Butte Was a Butt

Views from our campground
Sandpoint, Lake Pend Oreille

March 2022

After a week in Sandpoint we began our spring nomad trip.  How fast does bad weather travel?  As fast as we do.  We barely beat the snow when we parked our trailer in Missoula.

  

Immediately upon arrival, Asher set up a little work area on the floor to calculate how many trains he counted during our week in Sandpoint.  The RV park we stayed at was a stone’s throw away from the railroad tracks—a very busy railroad track.  The front desk warned me when I made reservations, “40-50 trains pass through day and night.”  And they did.  And he loved it.  I said, “It’s been a really great spot, except for the proximity to the tracks.  I’d give it 4 stars.”

Asher exclaimed, “5 stars from me, because of the trains!”

Asher counting trains in Sandpoint

Sandpoint trains at campground

Dec 3, 2021

“I don’t get it,” Asher writes in cursive at the top of his worksheet.  He is just learning cursive and even though he hasn’t learned all the letters yet, he likes to write everything in cursive now.  

“They want you to write a poem.”

“But how?” he says scrunching his freckled nose.

After I give him some ideas and try to explain, he is still confused.  I pull his beloved engineer hat off his head and place it in front of him.  The one that three brothers before him have also cherished.

“What does it look like?”

“Blue and white stripes,” he responds.

“Write that,” I say.

“What does it feel like?” I ask and he writes.  “When do you wear it?” I add.

“All the time!” he exclaims.

“Let’s find a different way to say the same thing,” I suggest.

“How does it make you feel?”

“Happy.”

And an 8 year old boy writes his first poem and his face beams with pride.  I took a picture of his exaltation and then we all burst out laughing when we saw the face his little sister was making in the background—angry about some injustice that she felt had been done to her (Josiah wouldn’t let her steal something out of his hands again).

I Love My Engineer Hat

by Asher Parker

Blue and white stripes

Old and frayed

Soft and comfortable

Worn night and day

Happiness

Back to Missoula--an hour later I had finished settling the trailer and I noticed Asher was on the verge of tears.  “What’s wrong?” I gently asked.

“I keep getting different numbers,” his voice quivered.  I looked at his little notes.  Two small little cards and then I noticed it was packed with information. 

This was no job for a regular calculator, so I spent an hour teaching him how to use an excel spreadsheet and letting him type in the information.  59 trains! 7024 cars!!

During our drive to Missoula I had scheduled our trailer to be repaired in the morning, because we still didn't have water!  We woke up to a few inches of snow and carefully took it to the RV shop were they replaced our pump.  We left, $300 dollars poorer, elated that it wasn’t something more serious and excited to finally have some water tonight.  

Sandpoint

Water, water everywhere...except our trailer.  The valve finally arrived and once that problem was fixed we discovered the pump was bad and was overflowing the tank and causing it to pour out the bottom of the trailer.  Ugh!

We decided to keep driving, since the roads in Missoula were looking good and we really didn’t want to get stuck in Butte because it was the coldest place and it was only 1 1/2 hours away, so surely if we started now, we could get passed it tonight.  

You don’t always need a lifetime to know you made a mistake. Sometimes you know right away and it’s too late.  It took us three hours to get to Butte and then we had to stop.  The roads were too dangerous.  

We ended up in the worst possible place.  The one place we had decided we could not be in.  Our newly repaired pump and all our pipes were in danger.  We bought 5 gallons of anti-freeze, two small heaters, insulation, and heat tape and tried to save our freezing pipes.  We won’t find out if they are permanently damaged until we get out of the frozen wasteland—which will take several days. 

We are comfortable in the trailer--even when ice forms at our head and on our windows, thanks to our warm, down blankets.

I’ve learned two things.  1) You might travel faster if you don’t go anywhere.  Sweet, warmer Missoula, why did we leave you?  2) We can wear clothes.  Apparently if it gets cold enough I can handle sleeping in pajamas and Eleanora will keep her clothes on...most of the time.

Under other circumstances I’m sure I would have thought it a beaut because the mountains were beautiful, but on this trip Butte was a butt.

Asher trying to warm up over a heating vent

Random:

At a restaurant Eleanora pointed to the bathroom symbol and asked, “Why the boy is naked?" 

[pronounce make-ed]

SONG INSPIRATION

Calling All Angels by The Wailin' Jennys

"When there is no place safe and no safe place to put my head
When you feel the world shake from the words that are said
And I'm calling all angels
And I'm calling all you angels
And I won't give up if you don't give up"

In The Bleak Midwinter performed by The Lower Lights