Oops and Ouch

Bob and I left Olympia in Harriet on August 9^th, but not without a little drama. When Bob tried to back out of the driveway, we found that the brakes in Harriet were stuck on. This had never happened before and we were stumped. After an hour of messing around, Bob noticed that the emergency brake trip cord on the hitch had fallen out. It’s good to know that works so well and also something new to check each time we hook up. It was an easy fix once we discovered the problem and it only put us a little behind in our schedule.

We had a lovely trip across the Cascades with clear blue skies and warm temperatures and no other incidents on our way to Sandpoint, Idaho. This is a lovely area with steep mountains surrounding Lake Pend Oreille. The lake is about 30 miles long and very clean and clear. Bob enjoyed taking dips in it since we are camped at a fun place right along the shore in Hope, Idaho.

We are staying at Jeb and Margaret’s Trailer Haven – an old time campground and summer resort. This place has been operating for perhaps 50+ years and many of the people here come for the whole season.  Remember when people said they were going up to the lake for the summer? This is where they go. This park is about half RVs and the rest are “park models”, small mobile homes. We noted license plates from all over, but the highest number is from Alberta. Eh?

We planned to go hiking on our first full day here, but Bob was feeling dizzy in the morning so I went for a walk and let him sleep. He finally got up around 11:00 and then suddenly felt really awful and broke into a cold sweat. He urged me to call for the local paramedics who took him by ambulance to the Bonner General Hospital in Sandpoint as I followed in our truck. Bob went through a battery of tests and was hooked up to several machines for about three hours. The GOOD NEWS is that his heart and blood work are great, so is his blood pressure, and they determined that he had an inner ear disorder causing the dizziness. They gave him some medication and we came home.  Bob’s feeling fine now and it’s good to know what great shape he’s in.

Saturday we drove back into Sandpoint and walked through the downtown Farmer’s Market and the arts and crafts fair at the beach. It was another lovely day. There were many people in town because this is also the weekend of the Festival at Sandpoint, a musical event that runs for 10 days. Kenny Loggins was headlining tonight, and although we thoroughly enjoyed his show in Reno last year, we decided to stay home and rest up for tomorrow’s drive to Glacier National Park.

We couldn’t resist heading out to the grassy area along the lake at about 11pm to see if we could catch some of the Perseid Meteor Shower.  Wowza – we had a spectacular clear sky and could see the Milk Way bright and shiny. I haven’t seen that for a long time. Within a half hour we spotted 4 satellites and over a dozen meteors. We are hoping to catch another show tomorrow night in Montana.