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.
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 thebackseat in TOTAL LUXURY!!! Not only is the exterior of this car PERFECT, 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
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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 4th 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 __http://sites.google.com/site/brupeg/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 3rd 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. _1 June ‘08 Sunday Well “Graduation Day” has come and passed… As grandparents it is wonderful for us to see the grandkids going the distance and graduating from high school and then take the step into the world of “higher education”. Now Trevor Joel had a couple of things going for him this weekend. _First he turned 18 (on Friday) and then he followed that up with the graduation. Trev has played the bass and guitar off and on with a couple of rock bands in St Maries over the last couple of years, so we bought him one of those electronic games called “Rock Band”. Hell, I wish I had one of those when I was playing in our band back in the late 50’s early 60’s. I just had to try it out, and to tell you the truth I was terrible at it. Saturday afternoon Louise, Joelle, and I drove down to St Maries from Coeur d’Alene. Trev went down Friday night and unfortunately left his graduation cap and gown behind. Well, no problem…we’ll bring it down with us. Unfortunately I was a little slow in getting away to St Maries. As we were about 35 minutes away we started getting the phone call…”are you close yet???”. I could feel Trev starting to sweat…we were going to be late and his cap and gown were with us. Fortunately we did make it on time. Trev was waiting out on the street when we pulled up. Grabbing his gear and saying hi to all of us, he was off to immerse himself into the mass of graduates. There are a couple of good things about going to a graduation at a small school and having a small graduating group is just one of them. The ceremonies were great, short but great. We were but just a couple of spectators in the auditorium but we were very proud spectators to say the least. _ 29 May ‘08 Friday We finally arrived back at River Walk, “our” campground in Coeur d’Alene. Just a year ago we were here for Amy’s graduation, our oldest granddaughter, and now we are here for the Trev’s, our oldest grandson. It’s amazing how fast time has passed and the grandkids are already graduating from high school. Leaving the campground in Rapid City was almost more exciting than we had wanted. The last 2 days while we were there were rained like hell and unfortunately made the soil all around our motor home really soft. We had no more than started our turn out of the site and the right rear duels started to sink into the grass. You could immediately feel that things weren’t looking so good. Fortunately for us, I was able to back out of the hole and get another start forward. It was a go slow and as straight as possible until we got up enough momentum to carry us forward and out of the trouble area. We stopped by the office to apologize only to find out that it was an “expected” happening after a rain…hell, they could have warned us… Oh well, we made it. The rest of the trip West through the remainder of South Dakota, Northeastern Wyoming, and across Montana was uneventful. _We did have a fair amount of rain to travel though and of course a head wind. Isn’t it amazing how as soon as you get out on the road, the wind direction changes and decides that it has to blow directly in your face??? Our first stop after leaving Mt. Rushmore Shadows was the parking lot of Toys or Us in Billings. We were heading to the Wal-Mart parking lot, but found that it was completely covered with “shoppers”…what the hell happened so that there wasn’t any room for those of us that want to park our “big motor homes” in OUR Wal-Mart parking lot??? It just happened that Toys or Us were right next door and their parking lot was empty, save about 4 cars in a lot that would hold well over 2 or 300. It was about 6pm when we arrived and I went into the store to ask the manager if it would be possible to park around back or on the side of the store for the night. Her reply was “the store policy is no overnight parking”, but…I think it would be OK. The next stop was in Missoula. There is a large dirt area in front of “The Largest RV Dealership In Montana” that we had thought before would work for a night of dry camping. After checking at the office and getting their approval, we set up for the night. There has been something bothering me lately, with the fuel prices climbing like they have, that the “un-locked” fuel doors on the motor home could be too inviting to the unscrupulous. Well Britz RV had the perfect locks so we bought and installed them right there in the dirt…just kidding, it was great of them to open the lot for a night. The total ride from South Dakota to Coeur d’Alene was beautiful. We couldn’t see the snowy mountains because the rain clouds were so low, but the green rolling hills, the wild and the cultivated flowers, and of course the swollen rivers were outstanding. _The unfortunate thing of course was the flooding that was accruing because of the rain and heaving melting of the snow in the mountains. We went pass the Wolf Lodge Campground that is located about 10 miles east of Coeur d’Alene and found that it was about 5 or 6 feet under water. We were there last