Saturday, May 14, 2022 - We drive in the rain from the Chelan County Expo Fairgrounds in Cashmere, Washington to Ravenwood RV Park in Athol, Idaho near Sandpoint. The drive took about five hours and we were not in a hurry to arrive. Only one rest stop along the way. The temperature is in the mid-40s today with rain; pretty cold. We are waiting for the days to start warming up around here so that we can move north to Canada and enjoy it.

We plan to spend time here "isolating" ourselves to shed the Covid virus and then take another test. When we get negative readings, we will get back out and hike, bike, and kayak. This a great place to do each of those activities and to take some drives up to parts of the area that we have not seen before.

Sunday, May 15, 2022 - Lisa and I are on our fifth day of isolation since we were notified that our friends had contracted Covid and we took tests that came back positive. We are feeling better, but still somewhat fatigued. We decided that, since it is Sunday, we will just take another day around the RV to rest and get our strength back. It is kind of boring, but it does give me a chance to work on a couple blog videos and photo galleries. We have decided that we would hop into the truck tomorrow and take a drive to see part of the Sand Point area that we have not seen before. We will continue to minimize all close contact with other people and limit interaction. We are both beginning to feel better and I, personally, want to wash the RV while we are here, so it will be great to get my strength back. The weather is overcast to partly sunny with temperatures up to 60 degrees. We don't like having to isolate and remain secluded, but it is the best thing to do for others whom we might contact.

Monday, May 16, 2022 - Today we drove to Sandpoint and then to the west to the Priest River area west of Sandpoint. To get there, you drive west to Priest City and then turn north to the town of Priest River City along the Priest River. Then you turn east to the Priest Lake itself. Priest Lake is about a one-hour drive from our RV park. It was a nice day with no rain, so that was nice. The drive to the town of Priest Lake is along the Priest River and it is a beautiful drive. The water in the Priest River is extremely clear with a green tinge to it, and it looks like "liquid emeralds." It is a perfect river for floating on rubber rafts, but it is extremely challenging to get to the water in most places. We came across a siding for river access where the community had built a facility to slide river rafts into the river. You carry your raft down steps and then put it on top of a table. Then the table edge slants down about 40 feet to the water. You simply let gravity do the work and the raft will slide right into the shallow water at the edge of the river. Be sure to check out the photo gallery to see how this system works; extremely innovative! We then continued our exploration of Priest Lake and the facilities on the west side. It is a beautiful lake with snow-capped mountains all around. We even stopped and walked along the beach at one of the exceptional picnic areas along the lake. After visiting the lake, we bought some food at Priest Lake City and then drove back to our RV near Athol.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022 - Today we made some calls to local RV maintenance businesses to see if any of them could install our converter/inverter in the RV. There were two owners who stated that they could install the units in mid-June, so we were beginning to consider going to Canada and then returning to the states to get the work done before we continued up to Alaska. We decided to drive to these businesses to see if we could "get a feel" about how they ran their businesses. After seeing both businesses, we decided to make a call to an RV Sales and Service dealer in Reno, Nevada to see if they could install the inverter upon our return in mid-September. They stated that they could get it done and I do know that they have done it before, so we set up an appointment to head for Reno in September.

After setting up this appointment, we then decided to head to Sandpoint and then on to the Clark Fork River to explore two dams on the river. We bought sandwiches and then had a picnic at the "Drift Yard" at the delta of the Clark Fork River. It is a very nice place to begin a kayaking trip and also to have a picnic. We then drove to the Cabinet Gorge Dam to check it out. Both Lisa and I enjoy looking at these miracles of engineering and construction. They are so fascinating and provide so much benefit to the country with power, flood control, and recreation. This dam creates a great lake behind the dam where there are often professional bass fishing tournaments. We then drove farther into Montana to the site of the Noxon Rapids Dam on the Clark Fork River. It is a little smaller than the Cabinet Dam, but it is still and impressive dam providing enough electrical power for over 150,000 families. We then began the drive back to Sandpoint. Along the way, we came across a mining and gravel facility that had placed hundreds of very old cars around businesses boundaries as a decoration. It is darn interesting to see, so be sure to check it out on the photo gallery.

Covid Update: Lisa is nearly back to normal and doing quite well. We will be waiting a couple more days before retesting to see where we stand; officially. I am about a day behind her. Getting over my runny nose and not a tired as I was before. We will isolate, test, and prepare for a successful entry into Canada; post Covid.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022 - We are feeling better and decided to go into Coeur d'Alene to do our laundry and do some shopping. It is a a overcast today with periods of rain, so it is a great time to wash our clothes and do our grocery shopping. We also went to lunch in town. It feels good to be getting over the Covid issue and to get out and have some more fun. We are a little tired still, so when we hop on the bikes for our next ride, we will likely not get as many miles in as we would like to finish. The good news is that our RV park is right next to a paved bike path that extends all the way from Coeur d'Alene to Sandpoint. Lots of places to ride. All we need now is some better weather over the next few days. We also bought some new Covid tests, so that we can see if we are "negative" or "positive." Then we can get our isolation days all lined up properly before entering Canada.

