Today’s is my 23rd day of being at the sawtooth lodge. How time does fly, I’m reading a book called “The art of racing in the rain” and I wanted to take a quick pause and write my self. I kind of don’t want this to end, I’ve met so many cool people so far and made some great friends. It’s amazing how much we all really have in common when you push aside all the negativity the news and social media puts in our face 24/7.maybe that’s the best part of being up here, I really don’t see any of that, or I’ve stopped paying attention. Justin my camper mate is a surfer from Santa Cruz, CA. we both have a lot in common, music, fishing, hiking, hot springs and obviously surfing, he’s a good dude and it’s been a blast hanging with him. Two surfers,one from the west and I from the East, who would of thought we’d both be in the mountains. He loves flounder and takes him on adventures when I’m working. Everyone up here brings something different to the table and it’s really cool learning something from each one. I’ve been getting a lot of “you’re from Maryland? How did you find this place? I’ve lived in Idaho my whole life and never heard of it”. I found this place on YouTube after watching a video about it, looked it up on Instagram, saw they were hiring and made up a resume and somehow I landed the job.
The other day a guy came in bought coffee and said “ I have a secret………...I’m tripping on acid” Justin and I looked at each other wide eyed and tried really hard to not laugh. The conversation was short, we basically said “right on haha you’re in a great place for that enjoy your time”, It was too funny. Then 2 days later a woman came in and was asking me questions about the milkshakes, she wanted to make sure we still made them because in a couple weeks her and her friends were going to be camping up the road “eating mushrooms and tripping balls” she wanted to make sure they could come get some. Laughing I told her “right on it’s a beautiful place for that and we’ll have your milkshakes”, and on her way she went. It got even better, after work that day Meg and I took the dirt bikes out exploring some side roads, we rode down one and who do we see, mushroom lady and her other hippy friend dancing out in a meadow. I was cracking up under my helmet we both turned around rode out laughing and yelled “that was mushroom lady!!”.
It’s funny living in this little camper, it’s actually pretty sweet and all I need. I sleep in my sleeping bag every night, it’s rated for 21 degrees so it’s pretty toasty. Flounder curls up next to me for warmth, and I normally cover him with his blanket. Our heater broke so we we’ve been using Justin’s little buddy heater to hear the place. We’ve had snow, heavy rain and wind, and earthquakes almost everyday, had a 3.9 on the scale last night. I’ve lost track of time and days up here and I’m absolutely fine with that. I feel that’s how a life should be, as in the moment as one can be. I’ve learned a lot so far, from fly fishing, riding a dirt bike, helping flounder cross rushing rivers, some sign language, catching snakes, helping run the lodge. These 23 days have been the biggest learning lesson in my 27yrs and I’m ready for more, all my fears have dissolved into the river beside me.
