Dworshak - Freeman Creek

Heading southeast out of Moscow, you quickly drop down to Troy, ID, home of the Trojans. We noted that, proudly displayed on a huge satellite dish as you enter the city. It only takes a moment to drive through Troy. The down town district is about three blocks long. There is the lumber mill and the school and that is about it. Leaving town you climb up a long grade, cross the flats at the top and then drop into another valley following a curvy, steep two lane highway into Kendrick. By our observation Kendrick looks a bit bigger then Troy but that is because the main street is the only street you see making the town long and thin, the opposite of what we could see of Troy. Troy is about twice the size of Kendrick.

Once you make your way past the commercial zone you exit the city, turn right and head up another very steep grade following Nez Perce Highway P1. We put the truck in tow haul for this climb, and the Dodge made her just fine. Back on top we traveled through wheat and blue grass fields, amazed of the vast farmland that surrounded us. I would have never guessed that there would be so much farming up on these ridges.

We made one final decent into the Freeman Creek Campground on the Dworshak Reservoir. It was the steepest yet! I geared down and we crawled around switchback after switchback. We arrived and found our spot, #13. Once again we were very lucky. #13 sits a bit to the north of the no hook-up camp area. It is the best site there because there is shade and it is away from most of the other campsites. Now I am not saying that it is private, but of the no hook-up sites we felt this on to be the best.

Freeman Creek Campground is divided into three areas; the no hook-up area sits up above the lake overlooking the swimming area and playground. The hook-up area sits north of our area and is packed with campers. This area must fill up with longer term vacationers because the setups there were very elaborate. Finally at the end of it all is the tent camping area. The tents area is real nice because almost all the sites are close to the water, or at least looking over it with a great view. We walked the entire area after dinner on Friday night. Kobi is beginning to get the hang of being on lead and walking with us. I think he is going to be a great dog some day; we just have to let him grow up.

Saturday morning Linda rode her bike on the trainer while I slept in. This is our little routine and I have gotten real good at the sleeping in part. When I finally get up I make coffee and get Kobi up. It takes a bit of persuading but in the end Kobi usually decides that it is in his best interest to get up and out of his crate. He rolls out of the truck and jogs around to the water bowl, drinks, looks for some food and then goes and pees.

Our day consisted of sleeping, playing fetch, going to the lake and playing fetch, eating, sleeping and then going for the nightly walk around camp. It was pretty hot today, in the 90’s, so we sat in the shade and honestly slept most of the day.

Kobi has started taking to this camping thing, he really likes the whole routine. We watched him quite a bit this weekend. We have been trying to figure him out. He is very smart and picks up everything we try and do in our training. Up until this weekend he seemed a bit distant to Linda and I. That is changing each day we are with him. We notices that he has started to come up to us while we sit and put his head in our lap, which makes Linda feel much better about our pup. Some times Kobi will just sit and watch everything around him. He looks mesmerized with a blank stare; I think he is just trying to take in so much that he gets lost in puppy thoughts. It’s interesting to watch and try to figure out what he is thinking.

On Sunday we packed up and headed back. The trip to Moscow took an hour and a half, with no problems. We visited Linda’s parents and picked up the Jeep. Then cruised back to Cd’A and did some shopping for the July 4th trip.

GRPD - Golden Retriever Puppy Dog

Weekends

Thursday morning Linda and Kobi loaded into the truck and drove down to Bell Bay for the weekend. It was Linda’s first solo camper set up and she was a bit nervous. The driving of the larger vehicle and then the various set up procedures made her uncomfortable. I had to stay home because at work on Thursday I had to help interview a candidate for a job in Computer Services.

I also had a Physical Therapy appointment for my bad back. The back has been bothering me for over two weeks and I figured it was time to get some help. On Friday I was in charge of the parent session in our OARS program and so I was keeping the home fires burning as Linda ventured into the wild.

