Blessings

July 30, 2009
Hard to believe another month is almost over! July flew by. It is normally my least favorite month of the year because it is pure summer. This year, it hasn’t been too bad in the weather department. I have had days when I am too hot. But then I find some shade or jump in the shower in the evening when it cools off. Sleeping weather has been excellent! Of course, jumping into the shower here is not quite as nice, since there is mildew everywhere. We know they don’t clean the bathrooms each day because Bill has noticed the same beer bottle in the men’s bathroom for a few days now. He was in there at 5:30 in the morning the other day having a conversation about how yucky the bathroom is with some other guy. The guy said that he had been thinking about stopping in Bismarck, but he came to Moorhead instead. Too bad for him. Bismarck was great. This is the worst campground we’ve been in.
I am happy this morning because my friend, Karen, emailed me and said the workshop on Celtic blessings she did was a success. To read more about what she is doing, go to her website at www.faith-writer.com
Her blessings are really special and she does a great job with her workshops so that people can learn to write their own. It’s a beautiful and unique way to let people know how much you care about them.
We had a little rain yesterday afternoon and night, but the showers were scattered enough and light enough that the tent did not leak. That’s good. Chance for more showers today, but the good thing is that it will only be in the 60s. Klamath Falls is in the 100s and the pollution is building. I am grateful to not be there!


We tried to walk around the trail of the Minnesota State University Moorhead trail at the science center where they are restoring the tall grass prairie habitat. We did a bit of one trail, but then the mosquitoes came out and since Bill and Heather seem to be very flavorful to mosquitoes, we had to leave. But while we were there it was lovely--very quiet and peaceful. It was a real reminder to pay attention. You look out over the prairie and see grass which looks like a sea of green. But when you’re close, there are wildflowers all over. I enjoyed it.

Contrasts

July 28, 2009
New town, new library! We’re at the library in Fargo and camping in Moorhead. Bismarck turned out to be great. I really liked it. I guess it wasn’t what I expected, though I’m not really sure what that was. I liked the landscape, though I’m told that it is unusual to have things be so green at this time of year--they’ve gotten lots of rain.

We made contact with the clerk of the Bismarck Friends Meeting, so we were able to go there on Sunday and participate in a really thoughtful and interesting discussion regarding an excerpt from Quaker Faith and Practice.


Later we went to the home of the clerk and his wife, where we went out on their boat. He ran it down the river and out into the center and we floated back. Other than a motorboat that went by, there was no one else there. It was quite peaceful and very beautiful. Then we had tea and cookies on their deck and had a nice chat. It was fun!

The campground at Bismarck was the best we’ve stayed at. There was the usual problem of inadequate bathroom/shower facilities, but that was the only drawback. The tent sites were away from the RVs, nicely shaded, the boundaries were well marked, and they were large. We got to Moorhead and things were rather different. It’s just got a different vibe. The guy did put us in the back away from the highway, which was nice. It was pretty quiet, which was nice, too. But the bathroom is kind of yucky--the showers are full of mildew stains and the toilets full of rust stains. I suppose this is a difficult problem because you deal with the kind of water that you have, after all. But it doesn’t look nice and it’s not pleasant to try and take a shower in such conditions. But there’s hardly any water pressure and one of the showers doesn’t work anyway! So last evening, I went and got ready to step into the shower, turned the knob and a trickle of water dribbled out. Thinking I was doing something wrong, I tried every which way, to no avail. So I packed up my soap and shampoo, got dressed again, and stormed off in a bit of a snit. I was highly annoyed. Then awhile later Bill decided to do laundry. While we were waiting for that to be done I jumped into a working shower. Then we went back to the laundry room to put stuff in the dryer. It wouldn’t work. The only other dryer was being used and the same person had two more loads of laundry in washing machines waiting to be put into the dryer. So we loaded up our wet clothes, went back to the campsite, and hung them up in and on the truck. The office was closed by this time. This morning we got up early and used the working dryer and when he came in the guy gave us the money back that we had placed in the non-working dryer. I was just so annoyed last night. Coming from Bismarck where I had enjoyed myself and the campsite to the Moorhead campground and all of these niggly little issues was not fun. Things seem more reasonable this morning. I am still not a fan of the bathroom. But I should not have to do laundry again while I am here, so that will be one less thing to get annoyed about. The campsite is pretty nice--or at least I would’ve thought so before Bismarck. We are backed up against a couple of rows of big trees and beyond that is a cornfield. The wind was blowing pretty good last night, but we didn’t feel much of it because the big trees acted as windbreaks. So we have shade. Not sure that will be much of an issue this week as the temperatures are supposed to be in the high 60s tomorrow (!) and the 70s for the rest of the week. We will go on to Minneapolis/St Paul next and maybe have the opportunity to teach a workshop. We will see how that works out.
I was thinking about the fact that it was Sunday yesterday and I suddenly had the thought that I was homesick! I had to unpack that a little bit because Klamath Falls as a community never felt like home to me. I tend to create “home” wherever I am, so I had my house and that felt like home, but not the community. That felt more like a prison. Now I have my truck/tent and those feel like home. I have been astonished to realize how much of my life gets lived outside now. Anyway, I realized that for me, the church felt like home in some ways. Not that I was in line with the stated Christian theology. I feel like a Quaker, but not a Christian one. I recently read a book about the history of Quaker thought and found myself in the idea of a post-Christian, nonrealist Quaker. So I was not at the same place as many of the attendees of the church. But that really didn’t matter. We were all there, doing different things and being in different places, but we were still a community. It made me feel good to think about that.

Observations

July 24, 2009
Back at the Bismarck Public Library so Bill can catch up on photo processing. We can connect at the campground, and there are a couple of places to plug in, but he has a hard time seeing his screen outside--not a good way to process photos. So we come here. It’s a really nice library. For those people who don’t want to use their own computers or do not have one, there are many internet computers and then a few that are for database searches and word processing. It’s a very pleasant space. Spacious with good lighting. Comfortable furniture and air conditioning--this last was a big plus yesterday when it was in the mid 90s here. Today is supposed to be around 80. Not my favorite, but I can live with it, especially in July and especially when my friends from Klamath Falls are telling me that it’s been in the 90s there for several days with more to come. I miss the friends, but not the weather!
I like Bismarck. It’s very pleasant. The one fly in the ointment is that there is apparently some sort of pollen or something here that doesn’t like me. In Klamath Falls I suffered to varying degrees from some kind of allergy or sensitivity to plants, pollution or something. My ears would get clogged up and crackle, my throat would burn, I would cough and be congested. Once I left, I was relieved of these issues until we got here. And then yesterday they cut the grass at the campground. My throat burned, my ear got even worse and when I spoke, I could hear my voice echoing through my head. Then my wisdom tooth starting hurting. Don’t know what the deal is with that. I spent last night in a great deal of pain. Finally I took some Benadryl to try and relieve the pressure that was building up in my head and to hopefully get some sleep. It worked. This morning, the symptoms are back. The tooth pain is the worst, of course, and I don’t know just how that fits into everything. But surgery to remove a wisdom tooth--or I should say what’s left of it--is not an option, so I just have to hope that things ease up.
Other than that, though, we are having a good time here. The campground is nice and peaceful. The town itself is interesting. It’s like a suburb without the urb. There’s no city to speak of.

