Sunday we arrived at TaterTOT and the Crystal Gold Mine & RV Park where we’re camping. The event started on Thursday, but this was our first day here. It was pouring down rain, and continued to rain on Monday and Tuesday. This caused many people to give up on waiting for good weather, but it finally arrived today, Wednesday.
On Monday we drove up to Osborne to pick up Paula’s trike. Mel at Recumbent PDX called Shimano on her behalf, asking what they could do to help with a Steps E800 motor replacement for her e-assist HP Velotechnic Scorpion FS20 (hers had a catastrophic failure two days before we were to leave). Amazingly they agreed to send one to Mel nearly overnight. Then our friend Paul installed the motor and Sylvia transported it to TOT. What amazing friends we have!
Paula loves her trike, and was able to ride it today. More on that later. Back to Monday. So now we have three trikes to transport. With Paul’s help we folded the Catrike Trail, took off the front wheels and strapped it down to the front of the truck’s pull-out tray that the Scorpions ride on. After much finagling we made it fit. What a task! Many thanks to Paul for all his help. We also had good advice from Dave, Edna, Lonnie, and Todd. Again, what are friends for?
Now we have three pedal assist trikes for two people. Seems terrible to need a backup e-assist trike, but it feels like we’re beta-testers for e-assist systems. We’ve had over five systems between us, and had three failures. Sure doesn’t seem like the right ratio to us!
OK, enough complaining. Yesterday it was still raining, so Sylvia, Paula and I decided to hike the Pulaski Trail. Pulaski was one of the early forest rangers; he invented the tool that has the hatchet and pick ax head that is still used by firefighters today. He lead a team of men into the hills during the 1910 Big Burn fire. When it was apparent that they were going to be overtaken, he led his men into a cave and put blankets over the opening. To keep his men safely inside the cave, he had to hold them at gunpoint. Thankfully they all survived, but Pulaski sustained lung and eye damage.
The trail we were on traversed Pulaski’s route into the hills. The path borders a creek that was rushing the entire length due to the heavy rains. Check out these photos:
We had a lovely time, but decided coming back in dryer weather was a smart idea.
Onward to today. Many of us decided to drive our vehicles to Harrison and ride from there to Plummer. Plummer is at the end of the trail. We got in a 32 mile ride. Weather was glorious — cool and dry with lots of sun. Paula’s Scorpion performed flawlessly, and she was so happy to be riding it. Here are a few pictures:
Monument to veterans at the end of the trail.
Paula & Leslie
Dave at the monument.
I loved the texture of these rocks.
On the return from Harrison, we drove on I90 by Cataldo. You can see the camp ground we used to stay in from the highway. We used to walk down a relatively steep bank to the river. Now the river has risen to invade many of the river-side RV spots. Ugh! Hopefully their septic is protected!! And the water doesn’t do too much damage!
Tomorrow Paula & I are going to ride other sections of the trail and hope to spot a moose. Keep your fingers crossed!
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