Back On The Road

Our next adventure begins. We are again spending the winter in Mexico. Barbara arrived at the house at seven, and we loaded our 6 bags into her car. The drive to Spokane was clear with normal traffic for that time in the morning. It is so nice to have someone that we can count on to pick us up and take us to the airport. Barbara is such a dear friend. 

At the airport, we had no problem with checking our luggage and getting our boarding passes until we hit the TSA line. There we found out that our pre-check was not listed on our boarding pass. We went through the entire "shoes off" procedure and entered the waiting area. I then left all my carry-on gear with Linda and went back out through TSA and talked with the check-in folks at the Alaska desk. They were very nice and we worked together to get the TSAPre authorization to show up on the printed ticket. It turned out to be that there are two numbers on the TSA card and one works to trigger the printing of the needed info and one does not. I know, very weird.  We changed the numbers and printed new boarding passes and the TSAPre check authorization appeared. We were all set for the rest of our trip, hopefully. 

Our first flights took us to Seattle and then on to Los Angeles. Things were fairly smooth on our flight to Seattle. We maneuvered through the airport smoothly and arrived at our gate in plenty of time. We were delayed boarding and then sat at the gate for an hour. The plane was packed and all went well once we took off for this second leg of our journey.

We arrived at LAX and caught a shuttle to the hotel. We stayed at a new hotel to us, the Westin Hotel. It was very nice, and comparing it to the hotel we usually stay at, much newer and better maintained. We were within walking distance from a Denney's, so we went retro Americano and had our dinner there.

We both were awake early due to crashing after our elegant dinner. Once we were packed we caught the shuttle to the air terminal and quickly checked our three pieces of baggage.

We walked up to the TSA Precheck man and Linda presented her passport and boarding pass and he smiles and said "Ok, mam, proceed."  Then I stepped up and presented my  documents and he looked at the boarding pass and the computer screen. His eyes went back and forth between the two, and finally looked at me and said, "Sir, you do not have the TSAPre designation on our screen so you will have to go through the normal TSA screening process."  I didn't know what to say. I presented my Global Entry card, but he said that the TSA Pre designation was entered by the airlines and until the button on the screen says TSAPre and not standard, I would have to use the other entry method.

I looked at the long line across the room and chatted with the TSA person and he said I could go to the Alaska desk and they could possibly fix the situation. Off I went to Alaska.
I explained the situation to the lady at the desk and she checked everything. She said all was entered into the system and then printed me a new boarding passwith the TSA Pre designation on it.

Off I headed back to the TSA Pre line. This time I was greeted by a young lady who entered my info and said, like the knights in Monty Pythlon's Holy Grail would say, "None shall pass!"  I was flummoxed and explained the situation again. She took a card out of her pocket and swiped it in the computer explaining that it was an update card for their system and then she looked at the screen and then at me and said, "None Shall pass!"
Into the regular checkpoint I went (clack, clack, clack, [sound of coconuts]) lining up with the non-TSA peasants.  The line was much smaller at this time so all went very quickly. The only thing I forgot was to remove my shoes, like the other peasants were faithfully doing.

I popped out of the line into the terminal and spotted Linda, put on my shoes, gathered myself and we were off to gate 68A, as noted on our boarding passes.

All was well in the area around 68A. We nested and watched people come and go. At one point I went for a walk and spotted a guy leaning against the wall out of traffic. He was much taller than me and looked amazingly like Conan O'Brien. On the way back I spotted the gentleman again and he was still leaning in the spot where I first saw him.

Back at 68A, we noted that the board had changed and our flight was now departing at gate 62.  As we walked over to gate 62, I pointed out the redheaded gentleman I had spotted and this time he was surrounded by several people taking selfies with him. It was Conan! (Note that I am on a first-name basis with him now.)  We didn't stop for a photo. We didn't want to bother him more than the folks already were.

We boarded the plane for the final leg of our trip and all went very smoothly from there.

Landing at the Manzanillo airport things changed. It air was hot and very humid. The people around us were as pushy as ever, but it didn't matter. We were here and that was all that counted.

