HIAWATHA BIKE TRAIL AUG 1, 2011

This is the beginning of the Hiawatha Trail...It's a rails to trails kind of path.  Used to be an old railroad track winding 15 miles through the mountains.  The original trains ran from Chicago to Seattle.  The 15 miles is all downhill on a slight grade.   We passed through 4 tunnels, the first being the longest and most scary for me.  I (Lorraine) am a bit claustrophobic so it made for a little panic in the beginning.  We needed to have good lights on our bikes since the first tunnel is 1 3/4 miles long.  It stays a chilly 45 degrees all year round in there.  The temps outside that day were over 80.   So we packed up and moved on to the bikes with cameras in hand.  

Here is the end of the first tunnel.  My hands were ice cubes and my teeth were chattering.  Our lights were barely enough to see though blackness of this tunnel.  It was a crazy ride.  I kept wanting to open my eyes wider but that didn't help and I probably looked like an owl.  

Upon venturing out of the tunnel we were greeted with this beautiful waterfall that sounded as wonderful as it looked.  I think I could have sat there all day and just enjoyed it.   It would have been nice to dive in had I not been a Popsicle from the first part of the ride. 

Tom plopped himself down and starting snapping away to his perfect shot.

This was the end of the tunnel opening.  See it's a wee bit dark in there.   The smell actually reminded me of Pirates of the Carribean at Disneyland.

The was the next tunnel.  Not so bad since we could see the other end.

One of the first crossing over a tressel.

It's very high.  YIKES!!

Looking back at the tressel we crossed.

Here we go again......across another tressel and then

another tunnel....

This next tunnel they kept us out of and we rode around it.

We were told not to feed the animals, should we encounter any.  I don't think the other people before us or this little guy got that memo because he was very friendly and seemed to know what we were there for.  I figured he knows how to pose for the camera and then get a cracker...

The rest of the trail was pretty much like this....Which was just a joy to ride.   When we got to the bottom we had the option of riding back up or taking the shuttle bus.  We opted for the shuttle bus since we purchased tickets and Tom's knee couldn't do much more.  The bus took us back up the hill to the long tunnel we did in the beginning and we had to done the jackets and ride back through the black hole of darkness to the other side.  

I must say it was a splendid day...

And the funniest part of the day was coming out of the final tunnel with a stripe of mud up both our butts from out back tires spewing the muddy water up.  Our backpacks and backside had this stripe, as did everyone coming out of there.  Too funny.

Update

,I really didn't realize how long it has been since I have updated again. Since we are not traveling and have been staying put here in Idaho there's not much to blog about.  We are just living life.  We continued to have problems with our coach and have been attempting to fix them.   Here's a review of last 2 months.

June 1 We moved to a cute little RV park called Alpine.  It was in a wooded area behind a little store and on highway 95.  The traffic sounds were not bad at all.  We heard trains sometimes but that was okay.  Our coach, we realized, had mold in it.  This was found when cleaning under the bathroom sink when a foul smell was noticed.  The mold was caused by a leak under the sink.  It grew on the cabinet shelves.  We cleaned it twice and it came back.  We also had a leak in the salon area or living room by the kitchen.  The month of June was spent trying to find the leak and contacting the dealer who was a nice enough guy and said he would get us into another coach and sell this one.  The bummer thing was that he was leaving on vacation for 3 weeks.  (Fabulous)  We had to wait until he came back.  He did email us other coaches which were available but more money than this one and smaller.   Upon his return after the 4th of July holiday we decided not to change coaches but to fix the problem with this one and keep our humble little home which we love.  We have also effected many repairs which we would not be reimbursed for.  To much moula to lose and then pay more for another coach, No thanks I take what I have.

We also had to move out of our spot at the Alpine RV park because they booked up and we didn't tell them we planned on staying all summer.  So we moved to a spot next to our storage shop where all of stuff is for us to go through, sell and repack etc.  We realized we have a place to dump, we have water and all we needed was electrical.  My brother sent over one of his guys to help us out putting in a 50 amp plug.  Now were are set up next to our garage that is bigger then our house.  It great because we don't have to pay for our space only the rent on the shop.

My food allergies have been kicking my bootie.  For those of you who don't know I am allergic to corn, citric acid, chocolate and peanuts.  My big 4 list.  I have also chosen to go gluten free, vegetarian  and no milk which is really not offering me much in the form of food.  I have to be creative.  Now I am just looking for different ways of cooking veggies, getting my protein and dealing with this.

August: Currently still going through out stuff from selling the house.  We have sold all the furniture and only have our bed and 2 bar stools left with some assorted boxes with pictures, accessories etc.  Tom has his tools left but he seems to be keeping those for now.  The truck will have more room in it now.

Tom has had another bout with skin cancer on his forehead and will be needing to take care of that soon.

Next post will be our adventure through the Hiawatha Bike Trail...