Damn, Damn, Damn….Look at me… The damn Mustard bottle just broke all over me…. We had just stopped for lunch at a small roadside diner in Riggins Idaho when I no sooner had picked up the plastic mustard bottle and the damn thing just exploded. Mustard all over me, not on the table, not on the floor, just on my lap, chest, and arms…all bright yellow and smelling like strong mustard. I showed the young lady behind the bar what had just happened and all she could say was “GEEZZZ”… What did she mean Geezzz???? My new sweatshirt was just ruined, not to mention my jeans. Then let’s talk about the “Elk Hamburger”. It was totally over cooked and tasted like something I don’t want to put into my mouth again, especially after having to scrape off the excess mustard from the exploding mustard bottle. I couldn’t get back into the coach fast enough to get some mint mouth fresheners to get rid of the taste that was left from that “hamburger”. Oh yes, I forgot to mention it…today is Friday the 13th after all. After getting further down the road towards our next campground, I found myself raiding the refrigerator trying to fill the void left from lunch…not a good idea for someone who is trying to lose weight. Our destination today was supposed to be McCall Idaho and the drive down from Lewiston was through some wonderful territory. We followed our boat ride from yesterday for quite awhile although the Snake River was on the other side of the mountains to our right. We had the Salmon River at our side most of the time and the mountain was separating the Snake from the Salmon for over a hundred miles. Finally about 3 we wound our way up the side of a mountain to make our first visit to McCall. The town its self didn’t impress either one of us much but it could have been that it just didn’t have anything happening. It was just off the seasons of Summer and Winter which it is known to excel in. Payette Lake was very pretty, sitting here at the doorstep of McCall, and at the top of a mountain. We thought we were going to camp in McCall but after walking the town and seeing just about everything possible in 20 minutes we decided to move on…we moved on down the mountain for the night.
13 October ‘06
Damn, Damn, Damn….Look at me… The damn Mustard bottle just broke all over me…. We had just stopped for lunch at a small roadside diner in Riggins Idaho when I no sooner had picked up the plastic mustard bottle and the damn thing just exploded. Mustard all over me, not on the table, not on the floor, just on my lap, chest, and arms…all bright yellow and smelling like strong mustard. I showed the young lady behind the bar what had just happened and all she could say was “GEEZZZ”… What did she mean Geezzz???? My new sweatshirt was just ruined, not to mention my jeans. Then let’s talk about the “Elk Hamburger”. It was totally over cooked and tasted like something I don’t want to put into my mouth again, especially after having to scrape off the excess mustard from the exploding mustard bottle. I couldn’t get back into the coach fast enough to get some mint mouth fresheners to get rid of the taste that was left from that “hamburger”. Oh yes, I forgot to mention it…today is Friday the 13th after all. After getting further down the road towards our next campground, I found myself raiding the refrigerator trying to fill the void left from lunch…not a good idea for someone who is trying to lose weight. Our destination today was supposed to be McCall Idaho and the drive down from Lewiston was through some wonderful territory. We followed our boat ride from yesterday for quite awhile although the Snake River was on the other side of the mountains to our right. We had the Salmon River at our side most of the time and the mountain was separating the Snake from the Salmon for over a hundred miles. Finally about 3 we wound our way up the side of a mountain to make our first visit to McCall. The town its self didn’t impress either one of us much but it could have been that it just didn’t have anything happening. It was just off the seasons of Summer and Winter which it is known to excel in. Payette Lake was very pretty, sitting here at the doorstep of McCall, and at the top of a mountain. We thought we were going to camp in McCall but after walking the town and seeing just about everything possible in 20 minutes we decided to move on…we moved on down the mountain for the night.