Our taxi took us right to our door and we were greeted by our new neighbors Kurt and Stephen. They welcomed us and led us to our apartment. We chatted and got the lay of the land and then we were on our own to unpack and create a little home for our stay.

The apartment is three years old and has about everything you need to get started with your life down south, but not enough to be our "noemal". As you can see in the photos, everything is definitely of Mexican design. Concrete is the main building resource and they pour the entire layout. Kitchen cabinets are created in cement and roughed out with dark wood.

This apartment has the traditional design where the cabinets have no toe insets, so you are forced to bend over to do anything in the sink and on the cabinet surface. Very uncomfortable if you are preparing a dinner or cleaning up after yourself. We have had this design in most places we have stayed in Mexico. Those insets are something we really appreciate when we get home to the US.

 

Lights, what can I say? There are more lights in each of the three rooms and none of the light switches turn on a combination of bulbs that make the room comfortable. For example, in the kitchen/living room, there are eight lights in total in a room that is 16' X 18'. Four are inset in the ceiling, one is on the room fan, and the other three are on a decorative fixture near the kitchen sink. Two inset lights turn on when you flip one of the switches. The other two turn on with the decorative lights. I have not figured out where the switch is for the ceiling fan light. None of the combinations of lights give off a comfortable room light. When they are on you feel like you are in a warehouse.  I think the ceiling fan light would be the best, but I am working on finding how to turn it on. (Upon edit, I found the ceiling fan light switch!) The lighting is about the same in the bedrooms but without the decorative lights.

Let's talk about our door.  The front door opens inward into our casa. The door itself is rounded at the top and the looks like a regular door from there. It connects to the frame on the right and when it opens the rounded portion swings in and bumps up against the concrete archway above the door letting the door open about 82 degrees wide. Crazy, but so Mexican.  We are getting used to stepping left as you enter the casa.
Ah, Mexico!

We are in the process of settling in. This includes buying groceries and also some of the items that make the apartment comfortable.  The weather is very hot (95 degrees) and extremely humid. We went from 30 degrees with little humidity to this climate and we are feeling it. You can't complain, though. That is why we do these trips.

A note about this blog. I wanted to get rid of some of the weight I always carried as we traveled south. So I decided to leave the laptop computer at home and do everything on our tablet. I did some experimenting, added a small adapter for transferring files, and said, "Good to go!"

Well, I have found that the tablet works, but it is quite a different beast. They are very different and the tablet doesn't work like our friend, the laptop. So I am learning how to publish in the tablet world and apologize if the layout, content, and photos are different from the past. :-)   (That's a smiley face because I don't know how to use emojis.) 😁 (Hey I found them!)

I will try to keep this blog updated the best I can. I don't  want to bother you with daily rants, but will post photos content of interest when I can. 

A Little Get-Away

Linda's back is feeling much better. She is working hard to get the muscles rehabbed and back to normal. As a result, I had a couple days with nothing planned so I took a little trip down to Pine Bar on the Lower Salmon to fish for steelhead. 

On Sunday I loaded a bunch of food (way too much!) into the camper and drove south. Traffic was normal and the weather was great! 

Linda and I kept in contact most of the time as I traveled. At stops and restroom breaks I would call or text to keep her posted on my progress.

When I reached the river I checked out the spot that I figured would give me a good campsite and allow easy access to the river for fishing. The spot I was thinking about was already taken so I moved on down to the campground at the end of Pine Bar Road.  There I found several rigs camped, so I backtracked a bit and went to a campsite I have used several times before and set up for my getaway.

The site I chose is nice and flat, and is located next to the river, but has one annoying problem. Goat Thistle! This stuff is everywhere and you have to be very careful how you get it off your skin and clothes. If you touch it with your bare hands it will prick you and leave a sliver in your skin that is very annoying. I learned to deal with the Goat Heads by using a stick or the blade of my knife to flick the thistles off onto the ground.  This works fine, but you have to be very aware and not touch the heads.  Once I remembered about those pesky heads, I could deal with them by avoiding the plants by staying in the gravel around the campsite.

