We drove from Fairchild AFB near Spokane, Washington to Lewiston, Idaho on Sunday the 14th of July. The drive took about three hours to complete. We took Highway 195 which is part of the Palouse Scenic Byway and more scenic than Highway 95 through Coeur d'Alene. We merged with Highway 95 just north of Lewiston. We were rewarded with an opportunity to descend on the "Lewiston Grade" into town. The grade is seven percent or higher for about eight miles. The truck and trailer handled it quite well. The truck shifted to third gear and held us at 50 mph all the way down with occasional gentle taps on the brakes. (Thanks Ford!) There are four runaway truck ramps on this grade; to give you an idea of the steepness and length. There was considerable construction in town on Hwy 12, so we had to be very careful getting to Hell's Gate State Park.

Hell's Gate State Park is a treasure for the cities of Clarkson, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho. Beach for swimming, great boat launches, marina, Lewis and Clark Info Center, archery range, camping for RVs/tents, and much more. Pretty cool.

Bill and Gina deWeber had recommended a white water rafting trip out of Riggins, Idaho. Special thanks to Lisa for recognizing that Riggins is in the Mountain Time Zone while Lewiston is in the Pacific Time Zone. Kind of weird that the Idaho "panhandle" is in the Pacific Time Zone, but Riggins south in in the Mountain. We had to leave at 5:00 am for the two-hour drive to Riggins. We did not want to be late. It seems that the Salmon River separates the time zones. The Salmon is a wild river with no dams on it; free flow. Clear water and moving at a healthy pace. Good steelhead and salmon fishing at certain times of the year. Bass and trout all year round. The staff at Mountain River Outdoor Adventures were great. We had two rafts and two river guides, Austin and Ellie. Ellie was our guide for the day and she did a great job. We scheduled a full-day trip with lunch. We had an awesome time. we started about 10 miles upriver from Riggins and went to a ramp called "Old Lucille" about 10 miles below Riggins. Mostly "Cat 2" rapids, but a couple places were "Cat 3." We got drenched, but did not get tossed out of the raft or have the raft flip. We met some awesome people on the trip. They were much more experienced that we were, so they gave us great guidance about what to do. We got to know them during the first mile as the river was more gentile. After that, we had some pretty awesome rapids to negotiate. We stopped for a great lunch on a sandbar. We swam, played paddle ball, visited, and ate a wonderful lunch that our guides through together with deft and ease. After lunch we hit the river again and had a great time. We had some Cat 3 rapids near the town of Riggins and just below. What was cool was that the rafting company stationed a photographer along this portion of the route and she got some fantastic pictures. Lisa and l were in the front of the raft and this made for some great photos; we bought them all. Be sure to check out the photo and video section of the blog. We would do this again in a second. A great day on a great river with wonderful people. Doesn't get much better than that. We drove back home to Lewiston and arrive around 6:00 in the evening; tired but thankful for the great day. This rafting trip cost us $109 each for the full day with lunch provided. In our opinion, this is a steal of a deal. A day of guided fishing is about $200; reasonable.