Marshal took a much anticipated vacation with the agenda of retreating to the cabin and relaxing. He had some minor goals of remedying the broken down mower situation at the farm for Luke, doing some fishing with the boat, shooting some guns. Although the vacation did not transpire in ways he or I had envisioned, most of Marshal's goals were met minus the overall aim of rest and relaxation. Huckleberry searching and floating on the river were nixed as well. We arrived and cleaned house. Second day, we caught up with Luke and Kim before they headed out to Montana; Marshal swung a good swapping deal with mowers; we put the boat on the water and fished through the dinner hour; and then our truck transmission failed in the center of town, an hour's drive from our cabin, just before dark. Third and fourth days, many hours were spent in and out of the hot parking lot of the Toyota dealership. By God's grace and provision, we broke down in the center of Colville, a large enough town to have a dealership and service garage and loving, generous friends, whom we had never met before, who took care of us. Marshal's mom drove up the next morning to be with us, giving us the extreme pleasure of her company as well as wheels for the rest of the weekend. Crazy thing, on that third day, the morning we had the truck towed to the dealership, the fiber optic cable to the entire northeast corner of the state was cut. We had a taste of what Y2K was forecast to be - no cell phones, no ordering of car parts, no communication outside of the dealership with Toyota, no ATMs, no non-cash transactions at gas pumps or any other retail cash register, no renewing an expired boat registration at the DOL. It was proving to be a very interesting vacation. But that day, we did meet up with Mom/Grandma mid day, took the boat back home to the farm, visited Marshal's aunt and uncle at a rendez-vous point off the highway (fiber optic transmission was restored), spent more time at the dealership, and after a long warm day, shot some guns and grilled some burgers back at the cabin. The last day, we went back to Colville to deliberate some more on the vehicle situation. It was Rendez-Vous Days with a fair in the park all weekend, so Grandma and kids spent the day at the festival. A highlight to the day was meeting a family in the park, new friends, whom we can look forward to living near, when we have the opportunity to be fellow homesteaders. In the course of the day, Marshal traded in his broken down Toyota Tacoma for a new one. We returned that evening to the cabin, put on our swimsuits, piled into the new truck, took a dip in the frigid waters of Lake Roosevelt, and Gabe caught a walleye on his hand-made fishing lure. I captured the evening reprieve on film, and it felt like we were finally in Kettle Falls. Next morning we packed out our cabin and headed home. Gabe went home with Grandma. It was a good trip over all. Marshal began to think otherwise momentarily when the cop pulled him over less than an hour out, coasting downhill on the other side of the pass. Marshal was beginning to think it would have been a lot easier to stay at work and not try to take a vacation. But the cop let him off with a warning and a bad time for being a glutton for punishment at Marshal's tale of woe. So Marshal did heed the cops command to slow down and rode the brakes all the way home. We made it home on the hottest day of the year thus far in the Pac NW, in the late afternoon. Marshal unloaded and unpacked. I made a soup for dinner, and Marshal turned into bed early that evening. Work awaited him before the sun came up - and he looked ahead to a week of punishment in medical administration for taking a three day vacation! But oh... it was a beautiful sunrise the next morning - the whole sky cloaked in the richest pinks and purples. I wanted to capture it, but didn't pull myself out of bed, instead enjoyed the view from my pillow. Here's some pics of the Kettle Falls "relaxation" vacation.
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| Looking so handsome and relaxed here! |
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| Father and son in their swim trunks and rash guards. |
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| Beautiful scene at the waters edge in evening sun. |
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| Grandma and Lydia after a cold swim. |
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| Beautiful Mom, Grandma, Ruth |
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| Yep. It's a Toyota advertisement. Off road right off the lot. |
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| Caught something with a big mouth and fearsome teeth! |
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| Last cast and then home for dinner. |