As the day, continued I would text Linda my progress and what I was doing, even though I knew that the texts would not go through.  While I was sitting in front of the camper, I heard a familiar little beep and looked at my phone to see that the last two texts had gone through. I had found one strange location at my river campsite where I could send and receive texts back and forth. It was spotty at best, but it worked if you had patience. The location was at the front of the truck on my coffee cup five inches above the ground.  Really, that was the only place I found that the phone would send and receive texts.

The weather was fantastic, blue skies, lower 90s. I fished on Monday morning, and as I did, Mike Wassmuth motored over from his anchor across the river and we talked for a while.  He is such a dedicated steelheader that he can leave his place in Cottonwood, drive to the river and launch his boat, and then be fishing by sun-up. I was just warming my camper up and he was all set up and fishing.

Mike had to leave at about 10 AM and so I fished on until it got too hot to sit in my spot, even with my umbrella.  

I took some time to sit in the shade and used the binoculars to scan the hillsides. When it started to cool I took a walk and filled my water jugs. As I walked by the campground entrance I spotted a rattlesnake as it slithered off into the tall weeds. It was a young critter, about three and a half feet long.  It didn't want anything to do with me and I was OK with that.

I walked quite a bit that evening and enjoyed the solitude. 

The next morning I packed up and returned home.  The weather called for rain and I was lucky to miss most of the showers on the way home.  The rain started at about Tensed and was off and on the rest of the way home. I made it home and parked the camper. I really like my little getaways, but missed Linda a bunch when I was gone. 

Catching Up

On September 22nd, Linda and I jumped in the rig and headed to  Ft. Benton to enjoy a visit with Dan Breeden at his casa in Montana.  This started as a group gathering of our Wednesday night group, but as the week got closer, many of our friends had things come up and could not attend. 

When we left we were looking forward to visiting Danbo and some friends from southern Idaho, the Lisks. 

We made our way over the pass into Montana, the sun was out and we had a beautiful drive. After Missoula, we headed north and found a camp spot at Russel Gates Memorial Campground  It was a beautiful little spot next to the Blackfoot River. 

All was well until 3 AM when Linda woke up with back spasms. She had tweaked her back about four days before we left. She lifted her mom's walker into the KIA wrong and felt a bit of a pull, but thought nothing of the injury. 

When the spasms hit she could hardly move without extreme pain. I could only watch as she tried to get into a position that didn't hurt. After about 20 minutes, we agreed that we could not go on because she could not move and we had to see if we could get her into the doctor. I filled up on coffee and Linda filled up on muscle relaxers to try and make the drive home bearable.

At 4 AM we were on the road back to Post Falls.  We contacted Danbo and let him know we were very sorry that we had to back out of the visit. Both Linda and I really wanted to see what he has accomplished on the remodel of his place, but we will have to visit him at a later date.

Back at home, Linda visited the Dr. and he referred her to a PT. After a couple visits, they were sure that the pain was muscular and not from the spinal area. They said it would heal and that she could get back to normal with PT, stretching, and a lot of time. Linda's not known for her patience with this kind of thing, but this scared her.  That prognosis was good news, but it was a bummer nonetheless! 

Linda is on the mend and is taking the exercise program prescribed very seriously.  We need her healthy for the winter travels. 

A lot of fog on the drive home.

Double Header, In A Way

Linda visiting her Dad at Tahoma.

Linda and I packed up the Kia and left Post Falls at 6:30 AM. Linda drove to Ellensburg, and then I took over and piloted the final miles down the pass, southwest to Tahoma National Cemetery. This was our first chance since his service to visit the resting place of Linda's father and his brother Uncle Jake. The cemetery is so beautiful and well-maintained. We found the site and paid our respects. Linda had some time with her Dad and then we used our memory of the area to find Uncle Jake's gravesite. It was a good visit and one that we needed to make.

