18 November ‘08

Tuesday

This last weekend we took a drive around a couple of the many dikes that dot this area.  We drove right out of the campground.  This dike roadway is extremely narrow with a drop of about 30 feet on the “dry” side of the levy and 5 feet to the water on the other.  We drove past a couple of homes that were built on the “dry” side.  They rose straight up over 30 feet on a pedestal so that the first floor could take advantage of a water view.   There are islands out there as well and on some of them they have built homes that are only accessible only by boat.   Later we came upon the little town of Isleton.  The town proper was really old with little single and two story buildings that have rusting steel sheets that make up the exterior siding.  It’s also “locally” advertized that Isleton is the “Crawdad of Crawfish Capital” of the World !!!  We all know that it’s just the locals that believe this, but it’s going to get us back to have a feast on Crawdad’s.  In the last couple of days we have run into Lodi to hit Lowes and pick up some groceries, and once back here we spent time washing clothes and the coach from top to bottom.  I took the bikes off the back of the car and we’ve even been riding them a little.  Louise read about this 13 mile bike ride that takes you to a couple of wine tastings as well as a great ride along one of the dike roads.  Now let’s see if we will do it…after all, we’ve been talking about getting the kayak into the water and so far…well let’s see what’s going to happen between now and Sunday, when we travel to Madera.

14 November ‘08

Friday

I was up and out early yesterday.  The sun was shining and they promised it to be at least 75 degrees before the day was out.  As I sat in my lawn chair, coffee in hand, it was almost hard to imagine the many days of wet that we had been through the last couple of weeks, that was until I looked up and saw how terribly dirty the car and motor home were.  It was then that I knew what direction my day was going to take.  Unfortunately it all had to be done with a “bucket only wash”…  Having worked my way through the “wash”, taken a short nap in the sun, I tackled setting up the HughsNet Internet dish.  I must have had a lucky 4 leaf clover in my hand…the signal was obtained in about 3 minutes, a record for me.  I had planned to run over to Benicia to see the crew at Advanced Elements Kayaks but that will have to wait until tomorrow now.  For the second day in a row, I was out early in my lawn chair, having my coffee and enjoying the warmth of the early sun on my body….mmmm good !!! 

 Today we did make it to Benicia and we did see the crew at Advanced Elements.  I’ve now got a re-stock on catalogs and a dozen new hats to offer as gifts to those that just happen to ask (did you hear that Bruce ????).  I really enjoy going to the warehouse/office, but I enjoy hitting the water more, but that will have to wait one more day.  The rest of the day was a stop at Costco in Concord and then a run to the Napa/Sonoma wine country to do a little exploring.  The last time we were in this part of the wine country, was when our youngest daughter was 8 years old…today she’s (well let’s just say she’s over 38).  Our first stop was to visit the “Visitor Information Center” in Napa.  We were able to pick-up a map of all the wineries and get a couple of passes at the Lunde Winery for free tastings and a tour of their wine cave. 

 It was a short tour of the cave but the tasting was more than expected and of some very good wines. 

 The drive through the wine country was really pretty.  The leaves of the grape vines ran from light yellow to gold, pink, and dark burgundy, and with the contrasting hills…it was spectacular. 

 Our drive home was a little bit unusual for us.  We had become entangled in “rush hour” traffic…  Our life-style normally keeps us out of this phenomenon, but there was no way out of this one.  It took us 2 hours to go approximately 25 miles and that was done mostly in the dark, thanks to daylight savings time…  I really don’t like losing the daylight so early.  