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12 October ‘06 We had a blast !!! This morning we jumped aboard a 41 foot aluminum river boat that has 3 powerful jet engines and travels up stream at 35 miles per hour. The ride was smooth, smooth, smooth, even when we shot through the rapids… It was an amazing ride. We would start at one side of the rapid and follow it up about half way and then make a sharp turn and head across to the other side to exit the rapid and land on the flat waters behind. The rapids were rated from levels 2 to 4 which also made it exciting. Right from the dock we were pampered by the crew. From the history of the Snake, Clearwater, and Salmon Rivers, the geology of Hells Canyon, and the people that lived along the shores past and present were just a part. We had a chance to meet some of the volunteers that handled some of the stopping points along the way. One of them gave us a tour of a home that was built in the very early 1900’s, which is also were they stayed during their volunteer time…electricity that was available from a “home made” generator made from a wheel of bells that caught water from a stream. As the “bell wheel” spun with the bells filled with water, the action was transferred to a generator that produced the electrical current. Not only was it functional, it was attractive to look at. We also saw many additional things that made this and other homesteads functional in this area of no roads, electricity, and potable water. I would also like to commend the volunteers that take on this commitment of being the host of each of these sites. Fact is, one of the sites has had and still has a long list of volunteers that will fill the needs for years to come. Now back to our ride up the Snake River and Hells Canyon. Steelhead fishing is going on big time…the rivers have fishermen peppered along the beach and boats that float the river looking for the illusive fish with every known type of lure and bait. We also saw some bird hunters along the shore. Fact is, we saw a fire that was most likely started by one of those hunters. It was burning across the top of the hills with fast abandon. Then there was the unfortunate accident that we came across…a commercial fishing boat (looking for the illusive steelhead) had a motor quit just as they were half way into a large rapid. Before they could get themselves straighten out, they found themselves coming down on a large bolder in the middle of the river…BANG…a hole in the side, bottom, and a water cooling hose destroyed. The destroyed hose put more water into the hull than either of the holes. They were lucky enough to find the bank before it went completely under… We also had the opportunity to see a couple of big horn sheep come down to the water. Those big horns are absolutely unbelievable !!! Then we made a stop along the bank to see some ancient Indian pictographs (pictures painted on the rocks). They had these well protected from the public, we could only see them as we stayed in the boat. That’s ok, it was still worth the effort. As we finished our ride through Hells Canyon we were unanimous in our appreciation of what we saw and how we saw it…it was a kick. 11 October ‘06 Leaving Coeur d’Alene was met with mixed emotions. We are definitely excited about getting on with our journey, but this is also saying “Goodbye” (leaving the close proximity) to our family for at least 8 months. Farragut also has given us a great experience also, with the mix of hard work, lots of opportunity to meet and enjoy additional travelers, a chance to explore deeper into the panhandle of Idaho, and be a part of the “community” of Farragut State Park. After getting all the windows in the “Toad” tinted and the air-conditioning finally fixed, we found we were ready. We also did something we haven’t done for a long time…we went to the AAA office and had them make up a “trip tic” for this leg of the trip. We are following Highway 95 all the way to the Baja with a lot of stops in between. Fact is, our first stop is at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston Idaho (about 85 miles from CDA). We’ve been reading so much about Hells Canyon and thought this might be the perfect time for us to see it. For some reason the weather has decided to become early Fall, with the temp rising to 72 degrees in full sun. Now the way to see Hells Canyon is to take a “jet” boat up the Snake River on a full day tour. There is no access to the canyon by car and besides, who wants to pass up a days ride up a canyon with all kinds of additional adventures waiting. Tomorrow morning we board before 8 and we’ll be back by 6 with lots to talk about. Last night we took a walk up river (the Snake) to see and photograph some wonderful rock formations that have risen from over 300 feet below water level to well over 300 feet above. The formations rise straight up, twist, and curve to a beautiful natural phenomenon. High up on the side of a portion of the many walls of these rocks, Louise pointed out a large colony of mud nests that