Several years ago, Gary
and Wonda along with their son Anthony, embarked on an adventure
that would span a few months, but would leave them with memories
that will last a lifetime. Chasing a dream, hungry for elbow room
and a breath of high country air, tired of the Texas heat, or for whatever
reason, they went North.
Outfitting themselves with gear that included a
new canvas tent, a wood stove, and a couple of snowmobiles, they
spent the next seven months in the mountains of Idaho. Their home
became a small piece of property used by an old friend to pasture
his horses.
Their fuel for heat was wood. A Coleman cook stove
sat on a table against the back wall of the tent, a piece of
plastic pinned to the canvas to protect against splatters. Gas
lanterns provided enough light to read by at night. Their stores of
food were supplemented with small game, Elk and Bear meat and their water
supply was a stream behind camp that froze over in the
winter. At an elevation of around five thousand feet, night
temperatures in mid-winter at times dropped far below zero, but
with the little wood stove going, inside the canvas home it was
warm.
In March, with spring around the corner, they
broke camp, left the snowmobiles behind and came back to
Texas. The adventure was over, but the experience of life in a tent
in that mountain pasture will always be with
them. |