Saturday, August 14, 2021 - We arrive at Fairchild AFB, Spokane, Washington. Today we simply set up the RV and relax in the area. It is late in the afternoon and this makes it hard to start a trip to the community. The Camp Host is the same person who was here last year when we were here. We parked right next to them again. They had a truck exactly like ours, but they apparently "threw a rod" in it since last year. They now have a brand new F-450 that looks great.

Sunday, August 15, 2021 - We get up early and have a bacon and eggs breakfast at the RV. We are planning the activities for the week. Lots of biking and kayaking in the area.

We decided that we would go ride the "Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes" from Plummer (the west end of the trail) to Harrison for a distance of 16 miles. The first seven miles of the ride from Plummer to Coeur d'Alens Lake is downhill to the tune of three percent grade. What does that mean? An easy start to the ride with seven miles of downhill and then seven miles of uphill to end the ride. It all worked out well as it gave me a chance to get a good workout on the climb back to Plummer and it gave Lisa a chance to use the "Sport" mode on her EBike which is the third highest power setting out of four power settings. We drove to Plummer and then hit the trail. The downhill was very easy and then at the lake, we were on level trail for the rest of the way to Harrison. The lake is absolutely beautiful and the railroad grade that this trail is built upon travels right along the shore of the lake. There is a long railroad trestle that crosses the lake. It has been converted to a bike trail and it is impressive. When the trail was built, the engineers made the climb over the railroad trestle is "terraced" where you climb then level off, then climb, then level off again. In this way, you do not have a constant climb of five to six percent. Even though the climb is very short, it could be a little bit of a challenge for persons who do not ride often. When we arrived at Harrison, we realized that it was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon and we had not had lunch, so we went to the restaurant at the Harrison Marina where we had a seat overlooking the lake. Lisa ordered Fish and Chips while I chose a Chicken Caesar Salad. Both were very well done and tasty. We had a great lunch before heading back to the start point. We had ridden 16 miles, so we had 16 miles on the return to the truck. The first nine miles were flat and then we began the climb. I chose to "hammer" the climb and find a gear that made me really work and keep the speed up. I found a comfortable gear that gave me a very good speed and I kept it up. We literally sailed up the three percent grade. It was fun! Lisa hung in right behind me and looked like she was climbing fairly easily. She was in the "Sport" mode of power settings which is the third highest out of four. She could have passed me pretty easily and if she had gone to "Turbo," she would have left me in the dust. It turned out to be a very pretty 32 mile ride that provided a very good training experience. After the ride, we drove back to Fairchild AFB near Spokane, a distance of about 60 miles.

Monday, August 16, 2021 - We decided to take a day to "re-group" and get some things done around the RV. We worked on the blog an some of the videos that we plan to add to the blog. We then decided to go to the base library to use their WiFi to upload videos to YouTube. The library was not open yet, so we went to the Base Exchange first to look around. After some time at the BX, we went to the library and spent a couple hours loading videos.

After the library, we went back to the RV for lunch and then we decided to go get haircuts at a SuperCuts just off base. We got our haircuts and then went to a store to shop for food. After that, it was back to the base to re-charge and plan our activities for the next week or so.

Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - Walked Spokane and Tubbs Hill and Riverside park We decided to go into Spokane and walk around town and the Riverside Park area. The Spokane metropolitan area is fun to explore and the Riverside Park area is very pretty. It is centered around the Spokane River that has some pretty neat waterfalls in the center of town. We walked around the Riverwalk area and then through the mall near the river. We then walked over to Starbuck's for coffee and a pastry. One of those rare occasions where we go to Starbuck's for pleasure and not to use their WiFi. After that, we went to two bicycle shops. The first one sold us tubes with 80mm presta valves for just $5 each; quite a deal. We then went to a shop call the The Hub and the sales person there gave us a wealth of info on where to go to ride bikes in the area.

