Today is the first rainy day of our stay here in Montana, so we opted to locate ourselves a coffee shop in town for free wifi and a couple of hours for work. Our camp in Glacier NPS is far outside cell reception, which has left us out-of-touch with the virtual world, but stoked on our recent discovery of the dvd player hiding in our built-in stereo system in the airstream.
The last few days have been wonderful and jam-packed with exploring our camp and the area around Lake MacDonald.
Yesterday, my Dad took us out in his little motor boat for a few hours of fishing on the lake. About halfway across the length of the lake, while on our way to the lodge for lunch, the motor on the boat cut-out. Eventually, we reluctantly accepted our fate, pulled out the oars and began the long row to shore. After hauling the boat onto a sandy beach, we set about trying to hitch our way back to the boat dock where our truck and boat trailer waited. It took the full strength of all four of us to carry that boat from the beach, up a rocky embankment, and onto the trailer. Those elk burgers and beers were well deserved!
In the evening, we were able to fully shower (a luxury that common house-dwellers take for granted) and do laundry. I would have to say, without humility, that we are doing a pretty good job at this dry-camping thing. We are conserving water as much as we can, using the camp restrooms regularly, and the batteries are getting a good charge every day with the solar panels. Our goal is to see how long we can go and then gage our future lengths of stay from there. We understand that the real test will be true boondocking, but we have to start somewhere.
Tonight we are participating in a sweat, Shaun's first, and a ceremony to assist our transition into this new life. We're both excited for the experience and what may come out of it.
