There are many things I am good at. Such as procrastination. I am also good at doing things at the last-minute. Having a rough day and needing a glass of wine with little notice? I’m your gal. But planning ahead, especially far ahead, is not a skill of mine. Planning dinner parties stresses me out (unless it’s last minute, and potluck, then I’m great).
So how then do I plan long trips or exotic vacations? I let other people do it! I just got back from a week-long trip to Wyoming. It was a long time in planning, and most of the planning was done by my travel-partners-in-crime. My friend Katy found a forest service cabin with horse corrals and rented the four-nights. It was a location half-way between my house in Spokane, and Katy’s house in Colorado. Katy made the cabin reservation months and months ago. She knows how to plan.
Cindy, my road-trip-travel-partner, found and made reservations for lodging at our half-way point in Deer Lodge. That’s why they call it Deer Lodge, because there is lodging. Actually, there is very little lodging there, but we still got a room.
I did have to find horse-boarding for my horse, since initially I had planned to bring him, but didn’t want to haul the whole trip in one day. I found the horse lodging by checking in with one of my Facebook groups that had a lot of good-hearted horse people on it. One of these friends recommended the overnight stable in Deer Lodge (maybe it’s really named for horse lodging?). Turns out, for various reasons I didn’t haul my horse… okay, it was just one reason, the stupid broken-arm-recovery-period. Anyhow, even with just a passenger car, we still stayed in Deer Lodge, because it was halfway into the 10-hour drive. And 10 hour drives through our western states somehow turn into 12-hour drives or more.
You might now be thinking that I contributed next to nothing toward the trip planning and relied entirely on the good graces of my friends. And you would be mostly right. Except for the food part. I planned the food, bought the food, and packed the food. Once I was there, I cooked dinners, and made sure folks had choices for their breakfasts and lunches. Why didn’t this stress me out like dinner parties do? Because camping food is simple, and easy. It’s more like pulling things out of the pantry, and people just showing up and eating. Plus, I got to practice my Dutch-oven cooking. Usually when horse camping, I am too tired to put the time and effort into Dutch-oven meals. But I wasn’t riding; Cindy and Katy were, so I made one Dutch-oven dish. A fudge cherry cake. It was yummy. It’s my specialty. And there’s fruit in it, so it’s good for you.
I admit that I have, now and then, planned whole trips ahead of time, and those trips turned out fine. But I really don’t enjoy the planning part. It’s way more fun when it’s a group effort and everyone does one part of it. And I bring the makings for dessert.
[Photo Credit Cindy Miller]
Note: “The name “Deer Lodge” comes from the Deer Lodge Mound, a 40-foot-high geothermal formation at the site of present-day Warm Springs State Hospital. The mound’s shape, with steam issuing from the top, resembled a large medicine lodge, and minerals in the water attracted large numbers of deer, so Indians in the area referred to the then-prominent landmark as the Deer Lodge.” Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/bdnf/about-forest
Michelle Eames 