Diamond T Ranch Clark Fork

Day one on the road

Well ... it was looking like it might be overcast when we left the house on Tuesday morning ... obviously we underestimated just how overcast it was going to be.

We left Calgary around 9 am (which was a little later than we were planning) and stopped at the Cochrane Truck stop (Humpty's) to put on the rain gear. It rained from there to Fairmont Hot Springs. At on point the rain and fog was so bad we thought we missed a ...

The house is a mess and I can't sleep. We are preparing to leave on our first snowbird adventure. As would be expected things are taking longer to get done than planned and disorganization is the rampant. Dan took our car to Spokane to get the tow hitch installed and we hope to leave Sandpoint on Wednesday 10/8 with the coach to get hooked back up with the car. Towing a car behind 36 feet of house is ...

We left the great state of Washington and headed east. Haley was keen to see Cor de Lane and an amusement park near this quaint Idaho town. We stayed a night at Farragut State Park just North of Cour de Lane. It was pretty late ...

... drops down a couple of flights of rocks in a violent bubbling torrent. As I was gazing at it I said to Steve that it reminded me of a movie that I had seen a few years ago with Meryl Streep in it about a white water rafting trip that went horribly wrong. I think it was called "River Wild". Steve said that was funny because he had just seen an article about the ...

... on this side was as extensive as the volcano blast was directed west and north. The ride came to a premature end though and the road was blocked off after only 4 miles. Apparently the heavy snowfall completely washed the road away. Oh well - I did get a short video of the ride back down. We carried on to Randle; this section of road was horrible - the pavement is very chewed up ...

... for the local area. We go drenched from the spray of the falls so went into the resort located at the falls to dry ourselves off. Saw an idea for our garden - amazing what you find in gift shops overhere! After the falls we started making our way over to Spokane - we traveled on the interstate and the facilities at the rest stops along the way were simply amazing. Chated to some very nice fellows on Harleys - couldn't get ...

... for a good part of the morning on our way to sand point. one interesting thing we did find were some artificial nesting habitats for ospreys. the nests were basically wooden platforms perched upon telephone poles near a lake, and they were all full of osprey families. the approach to sand point is stunning. the road turns a corner and suddenly there's a broad lake flanked with snow-topped mountains with two bridges cutting across ...

On Friday, May 9, Don stopped at milepost 22. The Stevensons drove back to Troy, Montana, but they had trouble finding a place to stay, as there were hundreds of bicyclists in the area. Don chatted with some from a group called Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River (STOKR) and learned that they were benefitting Habitat for Humanity. They may have been part of the ...

... 34 for information about the Darts' employer, Dr. Forrest Bird. Both Ken and Christy have joined the Pacin' Parson Yahoo Group, so you can ask them questions about Dr. Bird or about the paradise by Lake Pend Oreille that they call home. The Bonner County Daily Bee interviewed Don and Loretta during this visit and published an article on May 15: http://www.pacinparson.org/bee.html

... We finally got to Silverwood and spent the morning taking on the rides which included a pair of old school wooden roller coasters, a metal corkscrew roller coaster and tube ride that got you more wet then most of the water slides. After we had stopped for lunch we then hit the water park where I spent most of the time lounging around in the wave pool. All three of us and two unfortunate visitors took on this water slide where upto 6 people sit in a inflatable ...