Libby Top Ten List

It's our last day in Libby and with Erik at work finishing up, I am sitting here with espresso in hand to complete our top ten all-time favorite things of this pretty little City of Eagles.

So, without further ado, here we go...our Libby Top Ten!

10) Libby Cafe - C'mon, that Apple Cream Crumble pie will go down in history!

9) Kootenai Falls and the Suspension Bridge - Ok, yes, technically these are two different things but since they share a parking lot and trailhead, I figured I could get away with it.

8) Riding the STOKR - Ok, people, don't get carried away, this is Erik's pick. For those non-cyclists out there, it is a 2 day bike ride and stands for Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River. 100+ miles later, Erik came riding home hungry and tired with a big grin and lots of stories to tell. I, on the other hand, elected to sit by the creek and read a book. You decide who the crazy person is!

7) Old US Hwy 2 Interpretive Trail - We stumbled upon this trail on our second day in Libby. It is the old highway from Libby to Troy that some hardy folks carved into the mountains in the late 1800's so they had a place to drive their Model T's. Geez, I'd have a hard time riding my mountain bike on portions of it so how they got those old cars up and around some of those corners is beyond me. The sense of history and being able to see pictures of the road in its heyday and to see how little sections have changed today is really neat. There are still wheel ruts in the granite roadbed and the old handcarved granite curbs and metal guardrails meant to keep the speeding hooligans on the road. Surrounded by cedar forests with glimpses of the Kootenai River below it truly is a beautiful trail.

6) The donuts at Rosauers - Ok, I'm blaming this one all on Erik! (Lori, do you see what I'm up against?!)

5) The Panoramic Cabinet Mountains - Libby is surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I've ever seen. Ok, the Missions and, of course, Glacier still capture my heart and, yea, the Alps around Brienz, Switzerland can make you pause but, wow, those Cabinets are a sight to behold. I can't count how many times I've been out hiking, looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. Absolutely breathtaking!

4) Sitting by the creek at the end of the day - I think the picture says it all.

3) The miles and miles of endless wilderness and hiking trails - What an amazing feeling it is to know that I could start down a trail and keep walking for weeks and never see another person. While poor Erik was working, the dogs and I did our best to check out as many trails as we possibly could. And for a budding trail runner, it was the ultimate joy to be able to get out and huff and puff, sweat and curse, fall down, roll around, stumble to my feet and keep up the asthmatic wheeze and know that no one had to witness my humiliation. In all seriousness, the twists and turns through this mountain paradise actually made me a better runner as I just had to keep going to see what was around the next bend in the trail.

2) Red Dog Pizza - So, you make the turn where you see the sign saying "Yaak" with an arrow pointing the way, wind up through the forest past some old homesteads and you'll come upon this nondescript wooden building on the right at the bend in the road. No sign out front just a neon "Open" in the window. If you can figure out where it is, you will be able to experience pizza nirvana! Thank you, thank you Sara and Marci for sharing the secret!

Sara, Marci, Bob, Erik and me preparing to dive in

And, now, for our NUMBER ONE pick.....drumroll please......

1) Site #13 at Woodland RV Park - I know, I know that doesn't seem very exciting but you really had to be there. We fell asleep to a gurgling creek every night, played drunk frisbee on the grass after having our famous homemade margaritas, hosted dog parties almost every day, watched deer, pileated woodpeckers and various other wildlife stroll right by our windows, and enjoyed our morning coffee under towering pine trees. It really was a little slice of heaven!

Now our time in Libby is drawing to a close and I have to say I am a bit melancholy about leaving. I do want to send out a warm hug and big thank you to our new found Libby friends: Sara and Jay, Marci and Bob, Jeff, Leslie, Jim and, of course, Bodie and Diesel (Woodland Park's resident canines). We do hope we'll cross paths again!

Now, I'd better go and finish packing......next stop, KETCHIKAN!

Our First Houseguest

Nadia and Her Huckleberry Flapjack

We've been on the road for awhile now and, though there are MANY things we love, one of the things that we don't love about our gypsy lifestyle is not getting to see our friends and family very often. Since I'm a horrible phone and email communicator, it makes it seem that even more time and distance separates us from our loved ones as we cruise on down the road.