Thursday, May 19, 2022 - We extended our stay at Ravenwood since it has been so cold and we want it to warm up somewhat before we head for Canada. We decided to drive into Coeur d'Alene to go to a sporting goods store to see about buying kayaking wetsuits. We are concerned about the cold water that we might experience on our trip, so we thought that wetsuits might be a good idea. The first store did not have what we needed, so we decided to travel to Post Falls to the Cabela's located there. They, too, did not have what we needed, but they did recommend a place called Kent's Kayaks in Spokane. They had everything we needed, and more. We bought wetsuits, special neoprene gloves, splash skirts, booties, and kayak covers. Cost us about $700 to get out of the store. Very nice people there and very helpful.

Friday, May 20, 2022 - We decided to drive north to Sandpoint and then head west over to the Priest River and Priest Lake. It was a very nice drive with very little traffic. The day was slightly overcast, but not too cold. The stream does not have a lot of access points, but where we could get down to the river, it was a beautiful sight. Super clear, cold water. Looked excellent for rafting and fishing. Then we drove to Priest Lake. Very serene with high mountains all around with snow still on the tops. We have more photos and videos on the blog.

Saturday, May 21, 2022 - We did a 28 mile bike ride to Farragut State Park and back. We rode down to the boat launch and then came back via Highway 44. We thought about riding our bikes over to the town of Bayview for lunch. We had eaten there on a previous trip to the area and knew that it was a delightful to have a meal. We decided to ride back to the RV and then drive to Bayview for lunch. We went to a restaurant called< "The Captain's Wheel." Their food was excellent and the server was very nice. We enjoyed the meal and then went to a store to shop for food on the way home.

Sunday, May 22, 2022 - We decided that we need to wash the RV, so we got right with it. We are lucky that they allow us to wash the RV at this RV resort. We washed the nose cap and one side of the trailer and then we heard radio control aircraft flying at the flying field just north of us. That aroused my attention, so we drove to the flying field. We talked to several of the flyers and met a couple named Bill and Sherrie Burgad. It seems that Bill and Sherrie are good friends of a mutual friend of ours, Jim and Velma Spurlock, who live in Willits, California south of Redding. It seems that Bill builds the planes that Jim buys and flies. We called Jim after we returned to our trailer and found out that Bill had just called him too. Sometimes, it is a small world. I flew the drone at the flying field and took pictures and video of the field and the Silverwood Amusement Park located just across the road from the RC field. You can see these photos and videos within this blog.

Monday, May 23, 2022 - We washed the other half of the RV on this day. It was a very nice day and we spent a fair amount of time talking to people stopping by to "supervise." We also spent a fair amount of time looking at our itinerary for the trip into Canada. We need to make reservations for the trip at various locations, so we have to commit to when we will be there. Also, along the Icefield Parkway, campsites fill up really fast this time of year and you could be "hard-pressed" to find a place to stay.

Kayaking: We want to do quite a bit of kayaking at three lakes near Lake Louise. Lisa read that if we change lakes, we have to give the kayaks 48-hours to dry. Fish and game are trying to keep invasive species out of their lakes. Also, if we come into Canada, we need to prove that our kayaks were not in water for the previous 14 days, otherwise we have to have the kayaks "decontaminated." We are trying to sort out all the rules and still stay on our schedule for the trip.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022 - We decided that we were not sure if we would have an opportunity to go to Bonners Ferry (north of Sandpoint) and explore the area later in our stay, so we went there today. We drove through town and explored the town. Lisa found a super-quaint used book store and ended up buying about six to eight books. She was very happy. I spoke with the lady running the store who had lived in California and was very familiar with the Sacramento area. We also got to visit with the store's really cool pitch-black cat named, "Angus." What a friendly cat. We then drove along the Kootenai River (pronounced Koo-ten-ee) to the Kootenai National Wildlife Preserve. It was a super pretty drive to the preserve and through the preserve. We had purchased fried chicken, macaroni salad, potatoes, and bread for a picnic lunch. We ate at the picnic area near the visitor center. We then took a hike along Myrtle Creek up to Myrtle Falls. It was a fun hike (see the video on the blog) and only about a mile long. We then toured the Kootenai River Valley area on our way back to Bonner's Ferry. On our way through town, we though we would look for a Dairy Queen, but the nearest one was about 70 miles away. We did find a supermarket that sold soft-serve. For $1.25, we got two super large portions of soft-serve; it really hit the spot.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022 - We just stayed around the RV today. It is a little overcast, so we are feeling kind of lazy. Lisa went for a four-mile walk while I worked on videos for the blog. We also filled both propane tanks for the RV. We don't want to run out of propane during cooler weather.

