JJ

Hard day driving.  Rough roads, lots of heavy crosswinds (30 - 40 mph).  Slow down, speed up.  I am amazed at the people that are willing to risk life and limb to go down the road a bit faster.  If I’m doing 5 mph less than the posted speed limit, should that lead to such frustration?  Also, note to self ~ when you are taking back roads and find a Flying J in the middle of nowhere, stop and fill up your tank no matter how much gas you have.  Otherwise you might find yourself taking a scenic tour of Diamondville, WY (including detours through alleyways!) in search of a diesel pump you can pull into and out of with a 26’ trailer. Took 23.09 gallons….

Originally planned for 2 nights, but when I checked in, I asked about the possibility of staying an extra night.  Glad I did.  Pulled into my site, the manager said to let him know if I needed anything.  No problem.  Got the levelers out and pulled onto them, chocked the tires, unhooked from the truck and started hooking up utilities.  Figured out the water regulator, much to the amusement of my neighbors as I read the instructions for each step.  No worries, it worked.  Hooked up the power (and turned it ON) so now I have water and electric. I feel like a pro….or is that a boss?!?!  Time for dinner and bed. 

 Heard the wind blowing when I woke up and checked the weather on my app - rain and wind.  Great!!  So, load Jake in the truck and let’s go see what kind of shots I can get, who knows, maybe a nice foggy sort of atmosphere.  Nope, just cold, windy, and rainy.  And, as I was contemplating going a little further around, it started to snow.  Hmmmm, time to get off the mountain. To add a little extra excitement, I met a very wide load coming up the winding roads as I was going down.  Thank you to the State Troopers giving him escort and getting all the muggles out of his way!

Back to the RV park, maybe time to get the propane going for cooking, hot water, and heat!   Hmmm.  Nothing seems to be happening.  Switch tanks.  Nothing still seems to be happening.  Maybe I am missing something.  Go over to the office and ask if the manager can maybe stop by and help me figure this out.  Finally got cold enough that I plugged in the oil heater even though there isn’t a lot of floor space.  Around 5 we figured out that I had no propane.  That’s on me.  I think the seller told me there might be some left in one tank.  I should have just filled both tanks before I started out, that’s a rookie mistake and I know better.  He filled up both tanks and we determined that everything else is automatic as soon as the propane hits the stove.  Neither the furnace nor the water heater needs to be lit.  And, I also noticed that the water heater works on either propane or electric….

Thanks to the extra day, I got some really good shots this morning. At least I think so, let me know what you think.  Same as yesterday, the hunters and I kept bumping into one another.  Since I was primarily on paved roads, it didn’t interfere with their hunting.  I heard one shot.

God is good every day, and every day, God is good.

“A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” Proverbs 27:7  NKJV                                                                                                                                                                                                                           SDG

JJ

Oh my, what a day!  Lots of last minute stuff to do before I go to Hamilton for the closing, a few more things to load in the trailer.  Jared stops by to say goodbye and we go over logistics for the cows until the closing on the two south parcels.  Gonna be late getting to the title company.  Thinking to myself every five minutes, “this is the last time I will see this”, “this is the last time I will do this”.  Forced now to put the period on this chapter and it is very hard, even though I am anxious to get started on the next one.  Takes an hour at the title company as a couple of the closing numbers have to be corrected.  Not providing a $4500 credit AND a $4500 price reduction.  No worries, they can fix it without me.  TPMS is working good on the truck, but I turned off the trailer and can’t remember how to turn it back on.  Tried a couple of things and now I don’t see either one…..  Take a break at the rest area at the top of Lost Trail Pass and called TechPro.  A very nice gentleman walked me through getting everything back on line.  Thank goodness, I didn’t have to re-program everything, where the heck did I put the bloody instruction manual with all my notes!?!?

I feel better knowing exactly what is going on with the tires so I’m gradually getting more comfortable pulling the trailer down the road.  Just “keep my mind in the middle” and it’ll be fine.  Somewhere between Challis, ID and Mackay, ID ~ not a lot of traffic, but I’m going slower than most going up the hills.  Ram truck passes me and about a mile down the road I see him parked half-on, half-off the shoulder and go WTH!!  I signaled, moved over and then saw what he had seen, about 30 elk running flat out on a trajectory to cross the highway.  I looked over and about that time the lead cow looked over and saw me and changed her mind.  He had stopped to watch, I turned the herd!

Got parked in my space at the RV park, did not unhook as I’m only staying one night, but just took the weight off the truck.  Note to self ~ next time after you get everything plugged in, turn the 30 amp outlet ON.  Thank you Jayco for making the refrigerator light blink if it can’t find electricity or propane.  ^_^

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  John 1:5

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 SDG

Moment of truth.  I decided to have some decals put on N’ohana just for fun.  Trouble is, I have to take it in to Missoula to get them put on.  ^_^  Ok, here we go, hook up the trailer to the truck.  What did I do with the photos we took when Warren was here to help me?  He made me document the hook-up process as well as the generator loading process so I would have something to work with when I had to do it alone.  Thank you, God, for a brother that understands.  

I did it!!!  All by myself.  Of course, I FaceTimed Warren so he could check me out before I started out, just to be sure I was safe.  And, I love the result!!! 

Maybe I should explain the N’ohana.  I worked for a while as a consultant in Honolulu where I learned that ‘0hana means family or a family place.  I also learned that, due to the very high cost of real estate in the Hawaiian Islands, it is common for children to build a new ‘home’ on their parent’s property.  If said ‘home’ is built without benefit of a building permit, it is known as a n’ohana.  Since my travel trailer will be my ohana for the next few months and since it is also a non-traditional home (although more and more people these days are becoming full-time rv’ers) I dubbed her N’ohana.  The artwork on the door is from Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring and I thought it would just be a fun thing to do.  Looks pretty cool, don’t you think?