Well, imagine our surprise when we call up our good friend Nadia to see if we can crash with her for a couple of nights for a whirlwind trip to Missoula, and she says that she was hoping to come up to Libby and get a taste of motorhome life! Are you kidding me?!

We had such a great time and, though it was MUCH too short, Erik, I and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I can't speak for Nadia as she elected to sleep on the full-size pull-out in the living room which happens to come with her own half-bath and the luxury of falling asleep to the babbling brook outside...and the snoring of three dogs inside but I'd like to think it wasn't too traumatic for her.

It was a couple of sunny, sparkling days of good food, good wine, a paddle on the river, a misguided trail run (sorry about that, Nadia!), beers at the VFW Club (yes, I stayed home and manned the fort on that one), and even a quick paddle on the Kootenai River. Oh, and the event that topped off the stay for Erik? Nadia's suggestion we do a tour of the local diners and see which had the best breakfast. We only made it to two (Henry's and Libby Cafe) before we ran out of steam but what a blast!

Thank you, Nadia, and we'll keep that pull-out warm for you just in case you do decide to make the trek to Ketchikan. We miss you already!

Libby Life

Kootenai Falls

Hey there blogger fans, Susan and I have been getting adjusted to our latest move to Libby, Montana a few weeks ago and are both really enjoying life in another rural town. We took a couple of weeks to decompress after our winter assignment in Quincy, CA by traveling to the beach and then on up to Montana. Our friends Kay and Terry were kind enough to host us for a week and I picked up a few shifts at Community Medical Center. It was good to see my old coworkers again, but it wasn't long before we had to get on to Libby.

Libby is nestled at the base of the Cabinet Mountains and I must say that they are some of the most magnificent mountains that I have EVER seen. The entire area is an outdoorsmen's paradise. We have had the chance to get out into the backcountry, but the snow level is still too low to get up to the high lakes. The bears are starting to wake up and have (thankfully) not run into any yet. We have seen tons of deer, a few elk and lots of smaller critters.

I'm working at Libby Care Center, the towns only SNF. It is the best nursing facility that I've worked to date. The staff is great and the facility has a great rehab space. It makes working there a real pleasure.





Kayaking the Bull River

Monterey to Missoula to Libby

Wow, we've come a long way in three weeks. We covered more than 2000 miles, saw some beautiful country and are now settling in for the beginning of my next job in Libby, Montana.

We took off, Friday evening, after finishing up my last day in Quincy, and headed for the coast. We made it to Santa Nella, CA, known for Anderson's split pea restaurant with it's dutch windmill, and a nice state park by the name of San Luis Creek. We got in a little after dark and set up camp for the night. We went to sleep to the sounds of the coyotes howling in the distance.

Saturday morning was sunny and warm. It was a perfect beginning of our "vacation." I say vacation because as of then, I still didn't have an assignment inked. We had been holding out for an Alaskan assignment and my recruiter was pressing to get me an interview. But with no real prospects, we were on a scheduled break from the rat race. I was a little stressed at first, but I knew that things would eventually work out. So off we were for Monterey. But first I stopped to see my parents' grave site at the San Joaquin Veteran's Memorial Cemetery. It has been several years since Susan and I have been there and were happy to see that it was even more beautiful than it was the last time.


Monterey was cool. It has also been a while since we've been to the beach and we just had to stay there a couple days. The dogs got there first taste of the ocean (OMG it was funny to watch) and we got to walk on the beach at sunset. Sunday we went to the Monterey Aquarium and hung out down town.




It was on to Grass Valley, CA and DeMartini RV for some long-needed maintenance which took the better part of two days and then we were heading for our home, Missoula, Montana.

Our friend's Kay and Terry were kind enough to host us for more than a week. We were plugged in and enjoying the Missoula life. We ate at some of our favorite restaurants, saw some of our friends and family, including Tom, Susan's brother. He hosted us for Hong Kong Chef Chinese and the Amazing Race, and then we were off for Glacier National Park and Libby!

