Day 39

I was slightly cold this morning after de-layering last night.  I voted for cold cereal so we could get on the road sooner.  I was very anxious to ensure that laundry got done since I had stuffed most of the dish towels in the dirty laundry bag two days ago.  There are somethings you just don’t undo.  :)  I made turkey sandwiches with sunflower sprouts for lunch.

Meanwhile, my own project proves you can grow sprouts in the back of a minivan and
they just might survive a couple frosts too!

We drove through Stevensville, spied the yard shop, and stopped at the Post Office.  

We continued through Corvallis and then cut back across to 93 at Halmilton. 

Trapper Peak

We counted down through Darby to Conner which had a PO, bar, and general store.  We turned around there.  

In Darby.

Now that's extravagant.

We drove down Lost Horse Road about 8 miles north of Darby.  After poking along for a while we decided to go the 20 miles up the Twin Lakes, well aware that by that decision we were signing up to have a late night.   

We had a quarter tank of gas.  There was about 6-8” of snow up there which of course had to mean at least one snowball - Jeremiah was the lucky recipient.  :P 

Embracing life, even if it's a cold life.

Just cuz it was a good picture!

This is what we do with snow.

 The fuel light came on while we were up there and we drove conservation style from there - building up momentum on the hills and not slowing down if we could help it.  

Even Jeremiah admitted it was a hair raising ride.  

It was going by kinda fast, ya know.

We made it out of Lost Horse and about 2 of the 9 miles to Hamiliton before we ran out of gas.  Jeremiah was pretty embarrassed.  He pulled into a driveway and the gentleman there gave us 2 gallons of gas and refused payment.  It appeared we had interrupted their dinner as his wife was peeking through the curtains with a plate in her hand.  It was about 6:15. 

The same moon you were looking at.

We filled up in Hamilton and I cleaned the van windows.  We did three loads of laundry, washed and dried, at Fast & Fluffy.  My goodness!  Laundromat names certainly lack in class.  We left Hamilton at 9pm.

Jeremiah opted out of dinner because he had been up until 3am waiting for the rain to stop so he could go to the van and brush his teeth.  ;)  He went to bed.  I made chocolate oats.  If you haven’t had chocolate oats, you’re missing out.  There is no added sugar, it’s sweet and filling.  Mash up about one overripe banana per person, add about 2-3 T dry milk per banana, 1 T. cocoa per banana, and rolled oats to the consistency you like.  I added some thick yogurt and walnuts for some extra protein.  Whipped cream is never a bad topping.  :)  You should try it!

I got in bed around 11pm.

Day 38

Nothing says “good morning” quite like a 35 degree contact lens!  No bleary eyes here!  

But definitely bed head.  That's what sleeping in a hat
with a week and a half of dirty hair will do to you.  Sorry, tmi.

The tipi got nice and warm this morning from the sun shining and the breakfast coals.  Both flaps were open and I sat in a shaft of sunlight and drank rooibos while watching over the oatmeal.  

Oatmeal with home dried apples from last fall and raisins, some thick creamy yogurt, almost as good as fresh cream.  

Oh and since we're being transparent this morning ... this is the pot we
cooked oatmeal in.  Yeah, tmi, but you read how last night went down.
It was clean rice.  :)

I did dishes and made lunch - bean burritos with sliced discounted avocado (I hadn’t forgotten about my guacamole wish when I saw a bag of 5 organic avocados for $2), sliced tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, a drizzle of parmesan ranch dressing, and sunflower seeds.  

I hung a clothes line wishing I already had wet clothes for the bright sun.  It did hold the dish towels and the Tyvek tablecloth.  Jeremiah went up on the hill to get stove wood.  Joshua is re-doing his Tyvek bivy sack.  Emily is on deer leg #2.  There’s a dead one at the corner of the meadow.  

You're welcome.  :)

Buddy rolled in it this morning; Emily carries appendages back to camp to chew up, embracing her roots.  ;)  At least I don’t have the heart and perseverance to even start trying to keep her away from it.  I try not to let her go over there, but once it’s here at camp, I give up.  

We didn’t do any adventuring or shopping today, as a matter of fact we barely left camp.  I rock hopping, following the sunshine as I worked on trip notes.  Mom sent Buddy with 2 tennis balls in his mouth.  One can’t quite turn that down.  

That's my face.

Either the air is thinner up here or my arm is getting better from all this practice without the tennis ball chucker we use at home, because I sent those balls sailing!

Then down to the creek for drinks:

I set off up the hill through the woods on the search for sights.  I was a bit stir crazy and needing some time.  These woods had been recently logged and I came out on a landing at the top of the hill. 

 From there Emily and I walked the road.  

I found out from a lady walking her collie that the stuff that looks like buck brush with white berries is Snowberry.  

A young grove of aspen were nearly orange.  

About halfway up the hill on the road, I started looking at the view and thinking of Mom who had taken a trail along the creek because she couldn’t climb the hill.  I gathered two piles of prickly pine cones and headed back to camp tot try to rally the natives for at least a little adventure.  After all, there was a mountain up there!

After a while I was successful and we were off.  Another 1/4 mile from where I turned around, there was a fork in the road.  A bit beyond it the road was blocked - in both directions.  Oh well.  I collected my pine cones, cleaned up after Emily, and then back to camp.  

My cold still has a good hold of me.  I took an amazing nearly two hour nap.  In the midst of drifting in and out of consciousness I changed the dinner menu.  We had mexican (based on what was on hand that was most perishable) in the tent to avoid the pouring rain.  It has rained and/or snowed every day we have been here so far - usually in the morning; often in the evening too.  The humidity is high and everything refuses to dry.  One can only swab dishes with a damp towel so much.  I filed my cot in half, spread the tablecloth on it, and it made a stellar unobtrusive table for our meal.  Having the extra table in the tipi at Grave’s Creek was a little to cramped.  

Fetching water:

"If you're quick [with the camera], you can catch me falling in!"

An eddy.

Joshua had made preparations for a whiteman fire, but we opted for an earlier, drier bed time.  Jeremiah brought the stove into the tent with the coals.  It got up to an amazing 60 degrees in there!  I shed a few layer and snuggled in.  

... sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow ...