Russ&Kappy's Summer Vacation

Fall is upon us,  Last night it rained and this morning we woke up to an overcast sky and colder weather.  It stayed that way all day.  I had been hankering for a little hike and my dog Ceilidh wanted it too.  I am kinda afraid to hike alone for very far but this little hike "the Lion Mountain Trail," which I found on All Trails,  looked easy and only 2.6 miles with 325' of elevation gain.  When we arrived at the trail head I no longer had fears about being alone.  The parking lot was full.   Took the dog off the leash when I could see there were very few folks on the path and she loved it!  We went to the lookout which afforded us a view of Skyles Lake After our hike we drove through Whitefish and marveled at the similarities to Truckee.  The downtown is so trendy, full of upscale restaurants, breweries and distilleries.  There are also boutiques full of artsy stuff from crystals and pottery to fashionable women's western wear...

 We left this place today  and headed to Columbia Falls, MT to hook up in a RV park with full amenities.  This little park, which I don't have a picture of, is located really close to a town Whitefish, MT that has grown incredibly.  It reminds me of Truckee.  We drove through the downtown and noted the modern condos and packed in subdivisions of incredibly modern buildings.  I was struck by the dichotomy of the spacious skies and dense forest right next to a huge housing development where every home looked the same, there were no trees,  and could have come out of a subdivision in Reno.  I guess there is no way to stop "growth" even if you try.  It also reminded me of the town of Frisco in Colorado.  No longer a quaint little spot -- big city money has purchased the small right out of this place. Enough of that.  Today was spent washing our clothes and ourselves.  We haven't seen a shower in 5 days which is the only drawback to...

Back in this civilized camp I have spent 2 days reading, swimming and hiking.  We went to town (Eureka, MT) yesterday for lunch and had a really good and huge cobb salad for $11.  The town kind of reminded me of Virginia City.  I can't exactly explain why but it was set up to take advantage of the tourist trade in the old downtown.  I asked one of the merchants there how business was and she said "not so good."   Before we hit Eureka, we drove down to Rexford which is merely a post office, a bar/restaurant and few trailer parks.  There was, however, a big field where Russ could through the frisbee to Ceilidh.  As we turned around to leave, these critters greeted us: After lunch in Eureka we explored the history a bit.  This place has a pretty good set up.  All of their old buildings are set in the same place.  Fortunately there was a lot of history to see outside for, alas, the museum itself was closed.  COVID.  Here's som...

Today we move from our little spot by the Koocanusa to Rexford MT.   It has been a quiet couple of days and this morning I can feel Fall definitely in the air.   Here is a shot of the Koocanusa at last light – nothing can actually give an accurate picture of the beauty of this place.   Go see it! Yesterday we went to Libby (the closest town) and purchased a butt load of yellowjacket traps.  Apparently they are just plastic one-way bags with a mixture of water and sugar in them.  Well, we had noticed that the bees liked Russ’s rum and coke a lot better than my pinot grigio (well, it is not Italian duh).  So an experiment where a bit of rum and coke added to the trap confirmed our beliefs.  There are about 5 times as many trapped bees in that as in the commercial bag.  Suckers.  In any event, it helped with the bee situation, immensely.    There was a little beach close by our campsite and I was able to swim the past two days.  I...

  A quick pit stop at the Woodland RV park in Libby, Montana (kinda pricey at $47 and you still had to pay .75 for a decent shower). We picked up supplies and headed to Lake Koocanusa.     Along the way we were flabbergasted to see this amazing dam appear out of nowhere.  We remarked that if it failed, the towns below it would be decimated.  It is the Libby Dam     Unfortunately, the Visitor Center is closed as are most things because of the COVID.  It would be really nice to tour it but I fear I won’t get back this way again.   Besides providing people on both sides of the border (Canada and the USA) with electricity, the owners of this Dam have developed and therefore provided us with some of the most beautiful campground facilities we have ever seen.  I am sure that the governments "asked" politely for this concession from the power company and being a good businessman, it agreed.  Thank you to everyone!!   Our destinat...

We broke camp this morning around 11:30 am but not before I got in a run.  I was also treated to this beautiful view of the early morning sun on the river.     I am reminded, once again, how lucky I am to be alive and mobile enough to make this camping trip throughout our beautiful west.  No matter what your politics are, this is still and will always be a country to be proud of and to do the right thing for.   I was also sad to leave Debbie and her family.  Never sure when or if we will see them again.  Our girls trip to San Felipe this year had to be cancelled of course.  We had made a plan to postpone until October but it doesn't look too good for that either.  So this was a great opportunity to visit my good friend Debbie.  Let's keep our fingers crossed for a soon end to this pandemic.  We have all had enough. We are now in Libby, MT for the night to gas up, unload our holding tanks, load up our water tank and check i...