The center of everything seems to be the Capitol Grounds. That is where the North Dakota Heritage Center is--a place I highly recommend for anyone traveling through Bismarck. It’s very well done and informative and there is no admission charge. They also have an extensive group of walking trails on the grounds. We walked around this morning before walking over here. The one we were on had some sculptures, which are scattered all over, as well as different kinds of trees. There were markers set into the ground alongside the trail telling you the common name and the scientific name for the various trees. And there was a set of petrified logs that are apparently 57 million years old. Those were great--such a wonderful group of textures! Anyway, it looks like people come from town to walk on the trails. It’s a very nice place to walk. Lots of green and plenty of shade!
Last night we saw in the paper (after the fact) that the Lutheran Church was hosting a community dinner. I wish I would have known earlier so I could have gone and helped. It was good to see something going on, anyway. We are still waiting for a reply to the email we sent the clerk of the Bismarck Religious Society of Friends. When I googled them to find out where they are and what time they meet, I got two different addresses and a meeting time with one of them. Who knows whether this is accurate. We will try to get in touch by phone and if we can’t, we’ll try to go to the Unitarian Church. I am appreciating more and more the great job Jan McClellan does on the Klamath Falls Friends Church website. It contains the kind of current information that I have been looking for and not finding on this trip.
Yesterday was the day to have the gas gauge fixed. It decided to stop working as we left Butte and it was making Bill nervous. On the highway it’s not so bad because we know how far we can go on a tank of gas. But as we get into more urban/suburban driving, we’re not quite sure. It turns out that the floater had filled with gas and sunk to the bottom of the tank, so it was registering as empty. Mr. Lubester put a new one in and now we’re back at full.

Heritage and Tradition

July 22, 2009
I am sitting here by the pool. No one is in it yet. We had to meander around this morning looking for a place where the wifi connection would work and Bill could see his computer screen. The connection doesn’t work at our campsite--too many trees, maybe. But there are a couple of different places here where we can sit and plug in when we need to charge the battery, so that’s good.

Yesterday we went to the North Dakota Heritage Center. It’s a museum with a permanent exhibit that traces ND prehistory and history. And they have rotating exhibits in a different part of the building. It’s on the Capitol Grounds and is free. It’s very well done. We spent quite awhile in there. They had fossils, artifacts, replicas, old photographs and film, and even a few old crocheted things J The bathroom had collages of ads pertaining to bathroom things grouped by decade. That was fun to look at. The rotating exhibit was about the atomic bomb and the North Dakota connection. They had Minuteman missiles in Minot (about 120 miles north of here). The people were not in favor at first, but then for economic and patriotic reasons, they decided it was OK, even though they knew that they would not survive any kind of nuclear war! Remember that old song, “The Things We Do For Love?” Maybe we should update that to, “The Things We Do For Cash.” There was a place where they had sticky notes and a pencil for people to write their thoughts. Someone wrote that “the collective ability to delude ourselves is astonishing” or something like that. Amen.

I was getting a little foggy by the time we left. I practically live on coffee in the summer and the instant we have becomes a bit hard to swallow after awhile. We needed ice for the cooler and found a grocery store where they had a big cup of coffee for 59 cents (tax included). But we wanted a better system for coffee so we could make it at the campsite. We looked at a percolator for the camp stove, but it was small. We found a little individual cup filter for the princely sum of $15! Then I saw the strainer. You know, one of those things that you set on top of your cup or whatever. $1.99. Coffee filters on sale for 99 cents. So for $3 I solved my coffee problem. It’s my own version of a drip coffeemaker. That coffee tasted good this morning! Bill was laughing at me. However, I do think he also appreciates the new system because it means he does not have a crazy, cranky, coffee-deprived wife to drag around Bismarck J
We’re staying at another KOA kampground. As you may remember, they like to use the letter K a lot. At this particular kampground, the have a kookout on Friday and Saturday nights--ribs, chicken, hot dogs, and stuff like that. There are flyers everywhere, even on the door of the bathroom stalls. I don’t know about this. Everytime I see it, I think kook-out. Doesn’t seem very appealing somehow.

The people that own this campground have some horses in a field next to it. It was very peaceful watching them yesterday. There’s a little dog who rides around on the golf cart with the guy and he was herding the horses. Kind of amazing that such a little dog can get the horses to move so fast in exactly the direction he wants them to go! One of the horses had a great deal to say yesterday. The others were pretty quiet. I think there are 5 of them.
Bill was commenting yesterday that there doesn’t seem to be an actual city center here. There may be one and we just haven’t found it yet. But there does seem to be a bit of sprawl. Of course, Bismarck and Mandan are two different cities that seem to kind of blend in with one another. It is interesting to see how Bismarck plays on the Native American heritage and uses it as a tourist attraction. And it is a part of the state’s history. In Hardin, there was none of that. This fits right in with the tendency to glorify native cultures of the past and to ignore what is happening today. There is a romantic idea about “Indians” that involves not looking at individual cultures, but sort of collapsing everything into a Dances with Wolves kind of picture. It’s all about the Sioux 150 years ago. Native cultures as they are today are ignored or dismissed. This is a part of the identity problem I talked about a couple of days ago. It seems that for too many people--including some Native people themselves--the only way to be a true Native American is to do things in the “traditional” way. But “traditional” is a useless term. What does it mean? It means people pick some arbitrary time period and freeze it to make the argument that THIS is the true cultural picture. Native people don’t go to Harvard, they dress in animal skins and commune with nature or something. It’s pretty offensive. I mean, who among us lives the way our ancestors did 150 years ago? Why should any group of people be expected to do that? So in this part of North Dakota, they can play the Indian card to help with the tourism. Because there is no reservation or anything here which would bring people into contact with the current situation, it is easier to play on that glorified past. This is a big contrast with Hardin, where the current terrible situation is on display as you walk downtown.