See, during these two weeks I was offered two permanent positions in AK, but no traveling ones. I did 5 days of fill-in work at Community Medical Center (my former employer) and had to start looking for jobs in other states. I just missed an Orthopedics job in Salinas, CA (next to Monterey), but got the SNF job in Libby.

So with some direction we were free to roam around the state, and we did! We went to Glacier for a day, hung out in Kalispell for part of the day, went into the Kootenai National Forest and camped in the Cabinet Mountains. Libby is in Northwestern Montana and is arguably the most beautiful part of the state. The mountains are huge and the rivers are wild. This is grizzly country and is a mecca for hiking, biking and kayaking!

So here we are, ready to start the next leg of our Grand Adventure. Spring is here and summer is on the way. This may not be Alaska, but it's not far off...

Quincy Top Ten List

Well it has come down to our last night in Quincy, California and what an incredible night it was. We took the pooches out for one last hike up a deserted road and soaked up some late afternoon sun. Susan and I began to reminisce over our three months here in Quincy and decided to post a top ten list. So, here goes.

10. Pioneer Park. This was our home base, command central, the center of our RV universe. We thoroughly enjoyed this park where we lived for these months.

9. Flickers...tap, tap, tap. These hooligans kept us company while we stayed in the park. But we had to keep our eye on them 'cause they took a liking to RV air conditioners, as well as the neighboring propane tanks, whoops.

8. The Drunk Brush. We just loved this little wine bar. Great atmosphere including fine wines, art, and music.

7. Riding with the Plumas-Sierra Cycling Club. It was good getting to know some of the local cyclists and riding out on Chandler Road. Thanks guys and gals.

6. Morning Thunder Cafe. There is nothing like strong coffee and warming up by the wood stove on a cold winter morning. Ahh!

5. Studio Art and the First Friday Art Walk. This small town has a few, really cool art galleries and our favorite was Studio Art.

4. Pangaea. Don't let the fact that we're in California fool you. Pangaea is about the only place in Quincy where you can get GREAT, vegetarian food. This is a hip little cafe that has good beer and excellent food.

3. Quincy Natural Foods. It's a mini-version of our Good Food Store in Missoula. Lots of organic produce, bulk food and tasty deli snacks. Yum.

2. Kelly and Sebastian Bunster. We really loved meeting another traveling couple! Now we have someone whom we can share experiences and follow them through their journey. Their blog is http://www.bunsteradventures.blogspot.com/

1. Long Walks through the Forest. We covered a lot of ground, whether it was 20 degrees and snowing, or 60 degrees and sunny. Absolutely nothing could beat getting out in the woods in the early afternoon and walking with the dogs. Most of the time we were the only ones in the forest. We hiked to lakes still half frozen over and on some great trails.

So there you have it. Goodbye Quincy. Thanks for the run.

Erik and Susan.

Sprung a Leak

Life on the road has been full of fun and adventure...sometimes too much adventure! Being in the mountains, we've seen our fair share of storms roll through and the last set brought a bit more rain than snow. Unfortunately, that rain managed to find its way inside our motorhome. Damn!

Well, of course, this called for a bit of patchwork to get us through until we can get the problem fixed (a leaky bedroom slide-out that no amount of duct tape will solve) so we drew straws and poor Erik lost the draw (ok, he volunteered knowing my propensity for falling off things and figuring it would be easier to fix the slide-out than my head but I thought the drawing of straws sounded a bit more diplomatic) so up on the roof he went.

I, like any good wife, stood below and gave advice....and snapped a few pictures while I was at it (women=multitasking, n'est-ce pas?) .

I'm happy to say we've been drip free (ok, I'm tempted to go for the joke but I know payback can be a bitch!) and look forward to sunnier days ahead.

Lassen National Park

Lake Almanor

Spring is finally here and this week has been an amazingly good week. The sun has been out in all it's glory, all week, and we think that we are going to make it! I have just one more week left before we head back to Montana and then we hope to be going to Alaska for the summer. The past few weeks have been tough. The weather has been blah and it's been all we could do just to hang on. We have still gotten out some though and here are a few pics.

