The Hiawatha Trail - 1.7 mile tunnel to start off, then 9 more train tunnels, 7 sky-high trestles, a total of over 14 miles of trail run where the railroad used to go.  Maybe the scariest part of the trip was the bus ride back up the mountain to our car.  Had to bike ride through the 1.7 mile tunnel once more before we got to our car.  And the tunnel was not only cold, we could see our breath all the way through when we started, but it was totally dark, no lights at all.  You had to wear a helmet lite to be allowed to go through on this trail.  It was a beautiful ride.

As with all days up here in idaho, it was cold and windy to start.  Seems we maybe hit Idaho a few weeks earlier than we should.  Next time, we need to be up here in late June!

Last day in Coeur d'Alene.  Going to McCall tomorrow.  Three big descents to handle on the way.  273 total miles.  Linda will most likely drive the car, while I drive the motorhome.  No need to have 3,800 more pounds pushing the motorhome down the road!

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Woke up to a cold, windy, rain splattered day.  Great day to go bike riding along the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes!!!  Drove about 35 minutes to a trailhead at Cataldo, Idaho, just off I-90.  Grabbed all the clothes we had and took off.  Wonderful railhead turned into bike trail along the Coeur d'Alene river.  Total miles of the trail is about 90.  We only did about 20 of it before we began to hit a little rain.  Had started out westward to ensure when the rain came we could get ahead of it on our way back to the car. Great idea, not good execution.  The rain had gotten in behind us.  Rain can be very tricky when it wants to.  No big rain, just a nuisance!  Managed to get back to the car without much wet damage, put the bikes on the rack and sat in the car for a sandwich lunch.

Got back to the RV and immediately opened a bottle of wine to be mulled on the stove.  The wine turned out to be less than appetizing, so we turned our culinary skills to a batch of hot chocolate!  Yippee, now that was good.  A little nap later and we are raring to get going tonight.  Will check out the sushi place we had dinner a few nights ago and see what the nightlife has to offer in downtown Coeur d'Alene.

All's well.  Tomorrow we hit the Hiawatha Trail ' "come hell or Hiawatha"!  he hee  Some fun now!

Finally got some sun today.  Turned out nice after a cold start.  Went on a hike to a place with giant cedar trees.  Cool hike.  Took a while to figure out how to get to the place, a few wrong turns and then a drive 6 miles on gravel.  Could have used Vaughan's jeep!Thank goodness we were the only ones to drive out to take this hike today.  The road would have been tough for two cars to pass each other.

Nice scenery in this section of Idaho.  Could see coming back in warmer weather to enjoy the lakes a bit more.  Got to spend a couple of hours down by the lake here at the RV park, having a drink and reading a book.  Tomorrow, our plans are to go for a bike ride, maybe about 30 miles along the Centennial Trail, then downtown to enjoy the shops and restaurants!

All is well.

Last two days have been golf days here in CDA, or Coeur D'Alene!  Beautiful country and we played two awesome golf courses.  The first CDA Resort Golf Course, was probably the most scenic course we have played since we started our trip.  Course was in great shape and had some amazing and difficult holes.  We had a caddy during this round and that is always fun.  Our caddy was a woman named Lisa, married, four kids, this is her job during the golf months and then she stays home and makes sure her children get to the myriad of sports activities they are involved in.  Apparently, she has a young son, freshman in high school that is an excellent basketball player that she hopes gets a scholarship to college.  Nice lady, turning forty this month!  She loves golf and has been a caddy up here for several years.  Neat job for a golf lover.

The second course we played was a casino complex outside CDA, called Circling Raven.  The weather was turning bad when we played.  Wind was very strong the first nine and then got stronger along with cold temps and rain when we started the back nine.  Only finished five holes on the back nine before we had to give it up!  Was wearing gloves and all the jackets and warm weather gear in our bags!  Didn't expect the weather to turn that quickly.  We left the RV at 11 AM with the temps around 72 and sun shining brightly.  We left the course with the temps at 51, wind blowing very strong and raining.  Brutal change!  Still enjoyed the course.

Had dinner at a sushi place last night with the neighbors before saying good bye.  Cheney's, Gerstner's, Ruigrok's and Timbas/Sherow.  Great time the past several days in Sandpoint and here in CDA with our Florida/Canadian friends!  Will miss them and now on our own for the remainder of the trip.  We will meet up with another set of Florida friends, Jim and Pam Pfeiffer in about a month in South Dakota!

Since the weather is cold and rainy today, we will do some daily chores, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. maybe relax and read a book while trying to stay warm in the RV!

Be sure to keep looking at the slideshow.  I change those with each update.  Unfortunately the pics on the slideshow are always a day or two behind the activities!  Boo hoo to Google!  Oops, I guess I can't bad mouth them, since Jake is going out to San Fran June 4th to work for Google over the summer.  Nice to have a high paying internship at Google.  One more year at Columbia Business School and Jake goes back to living a real life!  :):)

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