Change in Time and Plans

July 21, 2009
Never mind Glendive! We got there and went to the campground. There were RVs there, but the office was locked. We waited around for a few minutes and no one came, so we left. Next biggish town on the map was Dickinson, ND, so we headed there. But Bill said he felt pretty good driving, and Bismarck was only 100miles down the road, so we headed there. Now instead of staying in a place for a few days, taking everything down, packing the truck, and driving elsewhere for a couple more days, we will stay here for a week. We are both kind of pleased about that. And this KOA is the nicest one we’ve stayed at.

After Spokane, they got steadily better. Hardin was the best at the time J But this one is better than that. The Rvs are in a separate area from the tents. The sites are big and clearly marked. There are trees everywhere. It is green and quiet. We woke up to the sound of the birds this morning, not a train or road noise. And, we are adjacent to a covered picnic area, which means that if it does rain, we can go sit there, instead of all jamming into the truck!!
I like the scenery in North Dakota better than Montana, too. Once we crossed the border, the landscape changed and there were all these little hills sticking up. There was very clear stratigraphy, visible even from the highway. I am sure that geologists have a name for these things, but I don’t know what it is. As you move east, these pretty much disappear and things get flatter, as I thought they might. Having lived in Illinois for several years as a kid, I remember the flat Midwestern landscape.
The weather is supposed to be pretty nice here for the next several days--mid-70s today--in July!!! Then low 80s. Friday will be the most unpleasant at 86ish. But the nights cool off nicely. The sky was full of puffy white clouds when we arrived.
We were tired last night so we ended up in the tent early. I fell asleep and Bill processed photos--he’s falling behind J We have given back two more of the hours we gained when we moved from NH to Portland in 1987, so we’re now on central time. Today we plan to go into town. Bill needs to talk to someone about getting the gas gauge fixed on the truck.

Heartbreaking Hardin

July 20, 2009
We’re on our way from Hardin, Mt to Glendive, MT. We spent the weekend in Hardin. It was depressing. It was a study in contrasts. Downtown was in pretty sad shape, with lots of empty storefronts and a few businesses valiantly trying to make it. There were Native men wandering around or lolling around in doorways, clearly intoxicated. It was sad and reminded me a lot of Kotzebue, Alaska. This is unfortunately not uncommon in areas around reservations. Alcohol and drug abuse is far too common. It affects all ages and women and men, of course, just as it does with any other group of people. But there is, in Alaska at least, a problem among Native men. Some have written about this as a problem of extended adolescence. This makes sense if you consider the circumstances. There is much talk about Native people having to walk in two worlds. To some degree we all have to do that. But the situation is a little different when you are coming from a village and have been brought up to expect certain things. You are probably not going to live a total subsistence lifestyle, but sometimes hunting season means you will miss some school. School is, in any case, not valued by some people. And if you go too far, you may get some negative feedback from others in your community. I remember talking to a classmate in my Inupiaq Eskimo language class at UAF. She was talking about the new head of Alaska Native Studies in a very negative way. I was confused and asked her why she was so upset. It seemed to me better to have a native woman at the helm instead of the white guy that was there before. She looked at me and sneered, “She’s not Native, she went to Harvard.” Ok, then. It’s no wonder people suffer from identity crises when there seems to be no place for them. You need cash now, no matter where you live, so subsistence can be a part of your life, but you’ll probably have to do something else, too. And then if you try to further your education, you get dissed by people in your community. I will point out that the young woman who was so dismissive of this professor was at college herself. But the University of Alaska Fairbanks is not Harvard. I would have liked to have known exactly where the line was that made you no longer a real Native person. Anyway, I don’t know much about the specific difficulties faced by people in the Crow Agency, which is just outside of Hardin, but I am sure there are many.

We went to the grocery store and I was appalled. You read about this stuff, but I think that, with the exception of Kotzebue, where very high prices are to be expected, I have never seen this kind of thing in person. A container of oatmeal that I am used to paying around $2 for was over $4 and a box of the packets was over $5!! Cheese puffs and pork rinds were, however, available for less than $2. Junk food was abundant and cheap. Real food was expensive. For people living in a very depressed community such as this, such a situation will only make matters worse.
As we drove downtown the first evening we were there, we saw these banners hanging on lampposts.


One simply said, “Welcome.” One said, “Catch the Spirit.” The last one said, “Welcome to Hardin. It’s a great place to be.” It seemed pretty pathetic, really. It did not seem at all like a great place to be. In the weekly paper there were 3 job listings--all with the county. I am not sure where people would work. There’s the grocery store and a little cluster of fast food outlets--complete with casinos, which seem to be everywhere in Montana--gas stations and motels. There are a few businesses downtown. Mostly there are empty buildings. There was a coal fired electric plant across the street from the campground. Some people must be doing somewhat well, because there was a mix of run-down kinds of homes alongside more kept-up places.

And of course, there is the brand new shiny prison built just off the main road in town. The barbed wire sparkles in the sunlight. It sits empty. This is why they want to bring in the prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. They have the beds, they say, and they want the jobs. But I am not sure who would get those jobs, even if the prisoners did go there. Probably not the people of Hardin.
The last day we were in Butte, we were talking to one of the people who works at the campground. He and his wife travel each summer to a different KOA to work. We asked him what he thought of Butte. He said he liked it, but there were problems. Young people were leaving and not coming back. His opinion was that Butte is dying. I thought it was a good point. It applies to Hardin even more. It was sad to see.