I kept in contact with Linda and everything went smooth as silk for the dog and her. It was a bit different for me. I had my PT appointment and all was well except for the fact the receptionist/helper had a nasty cold. You guessed it; I came down with a terrible cold on Friday. I made it through the two parent sessions but by the end I could not talk, had a head ache, and a sore throat! I was so mad at that receptionist. I have not had a cold all year, and she was the only person I was near that coughed and snorted around me.

After work I drove down to the campground and met Linda and Kobi. They were excited to see me and that made me feel a bit better. I made a huge effort to keep from breathing on Linda; I didn’t want her to get this crap.

John and Loretta came out in their boat and we talked and cooked dinner. John had not been feeling well the day prior so we could commiserate a bit about our upcoming weekend. Linda and I fixed chicken enchiladas con Costco and the Sutherlands fixed elk burgers. We talked until the sun went down and they had to get back to town. They are wonderful people and we enjoy them immensely.

We went to bed at about 9:00PM and I sniffed and snorted my way through the night.

Saturday the weather changed about every hour. It was clear in the morning, got hot, got cloudy, sprinkled, got sunny, then rained and finally the evening was cloudy but very nice. During the afternoon we played in the lake with Kobi and then we drove to Harrison for some ice cream. We met several folks we knew there, it was Pig Out in the Park day and Harrison was the place to be. We drove home and fixed dinner. After we ate Linda played with the dog, I blogged and then we went for a walk.

For some unknown reason, Bell Bay is located in the center of a middle of the night Bermuda triangle for weather. About every time we are out here we have great weather up until we go to bed and then all hell breaks loose. Last night was no exception. We went to bed to dead calm and a high cloud cover. Because of my cold I tossed and turned keeping us both awake. Late into the night you could hear the winds starting to pick up and within the hour we were in the center of the triangle once again. I went out to lower the camper awning and it started to rain. Now, being the knowledgeable truck camper person that I am, I could not for the life of me figure out how to lower the awning into a safer more secure position. So I dropped it down and tightened it up, got wet and cold and hoped that everything would be ok by morning.
It rained real hard most of the night and to add to the mess we had very gusty winds mixed in. When we returned to the camper after the awning battle both Linda and I read for a while before turning off the lights and trying to get to sleep.

Linda was up early and took Kobi for a walk. When they returned, Linda didn’t look good so I asked how the walk went. She started sniffling and said that they had a little problem during the adventure. As they were walking back from their hike along the road, a mole dashed in front of Kobi. Being a trained Golden Retriever, Kobi snatched up the mole in his soft mouth and immediately broke the critters back. I guess Linda yelled, Kobi ran, the mole struggled, Linda chased after Kobi, Kobi ran, the mole died, Linda stopped running and yelling, Kobi stopped and sat down, and Linda was able to gain composure thus ending the massive mole massacre for this excursion. Kobi dropped the carcass and Linda was able to lead him back to our site. We had been talking about what we needed to do to keep Kobi from dashing away; we needed to add some line to the lead so that we are always in control until he gets older. I haven’t provided the extra rope and so Linda didn’t have the proper control on the dog that she needed. Oh it is hard being new parents.

Day After

Fathers Day, 2008... My dad has been gone a while now, and I was looking at photo files while at work. I found this one that I had scanned and thought I would post it. My friends all called dad, "Smiling Jack". They said they never saw him without a big smile on his face. I agree, the times my dad was angry were few a far apart. I miss both my folks, they were perfect for each other and raised us well.

123 and Ducks

Linda ran the Post Falls Duathlon today and broke the 2 hour barrier. In this event the two runs are 3.1 miles folded around a 18.6 mile bike ride. It's kinda like an Oreo cookie, a thick burger between two buns, an ice cream sandwich, only for people who would never eat those things. Linda was #123 in the race, we thought that was a cool number. I'll be posting the results as soon as we get them. In the past she has not placed in this race, I think it is because of the two big down hill sections. We have to work on her not using the breaks on the fast runs from the top of the hill. I suggested we hook her breaks up to a battery and every time she hit the breaks it would shock her, but this is a bit extreme.

