On the Road

October 2-9, 2023 -- McCall, ID

Written By: Scott Ptolemy
Photos By: Scott Ptolemy

Waking up on our first morning in McCall came with a flood of different emotions. The first being relief that we had arrived and set up camp before the rain arrived. Quickly came the wave of exhaustion and recollection that we were all sick. Having come to the end of the sprint that was moving out and saying goodbye, all four of our bodies said, “That is enough for now”. Upon opening the curtains, we were greeted with darkness, rain and fog. Having just crossed the time zone line on the drive in, we had forgotten that the sun would not rise until 8am. Realizing the world was telling us it was a day to sleep in, we closed the curtains, blew our noses and snuggled back in (for 5 more minutes until both kiddos woke with demands of breakfast and potty).

 

Through the first few days we had to remind ourselves we had planned this stop to recharge and get organized. Our natural tendency has always been to hurry up and explore, not wanting to waste a moment. This mentality will most likely plague us through the entirety of our travels. Fortunately (or unfortunately) being lowkey was not hard for the first half of our trip our stay. (goodness, this mental shift will take a while. I can no longer call these stints at campgrounds “trips”. We are not returning from them, but rather continuing onto the next). The weather seemed to guide us through our path of energy recovery. By the third morning we finally made it out of the campground and ventured down to Payette Lake. The fog was thick and the views across the lake hinted at the tree lined shores that we were sure existed on the opposite bank. We mustured the energy and walked two blocks to snag some veggies, fruit and meat from the only vendor on the last day of McCall’s farmer’s market. By the time we arrived back to the lake, the fog had lifted and so seemed had our spirits and energy.

 

With our head colds and runny noses behind us, we set to work on trying to organize the trailer. I fear this seemingly futile taste will be unending. Through the last bit of the sprint in moving out of our house, we piled far too many things into the trailer. Returning from our warmup trip to the Olympic Peninsula, we felt like we had everything we needed. After two weeks on the road, all the drawers were organized, the cupboards all closed and you could walk through the trailer without tripping on toys and random piles of stuff. That was no longer the case. We had exceeded the capacity of storage space and our belongings now occupied every walking, sitting and sleeping area available. By tackling one room at a time, we seem to have managed to at least rearrange all our stuff into unseen corners and fill every square inch of every drawer. We will need to do at least a few more purges of stuff, but what is left has already made it through a few filters and been deemed necessary. I (Scott), refuse to get rid of our double burner Blackstone (50 lbs), Ooni pizza oven or Coleman two-burner stove.

By day 4, we threw in the towel and decided to explore. In the span of the next 4 days we did a hike to Lily Marsh in Ponderosa State Park, a mountain bike ride at Bear Basin, attended a fall festival in New Meadows and did a hike to Goose Creek Falls near Brundage Mountain. The throughline of all of these adventures was the beautiful fall colors and perfect weather. Wendy and I are fall junkies and for some reason thought we would miss our chance to get our fill in the midst of moving into the trailer. Fortunately, McCall came to the rescue. Crisp mornings and highs in the upper 60s made exploring super enjoyable. We were even able to squeeze in a “Larch March”.

Tangent alert: These deciduous conifers (needle leaved trees that lose their needles in the fall), have become part of our fall tradition from the very beginning of Wendy and my relationship. We met and started dating in the early fall of 2009. At the time I was working as one of the student directors and Wendy was volunteering as an adventure guide for Gonzaga’s Outdoor program. Together we decided to host a backpacking trip to the Upper Coeur d’Alene basin in the panhandle of Idaho. The last weekend of September the two of us did a scouting trip and chose a route along the Upper Coeur d’Alene river. We enjoyed the crisp air and vistas of the vast green pine tree forests that filled the basin. We took a few photos and returned back to school eager to lead the trip the following weekend. Upon returning just 6 days later, a large portion of the trees had turned a magical golden color. It became the topic of interest for all the participants in our group. None of us were native to the Pacific Northwest and were unaware that these enchanting trees turned yellow in the fall and dropped their needles in early winter. We spent the weekend making guesses as to what could have caused this rapid change in color in just 6 days (pine beetle kill, an undetected fire, lack of water). When we returned home we did our research and became fanatics of these seemingly rare trees. From that moment on we have ventured out each fall in search of a new patch of Larchs.

As we begin the process of packing up, we are sad to leave. We fear that our host, McCall RV Resort, has given us a false sense of what to expect from an RV park. We have been told that the indoor pool, hot-tub and steam room as well as the daily garbage pickup and door-to-door propane fill up will not be provided everywhere we go. These amenities came as quite a pleasant surprise to us. We have spent the majority of our camping lives in a 2 person backpacking tent and had only recently upgraded to a family style tent before we made the decision to purchase our trailer. Until we are proven wrong, we will assume everywhere we go will be this comfortable, clean and friendly.