Parked by the river

What a glorious campsite I had….right on the Methow River at Twisp Washington. I hadn’t realized what I’d found until morning, my effort had been to escape the 100 deg heat. To that end I was driving like a manic, with the air conditioner on in spite of the laboring LT engine. I didn’t know it could make such intense sounds climbing those mountains. I left Loon Lake relaxed but confused. I’ve lost count how many times I changed my mind, reversed direction, peered at the map (the map btw finally tore into several pieces), picked a new destination, gave up and tired a different one. I don’t know this part of the country or I would have picked exactly the course I wound up choosing and I would have chosen the night’s rest at the same spot–of course I would have arrived hours earlier without the, uh-um….detours. For awhile I thought I’d land in the middle of Canada with no phone and no Internet….considering a long drive to Ainsorth Resort, but I wasn’t sure if they’d take the dogs or if I could keep them in the van.

The reason I loved my campground last night is because it was on the river, I had space, fresh clean air, quiet and it was dark!!!! Gloriously dark except for the full moon. Light pollution, over-illumination, light trespass along with noise pollution and torture by quarters (a Washington favorite) seem to be popular sport at the majority of RV camps I’ve frequented. At Riverbend they believe in sleep! Ah, I woke once in the night wondering what was wrong–it was so peaceful– flooding my memory of how, once I’d memorized the night sky, watching every night as it turned and moved. How many of you have watched the sky every night for a year, or maybe 2 or 5 or  more? A wisdom we have lost. I bypassed the quarter game by nixing my usual shower, I was still clean from Loon Lake. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that one night with the moon, river and stars! Really is everyone afraid of the night? You can’t see when it’s dark? Someone might sue, it’s dangerous? So keep it lit up like Disneyland (sorry Kate…since I’ve seen you I’m starting to count the days until Patrick (Kate’s son) can go to Disneyland!)

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Some scenes from yesterday.

 

I found myself in the North Cascades on Highway 20 in the morning. The bee who wouldn’t go away joined us for breakfast as we all talked about how lucky we were to enjoy such a lovely world. Actually I had a nice chat with a fellow Sam’s Club RVer. On his advice I checked out the Old West town of Winthrop, with Santa Barbra like shops and cafes. It was cute, had a nice soy cap and apple scone while the dogs enjoyed a few home baked biscuits.

Okay, that’s it for tonight, will post later about the amazing drive I did today… as per usual I’m really tired and not s0 cure about tonight’s stopping place…. questionable at best.