Epic Adventure - Day 4

    9 hours of driving 

We left Petty Creek, MT this morning around 8:30.  The last few days of our True Face Cohort have been impactful.  Lots of discussion around marriage and how to see God’s good gifts in our spouse and how we can look at issues together instead of “their issue / my issue”.  Ask for more information if you like.

A great dinner last night and we decided to ask several hunter and conceal carry, Jesus loving, fellas why they like to have a pistol with them at all times.  Such a good chat and we hope both groups learned something from each other as there were valid points on both sides.  It moved into discussion around Christian nationalism and how our faith is being co-opted by political movements.   We generally agreed that was not healthy and we want to keep our faith as the basis and filter for how we view all of our lives, including any political affiliations.

Up early this am and off to the next location, we are traveling from Petty Creek to Stanley Idaho.  We were in Stanley a few years ago for a backpacking trip and we’ve wanted to return ever since.

Took off from Petty Creek around 8:30 and after some deer dodging on the road out we hit I-90 and made it to Missoula for a quick stop off to fill in gaps from our trailer.

**** Alert - make sure you close all your interior doors and latch them before towing ****

Mostly a boring stop and then we were driving south along the Bitterroot range.  Beautiful views, boring book, sleeping wife.  2 hours later we arrived in Salmon, Idaho.  This was after we crossed our 3rd major pass, at Lost Trail / Powder Mountain.  It was snowing . . . . I was a bit stressed driving a trailer up and down curvy mountain roads in the snow.  Thankfully, nothing was sticking as it’s early season so frankly no reason to worry.  Just a touch of anxiety leaking through.  

Salmon was a sweet stop for lunch and a nap and a dog walk and a grocery story visit and a full bottle of olive oil breaking open and spilling everywhere in the trailer.  We think the bottom cracked earlier from a cabinet fail and the cracks finally pushed through as the whole bottom of the bottle broke off and a liter of olive oil became a treatment for our trailer floor.  Bummer.

                                         

First night in Idaho with our electric blankets and cocktails.  We just want to be outside.

Upon arriving in Stanley Idaho, we set up camp quickly and made our way outside.  Dinner followed shortly as did sunset.  With temperatures falling below freezing, we were quick to get inside, turn on the heat and settle into our routines of cooking, reading, and painting.