Dave does ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’ At least from hiking.

I finally had to take a day off. Well, from hiking, not ‘work.’ Just a simple down day where I don’t go anywhere before working my shift. Sit back and drink in the beauty of cabin living. A cabin in what must be the ultimate social experiment called the Coram RV park. So much to write about. Could not ask for a better canvas.

I’m driving 240 miles every afternoon/evening picking up half a dozen employees at the most. Lots of acceleration and breaking as I cycle in and out of the park. I got my first solid eight hours of sleep last night since I’ve been here. Felt good. But I’m a car guy at heart, so let’s talk about this Glacier chariot I abuse which has about as much curb appeal as a hearse (albeit a flashy one).

Although I can feel my personal gears are getting old, they still seem to lubed and mesh properly. Kind of like this van. I’m talking a 2019 Ford Transit 14 passenger, high rise, 1 ton dual-wheel behemoth. But one pushing 70k after only two summers of use. Wow. And all that over only a 32 mile stretch of road. With a 3.5 v-6 that will do 5500 rpms when you ask it, love shack has some powerful AC to drive away those hot Montana summer time blues. If only I had some friends to share it with. Most times it is like my own rolling solitary confinement. On the empty runs down the shore of Lake McDonald during the evening sunsets, I power down the windows and crank a little Meatloaf. The little guilty joys that make me smile. Coolest thing about this uncool vehicle is when I crack the back swing doors for loading massive bags of dirty towels.

It reminds me of the gates to Jurassic Park. Oh, I didn’t mention I also take some of the RV park laundry to the cleaning facility in Columbia Falls? This job keeps getting better every day!

I got to spend some time with the morning crowd in the community kitchen this AM (I’ve normally been on the trail a couple hours at that time of day). Yeah, not a whole lot of smiling going on around this place. Or maybe that’s just the AM grumpy crowd. Evenings are pretty good when the 20ish crowd are hanging out and watching 1980’s rom-coms from a very massive DVD collection someone brought from home. I’ll miss those kids when this is all over. And how they are always laughing at the haircuts and the dancing from was the most awesome decade EVER. Those ten critical and influential years that made me the strong confident man I am today.

The tricky part I’ve found is dialing in commute and hiking time to fit the pre-work window I’m trying to maximize. Each day can vary a lot. From the volume of people in the park, to the actual hiking time on the trail (especially for places I’ve never been). As always, I make sure to set a hard turnaround time when I find I have bit off more than I can chew. On days I don’t work, I can seek out more distant trailheads and longer drive miles given the old timeclock is not my master.

Last night marked my fifth day of working an actual full shift (the first was just a couple hours of training/ride along) with a ‘weekend’ in-between. So, I guess you can say I’ve worked my ‘first’ week. Here are some stats I’m keeping:

Category	Count	Miles	Elv Gain/Loss	Hours	Avg Grade	Avg MPH	Drive Miles
Hikes	7	83.4	15,850	32.9	7.2%	2.53	335.0
Climbs	0	0.0	0	0.0	#DIV/0!	#DIV/0!	0.0
Down Days	2						80.0
Totals	9	83.4	15,850	32.9	7.2%	2.53	415.0

I’m pretty sure this means I have my trail legs back and am ready to start finding some nice scrambles in the next week. I want to get back up on some of these peaks. But not until my bear spray arrives. The hike I did the other day was through that 4 year old burn, and it was super brushy in areas. To the point I almost turned back because I didn’t feel safe. But the berries are not in yet and no signs of foraging, So I cautiously carried on. I did turn my iPod waaaaaay down. You MUST be aware of your surroundings. The last thing I want to do when listening to Ayn’s Rand’s ultimate tale of capitalism, Atlas Shrugged, is get attacked by a bear from behind. Of course, depending which part of the book I am on, I might be so angry and riled up about entitlement programs destroying this great country of ours, a bear would simply not stand a chance. I just might go all Ralphie on Mr. Ursa Major of Montana.