That’s how it feels here and now. Just what we were longing for. Even the animals are enjoying a level of freedom that they haven’t had since we left Fern Flat at the end of 2007.

Surrounded by the natural beauty of Flathead Lake Montana and the nearby hills, our days have been spent exploring via foot, bike and truck or just relaxing next to the shore. Grayson and the dogs revel in time off leash exploring the field around us. While we’ve been here, there has been quite a wonderful mix of social and non-social time. Much of the time, it is just the two of us (well, OK, the six of us since you must include the animals), but our host, Gene Presser does join us for dinner most nights and sometimes a neighbor or two stops by as well.

The days have flowed easily one to the next and we feel as though we’ve stepped out of time. Sleeping with the ramp door down, the night sky as been so dark that we’ve actually seen “starbeams” reflected on the lake. Lessons learned at Seacliff about off-grid living have served us well. We’ve been here for a week and have not needed the generator at all. Holding tank, both fresh and wastewater, are a factor, but we are no where near our limits. Fantasies of spending longer amounts of time here have taken hold. Waking to a fall chill in the air helps to remind us that these perfect conditions won’t last forever. We know that it is time to break camp and head down the highway, but finding the motivation to leave is not going to be easy.

Since leaving Seacliff, we’ve taken a rather leisurely and circuitous route towards Canyon Lake, Texas. We will cover roughly 4500 miles. Had we driven the most direct routing it would have been less than 1800 miles. In the past, we’ve made the trip from Canyon Lake to Aptos in 5 days. This time it will be at least a month. We’ve been visiting some of our favorite people and places along the way. In addition, we’ve discovered some new favorite places. I wish we’d thought to get pictures of Rodger (he joined us for dinner our first night out) and from our visit with our previous neighbors, Don and Fran Foster. They are still as amazing as ever. Fran is the most beautiful 80+ woman you’ll ever see.

Two nights at Ennis Riffle on the Rogue gave us just the solitude that we needed after the extremely social scene at Seacliff. We spent Labor Day weekend with Bob and Helen McAvoy, a perfect way to avoid holiday crowds that can be a problem for those of us living on the road. Next, a day of errands and a visit with our friends at AM Solar in Springfield. Greg and Deb and their crew do a fine job of providing solar products, education and installation services specifically to RVers, but more than that, we feel like welcome guests in their company. In the morning we set out in uncharted territory through eastern Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Feeling adventurous, we chose some lesser state roads in Idaho and were rewarded with a stay in a little City RV park on the banks of Lake Couer d’Alene. When I say “lesser” roads… that’s really a reference to coming upon a sign (while descending a 6% grade) that says “one lane road ahead for trucks and buses” (It’s always a bad sign when you find a stretch of road with LOTS of skid marks on the pavement!) Come around a curve and suddenly we’re coming to an underpass that’s about a lane and a half wide. The pick up truck coming up the hill was driving up the middle of the road and with more than 8,000 pounds behind me, stopping was not an option. How it all turned out well is a mystery (if that line doesn’t mean anything to you…see “Shakespeare In Love”.

The day we spent driving from Harrison, Idaho to Flathead Lake ranks as the most beautiful day of travel so far. That’s quite a statement, considering that last year we visited Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, etc, etc, etc. The only thing missing is a moose sighting. Maybe tomorrow…