Susan and I drove up to Lassen Volcanic National Park two weekends ago. It was when the weather was just miserable here in Quincy and I knew that the climb in elevation would get us into some sunshine.

It was still winter here in the High Sierra, so on a cold and foggy Saturday morning we took off for Lake Almanor and the town of Chester for goodies and then went up to Lassen. Lassen is like a miniature Yellowstone and the drive up there reminded us of our trip there last February. We stopped in Chester for Coffee and pastries (overrated) and then we climbed over Morgan Summit at 8000' and headed into the park.

As you can see, the park was still buried in snow and we could only get in to the visitor's center. But that was okay for us. We just needed to get out of the muck and see the sun. And it was beautiful. We will definitely come back in the summer when the park is open.

Have a happy first day of spring!

Viva the Tour (of California, that is)

It's been a couple of weeks since the Amgen Tour of California, but I thought that it would be worthwhile to talk about it, since Montana native, Levi Leipheimer, won it for the third year straight. I could hear "go Levi go," from Butte Montana to Quincy California to our vantage spot on the Capitol Mall in Sacramento. Yes, we were there for the Prologue in Sacramento on Valentine's Day. What a perfect Valentine's gift from my wife, a trip to see many of the world's Pro's duke it out for the golden, leader's jersey! And for the record, I made sure to get my wife a BIG bar of chocolate. Thanks again honey.

Okay, so back to the race. Wow! We got there before the start and were able to check out the Expo and all of the teams' RV's. We got within a few feet of the guys as they were warming up and we also saw Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy as he hung around the Quick Step team van. It was too cool for this wanna be Lance Armstrong to mingle with the Big Boys.

As for Lance, he was completely mobbed and we couldn't get within 20 feet of him (and behind 10 rows of fans.) It was incredible to see. Poor Dempsey didn't even get the Rockstar welcome that was given to Lance.

The Prologue was a 2.4 mile long course through downtown Sacramento and was a time trial. A TT is a race against the clock and the fastest man wins. It was won by Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara, but Levi finished 2nd, only a few seconds back. Lance broke the top ten in his first real test since retiring three years ago. Not too shabby, if you ask me. So here are a few pictures to whet your whistle and give you a sense of the atmosphere.

I've posted a few more pics on the Team Stampede Blog at http://www.ts5vvraves.blogspot.com/

What the...SNOW?!

So, I totally jinxed myself with my last post as it's been snowing, and I mean FEET not inches, for a few days now. Sigh..... Well, at least 3 of us are excited about it!

Citrus and Sunshine

Ahhhh, citrus and....

sunshine!

Two things that California is known for and both of which I am completely enamoured.

Let's start with sunshine, oh that glorious Vitamin D-packed shimmery substance that warms your pale, winter skin and just makes you want to get up and dance...ummm, or nap like a cat depending on how the day is going. What could be better than slipping into your Surf Baby flip flops and basking in those golden rays in THE MIDDLE OF WINTER?! Come on, folks! There are many things I love and MISS about my adopted home of Missoula but that winter inversion ain't one of 'em! So, any day that the temp is above zero and I can frolic in the sun is, quite frankly, a great day to be alive!

Now, you add fresh citrus fruit to the mix (and I mean fresh-off-the-tree-and-straight-to-my table and not those frozen, mealy, orangish lumps they try to pass off as citrus in those northern regions that shall remain nameless) and, as far as I'm concerned, you've got yourself a little slice of heaven. Having grown up picking oranges straight off the tree, I never could get in to those orange imposters so I have been on an orange and tangelo high since my first week here. Yummmm!

So, as I'm sitting here typing in the sun, I realize that the only thing that would make this absolute paradise would be a nice warm ocean breeze...hmmm, and a BEACH! You paying attention, baby? I'm still not sure how my request for a beach assignment got translated into pine trees and polar fleece but, hey, I've got the sunshine and a big, juicy orange in hand so I guess I'll just slip on my flip flops and do a little California dreamin'.....