12 November ‘08

Wednesday

Well this morning we are hoping that all will be finished with the coach.  It was supposed to be done Friday, but just as I was digging deep into my wallet, another tech walked up to say that he had another idea as to what might be our amperage draw (they couldn’t seem to find the problem over the last two days) but it would have to wait until Monday.  This gave us our weekend here which was totally filled with fun things, but it also gave us the opportunity to test the leaky slide and to test this new techs idea as well.  Unfortunately Saturday morning gave us one of the answers…our slide still leaks, not nearly as bad (which I must say wasn’t a nasty leak in the first place) but it was still wet after last night’s rain.  Now Monday and we’re back in the shop for one more day.  The topper on the slide is off and new tape is being applied as well as a small adjustment on the slide.  The electrical…well they have now definitely found what the draw is… It was found to be 2 of the 4 heating pads that sit under our holding tanks.  The answer is either to take the tanks out and replace the pads or just do without.  We are choosing to do without so if it ever gets to the point that the holding tanks could freeze, we are staying in the wrong place.  Ok, all is done… it’s still raining but not a leak in sight and now we are without a couple of heating pads but we’re all right with that as well.  Tuesday morning and still raining, we finally pulled away from Monaco Service and headed south.  A few hours later and we had crossed into California and low and behold the rain started to lighten up and then come to a stop…  It sure must be true, California needs rain and it’s shown by the lack of water in Lake Shasta.  We were by here just a year ago and the difference now is amazing.  The sloping red banks that seem to go down forever, used to be the normal lake level.  It sure looks bleak for the water needs of California.  Our first stop was Redding, California.  Just as we approached the city limits of Redding, Louise saw a road sign telling her that there was a casino in town.  Ok, you know we just had to go and after all, they have free RV parking too.  Louise really enjoys her time in the casinos so I enjoy taking her (at least most of the time…).  We walked over to the casino after setting up and made sure we signed up for our “promotion dollars ($10 each) and then took advantage of their $12 T-bone steak dinner.  I immediately lost my $10 and went home, but as usual, Louise stayed longer and merged her $10 into $32.  We were also given an additional coupon if we were to come back this morning.  It was for an additional $20ea.  And then, on top of that, the young lady that runs the shuttle gave us both one more coupon…this one for $10 each.  We decided to make short work out of these new gifts and quickly turned our new found wealth of $60 into $132 and quickly left town.  We are now sitting in our new campground beside one of the many dikes of the Sacramento River Delta. 

9 November ‘08

Sunday

After yesterday it would seem to be almost impossible to expect a second day of as much entertainment but I was wrong.  One of our neighbors here at “Camp Monaco” had mentioned one of their favorite locations to visit around here… Winchester Bay.  Winchester Bay is located about 4 miles south of Reedsport and is home to the Umpqua Coast Guard Station and Lighthouse.  The drive took us from Harrisburg (were the service / campground is located) to Florence, then down the coast to Reedsport and Winchester.  We arrived in Florence just before noon and with Louise and me leaving the coach without having breakfast, we stopped at Starbucks for a snack.  The morning drive took us on “one twisting and winding” road…oh yes, also very narrow and with not a chance of a shoulder to fall off on if need be.  With this being late Fall and raining off and on, we were pleased to see such a beautiful area that was preparing for Winter.  The falling leaves of golden colors, the deep green grasses, and the clear and flowing rivers heading out to the ocean really made this drive enjoyable.  Once at Winchester Bay we found a couple of great looking campgrounds that sat right out on the peninsula.  One in particular was very nice, and for $24 you could find yourself camping on a concrete pad that is surrounded by beautifully cut grass and sitting about 20 feet higher than the passing surf from the Pacific Ocean.  Just around the corner and up a hill, we found the Umpqua Lighthouse and viewpoint.

  While we were sitting in the car, binoculars in hand, we heard a voice telling of life around this lighthouse in the late 1800’s.  Curious, we stuck our heads out the door and were asked if we wanted to join them for a tour of the lighthouse and grounds.  Heck yes…this is just what we were looking for.  In 1881, the lighthouse was constructed with over 340,000 bricks that were made in the San Francisco area.  The glass of the reflector was not only highly polished but it was also very fragile. 

 You could chip it so easily that the caretaker had to wear special clothing, something like a large “night-shirt”.  The possibility of a belt buckle could chip a chunk of glass very easily.  Back then, the keeper of the lighthouse had to sit in an area just below the beacon, looking out over the ocean with his spotting glass.  As each ship would pass he would read the flags that were flying from the masts.  The flags would tell him the name of the ship, cargo, and the destination of the shipment.  He had to immediately post this information in a journal.  At the time when he and his family were appointed to this job, it was a not one that offered a full social life…unfortunately it was just the opposite.  After leaving the lighthouse we drove by a little “floating” seafood restaurant that looked too good to pass. 

