Road Trip With a Bonus

After hugging the cats, I took one more look around the house and locked it up.  I climbed into my trusty Subaru, heavily packed with supplies and culinary treasures (yay for Trader Joe’s and Costco!).  With Crash and Gabby yawning and lounging on the sunny front porch, I sighed and pulled out of the driveway.  Eric had gone ahead to finish loading the semi’s flatbed trailer with building supplies and a skid-steer loader.  I caught up with him in Worley, ID and we caravanned through the golden wheat country and down the Kendrick grade to the Clearwater River and the little town of Kooskia.

We arrived just after dark to find our friend Frank waiting with his excavator to help us load a 20 foot container onto the flatbed, then put the car inside of it.  With teamwork and Frank’s operating skill, we finished around 9:00.  Frank’s wife Debi had a hearty spaghetti dinner waiting for us, plus we got to visit their darling son, now 6.  He had grown so much in three years!  A long hot shower and comfy bed were so appreciated, especially knowing what lay ahead.

In the morning we had breakfast and said our goodbyes.  I hated to leave their warm friendship and beautiful home, but I climbed up into the ol’ Freightliner, gave Eric a grin and a thumbs up, and off we went down the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway (Hwy 12).  We passed a highway sign that had a winding arrow and said next 77 miles.  It wasn’t kidding!  We followed the Lochsa River with big rafts of newly formed ice floating down it and tried to spot the places where we were pitched into the rapids on a rafting trip a few summers ago.  Up and over Lolo Pass which was icy and narrow in spots and on down onto the grazing lands of Western Montana.  Eric was relieved to get onto I-90 and we drove through the night to Big Timber.  It was 2am, 10 degrees F with gusts to 46mph.  To be sure the truck would start, Eric left it idling, which also enabled us to run the heater.  The wind howled and shook the truck all night, but we were snug in the little twin sleeper.

After hitting the snooze button we slept till 8:00, downed some canned mochas and hard-boiled eggs and headed east. We finally pulled up to the camper at 9:00pm, entered the frozen space, cranked up the heat and unloaded the things that wouldn’t wait.  The bed sheets were icy—maybe it’s time to switch to flannels!    Now we are ready for the duration.  I think.