I'm in Coeur d'Alene today getting ready for our Summer Evening at the Lake featuring Daniel Hannan. I'm looking forward to seeing many of our friends and supporters. I got to see Hannan at a Hillsdale College event a couple of years ago. I think he's terrific, an excellent speaker whose defense of free market principles is practically second to none. I think you'll like him, too.

I've been using all available time during this trip to meet with our many donors and speak to as many groups as I can. On Friday, I spoke to both local Pachyderm clubs (thank you to Duanne Rassmussen for the photos, including the one seen here). At those meetings, I discussed problems with a proposed ordinance to regulate robots and defended local legislators' decision to vote against funding for new behavioral health clinics.

On a lighter note, on Saturday, I got to bike the Hiawatha Trail, which is a truly gorgeous way to view our region. My friend Larry Yergler, a commissioner from Shoshone County, happened to be driving the bus hauling bikers back to the trailhead at Roland, so I got to chat with him just a bit outside of a political and public policy context, as unexpected as it was to see him. Larry is a wealth of knowledge about the history and people of the area. It was a real treat to hear him discuss the railroad that used to run here, the towns that have come and gone and the history of the forest.