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...

LIving Life In Idaho

So sorry I have not updated this blog lately.  We have not been traveling, just staying put right now.  We are currently still in Idaho.  Today we moved from Couer d'Alene to Hayden, only about 10 miles.  We chose to move to be closer to my brother and to be closer to our storage.

This is where we are currently.

Seems that the difficulty with the motorhome continues.  Not sure what Karma we are paying back by having these problems but I hope the debt is paid soon.  Our Hydro Hot (Hot water heater) has had some difficulty again by not heating the water.  This makes for a chilly shower and not something I personally like when it's 40 degrees outside.  Thank goodness for hot showers at the park we were staying at.  We made some repairs and it seems to be happy again and doing it's job.  Which makes us happy because hot showers are really a daily necessity.  On top of that a leaky valve in the shower and more trips to Home Depot and Lowes than I can count.  I really thought that was all finished when we sold the house.  Guess I was wrong there.


We left a cool place which was on the Spokane River.  The river had been rising since the snow melt was at about 130%.   There was a grassy area when we arrived which turned into a pond.

As the river got higher the geese found new places to explore.  I don't think they paid the nightly rate though for this space, don't they know there is limit as to how many can camp at each space.

We have been doing some exploring around town and found some good restaurants and shops.  The weather has been cold and rainy.  No tank tops or flip flops yet.  I am hoping for some of those days soon.  Maybe we can get an easy hike in one of these days.  

I'll post again soon. Please stay tuned...

McCall Idaho. It was breathtaking. Short photo series.

Loving the Northwest....

My last post has been lost by blogger when they did some maintenance. So here it is again.

It's been very cold since we arrived at the end of April here in Coeur d'Alene Idaho. We have had rain, snow showers, and a little sun.  My brother lives up here and that's why we are up here now.  We plan on staying a little while for me to reconnect with him and for Tom and I to go through some of our pack items in the truck.  We packed at the end rather quickly and didn't get rid of some items we wanted to.  Verlin (my brother) invited us over for Mother's day dinner and we had a terrific day with him and his family.   When we arrived we put the dogs in backyard to play with his dog, they really have a good time together.

My brother told us we could bring them by anytime to play which we did when we took the truck to the new shop to unload.  We left the dogs in his ginormous yard.  After 2 hours or so I wanted to come back and check on them being the overprotective mom that I am.  As I am driving down the road getting closer to the house I see a black spot in the driveway.  Now we are in a rural area with lots of space between houses unlike Los Angeles.  I am getting closer and realize it's a dog.  My heart starts pounding a bit and I see as I get closer it's Sam and her tail is straight up in the air and she's wagging her tail while laying out in the driveway near the road.  She had somehow got out and was just hanging out.  Thank goodness.  Coffee was still in the yard but none to happy Sam was on the outside looking in.  I could not figure out how she got out.  So I hooked them up and took them back to the shop with me.  I thought we were going to change her name to Houdini.

Well when we went to my brother's for Mother's day and put them in the yard and closed the gate, Sam would have none of that.  She flattened out like a pancake behind the gate on the ground turned her head to almost touch her back, pulled herself under the gate in one of the tire tracks and flattened her back legs like a frog to get under, then swoosh she was next to me in the driveway.   Safe to say that we are taking her for tryouts next week at Cirque Du Soleil, we think she'll do just great.

Who me???

On May 1 we rented a shop for sorting out the truck and for Tom to build his sand rail.  We'll probably keep it a month or so.  We'll be able to do some "remodeling" to the coach as well.  If you know Tom that won't be a big a surprise to you.  Good thing we went into the truck and unpacked it as we found a leak all the way in the front and had some water damage to some boxes with black and green mold setting in.  I don't even want to think of what could have happened had we not opened up the truck.  Safe to say everything could have been ruined.

Craigslist has been wonderful we sold the rest of our furniture in a week.  Now all that's left are some of Tom's tools and maybe clean out some more boxes for downsizing.  It's a process and we refuse to be consumers anymore.  No more collections, no more buying just so that we have it for whatever reason, more purging to come.

The following picture is our view from the coach at the RV park where we are.  There has been 130% snow fall this year and lots of rain.  The rivers, lakes and streams are all flooding up here.  We are on the Spokane River and it's rising everyday.   In the mornings when I get up the water is a little closer to us.  We were told in 2008 and 1996 it flooded this place where we are staying pretty bad.  We are in the first spaces near the water so if it rises too much we will be moving, probably to another park on the other end of town.  There is a possibility we might even go ghetto and park next to the shop for a bit since there are hook ups for us.

More to come....Hope you are enjoying the blog.

Feeling the cool chill of Idaho

We made it McCall Idaho on Tuesday April 26th.  It was a beautiful place.  We had the whole resort to ourselves.  It seems the resort was taken over by a larger company and not many people knew it was open during winter / spring.  It felt like winter with more than 3 feet of snow on the ground.   There was an indoor pool, jacuzzi and steam room we had all to ourselves, which was fabulous.  After soaking in the hot tub we ran outside and made snow angels in our bathing suits.  It was quite chilly I must say.

The picture is of the lodge where the pool and jacuzzi were.

We went for a hike and took some pictures  of a river that runs through the area.  I stopped and soaked my foot in the cold water to get the swelling down.  It seems my foot does not like the uneven terrain but I think its good therapy to get it strong.

There were several deer in the area and we had an opportunity to shoot them up close.  Not with a gun, a camera.  In the camping area where we were staying there were some grazing.  Sam and Coffee thought they wanted to chase them.  Sam was not on her lease and got a little far away but after a few calls she came back.  Although she was none too happy about it.  She really wanted to chase them as did Coffee.

As you can see from the photo below there was still a lot of snow.  The coach was parked and the deer were grazing around us.  That's why the dogs wanted to chase them.

Our hike brought us down to the river I mentioned before.  It was very so beautiful.  I don't think these photos quite capture the true beauty.  I could have sat there all day but it was a bit chilly.  It did snow while we were there although not much really stuck.  We both really had a great time and hope to come back during another season to see this place. 

We left McCall and have now made it to Coure D'Alene Idaho near where my brother lives.  The drive in was good, had some snow showers and rain but all in all it was an easy drive.  I guess that's easy for me to say since I wasn't driving Tom was.  There were some good 7% grades which he handled perfectly.

We plan on staying here for a while to go through some of our belongings on our storage truck and visit with my brother and his family.  Our home now is on the Spokane River at a place called Blackwell's.  Not many people here yet but we are told it will fill up in June.  We have this spot for a month and then we'll see if we move around any.  It snowed a bit yesterday which for me was great although I know my family up here is really tired of the snow.  It's spring already and the snow should be finished.

I'll post again soon....Thanks for reading our blog.

Moving North to Boise

We decided to get as far as Boise today.  Leaving this AM even with the rain.

Our motor arrived yesterday afternoon and we were happy to get it in and have the leveling jacks working...But...the new heavy duty motor has no way to mount it.  You read that right the comedy of errors continues.  This new super duper motor is bigger and badder but has no mounting brackets or anything.  The guy in Indiana at the manufacturer said it would work and be just fine since they didn't make the identical motor for replacement anymore.  We paid extra to have it shipped to us quick and when it arrived they were closed for the holiday. So we can't call them and say " what's up with this?"  Gotta wait till Monday.

I am not even too bothered by it because we are on the road and having the time of our life and lucky enough to do this.  It is what it is.  It'll all work out in the end.  If I let these little things get me down it will ruin the trip and that's not going to happen.

Time to start packing up this bad boy and getting it road worthy.


More to come from Boise Idaho....

Thanks for reading our blog.