Friday we made our way out the Yaak River road to see the Yaak River Waterfalls.   They were a bit difficult to find and consequently there were not too many people in our way.   I thought that they were spectacular     Until Saturday when we were treated to a view of the Kootenai River Falls.       Now. You tell me.    To get to the Kootenai River Falls, we had to walk about ½ mile which included a metal bridge over the railroad tracks.  It was the kind of metal bridge that is expanded metal.  The dog did not like it.  You can imagine.  But she persisted and we made it to the view.  The waterfalls I have seen here are not like the ones I am used to in Yosemite or Niagara Falls.  They are more spread out and stepped down.  Pretty amazing.   After lunch I was able to join Debbie and Margarite, Addie and Abbey for a trip to the river below our campsite.  Here we sat in little pools (which weren’t too...

We took a drive up highway 2, investigating the various campgrounds, forests and rivers.   Turns out we are camped at the confluence of the Yaak and the Kootenai rivers.   We stopped in Troy to retrieve our email and texts and seeing nothing that we had to deal with, we proceeded to the next cell city Libby, MT.   This is definitely Trump Country.   The area is beautiful, full of mountains, rivers, expansive ranches and a few ticky, tocky, tacky towns.    Beat this shot Tahoe:   or this one:   We checked out the Ross Creek Cedar Stand.  Just beautiful .   You would have thought you were standing in the middle of a redwood stand in California.   Here’s something else we saw along the river – people are busy at work with this stuff everywhere.      Personally, I can’t see this as anything but art and balance. A little piece of home -- I didn't do this.  You can't make it up.     On the way we stopped in a...

Sorry didn’t get a chance to write yesterday, Tuesday, but we arrived at RV park behind a Conoco station just across the bridge from Sandpoint, ID.  We had already dumped the tanks, filled up the fresh water tank and the propane tank but we wanted some electricity and a shower.  Thus the little RV park.  Didn’t get a picture of it but that is okay because there was absolutely nothing remarkable about it.  There was, however, a huge field next door for Ceilidh to run and play off leash.  I have never seen a dog park quite that large and so I was not surprised to learn that it used to be a driving range that was owned b the owners of the RV park until some of the residents (there are full-timers there too) complained about getting hit by golf balls.  Oh boy, it’s always something.   We had dinner at a friend’s house last night.  Debbie, Doug and Abbey made us a wonderful rotisserie chicken and we shared a bottle of wine and some Patron shots in thei...

What are these?  Two different (I think) plants.  Betting they are not edible. Which one of these is not like the other? Anyways, today was another do nothing day.  Russ had to take the truck to Spokane so we could spend another $600 to stay afloat (when will it end chevy?). But we are ready tomorrow to press on up the highway towards Canada, (who will not let us in but screw them anyways we will enjoy our own country).   I bought the Patron to share with my girlfriend who we will get to see tomorrow night!! Did get a good run in this morning and a shower afterwards.  Ceilidh went with me and pooped 4 times but I think it is because I was running and wouldn't stop for her to complete her business.  She had to pick up where she left off, when she got far enough ahead.  She's a herder and always has to lead the way. One observation I had today as I was passing through the tent section of this campground was that I remember when we used to camp like ...

Well they can't all be exciting, right?  Total in-camp day today - disabled truck makes for no fun.  And tomorrow will also be not much going on.   Picture taken along the way walking with my puppy. Ain't nature beautiful?   Apparently, however, there are those of us humans who just want to use it without contributing.  On my walk early today I noted that there were 2 campsites that had been set up on private property -- even though it was signed "no camping."  What is with people?   My dog decided to wander today.  She came back but she gave us a few moments of stress -- little shit!  I'm pretty sure she has found and possibly killed some critter up the road and she keeps going back to it.  So help me, if we end up in a ER Vet clinic -- I will be so pissed. Here is my workout spot.  Trying to keep up with it, but without wifi and my fellow enthusiasts it is kinda pathetic.  Miss you all. Tomorrow more of the sam...

