leg into Canada where I ended up in Vancouver.

The reason I came back here may in retrospect seem on the wrong pretext, but I fully enjoyed my two nights return to this part of the US. It gave me a time to relax.

Cœur d'Aléne, or Coeur d'Alene as the Americans spell it, is a fun and pretty enough town in Northern Idaho, but other than that, I doubt it is a city that has a place in the collective conscience of the American people. Perhaps due to its strange name? Cœur d'Aléne means 'heart of the awl', an awl being a tool to make hole in things. This term was applied by French fur traders in the region to the Native Americans, because of their sharp wit and cunning trading skills.

When the British traders came to the region, they just used the French name - of course pronounced completely incorrectly, as English is basically just French with bad pronounciation - and the name has stuck ever since.

I actually stayed nearby in Post Falls, but I did see Coeur d'Alene and enjoyed both stays in Post Falls. Particularly my return stay, where I stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast. Indeed, until McBride in British Columbia, I had so far only stayed at hotels and motels (except for the nights I stayed with friends).

Breakfast at Ida Home. Highly recommedable.

And there I had a realisation of how enjoyable a B&B can be. And this, Ida Home, was particularly enjoyable. Indeed, that may have been the most satisfying part of the whole ordeal.

But before this entry just turns into an advertisement for this particular Bed and Breakfast, let me also give a shout out to Les Schwab, a tyre garage chain in the United States.

My left rear wheel was leaking air, and so I had it checked out at a local Les Schwab. The problem turned out to be a nail. The tyre was repaired and was soon back on my vehicle. Despite the quickness and quality of service, I was asked for no charge. Much to my surprise.

I guess not everything here is about money. Good to see that at least some of my prejuidices proven wrong.