I didn't sleep a wink last night. When we went to bed, the rooms were still rather warm and the RV air conditioner in the narrow hallway was not doing a very good job in cooling them down. But at least the air was moving.
Deb said I felt feverish so she gave me something to knock the fever down. It was a little hard to tell what it was in the dark but if felt like something legitimate. We joked that it probably was a laxative and I would probably be spending the night in the bathroom.
Just after midnight, someone shut the generator off. Now without the air conditioner running the air in the bedrooms became deathly still. I could feel a slight puff of air coming in the windows occasionally, but the tiny windows let in a proportionally tiny amount of air and it didn't relieve the sweltering stillness.
I soon discovered the other benefit the generator and air conditioner offered. Both are quite noisy and with everything now turned off, the noise masking was gone. Now all the mosquitoes that were still left inside could be heard buzzing around. And all the snoring from other rooms was now audible. It was quite a chorus. Or should I call it a 'snorus'. The rumbling came from several rooms. I'll have to remember this for the future. It's fun doing stuff with this crowd, but we'll have to keep the sleeping arrangements separate enough to allow adequate sleep.
Since our window faces north, I checked several times throughout the night but did not see the Northern Lights. The chart at the visitor center listed the chances at 'moderate', but, even if there was a display, there were enough clouds in the sky to cover them up.
At around 4:30 I saw Russ moving about. Then the generator roared to life and the air conditioning came back on. The air was now moving again but it was a little too late. The sky was already brightening and there was very little chances of falling asleep. I wish the generator would have been left running all night.
Nearly everyone else rolled out of bed around 7am. Dave and Connie made a breakfast of egg and ham muffin sandwiches and then we cast off, heading towards Kettle Falls. We were underway for over an hour, enjoying the cool morning topside. Here we put the kayaks in the water and spent some time exploring the shoreline. Little coves and bays and islands are everywhere here, all begging to be explored.
At one point, Deb spotted several butterflies all congregating together. Yellow Swallowtail and several black ones with a white stripe on the wings, all fluttering around what appeared to be just a pile of pine needles. It was fascinating to watch for a while.
Kettle Falls is the site of a small dam and a 1890’s hotel that is still very much an 1890’s hotel. It was just a short walk to the dam and then to the hotel from the boat. The hotel is only accessible by boat. We sat in the hotel lobby for a while, grateful for air conditioning as the sunshine was rather hot. The floor of the bar of this hotel slopes steeply towards the door, and all the tables on that side of the room lean crazily to one side. The pool table in the middle was built on a stand that leveled it. Several people were gathered at the old bar, enjoying whatever it was that they enjoy.
There is a small restaurant in the hotel which listed its hours as 10am to 8pm. It was deserted but Janine cornered one of the other staff who called the waiter from upstairs. We all sat down and ordered ice cream. They had two choices, chocolate and vanilla, and you could make a sundae by ordering chocolate syrup on top. This is probably the main reason we came all the way out here, for the ice cream. It was super delicious and hit the spot.
Our targeted campsite for the night had another houseboat parked by it so we had to find something else. We enjoyed grilled chicken at the table on the top deck after finding a new spot. Here there were lots of dragonflies flitting about so perhaps they were keeping the mosquito population down.
So far I have not been feeling much better. I tried to lay down for a while after lunch, but the mosquitos drove me nuts and I wasn’t able to sleep. I laid down again after dinner and managed to doze off for a little while. I’ve been managing to keep the fever down with ibuprofen.
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