Sunday and Not a Cloud in the Sky

This morning I made coffee in the Airstream and had my first hot shower on board. Wow, what a luxury. We got an early start and made it well into Indiana. Since we passed into Central time zone, we gained an hour, but after 5+ hrs I decided to stop before getting to Chicago. I didn't want to have to find a place for the night around Chicago, so we stopped early for the night in Michigan City, IN. This afternoon around lunchtime, look who pulled into the rest stop where we were stretching our legs. I wonder if we will cross paths again tomorrow.

We're settled for the night and the fur kids are getting comfy.

It is supposed to be stormy in the morning, so I'm not sure if we will go anywhere at all. We'll see what morning brings us.

Airstreaming Day two

Today we saw our first Airstream of the trip, at a rest stop in Ohio. A cute old 1966 pulled by a fellow member of the Facebook group Airstream Addicts. We became Fb friends so we can follow each other's adventures. It was her maiden voyage too. She is traveling with her mom and dad and two kids for a month. Wow, good luck with that!

Tonight we made it to Sandusky, OH and stayed at a KOA. Wow, KOA campgrounds have sure changed since I stayed at one about 20+ years ago! But full hookups are really nice and I was able to dump the black tank, finally. This place was huge. All I cared about was having a level place to park. I had to use my leveling blocks on one side and had to back in, but that was not a problem.

Then it was time to feed the firry kids and have myself a bourbon and some smoked salmon and crackers. We slept like logs.

First Night on the Open Road

We got a late start leaving Kennett Square and then came the arduous task of getting to the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It means a drive through some of the most beautiful farm land in the state, through picturesque towns with quaint names like Bird-In-Hand, Paradise, Intercourse,  and Amish horse driven buggies. It is Amish country after all, just outside of Lancaster in prime farm country. Friday afternoon might not have been the best time to take off on a long trip, but you have to leave sometime and we were ready.

Finally reaching Harrisburg, we connected with the Turnpike and were really on our way. Not knowing how the Airstream would pull fully loaded, I wasn't planning to go too far the first day. I found an interesting State Forest on a phone app that looked like a great place to camp for the night, so I got off the turnpike and headed 10 or so miles out there. It was thick woods and as soon as we started getting deeper in the woods, I started noticing mushrooms everywhere. There were chanterelles growing on the side of the road. I stopped and jumped out to grab some and there was a car right behind me and no way to pull over to let the car by, so I couldn't stop and had to keep moving. Can you imagine the frustration of seeing mushrooms all around you and not being able to stop and pick them? AAACK! I never found anything that would have sufficed as a campsite and the ground was soft and I didn't want to chance getting stuck my first night. So, we drove back to town and found a dumpy little campground for the night. I was so frustrated but there will be time for mushrooms once we get closer. Right now, we just need to get to Montana.

And Awaaaay we go!

After spending all of April, May and June in Kennett Square, PA my home away from home and now my sister's house since my Mom died, it was finally time. I had to wait for my Airstream to be built at the factory in Ohio and it was finally finished on June 1st. Then it had to be delivered to the dealer in New Jersey where I could go pick it up, take the 2 hour run through and then drive her the two hours back to Kennett Square. Then came registering it at DMV, insuring, getting all my bills on autopay, license plates, loading, packing, moving stuff around and all the things one has to do to live permanently on the road. I am a very organized person, and it is very much a part of what my job entails, but I've never tried to tackle anything this complicated, ever.

The weather finally lifted, the fog cleared and we were finally on our way. Our first long stay stop is Southwest Montana, where Maddy and I lived before Florida. My porcini patch awaits us and it will be Ruby's first time hunting mushrooms. It is time for her to learn the ropes. Maggie was a stupendous mushroom dog, so Ruby has some mighty large paw prints to fill.

