Yes, Jim Rowley says a black bear has been seen recently several mornings in a row at East Valley Road and Jones Street. Neighbors beware and hide the trash. I will write about this more next week with more details.
Now I am going to let you in on a little secret about myself that not very many people know: I get really nervous before a road trip, even when the trip is just for one night in a tent.
Sunday I made a list of all the things I thought we should need. I spent the better part of the day and evening packing, cleaning, double checking my list. I noticed my trailer's registration tag wasn't current. Where did I put that? I am very organized and I knew it had to be in a logical place. I continued to pack firewood in the back of the sidecar, I'll put a bag of frozen water bottles in the front and our clothes are in the trunk, jackets in the saddlebags. What am I forgetting?
I think I have everything. I'll write a short note on the counter to remind me of last minute things to pack in the morning: cell phone, purse and load the ice chest. Jenee and I have bathed, shampooed and laid out our morning clothes. OK, she's in bed asleep. It's my turn at 10 p.m. It's hot tonight. Too hot. I toss and turn until about midnight. Then my husband comes in and notices one of the dogs had jumped in bed with me, they never do that. No wonder I was so hot. He puts the dog away in his own bed. I'm still trying to go to sleep. Now it's 1:30 a.m. I still can't get comfortable; my arm is bothering me because I am laying on it. I'm still too hot. I'm thinking about all the things I've packed and what I may have forgotten. Oh yeah, then there's still the trailer tag. Maybe I could switch the motorcycle plate with the trailer plate? You can't see the bike's plate from behind the trailer. Where could that tag be? Did I remember to pack a lighter for the fire? The last time I looked at the clock it was a little after three. Boy am I going to be tired tomorrow. At 4:30 a.m. my husband crawls into bed (he has rotten work hours). I'm wide awake. The alarm is going off at 5 anyway so I might as well get up.
Jenee is asleep on the sofa with her clothes and shoes and socks on, she must be as anxious as I am. I finish loading everything and it dawns on me my trailer registration is in the trunk with the motorcycle registration. I just didn't put the tag on the trailer because it was covered up for the winter. Dahhhh!
We're ready. We meet up with my folks at the Silver City RV Park and head out from there. We had no problems with traffic except at the spaghetti bowl. We made good time. We spent the afternoon in the water on Gallatin Beach. It was so warm, like a bathtub. It was time to hike back to our site and have a snack before our nap. Grandpa is snoring in the chair, mom's sleeping in hers, Jenee's watching Monster's Inc. on a portable DVD player while lying on the picnic table, and that leaves me lying on the picnic table bench. I may have slept a few seconds, when a chipmunk was scratching under the table and woke me up. Right above me flew a bald eagle. Wow!
We went fishing that evening but didn't even get a nibble and neither did anyone else around us. Maybe the water is too warm in the shallow parts of the lake for the trout to want to eat our bait.
We packed up early in the morning to head home. This was a wonderful overnight tent camping trip and not too far away from home. I would like to go again sometime.
n Lisa Welch is a Johnson Lane resident and can be reached at 267-9350.
