Laid Back in Clark Fork, Idaho

The life of a fulltime travelers isn't always non-stop adventures, visiting famous destinations and drinking fancy cocktails. What started out as out pie-in-the-sky expectations to winter in Key West (we soon found out it was way outside of our budget unless we took out a small loan), visit every National Park, Monument and Historic Site, and eat our way through the best of the best restaurants from coast to coast ended up being a lesson in reality. I'm gonna let you in on a little secret...we have a lot of down time.



Nellie has "downtime" right!
I know, I know...how can it be that we, the crew of the Mutiny, can spend pretty much an entire week lying around in our pajamas, eating whatever we can find in the back of the freezer and only seeing the light of day when we need to take Nellie out for a potty break? It's not because we're lazy, per se...it's that we learned that real life isn't a non-stop, all expenses paid vacation.

It wasn't just the expense of it all. Sure we're on a fixed income but in the past we've been willing to make sacrifices in some areas in order to "afford" expensive things we felt were worth while (like our solar install and splurge in New Orleans). But certain things became wake up calls to us, as they do for many RVers. We aren't "on vacation". Back when we both worked fulltime and earned our 2 weeks of paid vacation it was kinda like a free-for-all. Maybe we'd fly somewhere or take the tent trailer out to the California Coast, eat out every day, drink the good bottle of wine, buy the souvenir t shirts and upgrade our concert tickets to VIP just because. But that's not sustainable now...at least not 365 days a year.

So what do we do when we're not hiking beautiful trails, posting beautiful photos on Instagram or toasting to our amazing life at some hipster bar in an equally hipster town? Well, sometimes we get invited to spend some downtime camping on friend's property like we did in Clark Fork, Idaho at the end of July last year.

A little off-roading hasn't hurt the Mutiny yet.
Brenda and Chris really embrace the quite life in this small town. They built their own cabin on forested land they acquired over the years. When they were in the process of building it they had no road access in the winter and had to use sleds to bring building supplies, groceries and the kids up to the house. Thankfully things are a little more modern now and, even though it isn't paved, a road big enough for the Mutiny now leads to their land. We camped there for 5 hot summer nights but enjoyed the company of our hosts and a day fishing on the lake that won't be soon forgotten..
Our spot for the week on the Haase Compound.
Chris even managed to have 30 amp service for us which was very much needed with daytime temperatures in the upper 90's. Remember, we travel with our pets so sometimes AC is necessary for their safety too.


Miso approved.
As did Avi.
Clark had a blast fishing for Kokanee, a landlocked version of Sockeye salmon.
Fishing on Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced pond-ə-ray) for kokanee with our friends, Chris and Brenda, in Idaho.
And even managed to do some catching...followed by eating...


Sometimes not having to see it all or do it all is exactly what we need. It helps to recharge our batteries for the next adventure. I had considered skipping this post since it wasn't flashy or full of restaurant recommendations or campground reviews but then I thought maybe it's good to show the other side of the story, the regular old every day living that makes up the bulk of our daily lives. It's easy to post photos of only the exciting stops and fancy lattes but I'd hate for anyone to think that this is all we do or worse, make them wonder if they're "doing it wrong" because they aren't on the go all the time.



Of course, we will always seek out adventure and try to take advantage of what this beautiful life has to offer but we're not going to feel like our lives are lacking if we take time to do nothing except maybe enjoy a few books, throw a line in the water, take a nap, go a day without brushing our hair or even getting out of our pajamas.

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