Windseeker Motor Coach Travel Log
with Joe and Libby

Libby and Corey on the Anne Marie on another terrific sailing day on Lake Coeur d'Alene... sailing just off Sander's Beach with one of our favorite CdA mansions, the white 12,000 SF classic Lakeshore Drive home just above Libby's head in the background, as well as another sailboat cruising by.

Well, for whatever reason, Idaho's jewel, Lake Coeur d'Alene, is experiencing excellent winds right now in late summer and this is predicted right through next week... and mild sunny days as well. So we decided to take advantage of the situation. We cancelled our reservations for Memaloose on the way home and extended our stay at Blackwell Island RV Park here in Coeur d'Alene to a full two weeks so we will finish up the summer sailing with some great winds on Lake Coeur d'Alene. We launched the boat today and went for a brief sail this afternoon... we'll move the coach over to Blackwell tomorrow and then spend the afternoon on the lake. Watch the gallery page for many more photos of beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

We arrived in Cataldo with perfect bicycling weather and went bicycling on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes which borders the RV Park where we are staying... very convenient. We hooked up Corey's Doggyride cart and took him along. The beautful quiet trail runs thru wilderness all along the Coeur d'Alene River. Here we are stopped a picturesque turn in the river. We even saw a moose grazing. I posted the moose photo on our gallery page. There are not many places where you take a very civilized bicycle ride on a smooth asphalt paved trail thru wilderness area where you can see wild moose grazing.

Well our 7 weeks at Flathead Lake Montana concludes today. We've had a great stay... and 16 days of sailing, including some for the "all time best" lists. Now we are going to start making our way back to Oregon. We're going to spend a week and half back in the Coeur d'Alene Idaho area. Today we drove the 150 mile scenic route on MT 212, 200, and 135 along the Clark Fork River again (right) to a little place nestled in the mountains near CdA called Cataldo, located right on the epic bike trail, the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. No sailing here... we'll spend the next few days relaxing, cruising the bike trail, maybe a little local kayaking and some sightseeing before we head on to our old fave... Blackwell Island RV Park in Coeur d'Alene.

After so much hot weather this summer, it turned last week, and is now 20 degrees below normal, with some days barely above 60 and a fair amount of rain and t-storms. Today was only the second day of sailling since our kayaking trip to Whitefish, but still, in looking at my log we have sailed 9 of 21 days in August thus far, 17 days overall... most of them very good to excellent. Today was no exception and though it was stormy overnight, it cleared enough this morning that we decided to give it a shot in the early sfternoon. Winds were an excellent 12-15 on the bay and we sailed about 2 hours, never dropping below about 6 mph... and using the jib furled to about 1/3 size. We saw t-storms approaching again about 4:30 (right) and so we came in ahead of any disturbances. With T-storms, discretion is always the better part of valor.

We decided to take a break from sailing and take advantage of nice weather forecasts up north. We drove up to the town of Whitefish just north of Kalispell, about an hour and 15 minutes north of Polson and took our Hobie Outfitter tandem pedal kayak out on the beautiful Whitefish Lake. Once again having our Kayak along allows us to get out on other bodies of water that we wouldn't otherwise get a chance to experience. The lake was nice and warm for swimming as well. We launched from 'City Beach' in Whitefish and pedalled for a few hours along the lake shore. We opted not to travel on to Glacier National Park as we went there in 2012 on our first RV trip to Montana. We have a nice Glacier National Park Photo Gallery on the blog of this national scenic treasure.

Just another perfect sailing day on Big Arm Bay. Steady 8-10 or so all afternoon. For the first time this trip we sailed out between Wild Horse Island and Melita Island and once clear of Wild Horse we could look past the tip of the island about 15 miles north on the lake along the east shore. By the time we got back to the marina we had covered about 20 miles (on the GPS) in 4 hours. It was a bit hazy because of forest fires but still, the scope of things out here is astounding.