After Tahoma, we drove north through Renton and Bellevue using the 405 to the 5 into Everett where we found our spot at the Hampton Inn Seattle/Everett. Linda and I settled in as the Andersons made their way north to meet us.

Once everyone arrived and got settled in we all loaded into the Kia (including Lucy, Julia's friend who lives a bit north of Everett), picked up some Taco Time food, and made our way to Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, WA. We watched people and enjoyed our dinner as the sun set.

Uncle Jake.

The next morning, we had breakfast provided by the hotel and went for a walk around the area with Rayelle and Mike. Linda and Rayelle discovered a Goodwill thrift store and headed there after our walk. Later that afternoon after Lucy got back to the hotel from work, we drove to Northgate Mall at the Northgate Station. We parked our car and purchased tickets on the #1 train into Seattle.

The train was packed with Seattle Mariners fans and we all went with the flow making our way to  T-Mobile Park. This was the first part of our doubleheader. The Mariners were playing the Royals and were in contention for first place in their division.

We found our way to our seats and they were great! Just as we got settled, the game started and the first batter came to the plate. J. P. Crawford stood at home plate and smacked a home run! What a start!

The game was a bit of a battle with Seattle getting the lead and then the Royals coming back, but in the end, the Mariners won the game.  It was also fireworks night at the park, so we stayed put and watched a wonderful fireworks display. We had a blast! (Excuse the pun.)

Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo WA.

Afterward, we all gathered together and walked with swarms of baseball fans back to the #1 Train. Mike and I were amazed at how well the light rail system worked. They can move thousands of people to the interior of the city and out with very little stopping and waiting. We moved consistently towards our hotel and were back to our room at 1:30 AM.

The next day was super nice and everyone was looking forward to the second part of our doubleheader, the big concert! The ladies, Julia, Lucy, Rayelle, and Linda had tickets to the Ed Sheeran concert at Lumen Field. Mike and I were going to stay home and relax.

Wall art in Everett, WA.

Our relaxation became a bit of a joke when someone suggested that we could spend the time that the ladies were watching Ed sing, at the strip clubs of Seattle. Linda even paid Mike for our Mariners tickets using 100 one-dollar bills. She handed him the pile and said "Make it rain, Mike!"

We loaded up again and drove to Northgate Mall at the Northgate Station. We got our tickets again and rode the #1 Train into Westlake Center and walked down to Pike Street. There we took in the crowd. We watched the Fish Tossers by the big Pig. We did some shopping and then had lunch at The Athenian Restaurant and Bar overlooking the water from Pike Place Market. Once that was done we did some more shopping. The ladies went to the concert and Mike and I went back to Everett where we ate dinner and returned to our rooms. No strip clubs for us! 

Walking into T-Mobile Park for the
Mariners vs. Royals game.

Linda had a great time at the concert. There were 77,000 fans in attendance and it was very crowded. They were part of a record-breaking crowd at Lumen Field. The light rail did its job and got everyone home. I was asleep when Linda returned. She told me all about the concert the next morning: Ed Sheeran was amazing, Ben Haggerty (otherwise known as Macklemore and a native of Seattle) made a surprise visit and sang a couple of songs, and the crowd was LOUD and lots of fun.

We got up early on Sunday morning, had a great breakfast, and were on our way. We had a wonderful weekend filled with laughing and exploring.  The drive home was uneventful, but our weekend doubleheader was a blast!

Baseball selfie.

Julia, Lucy, Rayelle, Mike,
Linda and guess who?

The troop just after the fireworks,
We are heading home.

One hundred $1's. Make it rain!

Concert stage during the opening act.

Beaver Creek, Hot Again

Linda and I just returned from another camping adventure up at Priest Lake. We shared a camp spot with Rayelle, Mike, and Julia Anderson at Beaver Creek Campground on the lake's Northwest side.

We met the Andersons up at Spirit Lake, followed each other to our spot, and were set up and at the water by 4:00 PM. We had a great spot reserved in a campsite where there was shade most all day and not too many people around us.  It was busy (we were camping over a weekend which is something we normally don't do), but most folks followed the campground rules and were very nice.

