road trip '08

It's been a long time since we returned from Montana, but only now are the memories settling in and the pictures downloaded. I feel it was an epic journey of sorts, marked by many new experiences---Sadie's first extended camping foray; Butterball's maiden voyage, and our initiation as bus co-pilots; our first time not only in Glacier, but seeing a Grizzly, a black bear, and a wolf; and mostly, our first indelible memory of taking a road trip as a family. I was acutely aware of this as we went and tried to document it appropriately, imagining Sadie looking at the pictures 20 years from now and thinking how quaint it was that we drove a Volkswagen bus and made grilled cheese sandwiches on the side of the road.

So with no further ado, the tale of our travels...

On a scorching hot Saturday at the end of June, we loaded Butterball to the gills and pointed her east out of Bend. The temps were pushing 100 as we pushed 60 through the open desert. Our goal for the night: to make McCall, Idaho before sundown. We stopped frequently for snacks and diaper changes, and reminded ourselves that it was not about getting from point A to point B, but about everything in between.

Never before have highway rest areas been such a lifesaver.

It became clear as the sun dipped lower into the sky that our plan of making McCall was a bit too ambitious. We wove up the snaky Idaho/Oregon border at dusk, luckily entering national forest and the campgrounds that come with it. The first available area found us parked along the river with the whole place practically to ourselves. Although it was a bit too paved for our liking, the facilities were brand spanking new, and it was an easy place to pop the top for the night.

The next morning, we prepared our first meal in Butterball's kitchen: scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and coffee.

By day two, we had really kicked into vacation mode and felt ourselves becoming one with the Butterball pace-of-life. We stopped at scenic overlooks, roadside stands, and local BBQ joints, pretty much doing what we pleased when we pleased, and resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not be making Missoula on any sort of schedule. To beat the heat, we even spent a few hours in McCall swimming and making sandcastles at Payette Lake.

It felt significant rolling into McCall in my Volkswagen bus, my thoughts always on my friend Scott (who lived in Boise but loved McCall, and drove a bus himself). Call it timing or call it fate, it was June 29th, just a few days after the accident that took his life ten years ago. I was glad to be somewhere that I could feel the connection to him, and hoped he could somehow feel it too.

The rest of the day was a gorgeous, lazy meander northward along the Salmon and Clearwater rivers. Once again, we overstayed our time on the road, finding a serendipitous campsite when we needed it most. This time, it was darker, and Sadie was more tired and hungry, so we vowed not to cut it so close the rest of the trip.

Sleepy babies rarely like their pictures taken, no matter how scenic it is

Coming up next: Day Three, Lolo Pass and Missoula...