A Return from a Long Hiatus

It has been four years since my last post and a lot of things have happened since then. You already know I moved to Sarasota, Florida and bought a house there. I gardened, grew bananas, mangoes, key limes, oranges, lemons, pineapples, Persian limes, plumeria, black bamboo, brugmansia, orchids, all the exotic plants and fruits that grow in the tropics.  I love learning new things and gardening in Florida was quite a change from gardening in Montana at high elevation.

Seven years seems to be my breaking point. I get the seven year itch and then I need something new to conquer. So, it seemed appropriate, that when I reached my seventh year in Sarasota, I knew I was ready for a change. I had moved back east to be near family and my elderly mother. She passed away in November 2013, so there was that. I no longer felt I needed to hang close enough to get there if needed. Maggie the Wonder Dog, best dog ever, passed away at the age of 15-¾ in October so there was even less reason to stay put. After two very long, dogless months, I got Ruby, another border collie. My fourth full bred border collie. She is a tri color, my first tri color. She's a beautiful dog and is proving to be a good companion. She's smart as can be and sweet as honey. She loves everyone and is a real herder!

Maddy the kitty is still with me and is going to be fourteen in August. 

So, to wrap this up, I've been to New Zealand a few times, photographed lots of mushrooms, fished, went to Honduras and photographed over 100 birds and sold my house in Sarasota. So what is next you ask and where am I going to live? Well, I've bought a brand spanking new Airstream 2018 27' FB Flying Cloud. Ruby, Maddy and I are going to live in it, and travel around the country, photographing, picking mushrooms and fishing. I will continue to handle trips for my loyal repeat clients for the time being and am semi retired. The nice thing is, I can do my work from anywhere as long as I have phone and internet. Life is so much less complicated when you don't have lawn to mow and so many bills to pay. We are about to embark on a brand new lifestyle and we're bringing you all along on the adventure. Here we are waiting for the weather to clear for take off. Join us, won't you?

The Henry's Fork- Opening Day on the RR Ranch

It used to be the place to be on opening day of the Harriman Ranch on the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Last Chance, Idaho. Back in the day, it was a who's who of fly fishing with such fishing elite  as André Puyans, Mel Krieger, Jim and Kitty Vincent, Jim Adams, Mike Lawson, René Harrop, and the list goes on. License plates from clear across the country were parked all over with their little campers, waders hung from everywhere. It is still a big deal to be on the ranch for opening day, but alas, we are all getting older and many of those listed above are no longer with us. It will never be the same to me as it was 25 years ago when we'd all meet in the parking lot, exchange flies, stories, beers and talk about what we'd all been doing for the last year, since this was the only time we'd see each other until next June 15th.

I was on the fork for opening day this year and it just didn't feel the same to me at all. It is one of those things better reserved in great memories which can never change. No Andy, no Mel, it's just not the same. I guess now it's time for the new kids on the block to take over and carry on their own traditions. I will just quietly keep mine tucked away where I can pull from the well whenever I feel the need.

Moose! Finally!

One of my alltime favorite things to see in Montana is moose. They are just such amazing animals and sightings can be rather rare. On this trip, I had decided to go in search of them instead of waiting for a chance encounter. So, these two moose were spotted up in Elk Park over the weekend. It was worth the time spent looking for them.

Rattler on the Road

I lived in Montana for almost thirteen years and never encountered a rattlesnake. Now, I live in Florida and am just visiting Montana and I find my first rattler.  It is a Prairie Rattlesnake, the only venoumous snake of all ten species of snakes in the state. If given a large enough dose, the venom can be lethal to an adult human. Fortunately for me, I was safely stowed in my car with Maggie, so was able to photograph him without having to make him feel threatened, which enabled me more photos.

Big Skies

Back in Big Sky Country

It is starting to get hot and humid in Florida, so Maggie the Wonder Dog and I have decided to spend much of the summer in our beloved Montana, home away from home and home before our present home. The most beautiful and colorful birds are here and so far, we are enjoying the gorgeous views.

