July 16th, 2024
It’s getting really hot here in Boise, over 100 degrees this next week. Why own an RV if you are not going to use it to escape blazing hot or freezing cold temperatures? Well that’s exactly what I am going to do.
But I’m not really sure which way to go. I have been trying to decide between heading west towards Oregon or north towards Montana. Both ways offer much better weather and a slew of new adventures. I’ve been through Oregon a bit as a child traveling with my family, but I don’t really remember any of it… Montana is totally new to me, so really either way will provide fresh sights and experiences. After much time in prayer on this subject, I find the myself feeling the pull north. It’s just a feeling I get sometimes where I feel internally compelled to go do something, and this time it is saying north.
Knowing that, I didn’t really spend any time planning a route this trip. The last trip was fairly well organized as far as locations and time spent there were concerned. Of course, God had other things in mind several times which I was happy to obey and adapt to, but this time I am mostly just picking a direction and going. The way north through Idaho to Montana leads through several small towns. Stanley, Challis, and Salmon are all along the way before you enter into Montana. Stanley is going to be the coolest climate during next week’s 100+ temperatures, so that seems like a good first stop. I have an aunt and uncle that live in Challis so I’ll plan on stopping there for a spell… and I’ve never been to Salmon, which is the largest of the three, so I will probably post up there for a week or so as well.
The goal of the trip this time is much different from the last one. The last one was all about getting to know this lifestyle and spending time alone with God and the Bible. This trip is more about service. The plan is to try to find churches along the way and see if I can do them some good. I don’t really know how I will do this, or what I will be able to do for them… but God has done so much for me that I have to try to find some way to bring glory to Him. Even if it is just running into people along the way, sharing my story, and planting seeds… but I will be paying close attention to anything God throws my way.
So the first stop is Stanley, Idaho. Stanley is much higher elevation than Boise, and should provide nearly 30 degree cooler temps. I know of a great campsite that one of my best friends showed me several years ago that should work nicely for my setup. There are dozens of different options for dispersed camping near Stanley, but this site is beautiful, spacious and will provide me with a bit of nostalgia for the first leg of this trip.
The 130 mile drive north was just ok. Idaho has seen a massive influx of new people and the roads, even on a Tuesday in the mountains, are much more populated than they were in my youth. The drive through the mountains to Stanley is pretty slow with countless twists and turns along the way making an otherwise 2 hour drive into a 3 1/2 hour drive. That’s ok though, I’m in no hurry. I threw on some worship music and putted my way through the mountains to eventually come upon my destination. As I made my way through the trees down the direct road to the campsite I noticed all of the campsites that peeled off this little dirt road were occupied. I nervously pressed forward and was pleasantly surprised to find find the one I wanted was vacant. It was a little tight getting in there and the road was pretty messed up, but I pushed through and made it safely to my first stop. I picked a stop to park, got the RV all set up, and stepped out to take a look around.
It was just as I remembered it. A beautiful little meadow with a giant firepit and a path leading to a nearby stream. The stream has a little pool in it that is about 2 1/2 feet deep, good for cooling off people and dogs. This spot should work out just great while I wait out the heat wave.
As I pulled out my mat to set up the front area I couldn’t help but notice the aggressive nature of the bugs here. There were lots of humongous flies buzzing about that seemed quite interested in me and Danny. I tried to put it out of my mind as I laid out the mat and set up my table and chairs. I figured maybe they would get used to us after some time and leave us alone. This was not to be so. After about an hour outside I was getting pretty frustrated at their endless persistence trying to kamikaze their way into my eyes and ears. I decided to try moving out of the open into the shade of the trees in hopes that would help, but an hour later it was the same story only with less sun to recharge my solar panels. After a few hours of this I had had enough and Danny and I spent the rest of the day in the RV.
I woke the next day determined to give this place a chance and after some breakfast and a workout I took Danny outside to kick back in the cool weather and get some reading in. The peace was broken almost immediately. As I sat back in my chair with my book I found it impossible to concentrate as I was constantly swatting the air and swearing under my breath. After about 30 minutes of this I rose in a huff and decided I didn’t need this crap. There are dozens of campsite out here, I’m not going to put up with this. Feeling fairly dejected, I packed everything back up and threw it into the storage bins in a pile. I loaded Danny into the RV and angrily pulled all the slide back in, released the leveling jacks and threw the transmission into drive. I made my way out of the meadow and into the tree lined path out and that’s when I heard a terrible noise. It sounded like the twisting and crackling of metal under stress. What now?!