were made by Swifts or Martins (our guess, not knowing for sure). As we were getting the backpack all set up with water and other things that we like to take on hikes, a park ranger came by to let us know that we should watch for rattlesnakes that could be warming themselves along the path that we would be taking…SNAKES ???? With my camera ready and senses alert, we saw no snakes. I’m not sure whether I’m disappointed or just damned excited that we missed them… 7 October ‘06 This week we have put a lot of miles on our “toad” running back in forth to Coeur d’Alene. We are trying to get ourselves ready for our trip south and that includes getting the toad taken care of. The other day when we started it up and the “check engine” light glared at us…OK, now what??? The mechanic in CDA convinced us that it was time for our 60,000 mile check up and it would only cost us $400. What a bargain… We also had our air-conditioner re-done seeing as how it still wasn’t cooling from the last time we were there. Well now that we’ve paid our bill, test drove the car, and switched on the air conditioner, I hope that we’ve seen the last of a mechanic for a while. Our last weekend here at Farragut is upon us. Again we are just about filled up. I think we have 35 campers with us. This morning about 4am we were all awakened by a thunderstorm that came passing by our way…WHISH-BANG-BOOM…lasting but a few minutes, it was noisy and left a lot of wet behind. With the coach sitting here for the last month and a certain amount of Pine needles and dust gathering on her top, I decided today was a perfect day to put a little soap and water to her and get her all ready for the road. It turned out to be a good Spring Cleaning Day. 1 October ‘06 Say, was that Louise’s birthday last Saturday??? The 30th of September??? She’s telling me now…”YOU KNOW IT WAS !!!” and don’t give me any guff… “Happy Birthday Hon…” Our weather is still holding and the campers are coming in droves… We have been completely full on the weekends which mean we have a lot of raking to do to get the sites ready for the next campers coming in. It’s funny, they start arriving late Thursday and have filled all of our 43 sites by Friday at 6pm. And then, by Sunday night we are here by ourselves (or maybe another camper or 2). Saturday I was quite busy with some of the kids that wanted to blow off steam. One young group just wanted to play around the restrooms all day and night…taking their bikes into the showers, throwing rocks at the electrical box, and running through the trails around the different sites howling like wolves (WERE THE HELL ARE THEIR PARENTS ???). Then there was the group of teens that arrived with their tent trailer. 3 young girls and their boy friends. They had me and a couple of their neighbors all over them more than once. Finally I convinced them to move on and blow off all their steam and emotions some where else. 28 September ‘06 We did make it to Spirit Lake and we did get the kayak into the water… the trouble was, we had a tough time finding the right place to put in. We had wanted to kayak a little of the lake, but first we wanted to find this little creek that flows into Spirit Lake from Mt. Spokane. Spirit Lake does have a nice beach and boat launch area, but it just happens to be at the far end from which we wanted to put in. After taking the only road following the lake, we finally found a spot that would allow us access. The only problem we encountered at this launch area was there was no spot to park our car…”NO PARKING OF ANY DURATION” was posted just about every 10 feet from the water on. Now seeing as how we were just about the only water craft on or just about on the water, we found this to be ludicrous. With a short conversation between us, we decided to get the kayak all pumped and ready anyway and then take the car up the hill to find a spot to hide it from view. In finding a location for the car (about 400 yards away), we loaded ourselves aboard our kayak and headed out for an afternoon of paddling. Heading down lake, it wasn’t too hard to find our entrance into “Brickle Creek”. The only problem was it was the mouth going in, was very shallow. As the water flowed into the lake, it brought a large amount of sand and mud down with it. The kayak draws about 2 inches of water and we just made it through. The creek was about 10-15 feet wide and the bank about 10 feet above the water. We paddled up creek for about 45 minutes and thought that with out being able to see anything above the bank, our trip up this creek just wasn’t worth the time and effort. Now the question was how the heck are we going to turn around? I knew one thing for sure we didn’t want to back out all that way. It took us about 4 times to find a place that was wide enough for us to make the turn, but we were successful. We did see a few things of interest while in the creek, such as a couple of beaver dams that were under construction. In getting back in to Spirit Lake we just decided to follow the shoreline for a while. Not too sure what we were seeing, we did find that there was an island that looked ready to explore. Just as we were close enough to the shore of the island we found that it also displayed a ton of signs warning us not to approach. Oh well, all we wanted to do was find a place in the shade to eat our lunch so we just put our bow up to the shore and maintained our seat while we enjoyed our snack. 