Wanderers in Wonder

Worlds longest floating boardwalk…3,300 feet long, 12 feet wide, 362 boat slips in the marina the boardwalk surrounds with a 60 foot tall bridge halfway around to accommodate taller sailing boats.

Lake Coeur D’Alene is actually a reservoir.

Beautiful Irish sweaters, flat caps, crystal and so much more. Including…

Steph’s, a friend of the owner, diploma from the Guiness Brewery for mastering the perfect pine pour. Mary Ann and I are fellow alums.

We could walk from camp to the Northern Idaho State Fair. Brings back the days of taking our boys to the New Mexico State Fair and the La Plata County, Colorado Fair.

We attended the fair during the week. Many of the 4H animals who attend on weekends for the various competitions were enjoying the peaceful life with their respective families back on their farms.

This booth threw a big monkey wrench into my attempts to be optimistic about the future of the United States of America. The John Birch Society (JBS) was founded in the late 1950’s. Their stated goal was to stop Communism from taking over American Society. Of course, according to the JBS, Jews, people of color, and liberals were all communists. Their leader once claimed that President Eisenhower was a Soviet agent. The founding members of the John Birch Society were all wealthy white men. Charles and David Koch’s father was a founding member and the sons also became members. And so, The Birchers as they came to be known, were virulent Anti-Semites, Anti- People of Color, Anti-Union, Anti-Government, Anti-Tax and pro anything that would allow wealthy white men have their way in the United Staes of America. They had their heyday in the sixties and seventies. By the nineties the John Birch Society was barely on the radar. And now, just like the KKK in the South, White Supremacists in the Northwest and NAZI sympathizers, the JBS is back to openly and proudly spreading their politics of hate.

The booth was manned by Boomers all as sweet as can be. Of course, they were all farm people whose way of life is made possible by the government they hate…the dams built and maintained with U.S. taxpayer dollars, the irrigation canals and reservoirs built and maintained with U.S. taxpayer dollars, the farm subsidies paid for by U.S. taxpayer dollars, their premiums for flood and crop insurance kept artificially low with U.S. taxpayer dollars.

Not a happy camper at the moment.

But, on a much brighter note, a picture of our young Swiss friend Ariel which I received from her Mom the other day.

The Swiss Family Vossburg who we met while camping in Arizona are now enjoying the Pacific Northwest. Ann Christine (above with her son Teo) and her husband Pascal are from Switzerland. They are traveling North America in their RV. We have stayed in touch. Ann Christine sent us these pictures along with their itinerary for the next several months. They are wintering in the Baja. I could use to brush up on my Spanish.

Peace…Wanderers in Wonder.