Teeth and Community

July 16, 2009
Spent most of the morning at the dentist’s office waiting for Bill. The other day he had a crown fall out of his head. He saved it and looked up how to fix it. Couldn’t find the cement. Just as well. He started having pain--pretty severe pain--shortly thereafter. Finally he called around to see if there was someone who could put the crown back in. He found a person who could fit him in this morning--Robert Wilcox. So we arrived, he filled out the paperwork and we waited. After what seemed like a very long time, I figured that there was something happening, but probably not a simple recemeting job. Sure enough, he came out and said that the dentist told him that he was really uncomfortable putting the crown back in because the problem was with an adjacent tooth. There was a small hole there that was somehow managing to drain well enough to avoid infection, though Bill has had some pain and discomfort in that area in the past. Anyway, he was concerned that if he put the crown back on, it would block the hole and an abscess would be the result. Bill explained to him that he could not afford to have any extensive dental work done right now, so Dr. Wilcox came up with an alternate plan that was actually somewhat cheaper than recementing the crown. I guess it is pretty much the beginning of a root canal that will have to be completed at a later date. Bill is just pretty happy to have the pain gone. And Dr. Wilcox gave him a bunch of stuff and a note to give to the next dentist. And a prescription for an antibiotic, just in case he needs it. He did say to keep the crown because it’s a nice one (!) that is worth between $750 and $1000. Once this other tooth is fixed, it can be put back again.
As I was waiting there for him, I was amazed at how happy everyone seemed. It is a dentist’s office after all. I have not been in many of those, but I do not believe I have ever seen such a group of cheerful people in such a setting before! It was clear that these people cared about one another. The receptionists were asking very specific questions about people’s families, trips, the hay crop, and other things. It was plain that they keep up with one another’s lives. It was pretty nice to watch! One of the big topics of conversation this morning was that Town Talk is closed this week because the owners have gone fishin’. The people in the office were, however, willing to put up with Safeway doughnuts so that they could have a great time fishing. As one woman said, “I’m glad they went fishing. They work really hard.” Everyone agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment. A patient actually brought the doughnuts as a gift. I guess that I never considered a dentist’s office to be a place where one would witness community, but I saw it there today.
Tomorrow morning we leave for Hardin, MT. I have no idea what to expect, so I have decided to expect nothing and see what I get! Might as well embrace surprise!

A Hole in The Ground

July 15, 2009
Butte, Montana. I have been surprised. It is somehow not what I expected. I have only been in Montana once before and that was only for an hour or so in Missoula. I thought it would be spectacularly beautiful. Maybe I have been spoiled by spending some time in Norway--the most physically beautiful landscape I have ever personally seen. Maybe it was those 9 years in Alaska. Whatever it is, I have been singularly unimpressed so far. The areas we drove through yesterday were nice enough, but somehow just not what I was expecting. Granted, that is a very narrow sample. Maybe the really spectacular stuff lies elsewhere in the state. I can tell you this--it is not in Butte, whose big selling point appears to be a giant hole in the center of town that used to be a mine, just like everything else here, I guess. Town itself is pretty old and, as Bill put it, dingy. He is having a great time photographing it all--it’s right up his alley! I find myself uncomfortable in a place like this, though. Where Coeur d’Alene had a really great vibe going and downtown was an inviting place to be, this place just looks like it’s been kind pf patched and papered over. And there is something disheartening about the idea that if you can dig a huge hole and suck something out of the earth, exploiting people along the way, that this is a history to be proud of. I know that whatever kinds of things they’re digging up I probably use, so I don’t necessarily have clean hands either. But it is somewhat disconcerting to have this kind of grimy exploitative, earth shattering industry be celebrated. On the other hand, I suppose if you want a few tourist dollars, then you will work with what you have. And this, apparently is pretty much what they have. We went into the visitor’s center, which is right next door to the campground, and it has a few old photos, an extensive display of fishing flies, and a bunch of information about other places! Bizarre!
So I can stand here at my campsite and look at the giant hole known as Berkeley Pit and think about that old Midnight Oil song which contains the line, “nothing’s as precious as a hole in the ground.”

Let It Rain

Well, the rain didn’t stop until the middle of Monday night. It came down steadily and fairly hard for over 24 hours. The tent continued to leak. We got what we could into the truck and hung out there after we got back from the library. I ventured outside in the rain to make myself some lunch. We went back into town for awhile. Then we all tried to get a few winks of sleep in the truck. This was not a very successful endeavor!


None of us could really move, so we had to choose a position and plan to pretty much stay in it--sitting up, legs bent and cramped, and no way to get comfortable. Heather decided to take a shower at midnight and when she wasn’t back after a fair amount of time, we stiffly marched over to the bathroom building to make sure all was well. It was--she said that the hot water felt good so she stayed there a long time. Then she stood outside the truck until 2 a.m. since the rain had pretty much stopped by then. My legs still hurt.
Morning came and we got stuff tossed into the truck. The sun was trying to burn off the fog, so we took the top off the tent and laid it in a sunny spot. We moved the tent there, too, to help it dry a bit, but first we had to turn it upside down to dump out the water! Finally we just folded it up and put it in a trash bag. Then off we went.
We had decided to go to Butte, Montana. We were planning to stop in Missoula for a few days first, but we never heard back from the person we contacted from the Directory for Traveling Friends so we figured we’d skip it. We looked up the mileage from Coeur d’Alene to Butte and it said 232 miles. Turns out it was really more like 275. That was longer than we’d wanted to drive in one day--especially this day when we were all operating on a couple of hours of sleep. Bill had it the worst, of course, since he had to drive! We stopped several times along the way.
When we crossed the border into Montana, it felt like we were making progress somehow, but we were not far into big sky country than that big sky was full of big grey clouds. No rain at first, though, so we held out hope. We really wanted to be able to put up our wet tent and have it dry. We figured we could put the sleeping bags in the dryer. A couple of hours in, there was a mist on the windshield. Half an hour before Butte there was splattering on the windshield and the wipers came on. Fifteen minutes out of Butte we stopped at a rest area again because Bill was practically hallucinating. We sat there, almost in tears, watching the rain fall hard. We all agreed that we could not sleep in the truck again. We were all still in pain and exhausted from the night before. I declared my intention to sleep in a wet and dripping tent if necessary. Bill started the truck and we drove the last few miles.
We found the campground and the rain stopped, though the big grey clouyds still filled the big sky. We got our tent site. We pulled out the tent and the sleeping bags and then--believe it or not--the clouds seemed to disappear and the sun came out. The sleeping bags dried. The tent was ready to go in half an hour. We were grateful. We all began to harbor fantasies of an early night and a full night of sleep!

