September 30...Beloved Stanley (Sawtooth NRA)

(Kim's Perspective)

PICS PENDING

We rolled out of bed around 9 and decided to turn the trailer around so the awning would face the rising sun. It did little good when the sun dipped low in the sky before hiding behind the jagged peaks of the Sawtooths. Thus the decision to flip it around.

We cleaned out the truck and dusted off everything that was in the back. With all of our dirt forest road adventures, there was a layer of dirt on EVERYTHING in the bed of the truck. Ick. We put everything back and then got the mountain bikes out in hopes of riding over the next few days. I jumped on my bike and tooled around a bit on the gravel road through the “campground”. No major or minor pain. This is good. I suspect things will get a little ugly when I have to push hard though.

We desperately needed to get some laundry done so we loaded everything and everyone into the truck and headed into town. I washed 7 loads. It cost me 16 bucks. I love it here. While we were waiting for the clothes to wash, we went next door and had pizza for lunch. After the laundry was all done, we filled the gas tank (3.49 a gallon – YIKES), and then stopped in the local outfitters to look for some warmer pants for Bill. I scored a great shell liner for my new raincoat and found a pair of my favorite Royal Robbins hiking pants for cheap. They were running a great sale. Bill picked up a sweatshirt and we bought bright orange tracker jackets for the Boys. Dogs that look like wolves and redneck hunting season just don’t mix. I figured 29 bucks a pop would be worth every penny if it keeps some stupid poacher from accidentally shooting our dogs.

Anyway, after spending more money than we should have, we headed back to the campsite and gathered more firewood. Bill made a fire while I made dinner and we spent the night staying warm next to the campfire. Normally we don’t bother with a campfire. We just don’t see the point. Here, it’s a necessity to keeping warm. We both want to be outside enjoying the peace and quiet as well as the beautiful star scape, but when it’s 30 couple degrees, it makes it difficult to want to be outside. As long as we have a fire to sit around, only the back half of us is cold. ;P

We headed in around 10:30 and watched an episode of SG1 before calling it a night. Not an adventure day, but we needed clean clothes for our upcoming adventures so it needed to be done. Normally, I don’t care for laundry days, but I didn’t lose a single quarter in a broken machine, and our laundry dried in record time. Just another reason to love it here. :-)