Before the Crowds

2010, thirteen years ago, was the last time we went camping at Heyburn State Park. We spent the last few days camping with our neighbors, Steve and Jodi, at a very nice, but mosquito-ridden, camp spot.  It was our first time out in the truck camper since last fall and we totally enjoyed the getaway.

To catch you up on our lives since we last posted, we returned home from Mexico and landed directly into a world of appointments, repairs, and general organizing our lives at home. 

The biggest concern was that before winterizing our camper, we found that we had a leak somewhere in the roof. We were late in the season, so we wrapped up the nose of the RV after drying things out and covered it for winter leaving it until spring when we could reconnect with Chris, our RV guy. 

When we returned, Chris and I started the leak elimination process. First Chris resealed all the seam areas on the roof of the camper ($1700). After a good rain, we found that it was still leaking so we moved on.  

I took the rig over to Chris's shop and while I was inside, Chris forced water into every seam using a water hose and air hose at the same time. From inside, I spotted a large leak coming in at the TV antenna. I removed the antenna (we never use it) and Chris patched up the mess we found under the roof plate. ($500) 

Linda and I knew that it was going to cost us to get the leak repaired. We decided that paying three thousand dollars for the fix was much better than paying $40000.00 for a replacement RV.   

We waited a few days for rain. When it came, we found we still had a leak somewhere.

Chris suggested we replace the gasket under the air conditioner and also replace and reseal the exterior marker lights.  Under the AC, Chris found a mess. The gasket was leaking and cracked.  We replaced and resealed this area.  Then Chris checked out the marker lights and found that five out of six were leaking. We replaced the lights with LED lights and sealed them. ($300.00) We crossed our fingers.

At this time, we have had several rainstorms with no leaks! You will never know how heartbroken I was to repair, and then discover more leaks, each time during this process. But we believe it is finally over and we have a 15-year-old camper with completely new roof seals that should last at least ten years. (Check out the photos of the repair work at the bottom of the blog post.)

Back to Heyburn State Park.  Our campsite was close to Steve and Jodi's site. I set up our bug tent and that is where we sat when we were resting or chatting. The mosquitos could not get to us in the tent which made the area very comfortable.  

The four of us have e-bikes, so we would go for a ride each day. During our stay in Heyburn, we rode to Harrison and back twice where we enjoyed lunch in the sun.  The days were warm and sunny and each time we rode we encountered deer, turtles, and waterfowl of all types.

The campground was not crowded, but as the week went on the spaces around us filled for the big Memorial Day weekend. We were glad we were not staying and could avoid the crowds.

American White Pelicans. 

Ebikers.

A bale of turtles.

Can you find the Heron?

More American White Pelicans.

Glass smooth Lake Chatcolet.

We watched this Heron catch a small fish!

Keeping warm by the firepit.

Camper repair Project:

This photo is of the area under the TV antenna. Notice the very poor sealing that the factory did during this installation.  You will notice that there are four holes drilled into the roof located in the middle of the left edge of the installation. These are prospector holes drilled to locate the coaxial wire in the roof. No sealant was used to make this area waterproof. Chris and I removed the antenna and repaired all the holes and sealed the entire area.

The AC unit needed to be resealed and a new gasket had to be ordered. Once everything was replaced and sealed there were no leaks from this location.

The marker lights were the old models that allowed water to penetrate into the holes behind the light fixtures.  Each one was leaking, so we replaced them all with new LED lights that have fewer water penetration spots, and then we puttied and sealed each light so that no water could get into the holes in the walls.

The new lights are ready to be sealed.

I Smell the Smelly Smell of a Smelly Kobi!

Scones are odd pastries. A blob of flower mixed with some stuff, cooked and then covered lightly with a bit of frosting. With coffee on a cold morning, eating a scone can be like eating a meal cooked by Wolfgang Puck. Ok, not quite but it sure is fun to get a cup of freshly dripped coffee and sit in the camper looking out over the lake and slowly consume a scone.