Not only was it too good to pass, it was “totally good” food as well…we highly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.  Our first plan was to get back to the coach before dark but that didn’t work.  Now we had to drive back on that narrow, winding and twisting road in the dark while it is still raining hard and unfortunately just as hard to see.

What a week this has been…  First we were able to totally enjoy a couple of days with Ricardo and Suzie in Gresham.  As I have mentioned before, they live and have their studio in one of the most beautiful homes in the Portland area and besides that, they have room in the back for us and about 4 others to park their motor homes.  For those who know them, I’ve got to tell you they are both doing and looking GREAT and are looking forward to getting back to Cabo for the winter.  Monday morning we drove down to AM Solar in Springfield to have the solar system installed.  Dale and Deb (the owners of AM Solar) immediately welcomed us in and made us feel as comfortable as family.  We were directed to a spot behind their building to hook up to water and electrical and then invited into their office.  No sooner than the introductions were over and they were telling us of all the interesting locations in and around Eugene/Springfield.  We would be staying overnight and then first thing in the morning we would be moving inside for our installation. 

They suggested that we stay one more night just to make sure that we thoroughly understood our new system and then we could continue on heading south.  Just after we moved into the stall, Dale and his crew made a test on our electrical system to make sure that all was in good working order.  Unfortunately they found that we had a large unexplained amperage draw.  Dale told us that with the installation of the solar panels would only be making as much electricity for our batteries as we are now losing.  I’ve been thinking about going back to Colbert to have a service completed so this will give us another excuse to go see the plant were Holiday Ramblers are made.  We did have a little bit of luck, they were able to take us right in.  We had them do a complete lube, oil and filter change, and then check to see if they could help us with a water leak around the bedroom slide and check out the electrical “problem”.  We’ve now been here for 2 working and 2 non-working (Saturday and Sunday) days.  Fortunately they have a nice camping area with water and electrical hook-ups and free laundry facilities (we took advantage of those right away).  Louise and I rise early and move across the parking lot by 7:30am as they are on their way to take the coach into the shop.  Saturday morning we decided to take a day trip.  After seeing a picture hanging in a bakery we decided to find Silver Falls State Park.  The picture was of this beautiful waterfall,

and with us not having any schedule, we decided that this would be a perfect destination.  Silver Falls State Park is one of those local secrets that you can fall into once in awhile.  There are some great walking trails that take you to 10 different waterfalls that have drops from 30+ to over 170 feet. 

We could even walk around the backside of one of the largest falls…the sound of all that water crashing on the rocks below was deafening.  It was a beautiful day for such a great place to see nature at its best. 

On the way back to the coach we stopped to see the wood bridges of Scio.  In this little community they have 5 wood bridges that are still being used and one that was moved to the city park.  Someone told us that this little area is known as the “Wooden Bridge Capital Of The World”….(true???). 

Did I Just See A Ghost ???

1 November ‘08

Saturday

The last couple of weeks have been quite busy…Louise, Joelle, and I took a Mexican cooking class.  Peg and Bruce joined us while Lynn and Frank took the lead and did all the instructing.  They had a pretty good sized class (45) and the selection of food…outstanding.  Now did I learn something???  Well, I did learn that I had better be ready to get in the tasting line faster…(just kidding)  They taught us some great recipes that I truly hope to use before long.  We also celebrated Joelle and Trevor’s birthdays.  The weather held out for us long enough for Peggy and Bruce to join us for a day kayaking.

  We went to the far end of Lake Coeur d’Alene and entered into Lake Chatolat.  This is a lake within a lake which has a lot of open water but more importantly, lots of tall grass to paddle through.

  We have now left the “Panhandle” of Idaho, heading west over the Columbia River

and onto Yakima and spent a night with Leslee, Lena, and Vinny in again.  After spending the night in a grocery store parking lot, we took the Yakima River Valley road to Ellensburg.  That’s where we unhooked the toad for Louise.  She wanted to spend a couple of days with her mother and sister in Manson (Lake Chelan) so this was a good location to head north and then meet me at Fall City (Seattle) later.  This would give her a little visit before we take off on our trip down south and then onto the east coast.  Our time here at Tall Chief (our Western Horizon campground) is showing us a little Fall color. 

