10/7 - 10/11/07 Kamiah Idaho, Lady Bugs & Joy

Our trip to Kamiah started off by proving Mel’s point about the RV needing a GPS guidance system. I went the wrong way on Highway 84 – east instead of west – adding 54 + 54 miles or an extra two hours to our already long 240 mile drive through gorgeous mountains with fall colors along the Snake River.

We were tired when we pulled into the Lewis-Clark RV Park in Kamiah at dusk, but had a fun day seeing the sites and listening to a murder mystery book “Dark Harbor.” There was not a peep of complaint from the kids about the long driving day and they whipped the RV into shape once we got parked.

Cleaning up the breakage from bouncing the back tire over the curb exiting Les Schwab after filling the tires proved a valuable lesson. In my hurry to exit their parking lot onto a busy main street, I turned out of the parking lot too quickly and ran over the curb. The twisting of the RV sprung the doors of the kitchen cabinets open and then bounced the dishware out. I broke a plastic plate, plastic bowl and one of my crystal wine glasses. Darn. All because I failed to follow the most important RV safety principal – go slowly.

This RV park is seriously cool. It is built in a fort style and is quite large. It has 50’ deciduous trees like poplars lining the rows. The trees are all starting to change colors. Right across the highway is “The Heart of the Monster” a Nez Pearce Indian Park. Since where we are staying doesn’t have WIFI and our broadband card doesn’t work her, we don’t have internet. It would be fun to research the Nez Pearce Indians and plant foliage of Idaho.

No internet access has forced us to do other things. Dave and Sarah have been playing Magic. Sarah has yet to win a game, but it is very complicated to manipulate all the Magic cards and understand all the rules.

I’ve been catching up with myself and getting small chores done. I’m thrilled to say that I’ve stopped Dave’s pull out bed from squeaking with massive amounts of Silicone Spray and WD40. I taken steps to master the black water tanks, but failing to find any documentation regarding maintenance in by books, I filled and emptied it a few times. Wrong. I should have just run the hose, opened the valve and the sprayers do the work.

Lady Bugs have fallen in love with the RV. It didn’t make any sense why they were so attracted to the windshield. Then Sarah figured out that the Lady Bugs were eating the splattered bugs on the windshield. If you came inside, you could watch them through the windshield. Now we just need to figure out why some Lady Bugs have spots.

The most wonderful thing happened today. Dave was away, he’d walked into town for lunch, and Sarah and I took Mayim and some art supplies to the park across the street. We realized that if we cut across a marshy area and hiked over a berm, we could be next to the river. We let Mayim off her leash and she zoomed around. She was so thrilled when she saw some ducks that she raced into the pond area chest deep into the water, then she caught up with us, raced over the top of the berm and ran until she jumped the river. She was wild with excitement. So was Sarah!

Sarah loved the yellow flowers covered with three or four different bugs. She willingly trudged through the mud at the marsh and even wanted to take off her shoes to feel the mud in her toes. (I’m trying to loosen up – but of course I said “no” – I guess I’ve still got a long ways to go before I can be a “real” unschooling mom.) She was so excited when we got down to the river that she said “can you believe this – we’re learning now!”

She and Mayim had a great time. It was such a treat to be able to take pictures of them playing. But more than that, Sarah, maybe for the first time when she was in nature without other teenagers like at Patrick’s Point, was really glad to be there, outside, in nature, on the RV trip, completely happy in the moment. I can’t tell you how wonderful it felt when she asked to come back tomorrow and if we could stay here longer.