 After a nice little run this morning The plan was to head up to Sand Point to visit with a couple of friends.  We were going sans trailer because we knew we would have trouble getting a spot up there and well, why not just stay in this beautiful spot?  Well, best laid plans . . .  you get it, a light came on the dashboard about 5 miles out of  town and after some research it was decided that we were going to have to get to a chevy dealer (notice no capital "C") to fix some emissions control thing before going on.   The government has made it clear that we will not be able to go any further with an F'd up emission control system -- they give you 95 miles before they start to slow your truck down.  They call it "limp mode."  Talk about "Big Brother," or should we call it "governor?"   Oh well, enough about that.  We will be okay and at least we have this great spot that we are only paying $11.50  a night (the good side of g...

After a really noisy night in an expensive campground we got lucky and the space in the forest service camp opened up!!  Good thing because the office at the campground said that there was "no room at the inn," for tonight.  We were so lucky because we got the first come, first serve spot and we can stay here for as long as we want (up to 14 days) for $11.50 a night.  So here is our campsite.  There are only 19 of them and it is so quiet! After dumping the tanks and moving the rig, we made arrangements to meet Jim Willingham, his son Matt Willingham and Crystal (Matt's girlfriend) in town for lunch.  It was a great visit.  I am so sorry that I didn't take any photos.  I can't remember when I saw Jim last.  He is still a handsome dude!! Back to the campsite and a bit of a walk up the hill where I shot a couple of photos of the flowers.  Check them out: Kinda artsy fartsy, huh?  My camera/phone is awesome. So tomorrow we are going to head ...

 This morning I got a run in finally and a walk with my puppy afterward.  The lower altitude meant that it wasn't my heart rate and lungs that limited me but my knees and feet.  It was good.  Here is a picture taken along the way. Afterward Gracia cooked us a wonderful breakfast.  The best pancakes ever with none other than the famed and precious huckleberries!  Thank you Gracia and Cub for your totally awesome hospitality.  We hope to see you on our way back home.  Here is a picture of their beautiful family. Everyone of the people in this picture are members of the Spokane Tribe (Gracia married into it) and everyone of these people are hardworking and productive members of the tribe and citizens of the USA.  Some of them have children and spouses who are in the active military.  God Bless America!  Thank you Peone family.   We left Ford, WA this morning about 10 am and set out for a USFS campground in Couer d'Alene....

This morning we woke up to overcast and cool weather.   There is lots of wind and Washingtonians are concerned – as all of us in the west are – about fire hazard.     One of Russ’s second cousins – Timmy Peone – is the head fisher watcher in charge for the Spokane Tribe Fish Hatchery so we got a nice tour.  This guy is so well versed and knowledgeable about his job and the fish that they are working hard to keep in good supply.  He showed us the long skinny tanks where the little fingerlings begin their lives and then the round tanks that they graduate to.  The round tanks not only hold fish but they have a current that the fish swim against.  Kinda like a lap pool.   By the way, did you realize that somehow the professionals at this place are able to change the DNA of the eggs to be hatched so that they are no longer male or female?  The reason is that they don’t want these “farmed” fish to interbreed with the natural fish when they are intr...

 Yep, we saw them today.   I've been across this country a few times and I gotta say that Eastern Washington State, while maybe not known as the breadbasket of the USA certainly rivals any basket I have seen.  The picture can't reflect the vastness of this spot.  It was overwhelming. We passed through the Nez Perce reservation on our way here to Eastern Washington and the American Indian presence is profound here.  Right now we are camped on Russ's cousin's spread on the Spokane Indian Reservation.   Gracia and her family are nothing if not gracious!  As you can see her girls are beautiful and talented too.  All of them work in the health care and their kids and husbands are tied to the military in service to our country. Russ and Gracia haven't seen each other since she was 5 and he was 2. During our drive today we were in and out of cell service but I was made immediately aware when Kamala Harris was announced as Joe Biden's running ma...

Sorry I missed yesterday.  The internet here is so pathetic, I just didn't have the energy to post and try to put pictures on here.  I will publish this one when the internet is better but from the way it looks, we will be going further away from civilization rather than closer.   August 9th, which just happened to be a Sunday, we left Huckleberry campground and headed to White Bird (?) We followed the Salmon River north here.  We noted that the towns along the river smacked of tourist -- like Bishop, Lone Pine and even Tahoe.  Lots of people doing expensive outdoor things.  River rafting looks like big bucks here.  Right now the river is slow and steady but I bet in the spring it rolls like scary.   The park we had planned on staying at in White Bird had a beautiful space for us -- right on the lovely river.  Here is the view from our campsite.   This morning, Monday, we decided to take a harrowing road to the bottom of H...