The weather is starting to turn pretty fast so we had better get ready for it.  Tomorrow we will be traveling down I-5 with our first stop in Gresham (Portland) to see Ricardo and Suzie.  Ricardo has been doing an incredible job of losing weight and Suzie, she’s working hard at giving up smoking…we’re proud of both of them.  Our next stop is a little further down I-5.  Junction City is the location of AM Solar, were we have an appointment to have new solar system installed. 

19 October ‘08

Sunday

In response to my family’s comments regarding the lack of entries and photos, I’m afraid to say that for some reason I’ve had less enthusiasm in writing my blog lately.  It’s got to be a little boredom in my writings, but I will get over it soon.  Having been either at Farragut or here in Coeur d’Alene for the last 3 months (the longest we have ever stayed in one place since January 2004), I’ve found myself being too much of a “couch potato”… well maybe not, but it’s been pretty much the same ole chores, scenery, and…hell, it’s just that I really want to get back on the road !!!  Inevitably when writing a daily journal over the last 4+ years, I’m lucky this was the first real dry period.  I know, it’s all the politics…the economy…old age…who knows???  Actually it’s not all that bad.  We’ve really been enjoying ourselves a lot.  We’ve had a couple of wonderful meals (and I do mean “WONDERFUL MEALS”) at Frank and Lynn’s home, met Larry and Pauline for dinner in town a couple of times (great company, incredibly bad food) and had a chance to meet Sid and Julie, good friends of Lar and Paul’s.  Sid and Julie own StanCraft Boats here in Coeur d’Alene.  They build some of the most beautiful “Classic Custom Wooden Boats” you will ever see and I wanted to put their web address here for you to see (  www.stancraftboats.com  ).  Stan also has re-built a stunning 1934 Cadillac Sedan. 

Louise and I were invited to take a ride through town with them the other night.  We sat in the backseat in TOTAL LUXURY!!!  Not only is the exterior of this car PERFECT,

the interior is even better.  This was really a treat and one that we’ll remember for a long time.  Beyond that, we’ve had a chance to spend some great time with Bruce and Peg, especially since we’re sharing the same campground.  We did take a day and visit Spokane.  Finding a parking space that wouldn’t cost us an arm and a leg wasn’t so easy, but once we did we were out to see the sites.  First we had to make a phone call…Ann, Louise’s sister, works downtown in Spokane so we called to see if she wanted to join us for lunch. 

 We met at Spokane’s Antique Merry-Go-Round in the park and headed out to find the best hotdog stand in town.  I’ve got to tell you, this “German” hotdog I had was the best hotdog I’ve ever had and we even had to eat it while sitting at the curb right in front of the largest bank in town.  Heck, it was just like one of our best haunts in Cabo…  Louise and I even rode the tram which travels down over the Spokane River and the dam.  We haven’t taken that ride since it first opened with the Spokane World’s Fair in 1974…we had some wonderful memories.  The fairgrounds have changed considerably but I think to the best, it is quite beautiful, especially when it’s warm and the sun is shining.  Last night the campground had a special visitor…  A rider rode up on his bicycle, set up his tent, pulled out his cooking gear and quickly made his dinner.  Now I know that this doesn’t always indicate “a special visitor”, but Chris and his Nomad Adventure are. 

Chris has ridden his bicycle through 5 CONTINENTS and is still going.  He is from France and has traveled over 20,000 miles so far…summer, winter, spring, and fall.  You might want to check-out his web-site www.nomadno.overblog.com.  It’s all in French but his photography is unbelievable…check it out. 

                                   Our Last Campfire at Snowberry

1 October ‘08

Wednesday

Well our time at being a camp host at Farragut State Park has once again come to an end.  Heck, this is the second time in two months and the second time in 3 years.  I must admit, we’ve had a great time and sorry to see the summer coming to an end.  We received an email from Ralph and Susan (a couple that we met at a campground in Turkey).  On the subject line Susan wrote “In Idaho”, meaning that they were in Idaho.  What they didn’t know was that Louise and I were just 18 miles away.  They had come down from their newly built home in Calgary to stay a week in a timeshare condominium they had traded into. 

