8/15/23

Greetings and Salutations, Friends!!

The knitting project bags have been moved from my chair so I can write to you from my normal place! Other unpacking sorts of things are slowly but surely getting done. The camper towels finally made it inside to the laundry basket. Clean camper clothes( remember? I did laundry in West Yellowstone) have arrived upstairs and are in a heap on the bed.( no sense in rushing things) The hubster washed off the extra 40 pounds of WY backroad mud from the Jeep.

He wanted to raise the camper so he could work on it from underneath, but that was too much even for him.

Me? I made the bed, emptied, filled and started the dishwasher, opened up the house and combed my hair. Yep. That’s enough for today.

Still taking it easy. Thank you for all of your get well wishes.

We received a hand drawn get well card from our five year old friend across the street. Beautiful flower garden with butterflies. Her parents brought food and drugs that first rotten Covid day. So nice. They are the definition of good neighbors. We so appreciate them.

My neighbor from Toledo who is now in Oregon said she’d bring soup if she were closer. We appreciate them, too, because the thought of getting soup from her warms me up as if I were holding the bowl in my hands.

You gotta love people who step up.

***nope, no transition here***

The 40 pounds of WY mud on the Jeep were from one particular site, although the roads to most of the dispersed sites were slow going and rutted mud.

Maybe I need to explain dispersed sites a bit. We like to camp in our national forests. Often the campgrounds are small, 8 or fewer sites, and the surroundings are shady and private, very often with a lake. If the campground doesn’t have water available to drink, there’s no fee for staying there.

The national forest (and also other federal/state sites) may also have dispersed sites, or individual sites sprinkled throughout the forest next to roads, although there are pack in sites, too, just not for us anymore. These sites all by themselves may have a campfire ring and a flat spot to put tent or camper. No site number on a post, no bathrooms, no water, no ranger. And no fee.

You bring everything you need: water, food, shelter, common sense.

So, on this trip we tried to stay in the first come first served dispersed sites along the way and when we arrived in WY and MT. Those spectacular sites along the rims of both ND and SD Badlands were dispersed sites. In fact, the best sites we stayed in were free.

You just have to know about them and how to access them and most importantly, have a GPS because they are not on a map. It’s good to have a hubster as well.

The forty pounds of WY mud came from the road past our dispersed site in the Grand Teton National Forest. There were foot deep five feet wide holes filled with rainwater. The large rocks that were part of the road were a sort of adventuresome cobblestone rocking us back and forth. It took my insides some time to settle after we returned.

What finally made us turn around was a lake across the road that was about 20 feet long. We had already braved a ten foot one with the water nearly rolling over the hood. We had no idea how deep this one was and thankfully the hubster didn’t want to know.

It’s not like you can walk to the corner store to get help if your car swamps.

However, the flowers were gorgeous and everywhere. I especially loved the red orange Indian Paintbrush. They grew in conversational groupings and made my heart sing.

+++++nope+++++++++

I’ll tell you what we didn’t like, though.
We paid $38 to stay at a campground that had a lake, a minerally green lake that had no beach access. We could see people on the other side in the water, but couldn’t see a way to get there. Each site was a gravel pad lined up with all nine other gravel pads with ten feet in between. Each site had one tree. It was at the end of the gravel pad and provided very little shade for the site.

No potable (drinkable) water, no showers, pit toilets, electric, and a dumpster.

Here’s what they did provide: a picnic table, a fire ring, a bear box (for storing food away from bears) and a threat. Something to the effect that this was bear country and if you didn’t keep your site clean of all garbage/ smelly stuff, and the bears came, and they become a problem, they (the management) would close the campground.

I know how stupidly some campers think. They think the rules apply to everyone but themselves. Or, they try to entice the bears for a photo op. So, I understand the statement.

What flabbergasted me, though, was that people came here thinking this was camping. This was the ugliest place, dry rocky landscape, undisguised power station on the hill just up from the unswimmable lake, no shade, nothing green really. Nothing that would provide the balm of nature.

These people need to come to Minnesota or Wisconsin to see what they’re missing

******uh uh ******

Two billboards from out west:

“This is a sign that you shouldn’t drive high.”

“Exercise makes you look better naked. So does tequila. Your choice.”

********nope********

By the time that we had camped in a few places with grizzlies and the hubster hadn’t yet seen one, he was ready to take measures. “ We have an extra pork tenderloin in the fridge. I could tie that to the back bumper and go trolling for grizzlies.”

Yep. Always an adventure with this guy. We did eventually see grizzlies at the Grizzly and Wolf Center in West Yellowstone. It is an excellent learning center; I highly recommend it.

We also saw a real cowboy and his lady, her arm in his, walking the sidewalk in West Yellowstone. I’m guessing he was a successful rancher. Both were wearing western gear, but the way I could tell that they were real was the comfortable manner in which they wore it. Not strutting, not loudly calling attention to themselves, not preening. Just elegant and classy. I’m glad I saw them.

********hahahaha**********

So, you’re probably wondering how with all this bear and mudhole danger at our campsites, how I kept a balance in my life. Well, I’ll tell you. I read at night.

And it was a whopping 1030 pages long so it carried me through the whole trip and thensome. What was it?

Ken Follett’s “World Without End.” It follows “Pillars of the Earth,” about the building of a huge cathedral in ficticious town called Kingsbridge in England in the 1100’s. In this book, they are building a bridge and making repairs to the cathedral two hundred years later in the 1300’s. The characters are engaging, some likeable, some emminently unlikeable. The plague plays a major character as do politics, both religious and regional. The medical knowledge of that time and where it came from as well as who was allowed to practice it also are intriguing. (i.e. the Italian physicians believed the plague was spread through the eyes, by looking at someone.)

I enjoyed the second book in the series every bit as much as the first. I have already begun the third, “Column of Fire,” about Kingsbridge in the 1500’s.

So, as I looked out for grizzly scat in our sites during the day, at night I was gently wiping the faces of the stricken with rosewater. It made for an interesting 2777 miles.

So, the next blogpost I will include some pictures with captions.

Enjoy this beautiful day. Watch for the little moments of joy. Celebrate yourself. And have a Terrific Tuesday!!!

Love,

Janet