We drove down to Hayburn State Park and clamed one of our two favorite spots for the weekend. I debated about where we should go. I really wanted to head on down to the Snake or Clearwater Rivers and fish for steal head. We were packed and ready at 3:30 pm but it takes Linda a bit of time to get home, so as the time passed I considered the drive and how I was feeling and decided to make the short trip to the south end of the lake.

The short drive down to the park was uneventful. We caught up on the past day and comforted each other expressing that it was another week into the school year and closer to Mexico. When we reached Plummer, ID Linda called Mike Wassmuth and wished him a happy birthday. His birthday is Saturday, but Linda didn’t know if we would have phone coverage at the park. Mike and Linda have a tradition of calling each other on their birthdays – no matter where we all happen to be. That started after our Grand Canyon trip and has continued. Mike was down on the Clearwater River fishing and told us he had caught two fish, a 38” and a 36” both wild that he turned loose. It was a good day and he was staying until dark to see if he could limit out. I was a bit jealous, but I understand that someday I’ll get my chances at fishing for the big guys.

In the park we took a drive around the two loops and chose our campsite. It took a bit to get level but all in all it is a very private site with a good view of Lake Chatcolett, looking north to Coeur d’Alene. We walked the dog and then when we came back I made dinner. We ate Chicken Alfredo and salad then played cribbage. Linda won handily, nothing unusual, and by that time we were both ready for bed.

At about 5 AM we woke to the shots of the duck hunters down in the bay. Usually Linda gets up at the sounds of the guns and goes running, but today she rolled over and went back to sleep. We both slept until 8:30 AM, highly unusual for the Bennett’s. Linda has been burning the candle at both ends getting her workouts in, walking the dog and doing everything it takes to be a teacher. Sleeping to 8:30 AM could do nothing but help her so I was glad it happened.

Once we woke up Linda went for her run and I built a fire so she could sit by it when she returned. I let Kobi out and we played ring toss for the next two hours. Throw the ring or the ball it doesn’t matter which one, he will fetch it forever.

The sun broke through the fog and was hitting the docks so I grabbed my fishing rod and Linda grabbed her chair and we walked down to sit in the sun and relax. Linda walked onto the dock and set up her chair; I dropped my tackle box and tied on a spinner bate. Kobi ran directly by us both and out to the end of the dock where he immediately lowered his head and rolled on top of the biggest, smelliest, grosses, rotten northern pike you could imagine. Linda saw the whole thing and without hesitation called him back to her. He came right back, but the damage was done. Kobi was so excited. He knew that he smelled so bad; all the other dogs in camp would be envious. He sat right next to Linda and wiggled. She could not stand the odor and felt the need to wash him off. I just wanted to go fishing so I finished tying on the lure and started tossing and reeling all around the weed beds. Linda scrubbed the dog with her hand, dipping water from the lake, taking care not to get him too wet, but to get the guts off. When she finished she said “ok” and Kobi immediately jumped into the lake. Linda forgot that “ok” was Kobi’s go word and if he is being held for anything, “ok” means Jump, run, attack, swim.

I heard the splash and saw Kobi swimming towards me so I put down the pole and Linda and I helped him back up on the dock. Linda said she still smelled the dead fish so I got the bright Idea to throw a stick into the water so he could wash himself off. My mistake was that I thought he would swim to the low spot on the dock and climb up there. No, he had to swim into shore through the gunk and mud and then climb up on the dock and come to us. By the time he got back to us he looked like a black lab with a little yellow head. Things were not going well, Linda’s hands smelled like dead fish, Kobi looked like a Labrador retriever so I pulled in my spinner bate to give up fishing. As I went to untie the lure from the line, I noticed that in my haste and the confusion of the stinky fish slime down, I had forgotten to take the plastic hook protector off the point of the hook. So even if I had gotten a strike when I fished, the fish would have spit the lure out and waved good bye to me. With our adventure to the dock fraught with misfortune we managed to get the dog cleaned and we made a hasty retreat to the camper so Linda could wash her hands (about a thousand times.)

