Bashful Dan

Sandpoint waterfront property comes with some interesting views during the summer months and Lake Pend Oreille waterfront hosts the biggest shows.  Ashley Johnson smiled and waved at us. We did not know what kind of dangerous, heart stopping thrills were about to unfold in front of high above the surface of Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint, Idaho.  What appeared to be another version of the “tame” old thing turned out to be an amazing airborne adventure.

She was perched on an inflatable bat wing that looked like a B-2 stealth bomber that was tied to her Dads jetski. I thought he would pull the small Washington Elementary School second-grader around the lake a little and decided to take a couple pictures. Jason Johnson, an Engineer in Sandpoint, Idaho; pulled away from his Grandfather’s dock at Rocky Point. His Grandfather, Bob Johnson, is the guy we all see at the Bulldog Football games carrying the American Flag. Ashley’s Mom, Charmiane, works at Panhandle State Bank.

Jason, with his son, Michael sitting behind him facing Ashley and holding the bright orange signal flag looked like he was going for a slow pull around the half bay between Rocky Point and Tank Hill at the Dover Bay Development.

Uh, uh. He lined up for a straight shot in front of the docks and increased his speed. Moments later the wing bounced off the surface of Lake Pend Oreille a few times and then went up. I mean WAY UP! Ashley was easily one story above the water and here’s the best part - smiling.

I sent the pictures to DFO at Huckleberries Online at the Spokesman Review and he made her famous. One of the commenters on Huckleberries pointed out that there have been accidents involving these inflatables and some places have outlawed them altogether and then posted a video. I don’t know how much of that is true and how it compares to any other summer fun on the danger scale but I will tell you that it looked like she was having a blast!