Day 24

I got up around 7:45am and went down to the laundry to charge my computer and use the internet for an hour.  Mom used my computer while I dried another load of cotton and packed up at camp.  I ended up repacking most of the wool and synthetics that were still wet. 

Got it.

Cold cereal for breakfast in keeping with our KOA traditions.  I gathered some addresses and got some post cards ready to mail.  I made a system so I could keep track of the pictures I’ve printed, what I’ve sent to who, and what needs to be preprinted. 

Being Joshua.

Dry, baby, dry!

There were 3 rabbits, 3 miniature horses, a donkey, a llama, and an alpaca that were wandering the campground.  I’d seen the rabbits and the donkey last time.  There were also a couple dogs loose.  I’m not sure exactly where they came from, but they seem to be doing a decent job of keeping the grass short all over the camp.  The horses were grazing in the grassy tent sites, so I went up and petted them and fed them some of my cereal.  A little while later one came through our campsite and was very interested in the feed sacks Jeremiah was using to store the stove.  The horse got soundly chased off.  :)

Waste not, want not.  Cleaning out the container.

We left KOA around 1pm and headed back to Kalispell.  Grocery stores, post office, Walmart, Cabela’s twice, Michaels twice, got the exhaust leak fixed.  

And waiting.

We camped at the end of the Forest Service Grave Creek Campground near Eureka, MT.  We got in around 9pm.  Macaroni and cheese, with broccoli and applesauce for dinner.  I’d napped while Jeremiah drove so I was perky for the evening.  I rehung the laundry knowing I was being silly in hoping it would dry in that cold and humidity.  

Candlelight dinner.

I replaced the batteries in my headlamp and was thrilled with the results.  I felt like maybe it was getting dim, but it was so gradual that I wondered if I was just comparing my light to Jeremiah’s super duper beacon.  It seemed like it would get dimmer the long it was turned on though.  I had pulled it out of my bag a couple times and saw that it had gotten turned on in all the rummaging.    Now it is almost too bright!  It was nice to be able to see and check out bumps in the night without having to go get my flashlight. 

Jeremiah and Joshua moved the stove into the tent with the coals remaining from cooking dinner to try out the latest theories and ideas.  They were still messing with it when I went to sleep.  It started raining shortly thereafter.  They took down the laundry for me.

3,403 miles in.