If all goes well, my sisters and I will be floating past this spot, where our family hiked last weekend, sometime this afternoon.
It's been three years since we've used our pontoons.
I dragged mine out, cobwebs and all, from the machine shed the other day and gave it a bath.
Last night I inflated the floats---somewhat---and swept off more clingy cobwebs.
We drove yesterday to scout out the "put in" and the "put out" spots.
We'll put in at the Pack River General Store and put out at the Pack River Bridge on HWY 200.
While we were on our scouting mission, two adequately suntanned bikers rode by, smiled and waved.
As we pulled back onto the highway, another biker came by, looking tanned and dressed in similar clothing to the others.
Laurie surmised that they must be part of a group.
Suddenly my lightbulb flashed on.
"Bill's flipping hamburgers for them at the church tonight," I announced.
With her comment, I'd made the connection that these were part of the group who've been making arrangements with Bill over the phone for the past couple of weeks.
They're cross country riders, many college students, some recent college graduates.
Their mission: helping out with Habitat for Humanity construction projects across the country.
They're in Sandpoint today and planning to take off tomorrow.
Today is a down day for them, so they'll be enjoying the lake and the community.
They're bedding down at the Presbyterian Church, so that's why Bill and his friend Barney flipped burgers and helped out with their dinner last night.
Bill says he'll be going back tomorrow to help cook their breakfast.
In the meantime, we'll be enjoying our mini-adventure on the Pack River. Bill says to expect 4-6 hours' worth.
We were told yesterday at the Pack River General Store that the river is low, and we may not always be floating but sometimes packing our pontoons through the low spots.
This is an unknown for us sisters, so we'll probably have plenty wacky stories to tell once we've put out "sometime" today.
Barbara clocked the drive from the store to the bridge yesterday: six minutes.
To say that we'll be taking life at a slower pace is definitely an understatement.
That's okay, especially after the pace of this summer which has flown by much too quickly.
1 comment:
Marianne,
While giving visitors a brief "tour" around the area yesterday, we stopped at "The Pantry" in Clark Fork. We had passed many of these riders while driving that highway. One came into The Pantry while we were there and I visited with her. They started in New Hampshire and are enroute to Vancouver, WA. There are 4 other groups riding different routes across the U.S. simultaneously. We talked about what to see and do in Sandpoint and I suspect many of them will be enjoying city beach.
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