Day 29

Jeremiah woke me up around 4:15am and asked me to drive.  I pulled out my ipod and was kept company by Orion, a dipper, the hazy sliver moon with a jet trail drifting across it.  Now and then the silhouette of large hills appeared out my window.  The tranquility was shatter along with the glass of my headlight when I hit a buck around 5 am.  

He was slowly walking across the road.  I slowed down and moved onto the shoulder so as to be behind him.  The deer in Montana had been really sensible and incredibly tame.  At the last second, he wheeled around and jumped into the car.  Glass sprayed up over the windshield and he bumped down the side of the van.  I pulled over.  The driver’s door wouldn’t open more than 4”.  The hood was dented right at the corner and the quarter panel was pushed in binding the door.  I’d hit him right under the neck at the shoulder.  Jeremiah picked the glass out of the headlight socket while Mom and I talked to the insurance company.  It was a lot of damage for no faster than I was going.

After it got "fixed"; $2500 worth of damage.

We rolled into Moscow about 6:30am, stopped at Western Laundry to use the internet to find a campground.  We had the choice of the Robinson Country Park campground or the fairgrounds.  We headed to the park.  We didn’t bother to set up the tipi, just set up the cots and burrowed down in our sleeping bags.  It was 7:15.  The horizon was starting to lighten.  

Staying warm!  Not every dog gets $2 down vest from the thrift store!

We woke at 9:30am when the dogs started barking at people milling around.  We packed the car and got ready for church while talking to our neighbors.  Dave Riley really like the dogs.  He was a fish and wildlife guy, had worked for the forest service and was between jobs.  He went over some maps with Jeremiah, recommending some good places to go, see, and do.  He showed us some pictures of places he had been.  The other neighbor was a native of Canada who married an Idaho girl and lived in Ceur d’Alene.  Their daughter was in school at U of I and they came for homecoming.  

Mom had wanted to be at church 15 minutes early to change clothes in the warm.  We got to Christ Church about 4 minutes early and she and Joshua went to change.  I started looking for the sanctuary, knowing we’d come in through the back door.  I found speakers piping music into one of the school classrooms.  About 5 minutes after church should have started a few people started filtering into the gym.  I got some directions to the sanctuary while waiting for Mom.  More people came in, like church was letting out.

That’s when Annie came and introduced herself, a beautiful, confident, bubbly lady.  Her husband, Jonathan, is a philosophy professor at New Saint Andrews.  That got Joshua excited.  We told our story and she offered to let us use her shower and camp in her yard, and at least use a real bathroom!  And even if we didn’t we should at least come hang out for a bit today or tomorrow.  :)  Dawn came and introduced herself and offered the same.  They and plant of beds since their children were grown.  Her husband, Darryl, came to check if she was ready to go.  She invited us to lunch and told us to call when we were on our way.

In the midst of this we were informed that we were now in Pacific Standard Time and that we’d been an hour and four minutes early to church.  The 8:30 service had just let out.  Annie left to go sing in the choir and we headed to the sanctuary, picked up hymn books, and found seats.  Michelle brought us bulletins … Annie had told her we were here.  Tyler stood up from a couple seats down and waded through knees with a baby on his arm to welcome us.  

Darryl and Dawn served us pork chops, sauerkraut, stewed apples, baked potatoes, and a lovely salad.  Wow, was it ever amazing!  I’ve noticed a serious increase in my appetite on this trip … I don’t feel like I’ve been getting a ton of exercise, so I’m wondering if it’s just being out in the cooler weather. Dawn let us all take showers and fill up our water containers.  She is quite a classy lady.  I really enjoyed visiting with her.

We went to the Psalm sing at Christ Church and Jana loaned us her book when she noticed us looking a little lost.  It appeared that everyone was expected to bring their own.  Afterwards Donna and her husband introduced themselves and also introduced us to Curtis and Stephen, both graduates of NSA and worked as computer programmers at a local business.  

We filled up on gas and ice, ate Dawn’s leftover pork and apples and slept under the stars again at Robinson Park.  The dogs stayed in the car.