A Wildflower Morning

You might be anticipating photos of the wildflowers of the Beartooth.  Those are coming, but first before we got there we had to drive through Idaho.  The most direct route follows the Lochsa River from Lewiston, ID to Missoula, MT along Highway 12, also known as the Northwest Passage Scenic Byway, because Lewis and Clark followed this route back home.  If you you haven't driven that road before, I definitely recommend it for your next road trip.  Here is a link to a publication about the road.   http://npshistory.com/publications/usfs/region/1/nez-perce/hwy-12.pdf I think there are 5 wooden suspension bridges over the Lochsa that is for foot and pack animal traffic only and crosses over to a trail. The one we stopped at is at mile post 143.  Sometime long ago, when my kids were little, we stopped there and I remember William taking a lot of photos down under the bridge with a camera we were letting him use.  It seems this was an important part of...

Prius Camper and Long Lake on the Beartooth Highway My husband and I went on vacation for a couple weeks in July in our camper, our Prius Camper. I'd seen videos about people doing this since I bought my 2007 Prius. I knew I wanted to try this at least once. We had wanted to drive to Alaska this summer to celebrate our 25th anniversary, but Mr. Covid is keeping the borders closed to all but essential workers. We had to come up with alternative plans and stay closer to home. We needed a vacation and some time of restoration in nature more than ever after a whole spring quarter of isolation and intense online work activity. While Rob was finishing up his final responsibilities, I got our Prius camper ready. The foundation of the bed is a piece of nice, thin, Masonite board, cut to size to level out the changes in elevation when the seats are down. The next layer is some floor mats made for shops that fit together like a puzzle from Harbor Freight. Then came the bed roll. This was two...

Rob was the first to notice that the sun was above the horizon Sabbath morning.  We looked out of our tent and saw it rising out past the beach, lighting up the clouds.  I got photos and from there we went for a long walk that included a side trip behind jungle bushes.  While out walking we found evidence of a large lizard.  There were foot prints with claws and a long tail trail marked between.  Our friends told us that the big lizard here is a Mangrove Monitor Lizard  ( Varanus indicus ) .  They have lived on Guam since before the first European contact with the island. Wikipedia says they are 3.5 - 4 feet long. Roger Krum told me that sometimes they come into the SDA school gym, and as he is the PE teacher, he has to catch them and take them out so the kids can play safely. They have claws on their toes, and sharp teeth, so you have to pick them up in their middle. Go to this ebook about the Flora and Fauna of Guam, scroll to...

I could hardly get up out of bed this morning.  I was so tired, even after sleeping.  I didn't head out and go walking.  I didn't feel like eating.  So i just sat on the couch to try to get myself awake enough for tutoring.  Then I had diarrhea.  That's the problem.  I thought I didn't have long until I had to start work.  So I immediately swallowed some charcoal capsules and prayed for recovery.  Then to my relief, I realized I still had one more hour until my first student, not just 10 minutes.  That was a blessing.  The charcoal helped.  I was feeling much better at 8:30 AM. When Rob got home at noon, we ate lunch and packed things to take camping with us.  We were going with the pathfinders to the northern point of the island, up on the Air Force Base.  Even before we landed on Guam, we told them we wanted to join them again this year.  So far we have been able to go every time we have come to Guam.  O...

Tarague (Tara-Gee) Beach, on the other side of the bushes from our campsite. Taragu might be the nicest beach on Guam. All the tents.  I heard that there were around 50 people there on Sabbath. JJ, William and Jonathan -Three new friends Morning details, just before breakfast for all the Pathfinders.  They don't have any uniforms yet. Nicole, a very nice girl Song Service, under the tarp.  We were comfortable in the shade. Building Noah's Ark Helping the Ark land on Mt. Ararat How long can Rob stay in the sun before his high forehead is red? New friends at the beach The little girls love Araya Rob talks with Sammy, who used to work at AWR Costa Rica. 

We just finished our second whole week on Guam.  It is such a lovely place.  I am enjoying the weather and all the nice people we are meeting.  Guam is a friendly place.  People are very glad to meet you, and are very welcoming. We were invited this weekend to go on a camp out with the Agat church and Pathfinder club to Tarague (pronounced Tara-gee) Beach.  This pristine beach is located on Anderson Air Force Base on the north end of the island.  It is protected from abuse and trash, but you have to know the right people to have permission to go there.  One of the church members is in the Navy and made arrangements for the group to have a camping site at this lovely beach. We got there on Friday afternoon, in just enough time to get situated before dark.  Someone had gone there the night before and set up tents for everyone who did not have one, rented from the Navy.  Patti Powers was in charge of the food.  She thoughtfully arra...