Something About Sunday

July 13, 2009
What is it about Sunday? Last Sunday in Spokane we were awakened in the middle of the night by a thunderstorm and then kept awake by the heavy rain. This Sunday in Coeur d’Alene, same thing! It was pretty muggy and warm yesterday afternoon and the clouds were hanging around all day. But we saw no rain. The wind kicked up last evening--we watched it blow the tent sideways so that half of it was practically on the ground. It wasn’t until about 11 that the thunder and lightning began along with the rain. It was quite something from our vantage point inside the tent. The lightning was so bright and the thunder was cracking like the sound of tree limbs breaking. And it seemed like long thunder. The wind kept blowing and the rain started. It was over in about 45 minutes and we took the opportunity to run to the bathroom building. We dozed and then woke up again to more thunder, lightning, wind, and rain. Again it was pretty intense. I went back to sleep because it looked like the tent was holding up well. Then, a few hours later, I felt the icy plop of a raindrop on my face. It was raining again--no thunder or lightning, just steady, pretty heavy rain. And more rain. And then as a bonus, some more rain after that. The plops came faster. I put my pillows under the sleeping bag so they would stay dry. More plopping. Finally it was going on and on and there was more and more plopping, so we struggled into our shoes and got stuff transferred from the dripping tent to the back to the truck. We got everything in there except for the sleeping bags, which were already too wet to do anything with. There are a few puddles there in the tent. Then we piled into the truck ourselves. Eventually the rain stopped, I went and took a shower, and I found my clogs--I’d been walking around in my sandals without socks, since everything was going to get wet anyway. My toes were cold! That hot shower, a fresh pair of socks and some closed-toe shoes felt really good!
We read a little until we could leave for the library again. I love libraries anyway and this is a nice one. Plus, it’s more comfortable than all 3 of us being jammed into the truck! And it is looking like we may have to try and get some sleep in the truck tonight. The sky is one big grey abstract. Everything is misty. The rain picked up again as we were headed over here and it was coming down pretty good. No sign of sun. It really is quite beautiful with all of the trees and the lake and everything. But it’s looking like it might be too wet for us to sleep in the tent tonight, though if the rain stops for an extended period of time we may have a shot. Tomorrow we head for Butte. We’d thought about stopping in Missoula and contacted someone through the Directory for Traveling Friends, but never got a reply. Not getting a reply is becoming a common theme for us on this trip. Anyway, we decided to skip Missoula and go straight to Butte. I probably should look up the weather forecast for that area!
Just before we left the campground to come into town, we were eating our breakfast of Clif bars when Bill said, “Uh-oh, I just lost a tooth.” One of his caps fell off. He had a crummy dentist as a kid and he and his sisters have had teeth problems all their lives. So now there’s this. We are hoping that there is no pain to come. Right now, he is writing down the directions for how to fix this kind of problem yourself. There’s nothing wrong with the cap itself, just the cement wore away, so apparently you can get cement and engage in a little DIY dentistry! Who knew?

Where Are Your Manners?

July 11, 2009
Here I am at the Coeur d’Alene library. It is a lovely building--very airy and spacious. Lots of light. It’s air conditioned J The people seem very helpful. There is art everywhere. And as soon as you come in, there is a used bookstore that benefits the Friends of the Library. I’m sitting by a window and looking out at more public art and a bunch of green space. It’s too much grass, I will grant you that, but there are also trees with picnic tables underneath them in the shade. And best of all, there are people wandering around with armloads of books! This can only be a good thing! I continue to be amazed at how much people have invested in their community. I think that there are about the same number of people living here as in Klamath Falls, but the contrast is striking. I will admit that this place has many advantages--the scenery is beautiful--there is just a natural beauty here that Klamath Falls simply does not possess. And this is a kind of a destination to a larger degree than I imagine Klamath Falls is. Still, people are clearly making an effort to move forward and not just look backwards. Downtown is thriving, not dying. People seem involved.

There is a Farmer’s Market that sets up twice a week and another similar thing that sets up on yet another day. We went to the market this morning and many of the organic produce booths were just about sold out. There is a second Friday art walk. The whole vibe is different and I find it completely refreshing! And the people seem so friendly. Everywhere we go people are just extremely friendly. Lots of smiling faces and happy greetings.
The campground got busy last night as you would expect. Unfortunately one of the new arrivals is a little boy who seems to not understand the idea of manners or polite behavior. Last night he began to hang out a couple of feet from our tent. The creek runs by there. There are “public spaces” where he could have gone to look at the creek, but he had to do it there even though you’re not really supposed to be getting in other people’s space. Bill and I were in our tent and had to finally zip up the screen covering. Then he proceeded to run around with this flashing light thing while yelling. He continued this well after quiet time had begun. It was highly annoying to have this light flashing on the tent walls. Do I sound like an old fuddy-duddy yet? This morning was the clincher, though. He ran around our tent and stood a couple of feet away next to the tall grass on the creek bank. He proceeded to rummage around in his pants and urinate in the grass a few feet from our tent! I could not believe this and I wish now I has said something. Where are this boy’s adults? Has no one ever taught him that he is not the center of the universe and that a bit of consideration fro other people is a good thing?
Of course, I do not enjoy being around children, so I am not inclined to be amused by this kind of thing. And I have noticed that things seem to be way out of control in many cases. This does not hold true for everyone, of course, but I can remember being in the library and having parents tell their kids to place the books they wanted to check out on the counter. When they did this, they were praised as though they had just composed a masterpiece of music or something. “GOOD JOB!” their parents would exclaim. I used to want to ask whether this was really the response that was necessary. If you shout to the heavens every time your kid does the most mundane and basic things, they will get the idea that they must always get this kind of praise. And in he real world, as we all know, it is not forthcoming. That is not to say we shouldn’t tell people when they are doing something we appreciate or when we are impressed by something they have done or whatever. I try to do that on a regular basis. But I never once told an adult library patron, “GOOD JOB” when they handed me their library card! And I grew up on the other side of things where everything I did would be met with criticism. I am not advocating that, either. It simply seems to me that there must be some happy medium. And parents should always remember that their little darlings are not so darling to everyone. The older I get, the more I value consideration of other people and I thing that being polite is a good thing. And being polite does not include wandering into someone’s tent site and urinating!
I must say that being in these campgrounds is an amazing way to observe people and their behavior. I am now pondering all sorts of questions about why people do what they do!

Camping, Not Kamping

July 9, 2009
Well, we have moved to a campground a few miles east of Coeur d’Alene called Wolf Lodge RV Campground. It seems like it will be a nice spot. We have trees around us and I am sitting in the shade as I type! This will be good as it is supposed to be 90ish on Saturday. I will be grateful for the shade then.

