Tidbits and take-aways:

1.  Soaking beans before cooking is important after all. I was rooting through the cabinets looking for inspiration when I found a baggie of baby lima beans I bought forever ago at a local market. I LOVE BEANS. Also happened to have all the fixin’s for a yummy pot. To heck with soaking I thought—I can do this! Wrongo. I googled a work around that supposedly allowed you to cook unsoaked beans and got everything on the propane stovetop and waited. The 3.5 hour finish line passed, as did the 6 hour mark. Finally, I thought I would just leave it covered and off overnight, surely that counts as soaking doesn’t it? Who cares if all the spices and such were in it already. Woke the next morning and put it back on the stove for another 2 hours—still hard little kernels. Crap. Joe broached the subject carefully and suggested maybe I give up, pointing out all the propane I’ve already used and reminding me of the weather forecast.  It wasn’t a total loss, the soup was amazing once you scooped out the beans. We used it to boil up some broccoli and added a bit more while melting a little cheese over it—a creamy broccoli soup!

2.  One late night Joe and I remembered we didn’t take Apache out for his evening bathroom break. I quickly lost the “Not It” game, secretly knowing that if I take this one I have a legitimate “out” tomorrow morning (insert evil laugh). It was pitch black and totally silent as Apache & I disembarked the camper. A little spooky. I navigated us to the open field across from our camper and waited for Apache to do his business. He was on alert and pacing, couldn’t quite settle into his normal routine of circling for…ya know. His demeanor increased the creepy feeling so I moved the flashlight from around our feet out into the field. HOLY SHITE! We were surrounded by 30-40 pairs of eyes, they were everywhere and they were CLOSE! Apache was stunned. I was stunned. They eyes were not. However, they were all now blinded and frozen. The deer waited politely for us to finish. In the silence, I heard metal twang as a few further away scrambled across the barbed wire surrounding the field and into the night. Mostly, they just stared and waited. After the heebee geebies wore off, I was just in awe. I saw mostly Does and babies but also caught a glimpse further off of a buck’s rack. We all just looked at each for a bit and shared the moment. Another great moment for my life’s memory book.

3. Apache gave us another scare. One day I spent a while cleaning the camper; dusting, sweeping, mopping and felt so much better. I let Apache back in and quickly noticed he was drooling almost nonstop. That’s one thing he never does, thank goodness. I looked him over but couldn’t find anything. He was eating and drinking and seemed happy—just had become a faucet. I kicked him back outside to google “excessive drooling”. Good grief, a thousand things can cause that. I decided we had enough to worry about and let him stay out for a while. Later, it was better but still more than usual. Frankly, by the next morning I had forgotten about it. I hear Joe calling me from outside. He’s holding Apache’s head and asking if I notice anything. Apache’s left jowl was a bulging, pink mass of lip—right side looked normal. He looked hilarious and I wanted to cry. Hence no pic was taken. We theorize he got too close to a local bug and was stung. It is subsiding, thank goodness, and the water works have stopped for both Apache and myself.

4.  At some point the last few days, Joe and I rode the bike to have a buffalo burger at a nearby roadside café. There isn’t a lot of choice nearby and this café is certainly a hoot. We enjoyed talking to the owners and hearing about how Morgan Freeman stopped by one day while filming at the nearby, Devil’s Tower. Even got to see a pic! I love all thing Morgan Freeman, way back to my Sesame Street memories. Anyway, we finished and headed back to the camper.

Gosh I so wish I had been filming this moment. Joe and I both think we will always remember it though. Imagine this: We’re riding a motorcycle, helmetless, in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, surrounded by dry fields as far as the eye can see (think of old western movies), sloping hills, and right in front of us is Devil’s Tower—we’re very close to it. We’re traveling less than 45 mph as our campground is approaching to the right. I notice a buck on our left running like mad towards us. Something had that poor guy freaked out and he was barreling down a slope right at us. Big rack looming large. Speechless, I pointed over Joe’s shoulder and he immediately slowed, thank goodness. But that’s not the wild part. That buck didn’t let up at all as he ran right THROUGH the barbed wire fence to our left, crossed directly in front of us-hooves clambering on the pavement, jumped clear of the barbed wire to our right and safely into the next field. He ran like the wind until he made it to the stand of trees. I can’t do the moment justice. The sounds—hearing the POP as the barbed wire gave way against his chest, those galloping hooves on the pavement, and his intake of breath as he leapt across the other fence. We pulled into the campground, thankful we didn’t get hit and also that we got to experience that. WOW. Just WOW.