I threw it back in park and opened main door and looked out down the side, everything looked fine, what was the noise all about? Then I looked up and it hit me. There was the awning, still fully extended, and completely twisted up against a gigantic tree. I couldn’t believe it. Had I heard God wrong in coming north? This was not going well at all. I backed up and freed the awning from the tree and attempted to roll it back in. Thankfully, it actually still worked, and it creaked and groaned as it pulled back in and then stopped about a foot and a half from fully closed. I assessed the damage and found that the front carrier was pretty badly twisted. I grabbed a large mallet and began pounding it back into place as well as I could and was able to get the awning most of the way back in. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of the event itself… I’m still new to this blog and I frequently forget to take pictures of it so you’ll have to forgive me. These were taken much later but give you an idea of how it looks now:
Not too bad considering how tangled up it got in that tree. I feel like I kind of got away with this one, and learned a valuable lesson in the process. I settled myself down, said some prayers, and headed back out onto the road to a new destination I had found on the maps program my friend Wayne had set me up with.
This spot was a few miles up the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River between Stanley and Challis. There are several state run campsites along the road but I had spied a couple of nice looking dispersed spots on my maps program that I wanted to check out. This area was much better then where I had been. The smoke from the fires (forest fires in Idaho is a yearly thing) was much less dense here and the bugs, while still fairly persistent, were not nearly as bad. I found a nice spot next to a little reservoir where I could get Danny out for a swim and we set up for the night. The next morning I went for a run further north up the road and about a mile up the way I came across another vehicle path peeling off the road, barely visible but definitely there. I followed it down and found an amazing little spot, plenty big enough for my RV, right next to the river completely enclosed by trees. This spot was not on any of my maps or apps, but it was definitely an established dispersed camp site. I rushed home and packed up to move to the new spot.
We spent the next week here playing, running, reading, and just basically living as we attempted to wait out the heat wave. I was anxious to keep moving north but every time I checked my weather app it showed several more days of heatwave. Boise was getting up to 106 some days while Stanley was hitting around 78. The spot here was a little lower in elevation than Stanley so the temps here were closer to 85, which made it around 95 in the RV while the sun was high in the sky. It wasn’t too bad, but definitely not what I had in mind when I set out to escape north to cooler temperatures.
As the days ticked by I began to grow restless feeling like I should keep moving. This trip isn’t about camping alone in the wilderness, it’s about finding places where God is working and joining Him there. Trying to hide out here to avoid the heat is getting me nowhere, and I’m still hot anyways.
I know of a nice camping area by the river about 5 miles north of Challis called Watts Bridge Access that would provide some shade and more water access for Danny to play in. That would also get me close to a town with a church that I could attend on Sunday, so we made the short 60 mile trip there and settled in to our new spot. I was already liking this place better. It is a state run campground so there is not nearly as much privacy, but the bug situation here was already infinitely better and the shade was definitely helping to keep the interior of the RV a bit cooler. Granted, this comes at the cost of less charging for the solar batteries, but so far that system has far exceeded my expectations and a little shade slowing things down seemed to be a more than manageable tradeoff.
I’m not sure what adventures we’ll find here, if any. I am doing my best to just follow wherever God seems to be leading me. I won’t pretend to understand how He works… this journey has started out pretty rocky. In hindsight, maybe God has been trying to tell me exactly what I have been thinking: this trip is not about solitude. It’s about fellowship. There is no fellowship alone out in the middle of nowhere. I got a nice little lesson out of it too with my awning. But the bugs never stopped pestering me until I came to this spot closer to town. I like to think I am always listening and trying to be obedient to His will, but every time I look back I can see Him trying to tell me things that I am just not listening to. All I can do is keep trying to do better.
Within an hour of arriving here, I’ve already had a nice long conversation with another camper where we shared our stories and our views on the Lord while our dogs played together. He is a bit of a lost soul, so I made sure to give him a copy of Wild at Heart in hopes he may find some healing in it. I am already feeling infinitely better about this location. Isolation was doing me no good, and God knew it. I’ll have to do my best to keep my eyes and my heart open and try to find what He might have for me out here. I’ll keep you posted.
My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
Proverbs 3:11-12