Wednesday June 2 Missoula, Montana

Wednesday June 2 Missoula, Montana

Oh boy, it has been a very long day, my head is feeling like it doesn’t know what planet it is on, but somehow I can’t help smiling as it’s great to be “Back on the Road Again”.

The day started with a 3am wakeup call at the hotel for the 6.15am flight to Seattle(2 hrs 45m), an hour stopover, time for a good coffee and some food, then the final 1hr 30min flight to Missoula. Always a huge relief to see your bags coming off the carousel, you know the holiday is going to go well! Walked out side just as Richard pulled in in his limo..acutally a wonderful old 1960’s Chrysler New Yorker that just purrs along, what a way to start. The luggage got lost in the boot (or trunk I should say) then off to collect Ruakiwi from the storage yard. She looks great, none the worse for sitting outside for 8 months apart from a bit of grime on her windows. Ian got behind the wheel with his slightly jetlagged brain, and managed the trip back to Richards, following closely on his tail.

A huge welcome from Moana, who has grown up into this wonderfully articulate little girl. She just adores her new wee sister Ophelia, who at 11 weeks is happy to be cuddled and just grins. Somehow it feels like we have arrived home and it just seems like yesterday since we were here. The alteration in the basement with a new bathroom, laundry and bedroom was very much in the beginning stages…now it is finished, looks fantastic. They wanted us to use the bed but we are sleeping in the van, so much easier as everything is around us.

And that is another story…..unpacking the cases and reloading the cupboards …my brain was in such a fuddled state I couldn’t remember where we put things. By the end of last year we had such a great system with everything in the “perfect” place, but somehow those places evaded me! Anyway just packed them away and they will be rearranged in due course.

Richard and Matthew are building a straw bale house. They got all the frame work up for a 2 story garage come flat, and put the windows in. Then a guy from Oregon is putting in the straw bales as part of a workshop he runs. There are more than 20 people from all over the US who have paid to come and learn for the next week. The home owners are catering for the group, we went round with Casey and the girls to check it all out and join everyone for dinner. What an amazing sight, there is something so warm and solid about the bales. Obviously not thinking properly as I arrived at the site without my camera, so sorry everyone

So that started our first day back in the US, we climbed into bed at 9.30 and slept the clock around.!