Grizzley RV and a HOT Shower! - Day 3

DAY 3 – Saturday, August 23, 2014

It’s raining again, and we all have to go to the bathroom. That’s the only downfall of sleeping at Walmart – we are at the mercy of their opening hours. This one operates from 9-9. Therefore, rather than having breakfast here as planned, we’ll drive a little, find a bathroom, and we’ll make a hot oatmeal. Then we’ll be on our way, and with any good fortune the rain will stop soon. I’m looking forward to getting to a campground for a nice hot shower. I’m really glad I went against practical advice and hauled water in the tanks.  It might be costing me a more fuel to bring it, but at least I can have a fresh mouth each morning.

Washing Dishes in Walmart

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Third day in, and I’m beginning to get in the swing of things. A solid night’s sleep helps put things in perspective. Driving out of Missoula, through quiet residential streets, I had a chance to see another side of this older town. There were beautiful historical homes nestled among trees on both sides of the streets.

The plan had been to stop and make a breakfast at a gas station, but being the ever unpredictable, but democratic family that we are the vote was taken, and all agreed to have a dry breakfast on the road or brunch at a later stop.

I thought I had missed my morning coffee, but as we drove into a gas station for a quick bathroom break, I was rewarded with an unexpected blessing. Noticing there were no bathrooms at this unmanned station, we ran into the laundromat next door. The young girl behind the counter said we could certainly use their restrooms. As we were leaving, I spied on my right a sign advertising free coffee. I shared with the girl my predictament of not being able to find a Tim Horton’s. She commiserated with me agreeing that there really were no good coffee shops, though many people like Starbucks. I personally find their mochas gut-ripping strong, so have learned to abstain. She kindly offered me a coffee. Though it would not be a mocha with hot chocolate and whipped topping, but instead a coffee with packets of white sugar and powdered chemicals, it met my needs quite delightfully. A cute moment when Israel pointed at the 'cream' on the right side of me. It was a big bucket of detergent. ;)

Walking from the store, I smiled, “God is good – He gave me a coffee!”

“For free!” Piped up Israel.

  

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The driving through the day was pretty constant – rain all day. The roads were decent, but at times, we fell across construction and at that time the roads were very rough and I had to pay close attention.  The scenery is beautiful, but I am used to it, since I live in an area that looks just like this. I much prefer the wheat fields of Wilbur’s town to the mountains and trees.

An unusual sign occasionally broke up the many miles of monotonous driving. Me, with my typical sense of humour, or as Isaiah puts it – my sick sense of humour – couldn’t resist pointing out an enormous sign announcing a Testical Festival, with dates all over the state.  While Isaiah was mortified, I explained, “It probably has something to do with the fact that this is a cowboy state. Well, that didn’t sound any better – a ranching state.”

The roads became very, very steep, and I was happy when it advised truckers to slow to 25 miles per hour. I crawled right up behind them and figured with three of them in front of me I had a pretty good buffer and I would use them to get down the mountain. 

We crossed the Continental Divide at 6393 elevation! Little did I know at this time how much higher I would actually go! Some of the signs along the way were interesting, such as The Lake That Tilted, Ghost Town and Camping Lodge, and Earthquake Lake. We did take a few minutes to stop at Earthquake Lake and it really was quite interesting. Apparently, there was an earthquake in 1959 that ripped this area apart creating a lake.  It was kind of like when we fell across the Coulee Dam – we didn’t know Earthquake Lake was there until we turned the bend in the road.

We took the short hike up the trail to get a look down, and the kids picked up rocks along the way. It was a short stop, as it was raining, and we wanted to get on to the campground.

We finally arrived at the edge of Yellowstone Park much to the delight of the children. The first stop was the Grizzly and Wolf Centre. Rather than dashing through looking at the displays and then seeing the animals outside, we took the time to read through many of the signs. It was really very interesting to learn a few things, such as, did you know that the teeth can tell the health and history of a bear. For instance, one tooth we saw told us what years she had her cubs! 

There was a rather embarrassing moment outside, when I was trying to get the attention – and succeeded, I might add – of a wolf. A man came up to me and asked me to please not make any noises towards the wolves or it would stress them out. Ooops! I am not one to buck authority, so that was rather awkward. (sheepish smile) If I had been more observant I would have seen the signs that specifically said to not many any noises to get the wolves attention!

We discovered that the wee baby cubs were only about 3 lbs in the picture with the mother bear and cubs on the tree. All the bears we saw in the display were actual bears that were killed either illegally, accidently by car, or management (in the case of one cub), or by natural death.

The rain continued to bucket down and we had to make a mad dash to our car to escape the torrential downpour. Sadly, it didn’t allow us more time outside seeing the animals, but since we had already seen an amazing wolf conserve in BC, we were okay with a quick look at the wolves.

Then it was off to our campground where the children all cheered when they found out the showers had no time limits! 

After a very cramped change of clothes in close quarters, we took all our laundry to the machine where trusty Isaiah watched the machines while I went back to the caravan to whip up another delicious dinner – Santa Fe Chicken. And for those that have been asking privately for my recipes, here is another one:

Santa Fe Chicken

4 cups uncooked rice

2 chicken breasts

6 cups black beans, drained and rinsed

Montreal chicken spice

2 cups salsa

2 cans – 15 oz corn

8 oz cream cheese

1 cup shredded cheese

Brown the chicken with Montreal chicken spice. Then add all ingredients to one pan and cook until well blended.

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Ayana  has been my scribe to this point, and she is doing a remarkable job!! She is now off and running as an independent reporter, because when we got back to the trailer she had a sly grin on her face, as she took out her notebook and began writing. She told me that she had been listening to me in the shower and planned to report on it. What did I say? I asked her. She grinned brightly and said, “Oh! It’s getting warm…  Ahhh.. Here comes the hot water. Ohhh, this is niiiccce. Oh, that’s HOT! That’s better.”

Oh, but the heat was delicious after three days of no showering. Oh, my, goodness!! We finished our showers all fresh and squeaky clean – after a few bumps, such as the boys forgetting their soap and having to use handsoap, or me calling in the door, “The shampoo is here,” and they thought I said, “The manager is here,” so they hopped out of the shower after just a minute or two. Poor boys!! (laugh)

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Courage set up the trailer and got us the sewer, electricity, and water hooked up. It was nippy in the caravan and I decided to use the electric heater I had brought rather than the propane, so I could conserve it. I plugged it in and it quickly warmed the room. The rice maker was next, since we were just adding to last night’s Santa Fe with a little rice. Big mistake. A few minutes later the breaker or something must have blown because we had no electricity, and the office was closed so there was no way to find out what was wrong. The rice ended up being cooked on the stove in the old-fashioned method, the heater was plugged directly into the box outside the caravan, and my computer was run off the car. Tomorrow we will find out what we did to the plugs or breaker in the trailer.

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Oh, and I really should go back and mention a moment that took place in Walmart on our first arrival. We stopped to use the bathroom and pick up a thing or two when a man approached us. He was Black and his wife, Caucasian. He asked me where the girls were from and I explained they were from Ethiopia. It was my question next: How did he know they were not just from the US? He said he could tell they were from his continent. Interesting! We spoke and it turned out he and his wife were pastors, and they were also doing missions. They were charismatic pentacostals, believing in the Holy Spirit. Wow! He even asked me if I had a blog, funny enough! I told him I did and they said they would like to follow along and pray for us. God really is remarkable! He was in Walmart ahead of me, preparing the way with an ambassador!

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Tomorrow we are off to visit the Yellowstone sites.