A C182 Private pilot on short final following a long straight in approach to COE suffered a ground conflict with a light twin which pulled onto the runway for takeoff in front of him.

Narrative

Enroute to COE with flight following I was roughly following the ILS localizer for Runway 05 to navigate to the airport; which I had never been to. When I switched to the local COE frequency; I heard two other planes approaching; one about 12 miles out and one about 20; but none in the pattern. I think I made two calls indicating a straight-in approach and my distance. After I called at about three miles; a kid in a twin announced he was taking off on Runway 05 at Coeur d'Alene. I couldn't see anyone on the runway or the nearby taxiways. I wondered if I was at the wrong airport; or if he was on another runway and mistaken. Then I saw a white twin with very long wings fast-taxiing up to the runway. He pulled onto the end of the runway in a take-off position and seemed to stop. Several thoughts went through my mind; some not rational in retrospect. 'Does he expect me to fly over him and land?' 'If he goes; will I have enough space to land behind him?' 'It's illegal to have two planes on the runway at the same time at an uncontrolled airport.' 'I can't do a go-around or missed approach because he might climb into me.' I decided I had to get away from the runway; so I banked left; started climbing; and radioed 'Skylane XXX circling left because of the plane on the runway.' The kid immediately radioed 'That wasn't necessary; I was off the runway almost immediately.....Oh! I guess you were close!......Sorry.' It sounded like he had just seen me on his left. I climbed to three or four hundred feet AGL while turning; concentrating hard on keeping up airspeed and a low bank angle; and making sure there were no obstructions. I hadn't heard anyone else in the pattern; but I was still reluctant to climb into the pattern; so I continued around to final again; making a call for turning final. I either did a lousy circle or drifted in a crosswind; because I overshot runway alignment; continued the circle until I was lined up again; and made a normal landing; but too far down the runway to make the midfield exit. So I taxied the two-thirds mile or so to the end of the runway. I had never considered this type of emergency; so I didn't have a plan. I assume turning away was the only possible action; but should I have climbed to traffic pattern altitude and extended into a normal pattern? I suggest having pilots at safety seminars consider what they would do. And I recommend that flight schools teach their students that it's always better to wait for a takeoff than to risk making a takeoff too close in front of a landing plane. I did some dangerous flying because this kid couldn't wait a minute. I'm glad my wife has developed confidence in me or that might have been the last flight she went on with me.