Gettin' this show back on the road

Well, it's time to leave Hayden and move on to somewhere new. I'm really glad Don Blanchard's place was the first stop; I don't think I could have asked for better people to stay with or a more beautiful area to start my trip off with. Don, Gayle, Shannon and all their friends and family were very inviting and made me feel at home. From out boating on the lake to a memorial day party put on by Cathy and Tony they all treated me like family. Don and Gayle both seem to know how the live life well and enjoy it; they truly seem happy together.

I must admit I was a bit surprised (and nervous) when Don got ahold of me to ask if I wanted to watch his shop and house while he left the country on vacation for a week, but things worked out fine. I had a great coworker in Tim who helped show me around the shop and who was very easy to work and get along with. Don even cleaned off his desk for me to work at (which everyone who stopped in commented on). Work was a little on the slow side during the week, but like Tim and I kept telling ourselves; we were going for quality over quantity. The good part about it though was that it gave Tim an opportunity to clean his old truck and polish up is pretty, purple new screw drivers.



I was also fortunate enough to be able to meet up with Janna and her husband Brett who saw me post my location on a paddling website we both belong to and invited me along on a kayak trip one evening put on by the local paddling club. After that her family was kind enough to invite me over Monday night to eat with them where we had burgers on home made buns and brownies with home made ice cream for desert. It was a nice change from cooking for myself every night after work and I really enjoyed getting to hang out with her family for a while. I even got to see a new card trick!

One thing that I noticed about the residents of northern Idaho (other then the fact that 90% of them migrated from California) was how happy every body seemed to be to live here. Maybe that's something I'll find everywhere that I go since people usually only tell you about the good stuff when your visiting; but everyone really seemed to be thrilled with where they lived and had no desire to be anywhere else. And after being here for a couple weeks I can see why!

So once again, thanks everyone for getting my trip off to a great start. I look forward to passing back this way and seeing you all again.

My next stop will be Portland Oregon, but I've got 1 1/2 weeks to get there so I'll need to find something to do to fill the time. I imagine I'll be able to come up with something.

You can see all the photos I posted from my stay in the area in my Northern Idaho Flickr set.