All of us were caught by surprise in this coincidence.  It’s been since the 4^th of November in 2004 that Louise and I pulled into a campground in Kas, Turkey only to find a white VW Campervan from Canada sitting right next to us.  We did see each other for a quick breakfast this last December as they were heading into the Baja for the winter.  Louise and I really enjoyed their visit, short, but very enjoyable…we’ve got to do it again soon.  Now back to Farragut…  This has been a busy time for the park.  Just like Gilmore in August, Snowberry in September has been unbelievably busy.  There were quite a few mornings that we had 25 to 35 campsites to get ready for the next camper coming in.  The other day, Louise and I grabbed our ladder, put it into the car, and went up to the “Rangers Residence” area.  They have some very old and not so very well cared for apple trees.  The apples are small and aren’t very sweet but Louise wants to make applesauce.  I’ve got to hand it to her, she knows what she’s doing…the applesauce is absolutely amazing.  Well our time at Farragut has come to an end, October has arrived, and we have made the 25 miles south to Coeur d’Alene.  We are now camped within the city of CDA and will be here until the end of the month.  As we pulled into the park (Riverwalk RV Park) we were met by a couple very familiar faces.  Bruce and Peg had just returned from their European camping adventure and had beaten us here by a couple of days.  I mentioned their trip and blog in my last posting…check it out, you won’t be disappointed.  Tonight Peg joined us for the “Vice Presidential” debates and doing so, gave us lot’s to talk about.  Oh ya, I forgot to mention, we finally got our wiring problem fixed after having our new inverter put in.  We now have our microwave back…thank God.  I made an appointment with Erickson RV prior to leaving Farragut so as we pulled into CDA, we went immediately over to Erickson’s.  It is amazing how good we feel now that we have the microwave in working order.   

                                    Snowberry, Our Latest Diggs...

15 September ‘08

Monday

Over the last 2+ weeks we have had company stay here with us, family and friends in for dinner and smores, and said good bye to fellow “Host’s” here at Farragut.  Frank and Lynn called us the other night and invited us out to their home for dinner.  They’ve owned their home in Coeur d’Alene since the early ‘80’s and have just finished a beautiful remodel in their kitchen.  Frank is quite a “contractor” and has completed 3 different projects over the last couple of years, and has done a beautiful job doing it.  We also had dinner with Larry and Pauline last week.  They introduced us to a new “Italian” restaurant that I thoroughly enjoyed and then we followed that with a dinner party at The Greenbriar Inn.  They have a jazz group on the weekends and with Larry and Pauline celebrating their 38th anniversary we all throught this was the right place to be.

Then we got a call from Bonnie and Doug Rohrer.  They were on their way from Mount Vernon, Washington to spend the weekend with us.  We had been on their backs to get over here and finally they obliged.  Having Bonnie and Doug here gave us the opportunity to have a “get together”…Bonnie, Doug, Frank, Lynn, Larry, Pauline, and Louise and I, all have something in common, we all met here in Coeur d’Alene in early 1980.  We have had the opportunity to see one or the other since, but this is the first time that “all” of us have gotten together in one place for a very long time. 

        L/R: Larry, Pauline, Lynn, Louise, Frank, Bonnie, Doug

We had a great time and look forward to doing again soon.  Fact is, thoughts are to get together in a couple of years in Cabo.  On the first of September, we closed our first campground (Gilmore),

                                  Gilmore Host Site

and moved into our new campground “Snowberry”.  Snowberry is still located here at Farragut and happens to be the same campground that we hosted 2 years ago.  We were here for the month of September and the first week of October but for this visit, we’ll leave on the last day of September.  It has, and will be, a very quick two months.  Snowberry is about twice the size of Gilmore and all the sites are set into the tall evergreens.  With over 3000 acres here at Farragut, we are favored with large and semi private camp sites.  I’ve only had one camper get a little pissed at me, but all the rest have been here to have a great time.  You can’t win them all…  Yesterday we had the largest group leave and that meant we had the largest group of campsites to clean and get ready for today…39.  It took us about 4 1/2 hours and left us with some muscles we didn’t know we had.  To work off the sore muscles we took to the lake.  Grabbing the kayak out of the back of the car, we put into Lake Pend Oreille for a couple of hours.  We haven’t taken the opportunity to kayak near as much as we had wanted while here but we’re trying to make up for it now.  This gave us another chance to paddle into Button Hook Bay and back on the other side of the bay. 

