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.

Day 33

Up at 8:30am when Buddy squirted out of the tent and disappeared.  Mom was pretty worried and flustered as she had been on her way to the bathroom.  Trout Creek is very pretty and clean.  I suppose I haven’t seen a mountain creek yet that I didn’t think was pretty.

I love it when people labor on something like this and leave it behind for others to enjoy.  Joy in the process.

I made hash for breakfast and added an apple to it which greatly increased its breakfastiness. 

Want some?  :)  Come hunt me down and I'll gladly share!

I used some of the red peppers Dawn gave me.  I burned a thick layer of concrete in the bottom of the pan again before I had the bright idea to use a lid to help cook the potatoes without burning everything else!  I used a graniteware pie pan and used tong to remove it.  It would probably work better if I put it on early before it burned, and then worked on crisping it up after it is mostly cooked.  

Bread got toasted over the remainder of the coals. 

I packed most of the car while Jeremiah scrounged for dry wood under the larger trees to take with us.  It kept threatening an immense down pour that never came, though it served to hurry along the packing.  Joshua put away the tipi wet, with only a sigh.

We were back on the road to Missoula around 2pm.  

At Blue Ribbon, they informed us I’d done $2500 of damage by hitting the deer.  They priced and ordered a new headlight that will be there Monday and we inquired about getting the hatch latch and Joshua’s door fixed.  We were very impressed with their service and facilities. 

Mom requested another Walmart trip.  She came out after a bit, overwhelmed, and asked me to get half the list.  I nixed half of what was on the list she handed me, either because I felt we didn’t need it or it would be better gotten elsewhere (more likely to find what we wanted, or because we could patronize another store).  She wasn't feeling well and while she agree with me, I think I hurt her feelings because she was hearing me say she was silly for having those things on her Walmart list.  We got that smoothed over and I set off.  

We did a bit of grocery shopping at Natural Grocers and used their internet for a while.  Lots of talking to choose a campsite, mostly based on weather.  It was finally decided to go back to Moose Creek in Helena.  We could got o church there on Sunday and Jeremiah would be able to exchange his pack at Capital Sports. 

I don’t remember what time we got to camp.  Joshua was getting sick and having his usual weird neurological symptoms.  Jeremiah pitched the tipi and we had hummus and chips for dinner.

P.S. This is what happens when you try to take selfies and forget that you zoomed in ....  :)

Day 32

I decided on granola for the breakfast in the interests of getting everything moving and on the road soon.  I washed the dishes using the water Joshua put in the Hydroflask last night.  It was still all lovely steaming hot!  Made a believer out of me!  I wouldn’t have voted to buy it if it were up to me, but that was super handy.  It’ll be nice to be able to use whatever fire we have left to heat water and save it for later.  Plus, I can save a little hot water out to clean up my dish rags when I’m all done.  Putting away nasty dish rags because cold water and a ton of dish soap still won’t cut the grease, yeah, it really bothers me.

I packed up the car since Jeremiah wasn’t feeling well.  I did a little reorganizing, throwing away some boxes that were storing food we’ve eaten and consolidating the remainder.  I put my “gathered treasures” (ie, rocks and driftwood) in the pack I just bought and made a spot for it in the back.  I moved the dog food storage to a different spot that will hopefully be easier to access after the car is loaded and we’re at the store.  

In to Moscow (moss-co according to Annie) we went to get some last minute things at the co-op.  Mom and I bought each other early Christmas presents because the co-op has a really cool kitchen and health and beauty section.

Mom went to the yarn shop across the street while I was packing the car.  She hollered at me from across the street to come over.  It was pretty amazing.  It appeared to be all natural fibers with lots of local wool and alpaca.  The color selections were beautiful!  They had a  nice tool section too.  

I walked to the print shop to get our insurance card printed off my jump drive.  It had been emailed to us and with the headlight out and all, that became a priority.  Tom at the Chamber of Commerace had warned us about the ISP.  They’ll ticket you for 5 over.  He had gotten a ticket for a bad headlight connection in the day time because he happened to have his lights on.  He had to show up at the patrol office within a certain amount of time to prove that he had fixed it.  Anyways, they wanted $5 to print it off because I wanted it right away.  It was $2.50 if I waited an hour.  I told her never mind all the way around because it was just one page and I was hoping for a 30 cent copy.  In the midst of clicking buttons she told me that she’d give to it mrs for the $2.50 right away and the printer spit it out as she finished talking.  I paid and left.  A $2.50 piece of paper was better than a ticket and a court date.  I would have appreciated to girl at the shop not ramrodding my business though.  I had been encouraging going to a library to get it printed for a while, but the print shop was right there and we were on our way out of town.  

