We trekked on to a little town called Mitchell. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to get a campsite because there were only three in the city park. Not a problem, there were hardly even three people in that town! It, like so many of the other little towns, used to be a thriving lumber town that housed five lumber mills. All commerce is gone from there now and it is pretty much a ghost town. Faris rolled in and decided we should keep going to Dayville rather than staying in Mitchell. That was OK because I learned that the one water hookup in the city park is spring water coming down off the mountain and everyone in town comes to get water from it, meaning we would not be able to hook it up to our camper. We filled our jugs and moved on.
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| Fish House Inn @ Dayville |
We arrived at the Fish House Inn & RV Park in Dayville, Oregon to a pleasant little surprise. The house is an old inn maintained by a family who just up and moved out to Oregon about 20 years ago and raised their family there. We were able to get a camping site for Monday night which was great because they only have six spots. We cooked a great dinner and walked up on the bluff to watch the sunset and let the kids play on the school playground.
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Everyone got settled in for bed then Mary Logue woke up with a terrible stomach ache. We had to put Eli in the car to sleep for an hour so she wouldn’t wake him up! Poor baby was in so much pain. We were able to get her through it but we had quite a mess on our hands. So, we did more laundry and packed up. We headed into town to the Dayville Mercantile which is a very old store with everything from food to tack supplies – that’s how most stores out here are. When people say they are going in to get “supplies” they are going in to get a little of everything. There’s no running to Target out here. And, once again, it is the only gig in town, nothing else is open or even here to purchase supplies if you need anything. The kids played in the ghost town that is set up outside of Dayville Mercantile and took a ride on Thunder,the rocking horse. Eli did anyway – Mary Logue wasn’t having anything to do with that horse! She is our animal lover but we are learning she likes big animals that she is unsure of from afar.
We needed to get through the next section of the country because the roads have no shoulder and there are several forest fires so we cannot camp in some of the places we intended. We stopped at the Oregon Trail National History Museum which is high upon a cliff that looks down on the actual Oregon trail. We learned that the journey from Independence, Missouri to the Oregon territory was about six months and a very hard one. Can’t imagine how much faith it took to leave home knowing you would never return and that there was a high probability you wouldn’t make it. They walked about 10 miles a day until they reached Oregon. People tried to take their woodburning stoves and fine china in the covered wagons and ended up dumping them along the way when they had to cross the rivers. They caulked their wagons with tar in order to cross the rivers and those things would actually float! Amazing perseverance. They traded with Native Americans along the way for food and some supplies.
We drove a lot today and ended up just across the river from Idaho at Copperhead State Park. I went on a run across the river the next morning to see the terrain and it is very different from what we’ve been in. It is considered high desert and is very dry and vast. Faris rode today and met us for lunch about 20 miles into his ride. We kept going to check out the next town to see if there was a decent place to stay. As I was pulling into Council, ID I saw a small fire that had just started and someone was trying to put it out with a fire extinguisher. I drove into town to check it out then turned around to get Faris for fear of the road being blocked off because of the fire. By the time I picked him up which was about 1 ½ hours after the fire started, 200 acres had burned.
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| this struck started it all |
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| Fire-fighting chopper in action! |
We saw firetrucks from several other counties coming to help and even saw the helicopters with the water buckets swooping down to get water out of a creek then flying over to dump it on the fire. It was incredible to watch these guys work. Eli is completely enamored with firemen right now but he did not understand that these were real firemen putting out a real fire. Made me feel guilty for ever exposing him to Fireman Sam. Many of you know we are adamantly against letting our children watch much TV because there are so many other experiences to be had. Seems Eli’s reality is what he has seen on TV and computer. I think we really have a good platform for explaining to others why we don’t allow him to watch much TV – you show him the real thing and he is numb to it.
We decided to move on towards our first hot springs adventure at Zim’s. Folks, this place was the real deal! Nothing fancy about it! The spring was 105 degrees but because of the north wind that had come in (and was blowing all of our stuff away) the temperature was a little lower. The kids had so much fun swimming in the “warm,warm pool”; they both went straight to sleep and slept very well! To our surprise we woke up the next morning to 23 degree weather and frozen water. So, no coffee and no breakfast! But the Shasta survived its first hard freeze and kept us all warm!
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| Zimm's hot spring and campground |
Breakfast in Riggins at Bert and Kate’s was the best I’ve ever had. Sausage gravy over hashbrowns – why haven’t I thought of that combo yet? We took our time and enjoyed being able to sit and eat while Mary Logue napped. We kept rolling on through forest fires and ended up at Lochsa Lodge, still in Idaho but just barely. It is also a ranger’s station so Eli got to see all of the fireman and National Forest Service men coming in to eat at the lodge. He pointed to every one of them (and there were lots) and said “There’s a fireman Mama!”. They were all so nice and took the time to stop and talk to him. These guys are really working hard. They are still putting out fires in places and some are just staying up all night watching the fire to make sure it doesn’t get out of control. We were so tired we decided to rent a simple cabin there at the lodge and call it a night.
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| Lochsa Lodge |
Next day we stopped in Missoula, MT to see the University of Montana and pick up a couple of bike tubes. We had flats on Faris’ bike, my bike, and the stroller. These goatheads are getting our tires out here! We made it to Sula,Montana to Lost Canyon Hot Springs. This one was only about 85 degrees so it was too cool for the kids at night. We let them play in the hot tub then bundled everyone up for another cold night. Sure enough, another night in the 20’s! We were comfortable at this place but it wasn’t our favorite. However, this morning I got up and went for a swim in the hot spring and I was the only one there. Had the moon to the west and the sun coming up over the evergreens on the east. Clear blue sky above me, just swimming laps by myself in the hot spring in Montana. Who gets to do that? It was definitely one of my top 10 life experiences. So much fun and absolutely gorgeous scenery.
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| Eli refuses to wear pants today |
That morning Faris headed out over Chief Joseph Pass and we packed up and headed towards Dillon, Montana, stopping at the Nez Perce Historical Museum to learn about the battle of Big Hole between the US Army and the Nez Perce Indians. It seems crazy that we were fighting the Native Americans for land when there is so much of it available out here! The Indians were caught 40 miles from their freedom at the Canadian border and put on reservations in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho for the rest of their lives. Faris and I have both been very impressed by how much respect is given to the Native Americans out here. Everything we’ve read in the museums and from the National Forest Service basically says we wrongfully took their land away from them. This museum had a show and tell section for kids so Eli and Mary Logue loved it.
We picked Faris up in Jackson, Montana and rolled on to Dillon. We had a little dinner and played in the leaves before settling in for another 20 degrees night.
Think we have everyone prepared tonight but each of us will probably end up with one child in our sleeping bags with us before morning, as we have the past two mornings!
So basically, our days consist of having all of our meals together, playing, reading, riding bikes and scooters, sitting around the campfire talking or roasting marshmallows, and laughing at these two precious kids. Couldn’t design a more perfect day if I tried. We are living the life right now.
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