Coeur d'Alene, ID and Missoula, MT

On Wednesday, I left Tacoma and headed to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, driving through snow covered mountains in the process. After seeing truck after truck pull over to put chains on their tires, I figured I would put my chains on just to be safe. After trying for ten minutes, I decided that it would be a lot easier to find someone who knows how to properly install the chains that would be willing to help me out. I pulled off the interstate and into the closest gas station. There, I asked the two men at the register if chains were necessary. I must have worded the question poorly because I received a handful of answers that included both yes and no. The phrase “$500 fine” was also tossed around. Still unsure of whether or not I needed them, I paid one of the men to put them on. Less than two miles down the road, there was a place to take your tire chains off. Well played, men at the gas station. Well played.

Feeling as though I only got a small fraction of my money’s worth, I decided to keep my chains on just in case. From that point on, there was no snow on the interstate, so I decided to pull off onto a side road and drive around in some snow, just because I had the chains on. After that, I took them off and continued on my way.

I made it to Coeur d’Alene just as the sun was setting. Once I arrived at my hosts’ house, I let myself in with the spare key that they had left for me. Since my phone had been blowing up during the drive, my first instinct was to check all my messages and updates as soon as I got in the house. I didn’t even bother to turn the lights on since my hosts weren’t due back for several more hours. By the time I finished checking everything, the sun had set and it was now dark out. It was at this point that the door opened and one of my hosts walked in to his dark house to find a stranger sitting on his couch. SURPRISE! After I apologized and assured him that I don’t usually sit in dark houses of people that I have never met before, we spent some time getting to know each other.

The next day, I went to the Coeur d’Alene Health Care and Rehab Center to help the Activities Director. Our activities included visiting, setting up a Christmas tree, tic-tac-toe, and card tricks (of course). After my work there was done, I called the office of the church that I was scheduled to stay at the next day. It turns out that the woman that I had been in contact with for eight months no longer works at the church… So the plot thickens.

After clearing up some confusion, on Friday, I took off and headed to Missoula, Montana. After getting all settled in, I went with the youth minister to help set up for Saturday’s Junior High Youth Rally. We arrived at 7:00pm. It turns out that people were actually supposed to show up at 7:00am the next day… With some newfound free time, we grabbed a pizza and ended up talking for a while.

On Saturday morning, I went to help set up for the youth rally at the University of Montana. After pulling up to the parking ticket dispenser and paying $10 for all day parking, I pulled around the lot and saw a small sign that said “Parking enforced M-F”… So parking on weekends is free, but the machine was still programmed to take my money anyways? Fantastic!

After taking some time to mourn the loss of my $10, I headed in to help set up. I helped out at the rally from 8:30am to 8:30pm. During that time, I ran into two students that I worked with two years ago in Browning, Montana, on the mission trip that inspired this one! It’s crazy how things came full circle!

Thank you to Tyler and Kiera for hosting me. Thank you to the staff at Coeur d’Alene Health Care and Rehab Center for taking great care of your residents. Thank you to St. Anthony’s Parish for hosting me. Thank you to the Catholic Youth Coalition, all of the youth ministers, and everyone involved in the Junior High Youth Rally. And thank you to all of you who continue to support me and pray for me!