Eastward Bound

Where do I begin?

I am sitting here in my Aunt Anita’s living room in Riggins, Idaho, looking out upon the lovely Little Salmon River. The hillside above is rocky and dry, with small, low bushes dotting the sides. Elk are known to venture down to the river in the winter time. We have not seen any yet. Yesterday we went ATVing and had a blast. This was our first time. We went to the top of the hills near my cousin Linda’s home and had fabulous views. It was chilly when we rode but the sun was warm on our faces when we stopped. As we headed home, Dave’s ears began to get very cold so I put my gloved hands over them and kept the wind out and tried to keep his hat on. It wanted to fly off his head! Since we were on private property, the “rules and regulations” are ignored. No helmet plus no ear muffs equal frozen ears! I had a hood on my jacket so I was fine. The topper to the excitement for the day was the bear that was in the walnut tree! The dogs were barking so Jessie Ann’s boyfriend went out to check and sure enough, BEARS in the yard! The one by the garden ran off but later we saw one up in one of the walnut trees. Patrick kept shining the flashlight in it’s eyes and it finally got mad and slammed his paw down on the limb with a big smash! Patrick left saying he thought he was finished looking at the bear for the evening. At one point, Wilford, the pony mule started chasing the bear. Linda kept calling him back. The bear is MUCH bigger! Ah, life in the country!

Dave is itching to go hunting or at least bird shooting. He put his fishing line into the river twice the other day and lost both lures. He went and purchased some better river type lures but has not tried them out yet. Riggins has a steelhead tournament from now until March. They say the fishing has been the best in many years. Perhaps he’ll try again before we take off.

We attended the community church here in town where the family goes. We had an enjoyable time with the very friendly pastor and congregation and felt right at home! It is such a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ and to feel such a part of that no matter where we are.

I must return to where I left off in my last post. We arrived in Elma, WA and I promptly fell down the stairs in the RV. I injured my ribs and I don’t know what all. I was in great pain. I finally started on some pain medication and that helped me to relax and let the healing process quicken. Even though I am feeling better, I am still taking meds a couple of times a day as the pain is still pretty intense. It has been over two weeks. I pushed on a rib the other night and that caused the pain to increase somewhat. Not quite back to square one, but not back to where it was. Because I was not feeling up to it, we spent much of our time in Elma just vegging. As I posted on Facebook, we did go out to dinner at a restaurant recommended by the camp host. It was awful! I do much better choosing on my own! Having said that, we did drive to Seattle from Elma and on the way we drove in to Des Moines, WA to Redondo Beach Dr. by following signs advertising a restaurant called Salty’s. Dave and I split the Salmon salad.  The split portions were generous and it was delicious! The staff was very friendly and helpful. We highly recommend it. I believe there are several other locations. The owners started the Red Robin chain.

One evening we went to some friends of Dave’s who he knew when he was stationed at Ft. Lewis some 20 years ago. We had a lovely dinner and some good conversation with the family. They were glad to see Dave after so many years. From Elma we picked up and went back down to Vancouver, WA where we stayed one night. While there we drove back into the “woods” and had dinner with some more of David’s friends he knows from Lompoc many years ago. The family were missionaries in Japan for many years. We had a great meal with much of the extended family. I think there were at least 15 of us. Good food and fellowship! From there we went back to Oregon, met my sister Colleen and Payden at Multnomah Falls. We got wet in the rain but enjoyed the falls and the fresh air. We then drove for three more hours and hooked the RV up in Hermiston, OR. During our stay there we drove the back roads of the Blue Mountains and visited the Pendleton Woolen Mills. We drove to Idaho on Wednesday of last week. We are now up-to-date. Hopefully, I can post more often and y’all won’t have to read a book!

We leave Riggins tomorrow and head to Mountain Home, ID. It looks like it will be raining the whole way. Snow is forecast for 3000 ft. Love the snow but not while driving the RV!

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