Results!
Bracket: 45 > 49 FEMALE 1st. finisher 01:58:14.00 49 #123 BENNETT, Linda Post Falls ID---SPLITS---> LEG 1: 00:25:04.00 LEG 2: 01:07:07.00 LEG 3: 00:26:03.00
5th Female finisher overall.
Total Finishers Male & Female: 122

That's my Bug!

Kobi and dad did well amongst the crowd of spectators. The dog drew a lot of petting and Dean smiled and said "he's 17 weeks old, yes, he is a Golden." We did have a bit of a dog and Dean moment down by the fishing pond. We were watching the ducks on the pond, when not two feet from us a mother duck and her six ducklings burst out of the grass. Scared the bajesus out of me, Kobi jumped so high he landed in the water. I hope the poor guy is not scared for life and jumps every time he is surprised. I know I about had to change my pants.

I Like This Photo

This year we had a great Student Events group at NIC. They wanted to get their picture taken and one of the shots was what they called a Jump Shot. Here is what the photographer saw. Yes that is me with a tie, first time I put one on in about 20 years. It was my Dad's fishing tie. I got some sweet air on that jump wouldn't you think?

Blog Surfing

I was just on the NATCOA Forum and clicked on the Truck Camper Magazine tab at the top of the page; it led me to an interview with two 30 somethings who are living full time in their camper. Linda and I have talked about this a bunch and we actually sold the last camper and purchased the Snow River with this scenario in the back of our minds. When we retire we'll probably do a combination of full-time travel and exploring around home here.

The folks also blog as they go about their adventures, so I thought that was pretty cool. Their blog is called Hitek Homeless, if you get a chance give it a visit.

Linda is now free for the summer. It has not been the best year and I look forward to her getting back to normal and relaxing a bit more. Our trip plans for the summer are a bit sketchy so far. We know that we have one river trip planned, one house party planned, one camping trip planned, my nieces wedding to attend, two duathlons to attend, a new dog to train, and Linda's sister and family will be visiting some time this summer. I hope we can get our camping about four other times and possibly add another river trip to the docket, but who knows. We will be playing it by ear for the rest of the summer.

Thoughts on Your Back

Today I took a sick day to let my back heal a bit. I had a bit of a stiff back after playing basketball on Friday. Saturday morning I got up and did some yard work which included caring four sand bags around the house. By the afternoon I knew I had done something to the lower back mussels. I was stiff and sore.

When you injure your back it make life miserable! Every little movement causes pain to riff through your body. This lower back stuff is especially bad because if I sit for a long time, I find that standing up takes about five minutes and I have to hold on to something next to me. I hope I can get this under control, so I can get back to my normal week.

Enough on that, we took Kobi up to John and Loretta's place and he did great with Scout. They played and chased all over the Fields around the house. We visited Baka and planted some wild flowers up at the site. It sure is a beautiful place and I am sure he is loving the view and chasing the deer.

We haven't camped for a while and I guess we are not too sad. The weather has been the pits and I imagine we are better off getting things done around the house, training the dog, and visiting friends.

Zane, Holly and Ryan with Kobi

The Edward's dropped in for breakfast this morning and they got to meet Kobi. He did real well, and when things got a bit much he just retired into his crate. He was real good with Zane and shared his toys eagerly. Once everyone left Kobi has spent the day sleeping in the crate, should be interesting when he wakes up.

Notes On Kobi

On Tuesday night Kobi started dog obedience school and we learned just how long his attention span was. The nights training was very basic. We worked on socialization, learning the command and reward sequence, and three important commands. Our new pup was great! He actually was one of the best behaved dogs in the class and people were noticing! One guy, the owner of a pug puppy, came over and told us how great our dog was. We were feeling pretty good and then the clock hit 7:45. At exactly 45 minutes in to the session, Kobi became board with everything and he went nuts. He didn't want to be on lead any longer, he didn't want to sit next to us, all he wanted to do was play. For the next fifteen minutes, we spent our time going out side, and holding Kobi so that he wouldn't disturb the rest of the class.