I'm a list maker. I make a list of the lists I want to make. I like to know what is going to happen before it happens. When we're home, on Sundays I like to take a look at the week ahead to see where I will be, what I'm going to be doing and what I have to do to get ready for any of that. Apparently, I am married to a very spontaneous person, however!
Now we start talking about our summer plans the December before it happens. A full 6 to 7 months ahead. Where do we want to go etc. This meshes nicely with the list maker in me. Ed then takes it from there and plans the route. On some rainy days I'll sit in our loft with him while he's planning and he'll tell me what he's sketching out. Up until this summer, he has mapped out a very specific plan for our summer adventures. Many places would take reservations so we were able to know this week we'll go here, then move to such and such a place for 5 days etc. This year, however, since our goal was to spend the summer in Montana, Ed decided not to do that. In fairness, 99% of the places don't take reservations. If you want to get a good site, you just have to get to a campground on a good day and early in the day.
Now, I wasn't really keen on this, but since they don't take reservations and there are dozens of campgrounds all over the place, it seemed that it might be okay. The plan is to move on a Monday or Tuesday and get to a new place before noon.
This apparently pleases Ed. Now I know Ed doesn't like lists. In fact, if there is a list made, he will ignore it. He HATES lists!
That's our yin and yang. What I didn't realize is that he is an apparently a VERY spontaneous person. We've been married 43 years and I'm just learning this??
On Monday, while Ed was out hiking, I decided to take a look at our mapping program to see where we were moving to today.
We have 2 mapping programs. We have used the Microsoft Streets and Trips to plan our itinerary for the first ten years. This year, since Ed got a new DeLorme GPS to take on hikes, he decided to get a new mapping program since the GPS is not quite compatible with the Streets and Trips program. I checked both programs, however, to see where we're going. They each say different places...now I have no clue where I will be laying down my head tomorrow night and that makes me feel very unsettled. I have no problem living in a tin can for 70+ days, but I really want to know ahead of time WHERE that tin can will be parked!
Ed gets back from his hike and I ask where we're heading. "Well, we have a few options." Not the kind of answer I was looking for. He's all excited showing me "we can stop here, or here, and there are 3 more on this side of the reservoir." It's making me stressed. I thought all the planning was done, why are we still 'deciding' the night before we travel. STRESS! I'm trying to be good and not freak out. I'm along for the ride. I can do this.
No I can't. I'm going to bed and will let Ed finish the planning.
It rains about 5 am so everything will be wet to pack up. I've packed most of the inside stuff already, so my part of the packing can be finished in 20 minutes or so. It stopped raining after an hour or so, so at least we won't be packing up IN the rain. The outside stuff will just be wet.
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| Fog lifting as we leave Two Medicine |
So as we get in the car, I ask Ed, "So where are we heading today?" His answer: "That depends" UGGGH. "We have choices" he says happily.
I look at the map, and there is a campground he never even mentioned last night. Aah...spontaneity. Nope. I'm definitely not a spontaneous person!
We take off from Glacier National Park--near East Glacier, MT--and head past the town of West Glacier toward Hungry Horse and Columbia.
We've never been this way before. This part of Rt 2 is really a beautiful 2 lane road that meanders next to fast moving rivers and still with fantastic snow tipped mountain views. Looks like Vermont or New Hampshire driving. There is no traffic to speak of. It's a really nice ride. Speed limit is 70 mph which seems high for a 2 lane road, but since there is little traffic, it's not a problem.
We get into Hungry Horse (I love that name) and it seems like a nice little town. There are a couple gift type shops, a couple restaurants, a Laundromat, grocery store and post office. They even have Internet! Where we are heading to in the Flatlands National Forest is about 9 miles or so off the road. I can do this.
We grab a bite to eat and head in on the West side of the Hungry Horse Reservoir to pick out a campground. The 9 miles or so turns out to be on a well paved, really windy road along the side of a mountain without guardrails. This might be a little more of a challenge for me after all. I am somewhat challenged by heights!
The day gets to be overcast and it looks like it's going to rain. I nix the first campground we get to, and we move along to the next one. It's called Lost Johnny. The campground only has 5 sites on it and none of them are occupied. I'm not feeling real good about this place. But site 5 is open and it is RIGHT on the water. Ed is sold, so I really have no choice. We're staying. I still suggest we can go down the road to look at something else and surely no one else is coming along today to take this site from us, but Ed vetoes that. He's really keen on this and Monty seems to like the smells around here too.
We start to set up, but it starts to rain hard so we decide to wait in the car until it lets up. Wouldn't you know, another truck with a long 5th wheel attached comes along and parks in the lot right across from us and sits there. Then a woman comes along on an ATV vehicle and has her fist waving. She is clearly upset. Ed gets out to see whats up. They were at another campground and have been waiting for THIS site to open. It opened just this morning so they were moving right in. Whoops. Too late.
Ed was right. We would have lost the spot! Looks like we'll be the only restaurant in town for the local bears! Not sure how long we're here for. We'll see how the hiking and fishing are.
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