I went back into the co-op to charge my computer in the deli area while everyone else was finishing up their business and deciding on a campground for tonight.  I’d asked to be texted when everyone was ready to go.  I got the text and then sat in the car for another 15 minutes.  By this time, I was needing an attitude adjustment.  I was frustrated that we weren’t on the road and then the print deal and this.  I’d felt a little jipped on my computer time because everyone else would use computers while I was doing the grocery shopping.  By the time I got done with that, they would be ready to go or a least ready enough that me doing that didn’t help the feeling of being ready.  

We’re talking $2.50.  That’s all.  Big deal.  It wasn’t even my money.  Note to selfs to be prepared to be slightly more forceful when bargaining for services before I’m obligated.  I try to be pretty easy when it comes to local businesses in town.  I need them.  They need me.  Getting along, good service, being a good customer is pretty important.  But when I’m from out of town …. I feel it’s a little different.  I have a right to ask a few more questions because I don’t know their reputation from hear-say.  Shelve that one.

Yes, it’s hard to get time to keep up with the blog and if the internet is fussy, posting pictures takes an eternity and several tries.  But it’s not the end of the world.  I have all this down on paper and picture and it can get uploaded whenever that happens.  I was just feeling under appreciated for making sure everybody had good food to eat.  Sometimes it feels like everyone does me a favor by putting up with my grocery shopping, as if it’s my lark.  How I choose to receive that is my problem.  I can let it bother me and get my feelings hurt, or I can let God have that and be a whole lot happier.  Shelve that one too.

I had decided, several times already, that I was not going to have an agenda for departure and arrival.  I was going to flow with it.  Shelve it.

Big deep breath.  Thanking the Lord for my blessings.  Confessing my smallness, my selfishness. God reminds me of the love he has given me for my family.  God tells me a little bit about how he wants me to respond to these things.  More confession.  Another deep breath.  And you’re looking at a new woman.  Praise God for his grace and redemption!  

When we got on the road, I sorted through the last few days of pictures.  

The highway was pretty curvy with a high speed limit.  I was soundly car sick, but I got the pictures sorted. 

Love those colors!

I noticed the time change at the Montana Idaho border.  Back to Mountain Time.

Pretty, pretty hills.

We stopped at a Walmart for a bit of produce, lunch meat, ice, and dog food.  I think that was in Smelterville.  I attempted not to judge the town based on the Walmart.  :)

So I've figured out that I can stick my camera out the window and get a good, smear free shot my watching my LCD screen through the windshield.   This is with the camera securely strapped to my wrist, most of the time.  :)  That 70mph highway wind is stinking cold!

We got to Trout Creek Campground in the Lolo NF at 9pm and picked site #9, close to the creek and the toilet.  No one else is here, though someone pulled into the picnic area for a bit.  It’s pretty wet and soppy, but thankfully not very cold.  We sat in the van listening to the regional forecasts.  It’s supposed to get cold and wet and snowy this weekend.

I got in bed around 10:30 and kept taking off layers because it was too hot!  I think I was feeling pretty pansy, being carsick and all, when I was deciding how warmly to dress for the night.

4,288 miles in.

Day 31

Up at 7am catching up on my trip notes.  We still haven’t been able to get ahold of the adjuster assigned to our claim.

Base camp.

Jeremiah came down with a bad cold this morning.  We had oatmeal; just poured boiling water over oats in our cups.  Jeremiah slept while we went to town.  I walked Main Street window shopping while Mom deal with the insurance company.  The Storm Cellar was neat, vintage and second hand clothing, some pretty crazy exotic stuff.  We were talking about how when you get into vintage clothing, often the stuff that is still useable is the stuff people didn’t wear a lot.  Some of it was really cool, and some of it was a little scary.  The Prichard Art Gallery, connected with U of I, had a local arts and crafts section.  I spent some time talking to Tom in the Chamber of Commerce.  He volunteers there after running several businesses in town including starting the local public transport system which he CEO’d for 13 years after working for the one in Lewiston.  I got a map of Moscow and a Idaho highway map. 