26 September ‘06 The sun was beautiful, 76 degrees, and it was our day off. I have wanted to kayak from Priest Lake to Upper Priest for some time, and today was the perfect day. The only thing that caught me off guard, was the drive up there…it was much further than I had remembered. We drove up through Spirit Lake and then onto Newport, where we stopped for lunch. The restaurant turns out to be the 2nd oldest restaurant in the state of Washington and has a bar that was shipped around the tip of South America in 1800. Fact is, after the bar arrived in San Francisco, it continued it’s journey over the next 3 months to it’s final destination…Kelly’s Restaurant and Bar in Newport. We found a great place to put the kayak into the lake…The National Forest campground. This is located at the northern end of Priest Lake (which happens to be at the end of the road…again, a long way away). We had a sandy beach to leave from and the water, absolutely flat. Now to find our way to the channel that runs from the Priest to the Upper Priest. We ended up taking ourselves across the lake and following a couple of boats behind this break-water. Low and behold, we found ourselves heading up the channel to the Upper lake. It was just like a river. About 30-40 yards wide, very shallow, and lined with tall trees along the banks which would twist and turn about every 100 yards or so. We hit the water just after 3 and by the time we got to our destination, it was already 4:30. For the whole trip we had our eyes scanning the shoreline looking for a bear or even a dear, after all, we did see and read the warning that we were in Grizzly Country… Finally, just about half way back up the channel, we heard a splash. We both stopped rowing and set our ears to “alert”. Geezzz, it’s a Moose… “I didn’t know that there were Moose this far south…” We got to about 30 yards from her. She was standing in about 3 feet of water and dipping her head down to grab some of the grasses from below. What a great surprise, but unfortunately that was the only one. The row up to the Upper was beautiful and we both were happy we did it. Tomorrow, kayaking Spirit Lake. 23 September ‘06 Now let me tell you, we are getting to know “The Rake” pretty good…Each weekend, the campground is full so on Monday we have our work cut out for us. By 10am we are in the golf cart and heading towards our first camping site to put the rake marks deep into the gravel and clean out the fire pits. All this to give the next camper the best looking campsite they have ever seen. As always, there are those that live close enough to Farragut that they could care less that check-out time is 1pm. That makes it a little difficult because in some cases there is someone that wants to move into their site at 2 and we haven’t had a chance to clean it. Well now that school has started, we don’t see this happening so much anymore, camping the week days is getting pretty quiet. This does give us enough free time to go for long walks. For the last couple of weeks, our week days have shown us about a dozen campers each night. Now we’re back into the weekend, and we are FULL (over 40 sites)… Another thing that has changed, Farragut is no longer taking reservations for their camping sites…a little more confusion and work for all of us. We’ve had to make a few phone calls to the visitor’s center and negotiate a new site for those finding someone already in “their” location. Oh well, I must say, we are really enjoying ourselves here in our first role of “Host’s”. We’ve taken a couple of days off each week. Last Tuesday we went into Coeur d’Alene and had the tires cross-switched, checked our email, and did some grocery shopping. On Wednesday I went again to CDA and had breakfast with Larry and Pauline. Later we drove over to Spirit Lake (about 12 miles away). It’s been over 25 years since the last time we were there, and I really didn’t recognize it. If this little village was just outside of a larger city than Spokane, it would be a tourist “Mecca”. The quaint little stores sitting at the edge of a beautiful lake…nothing but a storybook that is ready to be read. There have also been a lot of things going on here at Farragut besides camping. Last weekend Farragut hosted 800 boys to a Boy Scout Jamboree. Today Farragut hosted the annual cross-country race. There were about 50 busses that carried over 800 junior and senior high runners from 4 states. Unfortunately, we were so busy here that we didn’t have a chance to watch any of the races. Later this afternoon we attended a memorial to Rick, the host that passed away a couple of weeks ago. It was a very nice gathering of his family, rangers of Farragut, other camp host’s, and friends. 