Dept. of Horn-tooting

From the current issue of Fungi Magazine, Winter 2012 Volume 5-No.5

Fungi Mag. Unusual Sightings by Britt Bunyard

It's Mardi Gras...Time for HOT BOUDIN!

Boudin is a staple Cajun food found in Louisiana. It's a sausage mixture made up of pork, pork liver, rice and seasonings.  It's already fully cooked once it is stuffed into the casings, but it needs to be heated through prior to eating.  Found throughout Acadiana or Cajun Country, basically Lafayette, signs for HOT BOUDIN can be found everywhere.

Calvin Trillin published an essay entitled Missing Links in the New Yorker Magazine back in 2002 about boudin.  It is a great read and you can find it right here:  Missing Links

Anyway, here is a rundown of how it's made.  First there is a lot of cutting and chopping of meats and vegetables.  Pork butt, pork liver, lots of garlic, onion, celery, poblano peppers, jalapeno peppers, spices like cayenne pepper, chili pepper, salt, black pepper, white pepper and then to finish it off, cooked white rice, scallions and parsley.

 So, the first step is to cut up the meats and all the vegetables through the peppers.  All that gets mixed up with the spices and gets to spend the night marinating in the fridge.  The next day it goes into a pot, gets filled with water to an inch or two above the ingredients and then simmered for an hour and 45 minutes.  The broth is drained off and reserved and the meat is then run through the meat grinder with a course blade.  Once the meat and vegetables are all ground together they are added to the rice that has already been cooked along with the chopped parsley and scallions and the reserved cooking liquid.

At this point the mixture will be a little wet but the rice will absorb the liquid.  Now it's time to stuff the casings.  Hog casings are used for this.  Then link the sausages if you choose and they are ready for the last and final step before eating.  There are several ways to cook boudin, from boiling to steaming or even oven browning to brown off the casing so you can eat it.  Usually boudin is squeezed out of the casing like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.  You just suck the insides out of the skin and discard the skin.  It may not sound appetizing but to quote Calvin Trillin, “I figure that about 80 percent of the boudin purchased in Louisiana is consumed before the purchaser has left the parking lot, and most of the rest is polished off in the car. In other words, Cajun boudin not only doesn’t get outside the state; it usually doesn’t even get home.”

All the more reason you'll just have to make your own! All you'll need is a Kitchen Aid Mixer with a meat grinding attachment and stuffer kit, a large stock pot and a rice cooker certainly helps.  It's a labor of love like any sausage making, but you'll agree it is well worth the trouble when you are sucking the last morsels of boudin from the casings.

A Visit to the Venice Rookery

This time of year the birds are already in baby mode here in southwest Florida.  At the Venice Rookery, there are mating birds, nesting birds and babies everywhere.

Venice Rookery is an Audobon property in Venice, Florida.  The property has a pond with a small island in the middle of it.  The island is made up of native Florida trees and is home to numerous species of wading birds, including Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Cattle Egrets, Anhinga, mud hens, Green Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons etc.

The birds know they're safe from land predators such as raccoons and opossum because the waters around the island are patrolled by alligators.  Here are some photos from today.

Fresh Beginnings

Here it is, the first day of the new year, 2013.  A fresh start, new beginnings.  What will the new year bring?  I see a few changes in my future, beginning with the decision to get out of the chicken bizz.  I enjoy the chickens and of course especially love the fresh eggs, but I've decided it is too much of an inconvenience to have them here on my small property in SW Florida.  It's hard on them in that they can't just free range as they please and hard on me as they require more attention and maintenence since they can't free range.  So, they are off to a nice farm, the real home and beginning for two of them and a new home to the other two.  I'm sure they will all be very happy and perhaps they will allow me some fresh eggs from time to time when I can get out that way.

Aside from that, I've also decided I need to make a concerted effort to get back to Montana in the summers.  I've missed the last two summers and that just can't be allowed to happen again. So, I plan on spending some serious time in Montana this summer and maybe I'll see some of you along the way.