prairie dogs | Wander Woman

I feel a little whiney today. I didn’t sleep so well last night. My privacy shades didn’t keep out the bright security light so I couldn’t find that deep, delicious REM sleep I need. I was anxious for daybreak so I could get organized and hit the road. Yesterday I decided not to head north to Kilispell, Montana as planned to visit Glacier National Park but to stay on I-90 West that would eventually take me right into Seattle. I’ve never been in this area of the country so it’s all new and beautiful to me and although I swore I would have no deadlines, I feel ready to get to my final destination. My husband is flying to Seattle to meet me for his 70th birthday with his children and grandson. My well-planned itinerary feels like its unravelling around the edges a bit but, so what? I’m gonna follow my nose and keep going left — west.

I’m not sure if I was tired and zoned out or was involved with my murder mystery audio book, but when I noticed a bunch of people at an overlook I joined them. Whoa! Welcome to Idaho. I’ve met some incredible people at these overlooks. We’re all visitors and every one has a story. I had to pull into a rest stop to make absolutely sure I was where I was supposed to be. When I did, I realized I was hungry so I took a box of crackers and peanut butter over to a picnic table with my maps, etc. I thought the critters were squirrels. But, they weren’t. They were prairie dogs. Hungry prairie dogs. They were adorable but I still didn’t share my peanut butter crackers.

You single girls out there – let me tell you the easiest way to meet nice men. Forget Match or eHarmony, just sit down and look at a map. They can’t resist – if they’re gentlemen they want to help. Whether you need assistance or not you will meet some really nice people. So, these two guys who were also laughing at the prairie dogs joined me at the picnic table to see if I needed help and we began talking about Idaho. They were headed south to the Tetons after spending the night in Couer d’Alene and highly recommended a stop there. I was only a couple of hours away and very tired so I decided to take a break, have a hot meal and find a motel for the night.

I had an hour to kill before I could check into my motel room so I stopped for lunch. I whipped out my atlas while I had a glass of wine waiting for my meal. A nice older (than me) gentleman came over to see if I needed help. See, I told you so. Anyway, we had a nice chat about his dream of visiting Florida and he gave me some information about Idaho. When I checked into my room I took a wonderful hot shower, set up my computer to try to catch up on blogging, emails and messages and took a long nap. When I got up I was hungry and lazy. I didn’t want to get dressed up to go to a restaurant so decided to look for a fast food place in the neighborhood. I found a Panda Express nearby and thought, why not? Live life large, right? Try something new. Not. By morning my hands were so swollen I couldn’t make a fist and my face was puffy. Unless you can tolerate loads of MSG, don’t do it.