We’ve also been able to get into a little biking in with our hiking as well.  Biking is new for us now but with a little practice we hope to expand the limits of our campground.  I haven’t done much biking since being a youngster and for Louise, it was even a little longer.  2 years ago, we did take a ride on the “Hiawatha Trail”.  That ride was on a slight downhill slant, through 5 tunnels (1 a mile long) and over 7 trestles. 

We did that with our friends Bruce and Peg…by the way, they just got back from their camping trip through a large portion of Europe.  You’ll have to read about their adventure on their web page

www.brupeg.googlepages.com/home .  Peggy is a wonderful writer and Bruce, well he’s a “wonderful guy”…(just kidding Bruce)…Louise and I both look up to them as leaders in our own travel adventures.  Today we decided to run up to Sandpoint.  We were looking for lunch and it also gave us a chance to look through town.  It has been a few years since we were last there.  Unfortunately the economy hasn’t helped them much.  Let’s hope for better times.  One thing that I haven't mentioned in my journals is our new find, or should I say Louise's find...Ralph's.  Ralph's is a laundomat/espresso establishment in Bayview and also known to be "The Place" to get all the "dirt" that is happening in Bayview. 

There are times when I have to look toward the heavens and say "Thanks for Ralph's" when my need for a Latte hits. 

25 August ‘08

Monday

Well here we go again…Monday, another day off, and IT’S RAINING !!!!  Let’s hope tomorrow will be better.  We joined Larry and Pauline at “Franklin’s Hoagies” for breakfast and then headed over to the Coeur d’Alene Mall for a little “window shopping”.  As we were about ready to pay the breakfast bill I found out that I had left my wallet back at the park (20+ miles away).  Thank goodness Louise had hers and had enough money to handle the bill.  After our stop at the mall we went over to a store that had been recommended to us for appraising a couple of Navaho rugs we had been carrying in the coach for quite some time.  They gave us the appraisal and then made us an offer “we couldn’t refuse”.  Well we had been carrying those two rugs from house to house and house to motor home and only once did we ever display them, so selling them now just made a lot of sense. 

Today (Tuesday) we headed back to Coeur d’Alene.  Our first stop was about the same as most as we get close to Starbucks, stop and have a cup of coffee…  I’ve been accused of being a “coffee snob” and I guess they’re right…any excuse of finding a Starbucks will do.  Then it was off to finish a couple of errands that we didn’t finish yesterday.  Completing those, we drove down to the Resort, retrieved our "Nordic Walker" walking sticks out of the back of the car and got ready for a hike around Tubbs Hill.  We’ve walked Tubbs Hill many times over the past 28 years but today’s hike was different.  This was the first time we had used our Nautilus Walking Sticks on Tubbs Hill.  We really enjoy using these walking sticks as they definitely give us a serious workout.     It was so serious that we stopped by the Coeur d’Alene Brewing Company for a glass of their micro-brew.  

We happened to have purchased a case of their beer a couple of months ago at Costco and we really liked it, so having the opportunity to stop in and sample a couple of other beers was a real treat.  We will go back…  But now we must rush off to dinner at Joelle’s.  Trev was there with us as he has moved back home to go to school.  He registered for his first year at North Idaho Community School and is looking forward to his studies.  But now we’ve got to eat….

24 August '08

Sunday

We’re sitting here tonight watching the closing ceremonies of the Olympics from Beijing and constantly asking ourselves “how are they doing that, or did you see that?”…  I’m sure that we’ll be talking about the opening and closing of the Olympics for a long long time…  We’ve been very fortunate to have been able to watch just about every event that was broadcast these games and still get all of our work done here at  Farragut.  It’s hard to believe but we’re into our 3^rd week already.  The second afternoon we were here we had a surprise visit.  CW and Gina came riding up on their bikes.  They are the couple that we took over from 2 years ago.  You might say that they taught us all we know about “Camp Hosting”… They have the same days off (Monday and Tuesdays) so we started looking for things that we might do together.  As it turns out, they have a couple of inflatable kayaks so we immediately started looking for the best time and location to go out for a paddle.  But first things first…  Back in the early 80’s when we lived in Coeur d’Alene, there was one local event that we really enjoyed going too…”Art On The Green”. 

