Traveling with the Tumbleweed and Toad: August 2014

We have just spent our first few days “winging it”, having come out of our extended, “Visit our Loved Ones Tour.” It has been so peaceful communing with nature, except for the chipmunks. They yell and shake their little fists a lot. Angry little creatures! Wish I knew what they were saying. Or maybe not.

We have camped by softly, babbling brooks; dined by raging rivers; shopped in little towns with small mountains looming in their midst. We have stopped eating out completely, as some of these little roadside places appear as if Road Kill may be their house special. We have traveled to high altitudes and seen our wrinkles increase, and traveled to lower, warmer altitudes to see our sweat increase. Something in between would be nice; oh, we call that indoors. I forgot.

Hard to stay indoors anymore when the outside is so large! Yesterday we were walking through our campground and came across a huge buck! Fortunately he did not feel threatened and merely walked over to get behind a picnic table (totally in plain view), and peaked at us from underneath as if he believed we could not see him. We pretended we could not and kept on walking.

The deer were more abundant than the crows in this campground (Ponderosa State Park, McCall, Idaho). Cotye is intrigued by these large, strange looking 'dogs'…he looks, he sniffs, but he has yet to bark at one. Chipmunks are different. They are treats that run. Ugh, he has pulled me down more than once, chasing after those running treats! He is flunking his lesson on; “Forest Creatures are Friends, Not Food” … But then again, so are many of my human friends.

*This State Park is on my Highly Recommended List for hikers and nature lovers.

It was a loooooong drive from McCall to Eden, Idaho. Over six hours long. It is nice, however, to be able to pull our house-on-wheels over and rest, potty or eat lunch . . . something you can't do on road trips in your car, without finding a rest area. Funny thing, when you are traveling by car, rest areas are few and far between; but in the RV it seems we see them everywhere. Maybe it is because we are out of California, where the rest stops usually mean a quick stop at a McDonald's.

I won't chatter on much today. Need to get out for some fresh air. Instead, I hope you enjoy seeing some of the stuff we saw on our travels through Idaho.

BARNS