Thursday, June 25, 2009

Paris Island, Idaho


Well, we have made it to our summer "home"! We arrived around 2:00 this afternoon in Ashton, Idaho where the Forest Service Office is located. We had to fill out some paperwork - so they can pay us (which will be once a month and automatically deposited into our checking account in Florida - how cool is that??)- then we came out to the camp location. It is beautiful, but not exactly what I thought it would be. First, we can't see any mountains because we are up on top of one and we are completely surrounded by trees - but it is beautiful. The other volunteer that is here is right across the "street" from us. He is like the 'Jack of all trades' and he helped Dan and I set up the camper, cut some limbs off a couple of trees so we could extend the awning and just said if we need anything to let him know. He did tell me that he took a picture of a moose about 100 feet from the back of our camper - so guess what blind is now up all the way so I can see out the back. The temperature today was about 80 but the low tonight should be in the 40's. The mosquitos are TERRIBLE!!!!! They have had around 3 weeks of rain and the rivers are way up. We were told that the mosquitos would be bad for about 2 weeks. That's not too bad.

We went out to dinner tonight - okay we had to check things out. I'll really get into cooking and see how that will go but we had to go and check out the local "inn". Plus, we don't get ANY television reception at all - which means I need to make real good friends with these people so I can watch football in about 6 weeks! That is important to me cause I love my football. (To tell you the truth, Dan is already talking about getting hold of Direct TV again and seeing about getting a portable dish - we'll see.) In the meantime, looks like I will be doing a lot of reading and keeping you guys updated on our adventures.

After dinner we just drove around a little - actually, we found where we will be working and looked around there - then after leaving there we drove down a gravel road and we saw a herd of deer in the distance eating. Got the binoculars out and closer to us was a momma deer with 3 - yes, I said 3 - fawns. We watched them for awhile until something spooked them and they ran off - and no I did not have my camera with me - I had taken into the camper when we unloaded the truck. I will start carrying it with me all the time so when we see wildlife I can get pictures so you guys can see it too.

Tomorrow the lady that is in charge of Johnny Sack Cabin (where we will be working) is suppose to come by and see us and then Saturday we are going out to the cabin to have our orientation. They have already entrusted us with a key to the place. I also plan on doing some cleaning - you know sweep, run the vacuum, clean the bathroom, and dust - that should take all of 30 - 45 minutes. We do have to find a place to do laundry - that could be the only problem that I have seen so far. We are also going to go into the post office and check on how we can get our mail - probably general delivery, but we are going to double check with them. Soooooo, tomorrow looks like it will be a busy day for us, but we are ready to settle down for a while - I know the pups are. (Sam had started to look at us with that "are we ever going to stop this truck for longer than one night" look.) They both seem happy to explore around the camper today. We will need to clear a larger "yard" so we can keep track of them (if they get out in the grass around the camper we can't see them at all because the grass is so tall), That will be important because not only do we have moose, deer, and elk. but we also have BEARS. Oh! What fun we are going to have - Dan is in hog heaven! If any of you want to come out there are plenty of cabins close that you can rent and there are lodges close by also - Come see us if you can - if you can't just stay with me on the blog and I'll keep trying to let you know what is going on.

BTW - in the next couple of days I'll get the budget ready - and come up with the figures of what we spent coming out and how we will live to reach our goal of living on our retirement. I do want to let you know the good and the bad of this adventure - even the money part. So, I will get those figures ready. Keep the comments coming and we miss you guys back east.


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