facebook is a curse!

facebook is a fast "snippet" form of communication. it's fast, easy and effortless. i wish some people would think about that and not try to post an entire blog's worth throughout the day, but i don't own it and if they can't figure that out, then i will eventually work through it and get over it.

that said, it has made me extremely lazy about blogging. suddenly, blogging seems so much deeper and time consuming. i need to slow down.

we took the rv up to the mountains last weekend. what a blast that was! we didn't get to leave until about 9:00 a.m. on saturday morning. we reached our destination about 3 - 3.5 later. the kids got to watch a movie and play on the way up.

when we got to the camping area, we needed to find a place to set up camp. not an easy task when you are 38.5 ft. looooong. i realized, as we were driving around, how much we enjoy the solitude. even the grandkids were saying "nope, it's too close to other people."

there are a couple of reasons for that. we have dogs (and i use that term lightly being a pug and a boston terrier mix) that we like to let run and explore. if we are too close to other people, we have to worry about them begging and/or bothering other people and pets. and. . .well, quite honestly, we're loud. between w and chris, we are VERY loud. :-)

the kids get to watch a movie right before bed each night, so that's 90 minutes of generator time. that can also be annoying for other campers.

but that's just the set up. . .we found a space, pulled in and unfurled our awnings, pulled out the rv ground pads and set about having a good time. it was so cold at night, we set the heater to come on at 50 degrees, it came on a few times. the kids were freezing. being menopausal, i was in hog heaven.

the next day (sunday) we decided not to head back down the mountain too early. about noon, several rigs appeared from the bowels of the mountain and headed home. no, not us. we were going to soak up every last minute of that cool weather. the kids wore long sleeves or jackets the whole time.

by mid afternoon, a storm was blowing up. w and i decided we should talk the awnings down and get them rolled up so they wouldn't be caught by the wind. halfway through that task we ended up sitting with the kids inside while the lightning struck uncomfortably close. it finally died down as expected. when we opened the door, we found it muddy and slick. it was the kind of mud that stuck to your shoes so they soon weighed 20 lbs. each.

w pulled the hydraulic leveling jacks up. it was then that we discovered one of the rear tires had gone flat. it was on the tag axle. after a few minutes of head scratching, we decided to limp it to clint's well (gas/service/camping store combo in the middle of nowhere) where we could at least change it on solid ground.

before that could happen, of course, w backed the beast up, put it in drive and proceeded to spin the tires. yep, we were stuck in mud. he used his montana upbringing to expertly rock the beast, but it wasn't going to break free. we decided to lower the jacks, lifting the wheels off the ground, throw some rocks under the tires for more traction and see what happened.

one side was working, the other was spinning uselessly. we stuck the jack support wood under the tire on the back side. w rocked it again and this time it broke free!! he got it out onto the dirt road.

off we limped toward clint's well shedding tire chunks like woodchipper. fortunately, the service station was still open (6:00 p.m. on a sunday evening), and they agreed to change it for a very reasonable cost.

then back down the mountain. it was a great time! the kids (including w) found bones and rocks for their collection. fun stuff!