This trip was relatively peaceful, though there was one camp group that kept their dog locked in a cage all day and he was not happy about that. The dog kept howling. He was very sad and lonesome, but the owners were boating all day. After the first night, they moved their campsite to a spot a distance away and we couldn't hear the poor dog for the rest of our stay. We felt so badly for him.

Our time at the campground was spent laying in the shade and playing in the water, playing cards and reading. We had great dinners each night and Mike made his usual big breakfast on our second day there. During the evening we played Skip-Bo and enjoyed talking and laughing.

Sunday, I took a walk down the Lakeshore Trail to Teacher Bay while everyone else was down at the beach. It was hot and I was ready to swim when I got back to camp.  

Before we called it an evening, Linda and I went for an evening swim. There was no one down at the beach at that time so cooling off was wonderful.

On Monday afternoon the Andersons had to pack up and go home.  Rayelle had an all-faculty NIC meeting she could not miss. We were sad to see them go.

Monday night was quiet. There was no breeze to speak of, so again we went swimming before bed. 

Tuesday morning we packed up and drove home. The trip was short but fun. Now we are hunkered down. It's over 100 degrees outside and it looks like it is staying hot for the next four or five days.  Thank goodness for the air conditioner we put in last summer.

Photo Bomb!

Old chimney left from beach cabin.

Great camping team!

Evening calm on Priest Lake.

Urban Adventure

After waiting in anticipation, Saturday night finally arrived. Our friends Mike, Rayelle, and Julia Anderson were taking us to the Festival at Sandpoint to see Train with the opening act,  Better Than Ezra.

Our group consisted of the Andersons, the Bennetts, Lexi (Julia's friend), and Ron and Sharon (Rayell's Brother and sister-in-law.)  This was our first time attending a concert at the Festival.

We drove up to Sandpoint at about 2:30 PM and wound around the streets of southeast Sandpoint finding a spot to park. As we wandered, we passed a sailboat parked in front of a house, and low and behold, Jon Totten and Terry Brinton were standing there as we moved past. I waved and shouted hello. Within a couple of seconds, Jon texted me and said to stop by once we got parked.

Mike found a great parking spot and we then took our chairs and blankets over and claimed our spot in line.  Julia and Lexi held our spot and the rest of us walked over to the house where we had spotted Totten.  The house was directly across the street from the concert venue. Jon lives there in the summer.

We went inside and talked for about 45 minutes; Jon told stories and everyone laughed. He has experienced so much and is a great orator.  The band did a sound check and we all looked at each other and said "Why did we buy tickets?" The sound was so good. This house would be a great place to listen to concerts.

After a while, we said our goodbyes and made our way back to our spot in line. Julia and Lexi did a great job. The Andersons ordered pizza that was delivered to Mike across the street from the park. Soon after enjoying our pizza, we were on the move to claim our next spot, in the concert venue. It was a big rush and we were a bit overwhelmed, but we got a good spot and had plenty of room to listen to the concert and watch a little of the action on stage.

Better Than Ezra came on stage at 7:30 PM and did a good job of warming up the crowd. We had listened to their hits the day before the concert and they turned out to be a good opening band. Their sound was a little distorted at times, but what opening band ever gets a perfect sound?

With the crowd warmed up, and Ezra off stage, we waited for Train to take over.  At 9:00 PM Train appeared on stage and they were amazing. Linda and Rayelle headed to the stand-and-dance mosh pit area in front of the stage. They spent the whole concert there. Linda said she sang and danced like she was in her 20s

I have to say that the lead singer for Train, Pat Monahan, has an amazing voice. Very Impressive!

It was a great show and we enjoyed every song.

Thank you, Rayelle and Mike, for giving us our first Festival at Sandpoint experience.

Waiting for the gates to open.

Our little nest.

A concert groupie.

Better Than Ezra.

Let the party begin!

Pat Monahan, lead singer for Train.