Thursday, May 26, 2022 - We decided to take a bike ride on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. We drove to a small town name Catala that is situated on Highway 90 and has a trailhead for the bike path. The Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is a wonderful trail that is about 75 miles long. It starts in Plummer, Idaho and travels east past Lake Coeur d'Alene and then up the Coeur d'Alene River to the town of Mullan near the border with Montana. It is a "rails to trails" bike path, so the gradient is no more than about four percent in a couple of places. We rode from Cataldo to Osburn for a distance of 20 miles one way. We ended up with a total distance of 41 miles and just under 1,000 feet of elevation climb. The first 20 miles was all slightly (hardly negligible) up hill, so the the return trip was an easy downhill all the way to the truck. The trail is first-class: very wide and smooth. Part of the trail is along Highway 90, but it does not detract from the beauty of the area. A large portion is long the river and lake making the trail highly scenic. After getting back to our truck, we had a nice picnic that Lisa had prepared. After the picnic, we returned to the RV to download photos and video.

Friday, May 27, 2022 - We start the day by going to breakfast at a little restaurant about ten miles north of our RV called The View. The View is located right across the street from Lake Cocolalla and you do actually have a view of the lake while you are eating. Food was very good and the service was excellent. We then drove into Coeur d'Alene to go to the Costco there. I needed some medications since I was getting low on one and we had our doctor submit the prescription to the Costco. We also picked up some food items and other items that we will be using in Canada. After Costco, we drove to Spokane to return a couple of kayak covers to Kent's Kayaks where we bought them. While there we spent a lot of time talking to Kent about kayaking in cold water. He was super helpful. We then purchased two whistles and two paddle leashes. We don't want to lose a paddle if we go into the water. Kent has a very nice shop with lots of gear. We then drove back to Coeur d'Alene to see the movie "Top Gun." Top Gun was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone. Tom Cruise is a damn good actor. After the movie, we headed back to the RV to relax from a pretty busy day.

Saturday, May 28, 2022 - Today is hiking day. Lisa found a trail that goes from the Visitor Center at Farragut State Park down to the lake at Beaver Bay and then along the shore of the lake to Eagle Boat Ramp. We had a little drizzle at the start, but the day improve continuously as we hiked. We did not have a great map, so we "kind of" got lost on the way to Beaver Bay. We both got out our cell phones and went to the Altrails Application that showed the trail and gave us help in getting back to the trail. By the time we arrived at Beaver Bay, we had about three miles of hiking in and we still had to return to the truck (six miles total). We decided to continue around the corner to the swimming area at Beaver Bay and then use the road to climb back up the ridge to the main trail along South Road. That way, we could not get lost. A young couple had just opened a concession at the swimming area and we talked to them while drinking coffee and eating mini-donuts. They had just opened, so we were their first customer. The had smacks, food, ice cream and they rented bicycles and kayaks. He is an active policeman and she worked at a bank. Very nice people. After a while, we began the walk back to the truck. On the way back to the truck, we stopped at an area where RV were parked. We could have camped here. Great paved sites with easy access and full hook-ups on many. We talked to a military couple from Fairchild AFB who were camping. They said that the only problem was the cost. If you are a non-resident of Idaho, you have to pay considerably more. They were paying $65 per day which is pretty pricey for a state park. We even had to pay double the daily entry price of $7 to utilize the park. After we got back to the truck, we decided to drive back to Beaver Bay to have our picnic. We found a nice place on the spit in the bay to have our picnic. There was a group of people at the end of the spit and a couple were flying drones. They got some great video of a resident bald eagle. They were very nice. We also talked to another couple who live on a boat moored at the docks at Beaver Bay. They intend to begin RVing like we are. Very nice people. After lunch, we drove back to the RV where we relaxed until about 5:00 pm. Then we left for the town of Hayden to buy Lisa some shampoo/conditioner and then go see the movie "2000 Mules." This is a very interesting movie that exposes voter fraud that has been occurring over the years and especially during the 2020 election. I would recommend that people have an open mind and go see the documentary. After the movie, back to the RV.

Sunday, May 29, 2022 - I think we were tired; we slept in until 9:00am and this is something that we never do. Hopefully, we will be very rested today. Planning to work on the blog today. I have two videos to create. I created the two videos for the blog and added the narration. I also rendered both videos to mp4s so that I could upload them to YouTube. I also began building a video on our Viking River Cruise in Europe for Barbara Lucas. She is planning a river cruise and wanted some info on the boats. Other than that, we stayed in the RV all day. Rainy and kind of quiet. We feel for a lot of the families here for the Memorial Day holiday with kids. They have to keep them "couped up" during the rain.

Monday, May 30, 2022 - We cleaned up the RV in preparation for our departure on Tuesday. We decided to head into Coeur d'Alene to do the laundry and also go to a Starbucks Coffee to use the WiFi to upload videos. With so many people at the RV park and most of them confined to their RVs, there is no bandwidth to upload videos on the RV resort WiFi system. We are then going to wash the truck, get haircuts, and do a little shopping before we head back to the RV. We are getting anxious to get on the road again and get into Canada. Lisa printed out some forms that we need to fill out to enter Canada. She is staying ahead of the game when it comes to know in the rules for entry and Covid.

Tuesday, May 31, 2022 - We depart for Kalispell, Montana via Highway 95 to Sandpoint and then we head for Clark Fork. After Clark Fork, we will head east to Highway 56 to turn north to Highway 2. We make a right turn on Highway 2 and that will take us all the way to Kalispell, Montana where we will spend just one night.