the plan was for us to travel around the US for a couple of years after retirement and see places we never had time to visit during the working, raising children years.  The farm/ranch could do without us for a while and then we could settle down to raising horses, cows, sheep, chickens, and pigs.  Plenty of room for all of that, a milk cow, a big garden, an orchard, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and beautiful views of the Bitterroot Range to sweeten the evening glass of wine.  But, God had a different plan, He opted to heal my sweetheart in Heaven instead of here on Earth.  Thus I find myself working to adjust the plan to a solo active participant.  Since Bill and I were always partners in our recreational life as well as business (everything except 42, in fact!) he equipped me well to figure out how to travel with a trailer and visit all those places we talked about so long ago.  When we pulled a 30’ fifth wheel, he would pull over at some point and say, “Ok, it’s all yours for a while.”  And when I got nervous about that guy following too closely or scared as the rain began to pour down on the two lane highway, he would say, “Just relax, you got this.”

This blog is the diary of my departure from Montana and the dream that God allowed us to bring to reality.  It is the story of my transition from wife to widow and from being one half of a couple to just being one.  It is a story of change, of closing a very long chapter and beginning a new one that I hope will also last a long time.  If it strikes a chord in your journey, may God bless us both for that.