Well... actually the storm was chasing us. We enjoyed excellent winds all afternoon but around 5 some storm clouds started to move in. Corey was looking at me, like "Hey Dad, maybe we should think about heading in!" As the storm aproached we had already moved in closer to the marina so we could get in quickly if they started to come in overhead. A lightning strike persuaded us to do just that.

This was a couple days ago and an absolutely perfect sailing day.... Flathead rules. It continually sets benchmarks by which all other lake sailing must be judged. Probably about 12-14 mph steady winds with the Anne Marie on a 20 degree heel over flat waters... that's the tip of Wild Horse Island dead ahead and the gorgeous Mission Mountains out across the main lake. We have 4 more weeks of this ecstacy... can I endure?

We had some pretty intense T-storms our first day here but we managed to get the boat launched and secured in her slip before the weather started. We waited until today to go sailing. Winds were a little light by the time we got out on the lake, but we still had a nice 2.5 hour sailing session. That is Wild Horse Island in the background, about 5-6 miles across Big Arm Bay from our little marina. Corey enjoyed it as you can see. We will be posting many more sailing and touring photos on our gallery page in the coming weeks.

We have been dying to get back here since our last visit in the summer of 2012. We had planned to come back last summer but our house sold while we were in Coeur d'Alene, so we had to cancel the rest of our trip and head home exactly one year ago to start moving. I have been looking forward to returning ever since. From our 2012 experience this is the sailing lake by which all others must be judged. 27 miles long and covering almost 200 square miles, this magnificent lake is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. Ringed by the spectacular Salish and Mission Mountain ranges, it reaches depths of 370 feet. We sail out of Big Arm Bay about 10 miles up the western shore, which has some of the best winds on the lake and is nicely protected in behind several large islands. We will be posting many new photos on our gallery page in the coming weeks.

Just 45 minutes north of the picturesque town of Coeur d'Alene, where we been many times over the years, and enjoyed sailing on the magnificent Lake Coeur d'Alene, lies StoneRidge Resort, a golf and Motorcoach resort nestled in the mountains south of Priest Lake. We have friends, Myra and Dennis Bailey, who own a pad and spend their summers here, and another set of Motorcoach friends, Bill and Ginny, are joining us here for a week as well. We don't play golf but the bicycling is great here, it is a lovely setting and there's a nice little lake for sailing the RC sailboats and a big lake close by for using the pedal kayack. Should be a relaxing week.

The drive went easily.... we just cruised out I-84, and stopped by at the Rowena exit where my old windsurf pal and fellow Ragin River band member Ted Matzen and wife Leanne drove to the exit to say hi. We cannot get the big coach across the RR tracks there. We continued on to our next planned stop

Well, it was a sad day for us all, but it was time. Gracie was more than 15 1/2 years old and had been in failing health for several years. Libby basically had her on life support with half a dozen' or more daily medications for Heart trouble, stomach trouble, fluid on the lungs, bladder problems, collapsed trachea, deafness, cataracts and greatly impaired sight, arthritis and doggy dementia. It is a wonder she lasted this long. She was having a great deal of difficulty breathing and had become an almost full time job for Nurse Libby. So we finally made the tough choice and had a Vet come to the house and help her "cross the rainbow bridge". We all cried. But she had a great life... a loving family, all the wonderful years in the Gorge, traveling in the motorhomes and so on. She travels with us now as a needlepoint throwpillow. She trained Corey well the last three years and so she leaves us in his capable paws. So we celebrate her life with this little memorial.   R.I.P. Gracie B. - our beloved dogter. We will always love you.

Back at home for a month now, I signed up for a meetup sailing day with the Portland Sailing Meetup Group. It was aboard a Catalina 38... we sailed out of Tomahawk Bay on Hayden Island in Portland and had glroious weather and good winds for a very pleasant day of sailing. We have not bothered to put our own Catalina 22 in the water this month because we are only home a short while, and with a Tiffin Rally mid month and leaving for Idaho and Montana the end of the month, there was little point. Glad to be part of the Portland Sailing Meetup and have an opportunity to sail some different boats with different people. The shot at the right is sailing downwind or east on the Columbia with the spinnaker up and Mt Hood in the distance.

