Sun Lakes for swimmer's itch

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  Coulee City, Washington, United States
Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday August 15th

As per Carlee's suggestion, we headed for Lake Roosevelt for some swimming!! The weather and terrain east of the Cascades is quite a dramatic change from the western side. The pictures show it best how Washington goes from temperate and heavily forested to desert and sage brush. Route 20 took us over the Mountains into the valleys following first the Methow River and then the Columbia River. Many dams have been built on these rivers creating hydro-electric power and irrigation for the tens of thousands of acres of apple and peach tree farms and vineyards that are thriving in the desert! It is striking to see the dark green trees within feet of parched empty desert!

The weather creates the landscape and it was 104 degrees as we traveled through these beautiful valleys on our way to swimming!!! Unable to get in at Roosevelt Lake, we continued on to Sun Lakes State Park. Our site was in the newest addition to the campgrounds so it only three foot trees to help with the scorching sun. Our baby girl RV kept up with no problems. She is a super little truck!!!

As soon as we settled in, hooked up the electricity for airconditioning, we suited up and took off for the smaller, less (or never) used Meyers Lake only 100 yards down a path into the desert from out site. With foam noodles holding us afloat, we jumped in! Cool, clean and refreshing! Our own private lake!! We kept telling each other how lucky we were to be all alone in such a beautiful setting.

Refreshed and ready to make dinner, we took off our suits and Andy began to complain of an itch happening here and there on his skin.

desert above, apple trees below

We let it go as I had no ill effects and Andy was not sure of what was making him itch.

We awoke to temperatures in the 60's (deserts do that kind of temperature roller coaster)and had coffee outside taking in the glory of the mountains that surrounded us. Awesome to behold as the sun burst over the tops and splashed its brilliance and heat onto us and the eastern facing mountains! It became 104 degrees fast! We suited up and trotted off to our private little lake once again. This time we stayed in for an hour or more and really relaxed. I swam all over as Andy floated around nearer the shore where it stays warmer. We saw snails and many different kinds of birds. We took in the cliffs around us, the birds singing and floated blissfully ignorant of the teaming life that was diligently looking for a host to complete its next cycle of life. We were it!

We arrived back at the RV and began thinking about lunch when....painful itchiness took over!!! It sprung up here then there then...oh my goodness...not there! Good grief it was everywhere. The painful itchiness subsided giving way to raised bumps that itched like to drive one mad. We suffered through by watching movies as we stayed hidden from the sun and afraid of the water, in our little home on wheels. We put everything we could find that we had brought for stings, itches and poison this or that. No relief. We showered and did our utmost to ignore our own skin as the bumps grew into angry red blisters that screamed for our attention.

apple and peach orchards in desert

We finally fell into fitful sleep.


Sat. Aug. 16th

We showed our "bumps" to a ranger and at first he said it was swimmer's itch and then changed his mind and declared that..."this is too severe to be swimmer's itch, it is poison oak, let me show you the plant". Well, we looked at the plant and believed him, but then we started wondering how we could have gotten it almost everywhere on our bodies when neither of us recalled making contact with any Poison Oak?

I went onto Google and started researching both Poison Oak and Swimmer's Itch and the winner was.....Swimmer's Itch. Yep, I won't gross you out with the details, but we had the stuff that Swimmer's Itch is known for and the almost instantaneous reaction that comes from the nasty little parasites that cause it. What annoying and painful sensations those microscopic bastards put us through. We kept relating to the horses and cows that are driven crazy by horse flys and other pests that feed on them. There was no escape. Luckily, this is supposed to only last for 1 week, as opposed to the 3 weeks that Poison Oak can stick around for.

We finally came up with a "cocktail" combination that helped us sleep and start to count the days off. It starts with Benadryl, then washing with Technu (a soap that my buddy Charlie from the highway dept. in NY had recommended for Poison Oak and Ivy), a couple of hundred "dots" of Caladryl Lotion and loose fitting clothing. We took some pictures of each other to show the extent of our condition, but both Jodie and I agreed that nobody would want to see any part of those pictures. Whoever came up with the name "Swimmer's Itch" probably never had it. "Itch" just doesn't begin to describe it. Maybe we got the mother of all Swimmer's Itches, but if not, something like Swimmer's Worst Nightmare (besides sharks and aligators) is more like it.

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

irrigation makes it happen	one of the many dams for power and agricultur	dam on the Columbia River	road going on and on into desert
white mounds on a parched land	hay field for miles	another dam on the river	beaitiful water
stark beauty	magical beauty	river and lakes	huge landscape
Banks Lake on the Columbia River	Sun Lakes	1-Sun Lakes	Sun Lakes State Park
our site in 104 degree heat	Andy walking to little Meyers Lake	Meyers Lake at Sun Lakes	our own private lake in the desert
a man in his element!!	Eastern view from our site	Western view from our site

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