year to visit and camp with Bruce and Peggy who were doing a stint of “work camping”. We were given a grand tour of the campground and saw all the work that they had accomplished to get it looking so good and now...well it just isn’t the same. On Sunday Louise and I were joined by our daughter Joelle and Peg and Bruce for a day of “biking”. Those of you who know us probably know that Louise and I don’t bike…fact is, Louise hasn’t been on a bicycle since she was in grade school and for me, I haven’t ridden over a ½ mile since then either. Now we are off to ride the 17 mile Hiawatha trail…thank God it is all down hill… The Hiawatha trail was developed after the removal of the railroad tracks the Hiawatha Railroad train traveled for many years. It started off with a ride through a 2 mile tunnel. It was soooo dark in there that you had to use flash lights to find your way to the end and at the same time being pelted by water from the ceiling. The pathway through the tunnels were banked from the center to the outside so that the water would flow into a trough on each side. The problem with that was, as you were riding in total darkness on an unstable bike you were drawn like a magnet to the walls and the water trough...man I really didn’t want crash, especially in that damn tunnel. We drove up the mountain to find the trail and for the next 15 miles we traveled through tunnels, over several trestles, and wound our way through the forest of tall Pine and Fir trees. The views were terrific and the ride…well it was great with a possible wanting for a much softer seat (we had rented the “COMORT RIDE BIKE”) for the next time we ride. There is no doubt, all of us totally enjoyed the ride and as they say, “would do it again at a drop of a hat”. I must tell you however, it wasn’t without a couple of small “incidents”. One time as Louise came to a stop, after feeling a little more confident in her riding, she found her body going one way and the bike going the other and ending with both, the bike and her, having to wipe off their bum. The other was when Peggy ran into the back of Louise, she had stopped too quickly and without warning (at least that’s what Peggy said). That time everyone remained upright but had a good laugh over it. It was a great day but much longer than anyone of us had imagined, from start to finish in 5 hours. 25 June ‘07 I’m doing it again… I really don’t remember getting so behind when we were camping through Europe, but here I’ve had a problem. Well let’s get on with it !!! On the 14th Louise and I were invited to have dinner with our good friends Larry and Pauline Anderson. We first met Larry and Pauline in 1980 when we purchased our business in Coeur d’Alene. They had a restaurant across the driveway from us called “Larry’s 5 ¢ Coffee House” (Gawd, can you imagine, coffee for 5 ¢ a cup way back then???). Louise and I hold their friendship close and anytime that we get a chance to visit with them (and especially when they have us to dinner) is something we look forward to when we’re back in Coeur d’Alene. Besides having the opportunity to be with Amy and our family for Amy’s High School Graduation, we also met up with Peg and Bruce Fitzmaurice as they are one of the camp hosts at Wolf Lodge RV Park (Peg and Bruce led us to our European journey in 2003 leading the way in 2000.). Coeur d’Alene was also having their “Car d’Alene” weekend so we decided to stay over a couple more days and take it in. I’ve never seen more hot rods, antique cars and trucks in one place in all my life…it was incredible. Larry and Pauline invited us to a private party were you could pull your chair right up to the side of the road and watch the show come by, while all along they were serving more food and drink than you could possibly imagine. Larry was “touring” his rod through the town with all the others, and I must say he was “Looking Good”… 12 June ‘07 This has been a heck of a week. Louise and I have had more fun here in Coeur d’Alene, starting with being able to attend Amy’s graduation. Right from the start the excitement at the Croson home was contagious. Amy was “floating” from the basement to the upper floor, back to the main floor and then starting all over again. This was her day…Friday, June 8th…Graduation Day from Coeur d’Alene High. The whole dang family was here to witness this day. The first thing Friday was to get Amy into her hat and gown so that all of us could get our pictures before leaving for the auditorium. This of course was after the 2nd shower for the day, a pedicure, painting of the nails, re-doing of her hair for the 10th time, and arguing with her mom and brothers about taking too long. Then finally it was picture time. Thank God for digital cameras…I know that I personally took over 70 pictures and I was only one camera…”can you PLEASE smile…can you stand up straight…can…can…can…”…poor Amy. We all got some wonderful pictures and Amy held up like a champ. Now it was off to the High School for the ceremony. I must admit that a couple of the graduation ceremonies that we have been too have been very long and tough to stay with, but this one seemed to move along very well. We had a great time. Amy has a whole 6 days to let it all sink in before she has to be in Seattle for her first day on “the job”. She will be working on the East side this summer and then in the Fall she will be going onto Shoreline Community College to jump start her studies before moving on to the UW. CONGRATULATIONS AMY !!! |
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