Day 32

I decided on granola for the breakfast in the interests of getting everything moving and on the road soon.  I washed the dishes using the water Joshua put in the Hydroflask last night.  It was still all lovely steaming hot!  Made a believer out of me!  I wouldn’t have voted to buy it if it were up to me, but that was super handy.  It’ll be nice to be able to use whatever fire we have left to heat water and save it for later.  Plus, I can save a little hot water out to clean up my dish rags when I’m all done.  Putting away nasty dish rags because cold water and a ton of dish soap still won’t cut the grease, yeah, it really bothers me.

I packed up the car since Jeremiah wasn’t feeling well.  I did a little reorganizing, throwing away some boxes that were storing food we’ve eaten and consolidating the remainder.  I put my “gathered treasures” (ie, rocks and driftwood) in the pack I just bought and made a spot for it in the back.  I moved the dog food storage to a different spot that will hopefully be easier to access after the car is loaded and we’re at the store.  

In to Moscow (moss-co according to Annie) we went to get some last minute things at the co-op.  Mom and I bought each other early Christmas presents because the co-op has a really cool kitchen and health and beauty section.

Mom went to the yarn shop across the street while I was packing the car.  She hollered at me from across the street to come over.  It was pretty amazing.  It appeared to be all natural fibers with lots of local wool and alpaca.  The color selections were beautiful!  They had a  nice tool section too.  

I walked to the print shop to get our insurance card printed off my jump drive.  It had been emailed to us and with the headlight out and all, that became a priority.  Tom at the Chamber of Commerace had warned us about the ISP.  They’ll ticket you for 5 over.  He had gotten a ticket for a bad headlight connection in the day time because he happened to have his lights on.  He had to show up at the patrol office within a certain amount of time to prove that he had fixed it.  Anyways, they wanted $5 to print it off because I wanted it right away.  It was $2.50 if I waited an hour.  I told her never mind all the way around because it was just one page and I was hoping for a 30 cent copy.  In the midst of clicking buttons she told me that she’d give to it mrs for the $2.50 right away and the printer spit it out as she finished talking.  I paid and left.  A $2.50 piece of paper was better than a ticket and a court date.  I would have appreciated to girl at the shop not ramrodding my business though.  I had been encouraging going to a library to get it printed for a while, but the print shop was right there and we were on our way out of town.  

I went back into the co-op to charge my computer in the deli area while everyone else was finishing up their business and deciding on a campground for tonight.  
When we got on the road, I sorted through the last few days of pictures.  

The highway was pretty curvy with a high speed limit.  I was soundly car sick, but I got the pictures sorted. 

Love those colors!

I noticed the time change at the Montana Idaho border.  Back to Mountain Time.

Pretty, pretty hills.

We stopped at a Walmart for a bit of produce, lunch meat, ice, and dog food.  I think that was in Smelterville.  I attempted not to judge the town based on the Walmart.  :)

So I've figured out that I can stick my camera out the window and get a good, smear free shot my watching my LCD screen through the windshield.   This is with the camera securely strapped to my wrist, most of the time.  :)  That 70mph highway wind is stinking cold!

We got to Trout Creek Campground in the Lolo NF at 9pm and picked site #9, close to the creek and the toilet.  No one else is here, though someone pulled into the picnic area for a bit.  It’s pretty wet and soppy, but thankfully not very cold.  We sat in the van listening to the regional forecasts.  It’s supposed to get cold and wet and snowy this weekend.

I got in bed around 10:30 and kept taking off layers because it was too hot!  I think I was feeling pretty pansy, being carsick and all, when I was deciding how warmly to dress for the night.

4,288 miles in.