camping

These are more scenes from trip to Montana. The color of the water is an odd grey-green, from the snow melt sediment, I guess.

For the past week I have been seriously collecting camping gear. A long time ago I first camped without even a tent, using only a piece of clear plastic that I fashioned into a tarp by rolling up rocks in the corners, tying them with twine and stringing from trees. After a few years, I bought a used tent from a friend. That later led to a bigger tent once I was married and had 3 babies to take along. Then a pop-up camper that was one of the most beloved posessions of my life. Then a series of travel trailers, and then nothing. No camper, or trailer or even a plastic home-made tarp.

So, now we've decided to camp again, really camp in a tent. But we didn't have one and being of advancing age and decreptitude, we opted for luxury in the form of cots, an attached screen house, and lots of new stuff. The brand spanking new tent should arrive this week in it's 10x16 ft. glory with two sky-lights, a hole for the electric extention cord, and room for the brand spanking new cots. They have already arrived and are massive. 45" wide and rated up to 600lbs. There should be room for two cots inside the tent, if we stow our clothes underneath the bed. Then, there's the Kansas City something-team table. Really, it's called a tail-gaters table, but for an unknown reason, the logo table for KC was $30 cheaper than anything else. Not being loyal to any sort of team made it an easy decision and now the camping neighbors will think we're from Kansas. Then there's the pots, pans, dishes, silverware, water jugs, dishpan, coffee pots and all the other things that a car camper needs. I've been to most of the goodwill, salvation army resale stores in town and ebay is more familiar to me than ever. I've got some cool stuff, but the prize so far in cool is the set of Tupperware hourglass salt/pepper shakers I got for 59 cents at Goodwill.

The coffeepots have been problematic, but the problem is the unexpected abundance. I had an old coffeepot used throughout all the camping incarnations, but it was rusty. It was a black enamelware, chipped pot with no innerds. I found one on ebay that came with 3 enamelware cups and one plate. I won the bid, and it should be on it's way. Then DH said he preferred stainless steel. So I went to Amazon and bought an excellent appearing one and it should be on it's way. Then yesterday, at a lucky yardsale, a woman was going out of the camping business and she had a blue enamelware coffeepot for $2. How could I pass that up? (if you are losing count, we're up to 3 new pots and one old rusty one). And then, rummaging in our storage area, BIG enamelware coffeepot number 5 turned up. In keeping with the 60's theme I seem to have going, I'm seriously looking for the pastel Tupperware glasses of my youth. I'm watching a few auctions on ebay for those.

This is where I live

...although I don't have this view from my house, it gives a pretty good idea of the beauty of the area. Like hair, people always want what they don't have. If you have curly hair, you want straight, and if you have brown hair, you want blonde. If you live where there are mountains and trees, you long for sight distance and more sky. If the country were smaller, all of that could be in the same geographic area and maybe we'd all be satisfied. But probably not.

more pictures from glacier and north dakota

I love stark-looking pictures. I don't know why. My favorite artists are ones like Hopper and Wyeth who show barebones or lots of emptiness. I'm not an artist and haven't taken any art classes since 9th grade, so I may not be using the right terms for what I'm describing, but it's the possibilities that the pictures have in them that keeps my eye focused on them. I guess that's why I like the plains so much. I can't understand why people say that it is boring. Although I've never lived there, I have spent weeks at a time looking across the landscapes and I enjoyed every second of it. And if it has cows around, all the better.

pictures from my trip to Montana

gay marriage

this is another picture from MT, i could happily live in the middle of that field.

Tomorrow, same sex marriage becomes legal again in California. Not only for Californians, but everyone else who choses to go there to get married. If I were gay and in a committed relationship, I'd be on the plane for California tomorrow, (or maybe today). It is unbelieveable to me that people who love each other can not legally marry each other. It's a civil rights issue, a constitutional issue, and a moral issue that should outrage everyone.

I work with someone who identifies herself as a Republican. There are actually a few Republicans that I like a lot, and I'm always surprised when I do. In a conversation about a gay co-worker, this Republican said sincerely and regretfully that it was too bad that this other co-worker did not have the same freedom to share his private life and partner with people like the rest of us do. I told her that she didn't sound like much of a Republican. She laughed, and insisted that she is a Republican, but she didn't sound too convincing.

My point is that it's changing. Everyone knows gay people, everyone has gay people in their family (whether they know it or not) and maybe someday soon the legal discrimination will cease. And then we can work on the personal discrimination and prejudices.

North Dakota

Here is the first of many many pictures from my recent Amtrak trip. It was the first time I'd spent a long time on a train, and it was a long time travelling from TN to MT and back in 6 days. The best part was being relaxed and rested once I got across the country and the speed of travel without being on a stupid airplane. The worst part was having to sit with different strangers at every meal and make the same small talk each time. Where are you from, where are you going, where have you been....and so on. I really disliked it. There was one person I wanted to slap and choke after she started talking about how we should be drilling for oil everywhere in this country because of the price of gas. Most of the people were benign, and a couple were really interesting, but some were plumb annoying.

Train travel is a good thing but Amtrak trains are worn out and need some overhauling. They need more trains, more routes and to be made a priority in mass transit. All the trains we were on (4), were really full and were so full the staff seemed stressed and the dining car had trouble keeping up and kept running out of food. As a sleeper car passenger we were considered First Class and got special treatment, priority seating for meals, snacks, champagne, wine and cheese tastings, cookies and lots of attention from the car attendant. That part was fun. The sleeping part was great after the first night. On the first night we were on a shorter train to Chicago and too close to the front and the train horn, which they blew almost constantly as we crossed roads. I couldn't get used to the horn, but after that with Benadryl and ear plugs, I slept like a baby, only better. I still want someone to come shake my bed all night so I can get that train sensation.

fields of the wood and visa versa

There is a place not too far from here called Fields of the Wood. Maybe it's a bibical reference, i don't know, but it's very bizarre. It's really far away from any towns or many homes and it's in the hills of N.C. Suddenly you come across this big white arch over a little road, and looking up the road about a quarter mile is a whole bunch of hillsides covered with things from the bible. This is a shot of the 10 commandments. If I'd turned the other way, there was the tomb that Jesus was buried in and a big white wheel that he rolled away to escape. There's a pool for baptisms, churches, gardens and other assorted buildings. It covers many acres and a horseshoe shaped cove of hills. People go to look around, climb the many steps to the top of this hill, have picnics, and I don't know what-all. I had always heard of it, but never seen it for myself. Now I have.

Tomorrow we leave for our train trip. First, we drive across the state to the train station. The train station in Memphis is not being used right now because of a sinkhole, so we are catching the train in Newbern, TN in the middle of the night. Then on to Chicago by Tues. morn then after a few hours, on to Montana. Lots of pics when I return, promise.