Relocating

Today was a day more of change than of excitement, but still good. After getting in late last night I decided to sleep in, take a shower, and pack up from Sunrise campground. We’ll miss the good neighbors—the single dad with two teenage boys. He is a security guard and they had to vacate the barracks of the place he was working because disease had broken out, so they’d been camping for several months. His sons were great kids, although bored by the long stay and worried because they didn’t know where they’d be going to school in the fall. The neighbors on the other side—the one I drove to rehab one night, then two days later she skipped work, lost her job, and was a passenger in a car crash, and her peeing-on-tree husband—will be less missed. We noticed a different mentality in this… diverse… group of people. It was much more communal than what we were used to. People would walk across our camp site, talk to us while we were eating, and wanted to know what we’d been doing all day. There’s a line between friendliness and nosiness, and I’ll just say that I’m ready to be a little less communal for a while.

I moved to a campground in Hyalite park, a national forest south of town. It’s a little farther from school, and there’s pit toilets and water you need to pump yourself. Instead of being between the BNSF line and I-90, it’s between a small country road and Hyalite creek. Ollie likes the change too, because our neighbors at the previous place had three dogs that gave him grief. I think I’m beginning to understand how cats understand the dog/cat battle—for the dog it’s a game, for the cat it’s life or death. Thus, any time that the cat sees a dog and isn’t eaten, it counts as a victory. You can see the smugness…

This state park stay is more what I had envisioned when I packed a month and a half ago, so I finally got to use some of the things we’d thus far regretted packing. Any fallen wood is fair game for firewood, so I got to practice using the “big ax” that’s been a storage problem for 4000 miles. It’s worth it though, as I’m able to make a fire big enough to cook on, and I can keep it burning until I go to bed. It’s cold (in the 40’s) up here in the mountains at night, so I’ve been using every blanket and long sleeve shirt. I have to make sure all the food is locked up in the truck at night so the bears aren’t attracted. I asked the ranger and she said the cat could sleep in the tent—he doesn’t classify as bear bait. I was glad for the company as it’s been lonely today, especially in the evening.

I talked with Cara, and she’s getting things organized at home. Except for one thing. Her car (and bike, and scooter, and roller blades) is in the garage, and the only key we have is in the glove compartment of the truck. She’ll have to call in the locksmith tomorrow to get her mobility back.


Carolyn (my sister in law) is still in the hospital, but she’s starting to do better. Keep praying!