Mom found a body shop in town, in network with our insurance, that was willing to do a back alley job on “The BounceHouse”.  We agreed to name it the BounceHouse in honor of it’s overloaded shot rear suspension that makes bumps in the road feel like waves on the lake.  Jeff used a slide hammer to pull out the quarter panel so we could get the driver’s door open without it binding and readjusted the headlight socket so it would be easier for us to get the new one in.  He was busy through November 10 so we decided to try to get a headlight elsewhere.  He asked that we let the insurance company know so they weren’t waiting for an invoice from him.

We went back to camp for roast beef sandwiches and to discuss car fixing plans with Jeremiah.  We all went back into town.  Jeremiah returned some stuff at Hyperspuds and Mom bought a huge Hydroflask.  We did a bit of shopping at the co-op and used their internet for a while.  

I visited a bookstore and a bike shop on main street.  I had a great conversation with Chris in the bike shop.  One of those odd ones.  He asked if I was looking for anything.  I said no, just wandering.  And our conversation continued from there.  We talked about everything, but bikes.  Finally I asked him to show me the coolest thing he had in the shop, because I felt weird talking about non-business stuff.  He answered, “You’re looking at him!”  I snorted and rolled my eyes.  He showed me a couple of bikes and I got a little bit educated.  I was feeling rather smug about our unorthodox interaction until I left and he told me his name again, with his last name, very pointedly.  “Nice to meet you", and I walked out.  I was so flustered after that that I promptly forgot his name.  Sorry, dude. 

Joshua got the fire going since Jeremiah was still out of it.  We had mexican with the White Park beef.  It was less than $2 more a pound than the stuff at Walmart and organic at that.  Joshua used the remainder fo the fire to heat water to fill the giant Hyroflask and some hot water bottles for mom and my toes.

Sorry for the lack of pictures today guys ... totally could have done a better job on that one.  It just never crosses my mind to take "town" pictures ... note to selfs.

4,080 miles in.

Day 30

I was up around 8am … pacific time.  :)  Dave had pancakes with us.  We were tent camping in the RV area with permission from the campground manager.  It was slow and somebody was blocking the road to the tent area.  Whoever it is looks set up for a while, a house trailer, a tent, and some alternative energy set up.  We were grateful to be here as he and his companion were having a loud argument.  We could hear him swearing from across the valley.

We decided to stay at the park another night, so we hung a clothesline and lef t a few things on the picnic table.  Mom wasn’t comfortable with leaving anything valuable, so we packed up the car again.  

On the drive to town.

We washed 3 loads of laundry at Western Laundry and dropped up Joshua to sit in on Jonathan’s philosophy class.  The rest of us went back to camp and hung the laundry.  We had PBJ’s and went to hang out with Annie,  Her Mom, Chris, was there and a couple other ladies stopped by who were part of their knitting group.

We left a little before 5 to go pick up Joshua.  I went into Hyperspuds Sports on Main Street while we waited for him.  I finally found a pair of glove liners for a decent price.  They were Ibex and the associate told me Ibex has a good guarantee.  There was a Dakine ski pack on consignment for $35 that I really liked.  It belonged to the girlfriend of one of the employees so Jeremiah offered him $25.  Deal!  It has a hip belt and a cute design so I’ll be happy to pass along my walmart book pack to a thrift store.  The boys bought some other hardware.

Annie invited us for dinner, so we stopped at the Moscow Co-op to get salad fixings to share.  

Annie made some tasty spagetti and we found plenty to talk about until we left for camp just before 10.  They recommended several interesting books that I’m planning on getting ahold of when we get back home.  One was Supper of the Lamb which looked like a very fun read and another was a Cook’s Illustrated compilation from the America’s Test Kitchen crew, a huge thick book with all the science of food.  I also dropped my cup of Chai in my lap.  Not sure how I managed that, but there I was with a lap full of tea, trying to decide if I should sit still and let it soak in to my clothes or uncross my legs and risk the leather stool and the area rug.  I opted to sit still and was grateful for my synthetic thermals and nylon pants.

The chance of rain was 90% so we set up the tipi and put away all the laundry.  Emily hasn’t been super good about sticking close to camp.  I had to fetch her out of the creek at the other end of the park.  

In bed about 11pm.

We’ve made it.  It’s been a month.  It’s been good.   

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.