Right now I am actually slightly chilly--something I am not at all used to in July!! We got here and got out of the truck to decide where to put the tent when this guy rode up on his golf cart to greet us and ask us whether we needed anything. He said he wanted to make sure we had the tent site we wanted and that if there was anything at all we needed to let them know at the office. What a totally different experience than the last place! We are in a spot that is in a little bowl shaped area and we set up the tent next to the creek. I think we won’t be able to hear the water go by because the freeway is right there, but maybe there won’t be so much traffic at night. In any case, there is no train! And the view we have is beautiful. We have some tall grass and small trees that block our view of the freeway and across the street there is a big forested hill. It all seems so green! There’s something else I’m not really used to seeing in July--green.
We both decided we didn’t feel like going out again yesterday, so we will go to the Farmers’ Market on Saturday. It’s not downtown, but I think it was the original one in the area. It was nice to just get some work done, have some supper and relax. We are rested and recharged now and figure the couple of nights in the motel did us all some good. I will say, though, that I was finding it to be a little bit stuffy indoors and was kind of looking forward to getting back outside.
We’ve been noticing how much people seem to care about this community. It’s pretty evident in how they have clearly poured resources into downtown. And in yesterday’s paper there was a little blurb about how they are soliciting ideas for projects that will benefit low income people and neighborhoods. I guess they’re giving grants to individuals or groups who can present a good plan. It seems like a community that really works well, though I say that from my perspective as an outsider. It may be different if you live here. And in today’s paper there was an article about this guy who is running for mayor and has declared that the current constitution of the United States does not apply to him. He is a believer in the 1787 and 1791 versions. I do not know whether this means he would take away women’s right to vote or reinstate slavery--the article really didn‘t say. So there’s an element of the absurd here as well. I guess it’s not too alarming that someone like this would run for mayor--people have strange ideas everywhere. What would be alarming is if the guy actually won the election. My guess is that he won’t. There just seems like too much good stuff is happening here for a majority of the citizens of this town to vote for someone like that. But what do I know? I’m just passing through!

It's a Whole Other World!

July 8, 2009
I am awake!!! YIPPEE!! We caved in to exhaustion and got ourselves a motel room for a couple of nights. The other afternoon in the library I was looking up different places to stay in Coeur d’Alene. I had the vague thought that it would be awfully nice to be able to sleep in a quiet and comfortable place and to just be able to regroup a little bit after several almost sleepless nights and time spent chasing shade. I was rather shocked at how expensive motel rooms have gotten to be. But I found one that was only a couple of dollars more than the cheapest room I could come up with and it offered far more--free wifi, free breakfast, a microwave, a fridge, and a coffeemaker. Most of all, it has given us a chance to rest and catch up. Bill spent several hours last night processing photos. I got caught up on all of my notes, and we all slept through the night. There were thunderstorms and rain showers in the forecast for last night and tonight. It was so quiet in here that I have no idea whether they actually happened. But I do know that I am full of gratitude for a good night of uninterrupted sleep. I rather frightened myself yesterday when I saw the bags and circles under my eyes! This morning we went out to a campground that I had found in my search Monday. It’s quite a bit cheaper than the KOA in Spokane was and it seems to offer the same amenities and to be much nicer. The woman in the office heard our story and said that we were welcome to look around and even choose our campsite if we would like! She gave us a map and told us which ones were available. We picked a nice spot that is between a creek and a tree (a tree--hurray!) and is located in this little bowl-shaped area a little bit farther back than the other sites. Since it’s supposed to get hot again this weekend, I am sure I will appreciate that beautiful tree! We are going there tomorrow and will stay until next Tuesday morning.
I must say that I have had the thought cross my mind that maybe I’ll just stop right here and settle in Coeur d’Alene! I have never been here before, but it is a beautiful place. I am amazed at the huge difference between Spokane and here. Part of it is simply that I found the landscape in Spokane to be rather yucky. I felt the city exuded an air of decay. It was not pleasant at all. It was not a place that I would want to spend any time in, but the kind of place that had me looking around and wondering how quickly I could leave. Not good. This is completely different. Since we had to leave the kampground by 11 yesterday morning , we couldn’t check in at the motel until 3, and it took us ½ an hour to get here, we had time to spend.

We found ourselves downtown at this incredible park in the heart of the city on the edge of the lake. There’s even a little beach! There are many different areas for kids to play in--the beach, a big playground with castle-like structures, basketball court, and lots of room to run around. I was impressed. We parked and started walking around.

We sat by the beach and watched the float planes take off and the people playing. We went further into the park--trees everywhere--big, big trees--and ate our lunches. Then we walked around for a couple of hours.


We walked on the world’s largest floating boardwalk in search of the next in the series of Mudgy and Millie statues. There are 5 of them, based on a story in a children’s book. Mudgy is a moose and Millie is a mouse.


We found the library. I went into the Visitor’s Center and asked a couple of questions about the effects of the economy on tourism. The ladies in there were incredibly friendly and helpful. They went out of their way to help me and gave me some really useful information. The area around our motel seems like the usual chain store strip kind of thing, but downtown really seems vibrant and alive. It is clear that they have invested significant resources into the area and it shows. We went back this morning to walk around and felt the same vibe. Bill and I both agreed that this seemed like the best place we’d been since we left Alaska. We’re going back out later because the Farmer’s Market is happening between 4 and 7.
So after several strange days in eastern Washington, we find ourselves in what seems like a completely different world. Relaxed, functional, getting things done, rested, and enjoying the surrounding area. It’s a welcome change!

Sleep? What's That?

July 6, 2009
Sleep. I have almost forgotten what that is like. This morning we were treated to the train again at a little before 5 a.m. It didn’t really matter, though, because we were already awake and had been for a couple of hours. We had had some thunderstorms last night, but they were dry. Not so at 3 in the morning! The wind was whipping, the rain was falling, the lightening was flashing and the thunder was booming. We were checking for leaks. We didn’t have any leaks as in one area with rain coming in, producing puddles, but the rain did get through the tent fabric in places and we lay there with it falling on our faces every once in awhile. Then it stopped. Then it started again. Then we got into the truck. We went out into the rain after a bit to make ourselves some breakfast--yogurt with raisins and walnuts. Then when the kampground store opened, we went there and got coffee. The way I see it, since I am being awakened every night by a train just beyond the fence, the least they can do is provide me with free coffee so I can make an attempt to function! An IV drip would probably be more effective, but I will take what I can get!
After coffee we headed out. We had to go in search of a place to obtain a wifi connection and an electrical outlet. It has been a challenge over the past three days to get our computers in sync with both a charged battery and an internet connection. The batteries die down quickly, especially when Bill is processing photos. And the wifi connection at the kampground is erratic. We have used the power inverter when we are driving, but if we’re not going longish distances, they don’t charge fast enough. Someone needs to invent a fast-charging computer battery that takes a few minutes to charge and then lasts a long time. They’d make a fortune!

