Day 34

We woke to Joshua discovering thousands of tiny, black, soft-bodied bugs crawling and hoping like fleas all over his Tyvek.  Our best guess was mites.  Mom and Joshua were pretty concerned and evacuated the tipi.  

Mom wanted to move to a different campground.  Jeremiah convinced her to try two campsites down, #7.  He putout a piece of Tyvek as a test.  We cooked breakfast there.  

Gathering fuel

... and helping.  For real.

Mom restrained herself from sprinkling black pepper on the Tyvek while Jeremiah was retrieving gear from site #9.  

After breakfast, the guys moved the tipi.  The re-pitched it a second time because it didn’t go quite right the first time.  Jeremiah learned to use Joshua’s non-stretch string instead of the stretchy paracord.  They’d been switching strings depending on who was pitching because Joshua got good results with one string and Jeremiah got good results with another string.

Such pretty jelly!

I climbed the hill behind the campground with the dogs.  It was almost straight up.  

I clocked my heart at 160 bpm after a short rest about halfway up.  

Most of the lower half was deep in loose rocks.  Each step gave way and turned into half a step.  The dogs chased rocks that broke free and carried them back up the hill. 

The trees started about halfway up, which meant soft loose dirt on top of the rocks. 

 I set a goal of a new tree, then the decision of whether to continue or not as soon as I reached it. 

It was talking longer than I had expected.  The “top” kept appearing further and further up.  My pride and curiosity kept me going.  At the top was a gulch (great Helena word) and another taller hill on the other side.

Going back down was fun!  I put my camera in a front pocket to protect it from the inevitable.  And the slide began.  As I got to the open part I noticed an officer had driven in and was talking to Mom and Joshua.  She yelled for Jeremiah.  Apparently, the officer had mentioned the broken head light and Mom got very upset and flustered trying to prove (unsuccessfully) that we were in the process of getting that taken care of.  The officer let her sit there and freak out for a long time before telling her he wasn’t worried about it, but that we couldn’t drive at night.  I showed up greeted him and asked what was happening.  Mom told me the short version, that she couldn’t find any of the paperwork from our auto body appointment or getting the headlight ordered and that she got very upset.  To her I said, “hmm, sounds like emotional distress.”  I was irritated that she was so spooked when we were doing nothing wrong and that the officer was amused by her fear.  I started unlayering as it was getting warmer and I’d been working hard on that hill.  He started teasing us about being dressed warmly.  I replied, “That was this morning.”  I’d taken a dislike to him from watching his body language from up on the hill.  When I came down I was hoping I’d misinterpreted.  I hadn’t.  He left shortly thereafter and while I felt a bit ashamed of my smart alec responses, I wasn’t sad to see him go.

So I hear Emily sneezing and came to check it out ... I guess Harvest Moon is a little hoppy for her.  :P

On the way out of camp, Jeremiah hit a big pot hole, hard, going pretty fast.  The usual scolding and argument of boundaries followed.  The van sounded different after that, really loud.  We stopped at the end of Rimini Road and Jeremiah got out to check it.  He got back in laughing.  Apparently, after the last exhaust job, it had then blew the rust out of another weak spot.  That explained why it had been gradually getting louder again.  But when he hit the bump, it sheared off right behind (I think he said) the catalytic converter … so, no muffler.  When we accelerated onto the highway …

In Helena, Jeremiah got his pack exchanged and I did a bit of grocery shopping at Real Foods next door, more to browse to kill time than anything.  We found Mieneke would do the muffler work tomorrow for $25 or $30.  We got oranges at Natural Grocers and used the internet. 

I donated my old pack at the Good Samaritan Thrift Store.  They have a LOT of stuff.  One could totally set up house from there.  They have 1/2 off on the 1st - 5th of each month.  Made a mental note to get Jeremiah to drop me off there tomorrow while the muffler work was happening.  

Back at camp, I fried the last of the WP beef into burgers with all the fix in’s, including a jar of Bubbies sauerkraut I’d found for $2 less than regular price.  Still a splurge, but tasty as ever!

We enjoyed another bake around a whiteman fire complete with roast marshmallows and ending with dry smokey wool socks.  I’m liking the reassurance of a lifetime warranty on these Darn Toughs.  

Jeremiah brought in hot rocks from around the fire pt and put them under our cots.  Loveliness.  It particularly helped the spot at my feet where my 3/4 length Thermarest runs out.  Blissful sleep.