Good News and Bad News

Let start with the bad news...  We got stuck in a dust storm yesterday and a trip that should have taken 2 hours took over 6 hours.  Dust storms are crazy-we couldn't see anything and the wind gusts were over 50mph!!  The good news is that we and the trailer are fine and I got to play 2 of my favorite games (ticket to ride and lost cities).  

After we finally got to Coeur d' Alene we stopped at the nicest park ever-Tubbs Hill.  The park had everything:  an awesome water feature, a dog park with agility training stunts, a huge play structure, a hiking trail with amazing views of Coeur d'Alene lake,

and several moose statues.

It also had this epic suspension bridge. 

After that we went to Paragon brewery-they had great cider, beer, and the most amazing scotch eggs that I have ever consumed!  After stuffing our bellies with awesome British goodness we made our way to Farragot State Park. 

This place is a gigantic park.  They have everything including disc golf, Llama trails, a shooting range, several campgrounds, mountain biking trails, and a swimming area.  I am looking forward to exploring everything!!

Many much moosen!

If the title didn't give you a chuckle then you need to look up Brian Regan "stupid in school"

I don't know when I'll be able to post this. I'm actually writing with no service at our 2nd campground. I'll get to that later. This post will cover yesterday the 28th. 

The day started out positive and would remain that way until bedtime. The smoke was tolerable, down to where the odor was undetectable. I call this the Pier 1 effect. Most of you know I worked there for years during college. Could have been CEO, but that's another story. Anyway, after working at Pier one for a few weeks one no longer notices the mix of odors caused by potpourri, votives, wicker, etc. It was still smokey, but at a level which we could only see. 

The ride on the trail of the Coeur D'alenes was postponed until today and I'm glad it was. We fit many more miles (45) in than we would have on Wednesday. The trail is in the rail trail hall of fame. I have yet to confirm the existence of this, but it belongs there regardless. From our trailhead in the "town?" of Chacolet (mp 7.3 from the end) we proceeded north and east along the lake then Coeur D'alene River and other sloughs, lakes, marshes, and farms. For a couple of biology dorks it was pretty cool. The region was historically impacted by extensive mining. The content of heavy metals in the soil is dangerous. There are warnings about washing hands and face on just about every sign along the way. Here's the first highlight from our start. 

That's an old rail bridge which they've placed permanently in the up position. It was also the only climb on the trail itself. The pavement is remarkable well kept and flat flat flat. We knocked out about 22.3 miles one way of the 73 total. 

We did see a couple of moose. Not many or much as the title of this post implies. 

 

These two were a few hundred feet away and the old point and shoot couldn't zoom very well. It was still pretty cool. 

On the return trip we stopped in Harrison for some ice cream. 

After the ride we rescued the pups and went for a really nice evening walk along Benewah lake. The air quality was the best we'd seen, which made for a great final evening at our first stop. 

The Road Trip Begins

Howdy. I'm writing this first post with the viewpoint see above. This is Chatcolet Lake at Heyburn State park. It's really a pretty place. The water is very calm and there are marshes along the water inlets. This is not where we had planned for our first stop. That was supposed to be Pearrygin State Park near Winthrop Washington. Unfortunately the infernos closed that park.  The lake I sit on now is south of Coeur d'Alene Lake. Oddly, to me it appears to be one contiguous lake when viewed on google Earth. Even in person what I see as one body of water can be divided in to Chalocet, Round, and Benewah lakes. The river St. Joe flows between the lakes as an underwater shadowy serpentine. 

We arrived late last night at the first come first served campground called Benewah, which of course is on Benewah lake. We had our pick of the sites as the only othe occupant is the camp host. They seemed happy to see other people; Benewah is 7 miles removed from the main campground in the state park. 

I don't think we are likely to have neighbors until Friday so this will be a peaceful few days. 

The drive was pretty long, palatable smoke from John Day, and endless hay fields from Kennewick to the park. The highlight for me was the realization that I get to pump my own gas for an entire month. Lunch at Pfriem Family Brewers was pretty great too, but much too slow. 

This morning we did a nice 3 mile hike with some views of the lake. We even dragged Stoli along. I think he's had enough for about 3 days now. Here's a pic of the view from Indian Cliffs. I guess political correctness hasn't made it to the panhandle yet. 

The native Americans the name refers to are the Coeur d'Alenes whose reservation borders the state park. 

This afternoon we will cruise on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes, a 73 mile rail trail that runs through the park. This lake also calls for some paddle boarding, but that may have to wait until tomorrow. 

Until next time.