But before we could find a place to work on our computers, we had to get the truck mirrors fixed. They’d seemed fine before we left Klamath Falls. But on our way up to The Dalles, there was some wind and when a truck went by going the opposite way, Bill’s mirror blew down and stayed at such an angle that he could not see out of it without many interesting contortions. He drove much of the rest of the way with his arm out the window holding the mirror in place. This left only one hand free for driving. Several days later, after we’d left Vancouver, the same thing happened to the passenger side mirror and then it was my turn to get a sunburned arm from holding a mirror in place. He tried to figure out how he could fix it, but couldn’t. As he is fond of saying, “I am not a mechanic.” He drove like this for some days but on the way here he decided that he would have to try and get it fixed. It didn’t seem like a safe situation. So he stopped at a Schucks that we happened to see. We knew we couldn’t get it fixed over the weekend, but Norris (the guy at the counter)gave him a name and this morning we went in search of the place, which happened to be right around the corner. It’s called Alton’s Tire Rama (22117 E. Country Vista Dr, Liberty Lake, WA/ www.tirerama.com/509-922-7771).

The guy there--Neil, the new manager--said he should go to Schucks, get the new mirrors and bring them back for installation. We did this and it was done in less than 25 minutes! And they charged us for the actual time it took, not for the whole hour! We were very pleased with the service and with the fact that now Bill has two hands free for driving!
So now we are in the Liberty Lake Library in the quiet reading room, both plugged in and working on stuff and both of us sort of napping as we go. We’re leaving here tomorrow and I am a bit apprehensive about what tonight will be like. It has stopped raining and the sun came out (there’s a first for me--hoping the rain will stop and the sun will come out), but there are more clouds everywhere. So we don’t know how wet we’ll be tonight. Or what time the train will come screaming through. Or how much actual sleep will be possible. I hope the next campground is much more quiet!

Spokane

July 5, 2009, part 2
This morning we were up early, thanks to our train horn alarm clock. We packed a lunch and headed out for the ½ hour drive into Spokane to the Spokane Friends church. They have an unprogrammed worship time at 8:45, an adult education class at 9:30, and programmed worship at 10:45. We participated in all of it and it was quite an interesting experience. I found the discussion in the class to be very thoughtful with people thinking about things in really insightful ways. I enjoyed it very much. It ranged from how things worked in various places historically, the way culture works, mental illness, and much more. To begin with, there was an article in a local newspaper insert or something that people read and discussed. I guess they do this each week. Someone brings in an article and they discuss it.
The programmed meeting was quite nice and different from what we’re used to. It was very meaningful, though. The people were very friendly and welcoming. I got the feeling that the people who attend came from a mix of backgrounds and political inclinations. Seems to me that this is a sign of a good, strong community. It was clear that whatever the differences, these people have genuine care and concern for one another. This is very hopeful.

After we left the church, we went looking for a place to eat lunch. We drove through parts of town that looked very run down and very rough. They were not places I would want to be walking around in. Buildings were vacant and boarded up. Some of them were in very bad shape. Nothing was going on in these areas.

Then we turned a few corners and we were at Riverfront Park. Found a place to park and walked there. We sat down on this sculpture to eat our picnic lunch, since it was an available shady spot. The sculpture consisted of flat-topped rocks of various heights arranged in a semi-circle.

In the center was a goat statue. We were munching on our cheese and crackers when a family of bicyclists rode up. Dad was on his bike pulling the baby trailer--complete with baby--behind. Mom and the other two kids each had their own bikes. The kids got off their bikes at went up to the goat. Mom asked us if it wasn’t working today. Bill said, “I don’t know. We’re not from around here. What’s it supposed to do?” Turns out that if it had been working properly, the kids would’ve been able to push a button and the goat would have consumed their garbage! After that, several other people appeared to feed the goat and we had to be the bearers of the bad news that the goat was not working today. Unfortunately, some people had left their garbage there anyway, so whenever he is back to normal, he will have plenty to do! I thought it was kind of funny that we had unwittingly sat down in front of one of the parks more popular attractions--at least for the kids!
We got back to the Kampsite and discovered that most people had left. The place was packed when we left and full of lots of empty space when we returned. We plan to claim some shade in one of those empty sites--at least until someone comes to take it for themselves!

Kamping, Not Camping

July 5, 2009
So we got to Spokane Friday. We were in for a surprise. We soon realized that we had been under a misperception of what camping is. Or, perhaps to be more precise, we discovered that we really didn’t have a full grasp of kamping. We’re at a KOA campground and their slogan--which seems to be plastered all over everything--is “remember, it’s not camping, it’s kamping.” We found the place and Bill went in to register. He came out with our campsite number and we went there. It was grass--a welcome change from the dirt and rocks that we had at the last place. But there was no shade at all. This was the case for many sites--a few had a scraggly tree that would provide some shade at some times of the day. We had a bush growing up against the fence. There was enough shade to place the cooler there. OK, then, it is what it is. We now understand that while camping, one may expect some level of nature actually in the campsite itself, when kamping, trees are apparently some kind of bonus that those places lucky enough to be tree-rich use as a way to advertise. The reason we decided to stay in this particular place was that most places do not take reservations for tent sites and we were concerned about being able to find a spot over a holiday weekend. This place solved that problem. It would be hot and we would have preferred shade, but we would deal with it. After putting up the tents and getting what we’d need out of the truck, we went to use the restroom. I walked into a stall and found it filthy and apparently clogged. It remained this way for a couple of days. Bill told me that the one available stall in one of the men’s rooms was the same way. Fortunately, there was another restroom, but there were many tent campers this weekend, many of them male, so I am not sure the facilities were adequate. Then we tried to find the place on our map (which we got when we signed in) where we could plug in our computers and connect to the internet. We’d used the wifi connection earlier, but we needed the electrical outlet as well at this point. We didn’t see it so we asked the young women behind the counter in the store where we could plug in our computers to recharge our batteries. They seemed puzzled. “There are plugs in the store,” one of them said. I just sort of looked at them. I mentioned that it said there was a place to plug in shown on the map. She brightened. “Oh, you want to PLUG IN,” she exclaimed, removing a yellow modem connector cord from someplace underneath the counter. I declined her offer, repeating that I needed to charge my battery. They suggested the Starbucks a few miles away. I left it alone for the night and the next day charged my battery in the car as we were driving into Spokane.

