Friday, August 20, 2021 - Lisa and I depart Fairchild AFB for the relatively short drive to Ravenwood RV Resort near Athol, Idaho. Athol is about right in the middle between Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho on Highway 95. At the RV resort, we were about 20 miles south of Sandpoint. The drive went well and the RV park was very easy to get into and park. This RV resort is about two miles from Silverwood Amusement Park, so there were lots of kids and families at this park.

We just relaxed around the RV park after arrival and setup. We planned our activities for the next two days.

On Saturday, August 21, 2021, we drove the short six or seven miles to Farragut State Park. Farragut is a large state park that is right on the shoreline of Lake Pend Oreille. As it turns out, this used to be a naval base for submarines; kind of weird since we are a long way from an ocean. It seems that the lake is extremely deep, so this made this lake a great place to test submarines. It was named after David Farragut, the first admiral in the U. S. Navy and the leading naval officer during the Civil War. The park is pretty large with just over 4,000 acres of land. There is a boat ramp for launching and even a model airplane flying field that is maintained by a local club.

We launched our kayaks and headed across the lake for the opposite side where there were some extremely high mountains right on the shore. Even as we kayaked along the shore, we could see through the clear water that the lake was very deep right up to the shore line. You could be 30 feet from shore and the water was 100 feet deep. It was also a slightly overcast day with no wind, so were were kayaking on calm, clear water. We traveled along the opposite shoreline for about three miles and then decided to cut across Lake Pend Oreille. It did not look that far, but it was a long way across; likely in the area of three to four miles. Once we arrived on the opposite shore, we turned left back towards the town of Bayview, Idaho. That was another three miles, or so, of kayaking, so we were getting pretty tired when we arrive in town. Lots of "floating homes," marinas, and virtually no places to take our kayaks out of the water. We finally found a boat launch and right next to it was a floating cafe that looked like we could find a good meal. We were starving, so anything would have worked. Turned out to be excellent food with me getting a hot pastrami with fries and Lisa ordering a grilled chicken sandwich with a side salad. It was a great meal and it gave us the energy we needed to finish the two mile kayak back to the truck. We enjoyed the kayaking (even though it was fairly strenuous) and we really enjoyed the lunch.

After loading the kayaks on the truck, we drove into Sandpoint to try to get some information on some river kayaking in the region. The owner of the Outdoor Adventure Store in Sandpoint told us about the Clark Fork River and the Delta that was created by the river where it empties into Lake Pend Oreille. He said that the kayak in was easy and that there was lots of wildlife in the area. So, we decided to go to the Delta the next morning to kayak the numerous waterways there. We then splurged on ice cream before heading back to the Ravenwood RV Resort.

As were were approaching the RV park, we noticed a huge storm building right over the park. As we got to within on mile of the park, we drove into a significant thunderstorm. The rain came down in sheets and then we were battered with hail. I hid the truck by driving it next to a huge pine tree since the hailstones were moving kind of sideways with the wind. The rain and hail really battered the truck as we arrived at the RV. We decided to sit it out as best as possible in the truck before "making a dash" for the RV. When we did run for the RV, we were actually wading through three-inch deep runoff water filled with ice. Once inside, we were nice and cozy and just watched the rain from the comforts of home. Pretty interesting experience.

On Sunday, August 22, 2021, we left fairly early to drive the 45 miles to the Clark Fork River Delta. We found the place where we could put in pretty easily since the guy at the sport shop clearly explained what to look for. We drove up to a small campground with a boat launch and a porta-potty restroom. It was a perfect place to launch and we also could have driven our RV to this place to camp. It could handle big-rigs. We launched the kayaks and entered some of the calmest water we have seen-to-date. The sky was overcast, but clearing, and the reflection of the clouds on the water was spectacular. I took lots of great photos, so be sure to see the photo gallery and the video. We kayaked for about three miles and saw several bald eagles and osprey. Not many fish to see even though the water was crystal clear. We finally came out in the main river that was very wide, but not running with a lot of current. We began looking for a place to get out of the kayaks (restroom), but is was too deep on the shore and it would have been risky trying to get out. We finally did find a nice spot to get out and it was a success. We then explored a channel in the delta that ended up spitting us out on the main lake. We then kayaked for about a mile and a half to get around a long jetty before heading back to the launch location. Luckily, we had a photo of a map from the sport shop that helped us navigate through the delta area; you can get lost out there. As we exited the water, we met a couple from Texas who has two very nice wooden kayaks. We talked to them and I took some photos of their kayaks. They were very nice and we enjoyed the visit.

After the kayaking, we journeyed back to Sandpoint to walk around town. There was a small store that was closed the day before that sells really cool pull-over shirts that are made of a material that is designed to give wind and ultraviolet protection. I found one that I liked and bought it. After our shopping, we considered the ice cream store, but decided to abort and give more support for our diet program. We then drove back to the RV resort to pack away the kayaks and prepare for our departure in the morning for Walla Walla, Washington; the home of Bill and Gina DeWebber and Bill's mom, Ann.