As Linda worked her hands over, I started preparing dinner. I had clipped a recipe for chicken pot pie from the news paper and was anxious to give it a try. I chopped and cut and mixed until I got the filling prepared and then set it in the refrigerator until it was time to bake. My plan was to use this recipe as a display meal in the Dutch oven when we camp with some of our friends. It had to be knock-your-socks-off-good to be one of my display meals. Come dinner time I did the final preparation of the crusts and put the meal in the oven to bake. Linda and I played cards anticipating the meal, and when it was time, we pulled the pot and checked it out.

We filled our plates and took a taste. For the next fifteen minutes we tried to put our finger on what could be done to make the pie better. More liquids? It was a bit dry. Less zest of lemon? It was a bit over powering. Maybe add some cream of chicken soup or chicken broth? We just couldn’t decide where I went wrong, the Chicken Pot Pie had the texture of stuffing mix with an over powering bite of lemon in the back ground. Bummer, back to the drawing board.

We ate our meal and then set up the TV/DVD and watched Invictus. It always makes me laugh to think we drive down to a park and then end our evening watching a movie. Ain’t life grand!

It's Getting Cold!

It’s winding down almost too fast. Our camping season probably will end after this weekend. There is a slight possibility that we will get out once more, but our weekends are getting fuller and the weather is getting real cold. I doubt that we will see temperatures going up much.
I drove down to Heyburn State Park after work. Linda is at Phantom of the Opera in Spokane tonight, she plans on driving down in the Jeep in the morning. It’s kind of weird without her here. Kobi and I got to the park and took a long walk. They sure have changed the park! They added a park office that looks out over the marsh. It’s a real nice building and they placed it in a real nice setting.

After the walk I went into the camper while Kobi ate dinner. I made my dinner while he ate and then I ate while he slept. It was getting colder so I put my little buddy into the crate and then started blogging.

I feel a little decadent right now, I have the TV on and I’m watching Americas Hardest Jobs and working on the laptop. I guess the fact that I am so comfortable and have all the major amenities might suggest that I’m not really camping. You know what? I don’t care. We have talked about this many times. We paid our dues and now it’s COMFORT TIME!
I went to bed and read for three minutes. The phone rang in the morning and Linda said she was on her way. I got up and walked the dog and in about an hour the phone rang again and Linda was here. She settled in a bit and then we took a walk along the lake trail. About ten minutes in we heard some guys yowling across the bay. We listened closer and it wasn’t humans celebrating the goose hunt, but coyotes bawling and baying. This went on for a few minute and it sounded like it was right next to us. We kept Kobi closer as we hiked around the lake. I had Linda do her best imitation of a coyote. She did well once we corrected it from a seal bark to more of a wail and a coyote sound. Nothing replied but I think Linda could run with the pack some day. Kobi ran around and got into the mud, then into the water. I can’t believe how much he loves the water, he is a true Retriever.

We hiked back to the camper and ate lunch, and then we loaded the Jeep and drove up the St. Joe River to see the fall colors. Our drive took us thirty miles up to Huckleberry Campground where we stopped and checked the park out. There were quite a few hunters camped there but the place was nowhere near full. The camp it’s self was very nice and clean, we took a tour and then headed for home.

At the road leading to Calder we decided to check out the city, so we drove in over the river to the center of town, I think. There is not much in Calder, except we did get to see a moose head and body parts in the front yard of one of the residences. Folks were gathered out front as the butchered the big beast. I have seen larger racks, but it looked to be good sized. We drove by slowly and then headed out of town and back to our camp.

Back at Heyburn we built a roaring fire and sat around the heat. We tossed the Chuck-it ball for Kobi for over an hour and a half. He just kept chasing it. He has so much enthusiasm when he goes after the ball, it’s like every time is the first. He throws himself over stumps, roots and obstacles. He crashes through brush and down hills head over heels. Nothing stops him from getting that little orange ball.

I made dinner while Linda read and played toss with the dog. We had chicken noodle soup and corn bread. It was the perfect meal for this cold clear evening. After dinner Linda did the dishes and we read some more. We went to sleep listening to the coyotes across the bay. There howls and barks made us feel like we were “out there” again.