The real fun, though, occurred when we were sleeping. Suddenly we were jolted into wakefulness by a train horn screaming and the earth shaking underneath us--the train was a few feet away rumbling down the tracks. It was 4 a.m. Festive. We hit the jackpot this morning as the scene repeated itself at 3, 5, and 7 a.m. Can’t wait to see how many we get to experience tonight! Needless to say, this is not conducive to a good night’s sleep.
I will say that there is coffee in the morning and the people seem friendly enough. The whole thing is just kind of strange. I used to camp with an aunt and cousin as a kid in their Skamper (there’s that “k” again) and I just don’t remember it being like some sort of kamping suburbia. There were trees. There was green space. And there just seemed to be space in general. There is a lot to observe in these places and some ideas are bubbling around in my head about what it all means. It is rather odd to be in the tent listening to people’s air conditioning, TVs, and vacuum cleaners running.

One guy has his TV outside in his “yard.” I was puzzling about why he might do this and it occurred to me that maybe he couldn’t fit it into its appointed spot inside the RV. It’s kind of big. Yesterday the Direct TV guy was there hooking him up. Now every time we go by his spot, he has the TV on. Other people avoid the whole TV installation problem by carrying around their satellite dish. I am not sure why they do these things. If you consider what they pay for the house-on-wheels to begin with, then add in gas, insurance, and upkeep, it’s already pretty expensive. Then add the site fees, TV fees (and in the case of the guy above, installation of Direct TV) and whatever else they have to pay for and I am wondering why they don’t just go to a motel or something. It’s not like they’re out there enjoying nature or anything. If anyone has any experience with this kind of thing and can offer any insight, I’d really be very interested in what you have to say!
It’s been in the 90s since we got here, but comfortable at night. Last I heard it was supposed to cool off some. I hope it does. And we will see what the train schedule is for early tomorrow morning!

Downtown

July 2, 2009
So here we are in Ellensburg. Looks like downtown is not a very happening place. I went into a yarn/tea shop and it was very quiet. Partly that’s because summer and 90 degree heat is not the time to work with wonderful mohair and wool yarns. And the shop didn’t really have any thread or anything that would be the kind of thing that might be more likely to sell in the summer. The workers were eating lunch and didn’t seem very interested in starting a conversation, so I chatted a bit and let it go.

We stopped into the museum so Bill could ask where he might buy a postcard and the woman looked at him like he was from Mars. “You mean a like, picture postcard?” she asked with wonder in her voice. When he said yes, that’s what he meant, she was clearly very puzzled, but she directed him to the Chamber of Commerce. There were no visitors to the free museum, either. Possibly the fact that it is Thursday has something to do with that. There does seem to be a big issue about downtown and how the town will develop. This seems quite like Klamath Falls and other areas that are trying to save their downtown areas while the box stores keep on coming in. And I am sorry to say that we contributed to the problem. We needed some groceries and there was Fred Meyer, big as life and easily accessible. We could have--and maybe should have--tried to find a locally owned store that we could shop at. But we did not. We were all hot, the truck is full of stuff, and we didn’t want to drive around looking for someplace that may or may not exist. In any case, they have a Farmer’s Market on Saturdays downtown, so that probably helps get people down here. One thing that I am finding very interesting is how food keeps coming up as an issue. We don’t often think of all the roles it plays, but here and elsewhere farmer’s markets are being used as a tool to help revitalize the downtown area.

In The Dalles, our hosts told us about how they are using their own yard and the vacant lot next door to grow food themselves and also to let other people come in and plant vegetables for themselves. Then they share it with other people in the neighborhood. And sometimes people bring their kids along to help plant. Then there is the CSA (community supported agriculture) movement. Ellen and Brigg have joined such a thing in their area. Brigg does grow some food in the yard and they have cherries and raspberries, which Ellen processes. Because their growing season is so long, she can grow cool weather crops in the spring and fall and use those while not doing any gardening in the summer when it is hot and she has other things she wants to do. The CSA arrangement works well for everyone. She gets fresh, locally grown veggies and gets to sample things she never even heard of while not having to sacrifice her summer to food processing and gardening when it’s too hot for her. This is good for Ellen and Brigg because they are getting a variety of high quality, organic, locally grown produce. It’s good for the environment for the same reasons. It’s good for the young woman farmer who gets to have a sustainable farming operation. And it’s good for the local economy because the dollars are staying within the community. I think we may see many more kinds of small-scale, local solutions to problems as we move forward and food may well be at the center of many of them.

The campground is kind of interesting. I am not sure which came first--the tent sites or the overpass, but it is not exactly a relaxing experience to hear the cars whizzing just over your head at night. When we got here yesterday, Bill went in to register. We went to our tent site and I was not sure whether to laugh or cry. Every other tent site in the place had some shade where you could set up the tent, except the one we were assigned to. No trees, no shade, just relentless sun beating down with temperatures in the miserable 90s. Bill went and asked for a different site and we were able to move. Crazy! Bill decided that he had to take a photo. He chuckled about that for several hours.


We’re in the library at the moment. It seems like a nice little place. They are fielding calls about when they will be closed for the holiday--reminds me of when I used to work at Klamath County Library--we got the same thing. But we would probably only have been closed on the holiday itself. These people get Friday and Saturday off! YIPPEE for them!

Botanical Gardens

July 1, 2009
Before we left this morning, Brigg took us to his botanical gardens. He volunteers there as the compost guy. It’s a really cool place. People have many different gardens with different themes--butterfly, the manor garden, one with native plants, and many others. It’s a beautiful spot and very peaceful. The compost section has many different compost piles constructed in various ways from inexpensive using recycled materials to commercial compost bins. The educational opportunities are amazing. And Brigg tells us that the worm composting class fill up fast! Lots more interest than there used to be! The website for this great place is www.naturescaping.org check it out! It was a wonderful way to start the day.
After we got back from there, we finished loading the truck and said goodbye to Ellen. It was a fun visit. Then we got some gas and took off for Ellensburg. Took us about 5 hours to get here, but we made it. More time to set up the tent. Then we grabbed something to eat and walked around the park a bit. I would love a cup of coffee, but there’s nowhere near here to do that right now, and none of us feel like driving into town. So it’s some peach cold brew iced tea for tonight!!
Tomorrow we plan to head into town and go to the Chamber of Commerce and a local museum to get a feel for the area and ask some questions. Friday morning it’s on to Spokane!