We then left Spokane to drive to Couer d'Alene to walk around town and then hike on the Tubb's Hill Wilderness Area. This hike turned out to be a lot of fun and it is right in Couer d"Alene and juts out into the lake. We ended getting about five miles of hiking with about 600 feet of climbing. It also provided some great views of Lake Couer d'Alene and the major hotel in the town itself. After the hiking, we walked to the hotel and spent a little time there relaxing and enjoying the views. We then walked back to our parked truck and drove back to the RV at Fairchild AFB southwest of Spokane.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - On Tuesday, the salesperson at The Hub bicycle shop had told us about a climb called Steptoe State Park. This is, essentially, a quartz butte that climbs to an altitude of 1,000 feet above the surrounding Palouse rolling hills and grasslands. You can hike up to the top of the hill or you can ride it on your bike. We chose biking. We were told that the gradient was "not to bad," and, overall, that was true, but there were a couple of places where we had to climb 14% and 16% grades for a period of time. That was a workout. The distance is three and a half mile from the start to the top of the hill. Since it was such a good workout, Lisa suggested that we climb it a second time, which we did. For some reason, it seemed easier the second time. We ended up with 2,100 feet of climbing and some great views. The road to the top spirals up the hill and never crosses itself. You spiral up to the top and then retrace your route to come back down. We had lunch at the park at the beginning of the ride. After the Steptoe State Park ride, we returned to the RV to relax and have dinner.

Thursday, August 19, 2021 - The weather reports for Thursday were pretty good, so we decided to rent a mountain bike from the Outdoor Recreation Center at Fairchild AFB and head for Montana to ride The Route of the Hiawatha. "The Hiawatha," as it is referred to, is a 15 mile route that passes though the Bitterroot Mountains in west Montana into the east Idaho. It is a continuous 2% gradient downhill that starts out in a 1.7 mile long tunnel. It then passes through nine more tunnels and seven trestles. The longest trestle is 850 feet long and 220 feet high. The route has been well built with safety in mind and family members of all ages can ride the route. Since it is downhill, you hardly have to pedal on the way down the hill. For a fee, you can then put your bike in a bus and ride the shuttle back to the start of the route. You can also ride to the west portal of the long St. Paul Pass Tunnel and ride thought it back to the start. At the east end of the Hiawatha, we ate lunch and watched the riders load onto busses for the trip back to the start. We chose to ride the route back which about 15% of the people do. It is a continuous climb and makes you work a little, but the gradient is not that hard and it gave me a chance for a good workout. Lisa just "cruised" along on her EBike, never missing a beat. It was a great ride and we had more fun than we did the previous time we rode this round trip. I think it was because Lisa had her EBike. The last time she road on a regular mountain bike, and she reminds me frequently of how "uncomfortable" it was (LOL).

After riding the Hiawatha, we drove to the historic town of Wallace, Idaho. This a really neat town with lots of buildings from the mid-1800s. We drove around town and then walked to a small wine-bar called, "The Fainting Goat." We did not see any fainting goats, but we did enjoy a rather large pretzel appetizer with queso and a brown-mustard dip. LIsa enjoyed a glass of wine and help me devour the pretzel. We had a great time there. After our stopover, we then drove back to the RV at Fairchild AFB near Spokane.

Friday, August 20, 2021 - Today is the day that we leave Fairchild AFB to head for Ravenwood RV Park located halfway between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene. We do not have to leave Fairchild until 11:00 AM, so we planned several chores for the morning. We washed the bicycles and the truck. We then had to take the rental bike back to the Outdoor Rec Center at Fairchild. We then went to the Auto Hobby Shop on base to use their lift to change the oil on the truck. After that, we went back to prep and hitch up the RV for the Trip to Ravenwood. We had a little bit of an issue to clear up before we could leave the base. Lisa had a book from the base library, and she had about 50 pages left to read. So, we drove with the RV to a location near the library and parked until Lisa could finish her book. We then dropped the book at the library and went to the Commissary for purchase food items prior to heading for Sandpoint. We also went to Burger King for a quick lunch before heading for Idaho. Once we entered Idaho, we stopped at a watercraft check point to have our kayaks checked and then purchase non-powered vessel permits for the State of Idaho. Ravenwood is a very nice resort RV park and we had no problem getting into our site. We set up the RV, and loaded the kayaks on the truck for tomorrow's kayaking trip to Pend Orielle Lake near Sandpoint.