An Overnight Trip That Wasn't - Part 2

Every time we find ourselves in Salmon we stop at Sacajawea.

Salmon is 3 1/2 hours drive from Atomic City, and by the time we get there inevitably we are ready to walk.

This beautiful place is a good place for our pup to wander and for us to wander while enjoying the sight of green, mountains and the river.

The Salmon River and Lemhi River both converge in this place, and every single time I walk here I fall in love with this area a little more.

And so we wandered - reading informational signs that we found regularly along the trails and enjoying the sight of Kory eagerly moving from one new smell to another, nose to the ground as always..................

By the time we had driven to Salmon, done some drive-bys of homes, wandered in a couple of stores, eaten, walked at the Sac Center and met with the lady I needed to meet with it was late afternoon.

We had planned on staying at a campground in Salmon overnight and sleeping in the back of the Tahoe.

Instead (and on the spur of the moment) we made the decision to head back to Challis.

We were meeting with a woman in Challis the next day and also wanted to see a home there was well.

Just one more drive by - just to satisfy our curiosity (as we had in Salmon) regarding homes we had seen on line.

By the time we pulled into the free campground alongside the river just on the outskirts of the small mountain town of Challis, all three of us were very tired.

It had been a good day, but it had been a very long day as well.

Wandering slowly around the campground with Kory while LC gathered some wood for a small camp fire I knew that none of us would be awake too much longer.

We were quickly running out of daylight (and quickly running out of steam)...............

We had used the cushions from an old camper as a mattress in the Tahoe last year, and had been surprised at just how comfortable we had been and how soundly we had slept in the back of our SUV.

On that trip we had all three curled up together and slept well in what we had been worried would be far-too-cramped quarters.

We spread those same camper cushions in the back of the Tahoe on this trip, climbed in just after dark and were grateful to call it a day.................

I tossed and turned for what seemed like a very long time.

Too warm.  The cushion underneath me felt lumpy and bumpy and uncomfortable.

Eventually I fell into a fitful sleep only to be woken by LC climbing out of the Tahoe to use the bathroom.

We both tossed and turned for another long time.

Eventually I fell into another fitful sleep only to be woken by LC climbing out of the Tahoe again to use the bathroom (well............at least I knew he was well hydrated and usually it was me climbing out for restroom breaks).

After he climbed back into the Tahoe the second time we both tossed and turned.

OK............this was not going according to plan.  Not at all.

Finally (and obviously frustrated) LC sat up and said "let's go home".

My first thought was "No.  The roads are too dangerous to travel at night".

This time of year there was never a week that went by up the valley where at least one vehicle did not hit an elk or deer.

I asked LC what time it was.  Hoping that it was only an hour or two until daylight, I was going to suggest that we just tough it out.

Turning on a headlamp, LC looked at his watch.

1:15.

1:15??

OK.  Let's do it.  Let's go slow and let's head home.

We would just have to make our apologies to Sue in Challis...................