Missoula, MT

I’ve noticed something about RVers: by and large they are patriotic and ingenious.

There are lots of American flags hanging from motor homes and 5th wheel trailers. There are not as many on pull trailers, but that’s probably because RVers pulling trailers are generally not full timers.

Here’s a flag that’s even lit up at night.  They’ve got some sort of solar sensor to turn the light on and off as needed. 

Which brings me to another observation about RVers: they are ingenious.

Living in a ‘home that’s basically an earthquake going down the road on wheels’ requires lots of ingenuity to keep not only keep things running but also compartmentalized and easy to get to.

I love peering into storage compartments to see how people organize things. And I love looking at their solutions.

Here’s a quick and easy way to keep bikes upright. Made of PVC it meets two criteria for RV storage: lightweight and easy to pack.

By and large, RVers are an interesting group.

Missoula, MT

We’ve been at two family reunions in a week.

Well, kind of…

We drove to Bigfork, Montana, to attend a family reunion last weekend. That family was of Rich’s step grandmother, Allie Mahoney. We only went for one night, but we had a wonderful time visiting with Rich’s aunt, uncle, cousins, and nieces. (We’re not in the picture…)

Last night we stayed in a park at Lolo Hot Springs in Montana. We didn’t have any reservations. We figured if we couldn’t stay there, we would stay in the Walmart parking lot in Missoula, Montana.

The park at Lolo Hot Springs was pretty rough. No sewer hookups, lots of pot holes, and rather scary looking electrical hookups.

While we were driving around the park to get to our site, we passed a rig that had a sign out on it saying the owners’ names and home town.

Amazingly, they were from Fallon, Nevada–Rich’s home tome. Turns out they owned a restaurant there and one was the former county recorder. It truly is a small world.

Kenny and Vicky were at Lolo Hot Springs for a Tripp family reunion. At least 150 family members attended.

While we weren’t a part of the Tripp family reunion, I wanted to be a “Day Tripp-er” because they were having barbecued tri tip roast for dinner that night.

Two of the Tripp ancestors used to own the resort, and the family holds the reunion there every two years. Turns out those ancestors were instrumental in bringing the first luge only run in the U.S. to the area after the 1964 Olympics.

We didn’t crash the reunion to eat tri tip. But we had a wonderful time visiting with some of the Tripp family members who were parked near us.

Lolo Hot Springs, MT

Dry Camping, at least for us, means camping without power, sewer, and water. Dry camping involves running a generator to recharge batteries; the batteries run all of the electrical components within the RV.

Homer (our motor home) was a dry camping virgin until this trip. (Picture below isn’t of the generator, but you get the general drift: something mechanical is involved… )

Dry camping with a motor home is much different than doing so with a travel trailer. While both use a generator to recharge batteries, if the batteries don’t get charged on a travel trailer, you can still drive off with your tow vehicle. If you batteries don’t get charged in your motor home, you’ve got a very big problem.

Rich had researched and read lots before our first dry camp with Homer. I was surprised it was so complicated, and I am very thankful that he took the challenge on.

All went well. The generator ran as prompted. The noise wasn’t as  loud as we expected. And the batteries charged as needed. Rich even turned it off an hour before the required ‘quiet time’.

The only negative thing that happened was that our neighbor left us a note after we left for a drive the following morning complaining that we ruined their evening the night before. The generator was too loud, and we talked too loud. Both Rich and Lil forgot to wear their hearing aids, so that answered half the problem. Giggles…

But we still didn’t think the generator was that loud. We walked around and listened to other generators and tried to compare sound levels. Ours sounded about the same as most of the others and quieter than a few.

So when new neighbors arrived to take the same camping spot, Rich told them that he was running the generator and asked them if it was too loud.

Their answer: “Is it really running? We can’t hear it?”

All’s well that ends well…

Lowell, ID

We met up with Dean & Lillian, our former neighbors and forever friends, for a wonderful camping visit to Selway Falls in northeastern Idaho.

The entire 100 miles of the Selway River is designated as Wild and Scenic. Only 160+ rivers are protected by 1968’s National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act sponsored by Senator Frank Church of Idaho.

The Selway is beautiful and very diverse. Wildlife sightings are common. Rich and I were there a couple of springs ago and we saw salmon jumping up the falls. Deer are abundant, and the vegetation resembles coastal area in Oregon with horse tail ferns.

We have known Dean and Lil for eight years, and this is the third trip we’ve taken with them. All of them have been so much fun.

Dean and Lil are wonderful to travel with. They make great hosts and great guests! We can (and do) talk about a wide variety of topics. They have shared their vast knowledge of their native Idaho with us so that we feel welcomed in and knowledgeable about our adopted state.

This year’s trip was different because we are no longer neighbors. Plans were made via emails and phone calls. In the past those plans were made over beer and popcorn sitting at one anothers’ dining tables with maps spread out far and wide.

While the former way was much more fun, the success of this year’s trip proved that any way we do it, we will still have a great time!

And you know it’s a great trip when it ends too soon with hugs and tears…

Lowell, ID

We are on our way to meet up with friends, and we needed a place to stay for just one night. We ended up in Lolo, Montana, at a park called The Square Dance Center and Campground. It is primarily a dance studio with RV spots for its visitors. During the week, there’s room for non-dancers like us.

“The Dance Center was constructed in 1978 … for the whole purpose of square dancing and round dancing. It has a cushioned maple floor, air conditioning, excellent sound, and room for 30 squares.”

There wasn’t anysquare dancing on the night we were there,  but there was round dancing.

“Round dancing is choreographed and cued ballroom dancing that progresses in a circular pattern counter clockwise around the dance floor.”

So basically round dancing is fancier and more complicated square dancing. At least out looks like it to me.

Rich and I watched a bit and were amazed at the complexity of the steps. The dancers danced to the caller’s cues to the James Bond song “Skydance”.

It was especially fun to watch the couples who were enjoying both the dance and each other.