Joelle and Amy called and let us know that they were on their way so Louise and I jumped in the car and off we went to join them for the day.  Art on the Green is a gathering of artists, restaurateurs, small business owners, and musicians of all types.  When we started going, you could walk the entire gathering in an hour and 45 minutes or less and still have time to see and enjoy everything.  This time it took us well over 4 hours and we didn’t see everything but we sure ate well.  Last Tuesday we got together with CW and Gina and headed down to the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene.  There are a number of smaller lakes that have formed off of the Coeur d’Alene River and the St. Joe Rivers and they can be reached by entering Lake Coeur d’Alene and paddling up the St Joe about a mile.  Unfortunately, when we woke we found that the sky had turned threatening and looked like we might find ourselves in a heavy downpour.  Well we struck out anyway.  A little over halfway we were overtaken with the heavy rain that we were hoping to avoid so we turned around and headed back.  Seeing as how it was still early morning and we felt that none of us had had enough coffee, we headed off to find a place that would be able to supply our needs.  On Thursday Louise went to the Spokane airport to pick-up Lil-Louise and Drew.  They flew in from Seattle to spend a few days with us.  Of course they were immediately drawn into the work around the campground and for exchange we supply the smores…

Our “assignments” are to sell firewood, rake up the campsite

and clean the picnic tables when the campers check out, and watch over and be around when or if one of the new campers have a question or problem.  This is done for 5 days and the next two we are off to do whatever and for all this we get a free site. 

To clean/rake a campsite will take the two of us about 7 to 8 minutes and on an average day we will have about 9 sites that will vacate…pretty easy deal.  The rest of the days while we are “on”, we can do whatever we want and that includes leaving the area.  If we do leave, we let the rangers know and also make arrangements with our neighbor camp-host.  This afternoon Larry and Pauline drove out to spend the afternoon with us. 

We had a little different morning.  We knew Lar and Paul were to be here about 2 but by 1 we still had 4 campers that hadn’t left.  Now with check-out being 1 and check-in at 2 we were behind the ball especially if I was to get my shower before they arrived…well it all worked out and we enjoyed the visit.

Leaving Lincoln behind, we headed off to Chewelah, Washington and an all too short of a visit with Dave and Carol Hawkins.  Our route took us along the shores of Banks Lake from Lincoln north to Cedonia and then across to Chewelah.  With our GPS, we easily found our way to the Chewelah Golf and Country Club and the front porch of Dave and Carol’s home.  Again, like Karl and Nicki’s home, Dave and Carol have found a beautiful place to call home,

and they made us feel so absolutely comfortable.  As you walk through the “Great Room” and out to the large covered deck, you could be lucky enough to be watching a world class golf match taking place in front of you.  Carol had been working hard over the last few weeks in putting together a women’s golf tournament and here we come, guests on top of the big tournament tee off the next morning….  And then on top of all that, Dave out did himself by serving the best “Texas BBQ Brisket and Hominy” dinner we have ever had.  After dinner Dave took me out to see the course.  We jumped into his golf cart and hit the links.  I haven’t been on a lot of golf courses, but this one was really beautiful and in my opinion, must be one hell of a course to get a decent score on.  Early the next morning, Louise and I joined them at the club house for a quick breakfast, watched the “shotgun” start and pulled out for our next destination…Farragut State Park in northern Idaho.

Heading northeast from Soap Lake, our next destination was to visit our close friends and “old neighbors” (from 1965-1971) along the shores of Lake Roosevelt in Lincoln.  Earlier in the year we had met Karl and Nicki in Parker, Arizona.  They have a “Winter” home at Lake Havasu and their home here at Lincoln. 

 Lincoln, with no commercial businesses except a small RV park, is a secret community that is laid back, out of the way, lakeside community.  If there is any draw-back, it is that they have sooo far to go for basic supplies, but other than that it is absolutely beautiful.  If you ever get to Lincoln you won’t have any problem knowing which home belongs to Karl and Nicki…just look for the greenest and largest perfectly mowed yard around…it is a piece of art. 