We wrapped up a delightful 17 days at Fernridge Lake outside of Eugene, OR. We sailed around 10 days or so and had some excellent winds. We pulled the boat yesterday, and today we dropped the coach off there at Kustom Coach Works in Junction City to have Bobby Vodden upgrade the whole A/V and satellite system for us. He is a wiz with electronics and A/V systems. Got this shot of the coach towing the boat... unusual because normally Libby tows it behind the Suburban but she had to make a couple stops first before we headed home. We'll come back down end of the week and pick up the coach after Bobby has worked his wizardry. Next stop is on to Blanchard, Idaho near Coeur d'Alene for a week in early July to visit with friends before we head on to Flathead Lake Montana on July 15 to finish out the summer. Gonna be great!

Well we had some rain the first few days here... We ran errands into town, putzed around with the coach and sneaked in a little bicycle riding and model yacht sailing in between showers, but yesterday we got the boat all rigged in the parking lot and today we launched the boat just in time for the wind coming up. We sailed all afternoon in perfect 12-14 mph winds, and temps in the mid 70's, with copious sunshine and puffy white clouds... a picture perfect afternoon. The perfect kickoff to this year's sailing season for us and a delightful day to take the boat out after having it in storage for 9 months (since we began moving last year.) From 2-4 pm we were the only boat on the lake... then after 4:00 other boats started showing up and when we came in about 5:30 there were a dozen other sailboats out. Many more photos on our gallery page.

We pulled into Richardson Park Campground by Fernridge Lake Friday afternoon... got the campsite set up for the next 2 weeks, and tomorrow we plan to launch the sailboat at the marina right here by the park (just visible thru the trees ahead of the coach). Richardson Park is right by the dam and has its own boat launch and nice new docks. We've stayed at Richardson in our Truck Camper in the past. But we always stayed at Fernridge Shores further around the lake with the big motorcoaches. Fernridge Shores was full this time so we're staying at Richardson. We got an ideal pull thru spot with a peekaboo view of the lake and marina. We love it here even if we do have to rough it (smoothly) as there are no sewer hookups, just water and 50 amp electric. And they have a two week limit, so we'll just stay here until end of the month.

Well, after multiple delays with the Portland dealer where we bought the coach, they finally got the Aqua Hot (hot water system) fixed correctly so we could get on the road. On our way down to Fernridge Lake, we stopped in Junction City on Weds, and had Oregon Motorcoach do a PDI (post delivery inspection) on Thursday, just to make sure we didn't miss anything. We were relieved the coach passed this final inspection with flying colors. We also lucked out and by a stroke of luck found that the original owner had the same Air Force One towed vehicle braking system which mates perfectly with what we had installed on the Suburban previously. So no expensive conversions necessary there. So after a slow start things are finally going our way. We took off for the day in the Suburban with the dogs and bikes and drove over to Eugene's Ruth Bascom Riverbank Trail, one of Eugene's finest attractions.

Scouting around for a good photo location for the new coach, we were over in Portland's Blue Lake Park and stumbled onto a local chapter of the Oregon Model Yacht Club prepping their remote controlled model yachts for their weekly regatta. We talked to the guys and watched a bit. They were racing their one meter boats and one of the guys said he had a 30" Victoria he would be willing to sell. I met up with him and he demoed the boat for me and let me sail it. It was a lot of fun to sail and surprisingly technical. It requires only the lightest of breezes, and is compact in size, so it would make for a perfect activity on our RV travels for times when the breezes are too light to take out the Catalina. The price was right... the boat has been totally tricked out for competitive sailing with mylar sails, carbon fiber mast and booms, better sail servos, stainless boom bang, etc. So I bought it. Here's a closeup. See some sailing photos on our gallery page.