Smoky, smoky night
Very smoky this weekend, but cooler. Might be a rough week but if the fire lines hold this week looks like next week should be colder and wetter.
Posts from the ‘RV Trips’ category
Life with Bob
Everybody needs somebody to love
Karl and Mocha met yesterday on our late afternoon walk and it was love at first sight. They played and played – mostly Karl on the ground and Mocha all over him. Mocha is a nine month old Shih-tsu (I’ll have to check that spelling) – she spent a lot of her puppy-hood with 3 Akitas so 1 Karelian Bear dog is hardly a challenge. So funny such a little dog and such a big dog having such fun together. I had to drag Karl away.
Today we stopped, but Mocha had been to the vet and they had had to pull some of her puppy teeth so she was pretty groggy, but when she saw Karl she perked up a bit – at least enough for the photos and a couple of kisses. She and her family leave today which is a bit sad …. Karl once again “stuck” with just Bob…
In Missoula
So we ran away – out of the Flathead Valley to Missoula, 110 miles south. We are at Jim n Mary’s RV Park which is a usual first night stop for an rv trip. Good wi-fi, good walking for Karl, safe for Bob. My intent is to stay the week but the best laid plans – my trans service light came on during the drive here – funny as I had it looked at – …anyway, trans being kind of important for the driving part of rving I stopped at a shop this morning and they can hook the beast up to their computer at 7 a.m. sharp tomorrow morning and get the code for whatever the problem is. If something simple, will get fixed – if not will probably leave it and we will retreat back home in the Jeep. I am hoping for the simple…
In the meantime – enjoying Jim n Mary’s! See the little sign – it worked! – obviously a pet friendly place…
rolling out of harm’s way
There are no fires directly threatening my home or property. There are 4 large fires within 50 miles – all in different directions. The Flathead Valley is full of smoke – sometimes it is up against the mountains, sometimes it drops down like a thick fog, sometimes there is falling ash – it is disconcerting to say the least. From my house there are a handful of routes out of the valley – I have decided to take one – at least most probably…the motorhome is “down” the driveway, Jeep is hooked up, all I need is loaded and we (Karl, Bob and I) are “moved in”. My thought is to go to Missoula – 110 miles south and just off the interstate: I-90. It is a relatively inexpensive move in terms of time, fuel and park expenses – a park I know and like with good walking for Karl, good Wi-Fi for working – it is a low risk move to a spot that enables us to “jump” on the Interstate and head for the coast or east if MT conditions worsen. While it is unlikely that the valley would burn, it is a bit scary to me to be surrounded by fire and potentially have the routes out closed – even momentarily closed. And as an ORS friend said – “any excuse to go!” – well, yes ! I am not unopposed to a brief “trip” to the “big city” – the owner’s of Jim n Mary’s RV park in Missoula where I stay always laugh when I call Missoula the “big city” – all is relative…
The garage corner with snowblower, mower, blower, weed whacker, snowshoes….stuff – very odd – although it is VERY unlikely that a fire will wipe out my house, it is at least a possibility in my mind or I wouldn’t be “running”. I have everything I need in the motorhome and I did pack some photo albums that have photos of my dad, grandparents, some child-hood stuff – “in case” but nothing else. A funny feeling to look around and really be aware that there was a possibility – no matter how slight – that all might be destroyed. What to take, what to leave – I stuck with what I normally take plus the albums (3)…
Some of the party are not affected…. Karl relaxing, Bob on the hunt!
There’s no place like home
“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home” – Dorothy, Wizard of Oz
Home in MT or home on the road – both are “home” to me as they have their comforts in space and amenities and “family” in the form of my pets, but Montana and my little corner of it are truly HOME to me and it is good to be back.
There is also that poignant sadness at having completed a trip – the “adventure” is over, the challenge of travel done. I find myself reliving in my head all of the trip – each moment had it’s own flavor – humor, frustration, beauty, disappointment, joy, difficulty…special people and special family the highlight!
This trip had it’s challenges as well as it’s delights. Neither will be forgotten. It is the challenges though that make the fun retelling … I don’t think that I would have enjoyed Rving as a younger person. We have a choice when things go a bit or a lot awry…we can make the best of it, look for solutions and resolutions, laugh (after a few tears) or just get angry, frustrated, down…. It is all perspective as far as I’m concerned and as an older adult with some experience in things not going as planned, I’m better now at “going with the flow” than when I was younger.
My mother’s words to me as a child and young adult ring in my ears often, “You can bend like the willow or stand like the mighty oak which can break in a storm or strong wind”… I like to think and dearly hope that I have learned (mostly) to “bend like the willow”. And I hope that is as true for me in my everyday life as it is to me in travel.
So, this homecoming – different than any other. I’m still thinking about it. This is the first RV trip that I’ve left my house (vs rental, i.e. temp house) and been gone some time and then returned. A couple of things – I was gone 24 days and from the first night gone until the last night before returning I was in the company of other RVrs or friend or family – then abruptly back to the solitude of the woods, mountains and my little house. This coupled with I haven’t yet been a year in this house – June-mid-Aug are always tough for me – hating heat and the busy-ness of summer…
Also abruptly comes the loss of the need to manage power – I’m in a house again…I can turn on the microwave and the toaster and the blender and the fan is runnning… power management in my motorhome is somewhat constant and tends to govern what I will fix to eat and if I’ll run the vacuum, etc. Not huge in the scheme of things but tending towards over-importance as I “manage” comfort. Suddenly, it is all different – easier but I “miss” the routine that was part of travel.
Now, I do NOT miss not having my washer and dryer – I like clean, fresh clothes and bedding and I tend to overdo according to every RV park I’ve ever been – at home, no one knows but me!
However, downside to this habit – I accidentally washed my bluetooth headset L… It is charging and has the lights that say so – maybe it will “dry out” ok… It is the 2nd headset I’ve washed – same situation – stuck it in a shirt pocket then threw the shirt in the washer forgetting…. Oh, well – I do have a couple of spares and I’ve been getting Motorola email offers – maybe it is just time to upgrade???
For the record, this post IS from the front porch – it clouded up a bit, temp dropped to 87 and there is a breeze – warm/hot, but manageable… And another thing – I gave the spiders a respite – tomorrow is soon enough…
Bob and Karl’s version of “there’s no place like home”…
