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.