Ready to Move

I've done the laundry, Dave has vacuumed the RV, we have begun the process of putting things away so they don't become flying objects inside the RV as we move tomorrow.  We are going to Great Falls Montana, will be there a week.  Then we have decided to alter our plans a little, we were going to drop down to the east side of Yellowstone National Park but decided to move to Cody, Wyoming instead.  Reason will be to bypass all the last hurrahs of families camping and visiting over Labor Day weekend.  And so we will wait until the week after to go to Yellowstone for a visit.

We have run into people who have been quite alarmed that we don't have plans to be somewhere after the next spot.  That's too much like a work schedule and we thankfully have put that phase of our lives way behind us.  If we decide to go a different direction, so be it.  We have also run into people who just can't break the chain of commitment, something we also have managed to avoid for the most part.  Right now we have 3 commitments, long term.  First, to get this RV into service when we get back to Arizona - Dave found an area in the front (nose) of the unit that needs attention and it is something he doesn't want to tackle because he doesn't have the tools.  Second, avoid cold/snow at all costs.  Which means we have to be back in AZ by late October.  And third, I have purchased an airline ticket to fly to Cleveland from Phoenix's Skyharbor Airport on the 6th of November.  We better be back by then!

Thoughts about this area:  we are ready to move on to see other things.  We were disappointed in our expectations of Glacier, but for people who have not seen snow capped mountains or experienced the wilderness, this is the place.  We both agree that Rocky Mountain National Park is the dearest to our hearts.  But we have much more to see so that may change.  Since starting this adventure in December 2010 we have visited 39 national parks/monuments/historical sites/battlefields and it's all good.  Kinda knowing where we will be traveling to before getting back, we will have 4 more national parks to visit, 3 of which we have been to before but over 20 years ago.

Another thought - we are still watching and reading and tracking all the wildfires going on around us.  There are over 45 right now in Montana and Idaho, and reading about people who have to evacuate their homes and possessions as a fire nears.  Let me tell you - it is an awful site to see.  And scary.  The wildfire that started while we were in Salmon, Idaho is raging out of control.  The drought here is terrible.  We have seen first hand the after effects of wildfires - takes 20 years or more for vegetation to come back to where it was prior to the fire.  Hope we all have a very wet winter.