13 September ‘06 We’ve now been here at Farragut for 2 weeks and let me tell you…we have been busting our butt !!! This isn’t a complaint, it’s just that it does consist of some good physical work which we haven’t done for some time and I’m sure we needed it. We wake about 8am, check our list for new campers that have set up reservations for our camp-sites, then head out to clean (rake out all the driveways and platforms, and then clean out the fire pits) all the campsites that have opened up. I would guess that we both walk about 4 miles average a day raking, let alone the walks we make throughout the day and night just to say “hi” to all our guests. The other night, just after we got into bed, I had to dress, go out and “talk” to one of our “guests” about their loud voices. It was just before midnight and our “quiet” time starts at 10pm…”gee, is it really that late?” Hell Yes… Other than that, we have been running a fairly loose ship and enjoying ourselves and all those guests that we have met. Last Saturday after we finished our duties, Louise and I went over to visit one of the other “hosts” here. Rick and Sandy have been hosting here for just about the whole season. When you met Rick for the first time, it was like you have known him for years. Saturday, Sandy was away to be with her daughter for the birth of her first grand-daughter. She was due back Monday night. Unfortunately, Rick passed away just after he awoke on Monday morning…we will all miss him, even though we have only known him for a short time. We have Tuesday and Wednesday off to do what we want (after we clean a few campsites), so seeing as how we haven’t had the kayak out for some time we headed down to the boat launch to set it into Lake Pend Oreille. The weather was perfect…the water flat, blue, and absolutely clear…the row was really great. We covered about 6 to 7 miles of shoreline in about 3 hours. It was one of those times when you feel totally “wiped out”…a good feeling. Today we cleaned 12 sites, washed the coach and car, and then headed into Spokane to visit the “Spokane Fair”. It’s been a few years since we were last at there and after today, it will be even a few more. 8 September ‘06 Today is the first full weekend for us and the campground is full !!! Not only is our campground (Snow Berry) full, so are all the others here at Farragut. The weather is still giving us one beautiful day after another and giving all the campers just what they are looking for. On top of the “everyday camper” we have here, Farragut is hosting the last Farragut Naval Training Station, 60th Reunion this weekend. That means that we have about 5-600 additional people running around here as well. This morning I was up early and sitting under the canopy having my first cup of coffee, when I was summoned to the “Brig”. Now seeing as how this was a Naval Base, it makes sense that there was a brig set up for the naughty. There was going to be a large gathering of sailors and their families at the brig to see the unveiling of a large memorial to them and the training center at Farragut. They asked me to help with traffic control… Now remember, this is the 60th reunion for those that arrived at this camp at the young age of 17 plus…that means that the average age for those that attended (and drove their cars, trucks, and motor homes) were well over 80. All kidding aside, it was a pleasure to be a target out there with all those that went through boot camp here. We have one of the former “recruits” in the site right across from us. Just after he backed into his site with his 35 foot motor home, I looked across and found him walking across the top of it. Now under most circumstances, it wouldn’t have given me such a start. Bill, it turns out, is 85, about 6’ 1”, and prox 200 pounds. Next, he was hanging over the side of it trying to un-lock his canopy which was stuck. He handled all this quite well on his own, and gave me the thought that I sure hope I will be able to do that after the next 20 years. Now back to the memorial, it consisted of a cement platform that is to resemble a ship and in the center of that, is a circular platform that holds the sculpture of a Navy sailor. Everything in getting ready for this reunion unfortunately was running a little behind, so when I was summoned to the brig, the sculpture was sitting on a large wooden pallet and just about ready to be lifted into place on the “ship”. The sculpture was still clay. It just didn’t have time to make it to the foundry for the reunion, so it arrived “green”. The artist was there to make sure that there were no problems during the lift on and off of the platform. The bust had the typical Navy white hat and jumper. The head, neck, and face of the sailor have relief carvings of additional faces of the Farragut Sailor…it is wonderfully done. Later on we were back at Snow Berry, raking out a couple of sites and selling firewood…a full day and it looks like a very full weekend !!! |
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