We had a wonderful time getting together with them again…talking hours and hours of the “ole days”, eating a wonderful dinner, and raiding and enjoying all the fruit and veggies from Karl’s garden. 

Our drive out of Yakima took us through some of the county’s largest “hop” fields…why the Yakima valley????  I have no idea but they hung high above us as we drove the secondary roads to our next destination, Soap Lake.  (Right now, I would love to have a picture of the hops but we didn’t take the time to stop and take…damn!)  This is the first time that we have been in a campground that was owned by Western Horizons (the membership only campground club that we bought into a couple of years ago) and then sold to a private ownership and changed into an “open camping” campground.  We still have full “membership” access for 2008, but beyond that we’re just another camper.  Oh well, we’ve had a second opportunity to search out the must see locations within 80 miles of the lake so I would say we’ve “been there”.  Taking a little time to hit one of the beaches here at Soap Lake, we found this couple taking advantage of the "special" mud from the bottom the lake.  

We were in Ephrata the other day and found out that they were having their annual “Ephrata Valley Music Festival”. 

The weather couldn’t have been better and our personal schedule (schedule, I don’t remember having a schedule…) would allow us to grab some “booth food” and settle down to watch and listen to some great jazz and rock for the next few hours.  As always when such a festival like this is going on, we went looking for the Farmers Market.  We couldn’t go home without having stopped.   On the way back to the campground, we came upon another "celebration".  It was the annual "Bikers of Soap Lake" event. 

That evening at the campground, we went out for a walk and soon found ourselves in conversation with a camper from Bellevue.  His family had taken the tour bus from the campground to the “Light Show at Grand Coulee Dam”.  He and his wife had immigrated to the US from India a number of years ago and now are raising their kids in Bellevue.  Louise and I found our brief conversation with Richard very interesting and asked him to join us for a glass of wine up at our coach while his family was away enjoying the light show.  Later Lou and I found ourselves invited to his “cabin” for dinner the next night.  The dinner was described to be a “typical Indian” dinner consisting of a spicy rice dish, chicken, beef ribs.  We had a wonderful evening.   The host and his extended family Richards wife, Minni, Margret (Richards mother), Joseph his father, cousin, and her daughter both visiting from India. 

All in all, after enjoying a great meal and wonderful conversations with some new friends, it made for an evening we won’t forget. 

14 July ‘08

Monday

Up early this morning to take the coach over to Aubrey’s RV to get a little work handled.  Fortunately the list of work to be preformed is short so let’s hope the bill reflects it.  In filling another part of our day, we have the laundry to thank… With Leslee at work and Lena and Vinny doing their things, we took over their air-conditioned house. 

This is the first time that we have ever traveled over Chinook Pass on our way to Yakima and we found it was well worth taking.  The pass takes us around the eastern side of Mount Rainier and offered us some of the most spectacular views on a perfect traveling day.  I don’t remember just how many stops we made to marvel at “The” mountain

and all the valleys surrounding it, but each stop was even better than the last. 

With the exception of last Wednesday, the weather here in Yakima has been fantastic…mid 80’s to low 90’s and cooler in the evenings.  Now all that is wonderful, but just after checking in at the campground, receiving our parking site AND directions as to how to get there, I headed out.  First of all, this campground is small and TIGHT…second, the streets to and from the sites are very tight…third, if you have to take a corner, you had better watch the swing of the tail of the coach AND any obstacle that might jump out and bite…yep, it did and I wasn’t a happy camper !!! 

The object that “jumped” out to get me was a small picnic table…right in the middle of the second bay door.   Two 2” round dents and a couple of small scratches.  It could have been worse, but at the time it was like a knife in the heart.

Yesterday, Leslee and Lena joined Louise and me on a kayaking adventure.  Close to the White Pass summit is Clear Lake, which is completely surrounded by beautiful mountains and tall trees.  It is fed from and feeds too the Natchez River, which then feeds to another larger lake below which again, continues to the Natchez through an earthen dam.  OK, all that said (written), we pulled out both kayaks and spent about 4 hours just having a great time

in a neat little campsite that we found down a very rough dirt (dusty) road (track).  It’s amazing how you work up a large appetite from all the fresh air, water, and a good paddle.  Fortunately we had a ton of chicken waiting at Leslee’s place all ready to hit the barbecue.