June 12, 2023 • 12 mins
Today a family road trip moved us from getting off the grid to making future plans. Join us on the road to camping and Huckleberry scouting.
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:04):
Hello there friends, both old and new. Welcome to the
strive seek find podcast, I'myour host chance Whitmore home
to bite sized lifestyle advicefrom a fellow traveler on the
road to a better life. Broughtto you by someone who is a
longtime educator, writer,parent, and an outdoor
(00:27):
enthusiast, who may just maylike a good draft, because our
future is set not just throughour choices, but by our
willingness to explore and finda better way. Well, now happy
June, my family and I just gotback into town after a short
(00:53):
visit to the mountains. And ifyou've been listening to this
for a while, you know, mountainstend to be my happy place. And
I'm noticing more and more. Formy girls, it's becoming the same
thing. My youngest, especiallyhas been begging every week,
(01:13):
since it started to warm up thatwe needed to be out camping. And
I'll be honest, I completelyagree with her. But life isn't
allowing for it right now. Maybenext month. But what was this
trip? And what made it sorestorative?
(01:36):
Well, let's get started. AndI'll share I've probably needed
to get to the mountain sinceJanuary.
I don't think that's anoverstatement. My wife has
probably wanted to lock me in acloset and leave me there for at
least that long. I'm kidding.
There at least beer hallsreally. But today was the first
time that we've been able toshake loose and get away. We're
(02:01):
at that age, his parents werewe've got one in high school
that's doing athletics, one inmiddle school doing athletics
and a little one, be in a littleone. Consequently, what used to
be taken for granted, there'snot a lot of time for. So today,
we grabbed the opportunity. Andwe had to make it serve multiple
(02:27):
functions. Because it may bethree weeks before we have this
opportunity again. And when Istarted this list, I
intentionally had three reasonswe went up the hill the way we
did, actuality it's probablycloser to five or six. But first
one, trying to get used to adifferent vehicle for road
(02:49):
trips. wasn't in the truck. Itwas odd. Next up, kids have been
working really darn hard whilethey're at home. And, and I'm
not. And that deserves somethinggetting away is important for
them. And it's for the otherreasons I'll kind of explain as
I go. But we were out the door.
(03:12):
Seven o'clock this morning.
place we were headed was a twohour drive north of us. We're
going to stop into McCall alongthe way, which is really the
only part of our planes journeyas planned as it actually was.
That happened today. Now stepone was about an hour and a half
into the drive. We got off themain highway went up into the
(03:38):
hills along the reservoir thatfor the last four or five years
we've checked regularly andtried to get huckleberries
because about every other year,it is intensely amazing what you
can get there. And for those ofyou not in the Pacific Northwest
(03:58):
huckleberries are a regionaltreat. They only grow wild and
you have these tiny littleblueberry, like as far as looks
go. But very, very tart berries.
And they are expensive. Becauseas far as I know, you can't
(04:24):
cultivate them. They'retemperamental. And they produce
about every other year, anythingworth having. So we get up there
and we check every year. Thereare entire Facebook subculture
about when to pick berries andfind things and probably the
best analogy for this is simple.
Huckleberry spots are protectedlike a guy protects his favorite
(04:47):
fishing hole. You're not tellingyou. You ask. He's gonna lie.
You're asked about the bait.
He's gonna lie about that too.
So as much as we like him It'sas much about the exploration
and having a little fun gettingit done as anything else. Last
year, we got a grand total ofthree berries. And they were
(05:09):
pretty expensive. Because weended up having to buy four new
tires after I basically explodedone coming off the mountain.
Anyways, back to this trip, wewent up, we went looking for our
spot, knowing that there hadbeen fires in the area. And
we're not going to get anyberries out of that area,
(05:32):
because the whole thing wasburned. The areas around it, if
not, so there's places tosearch, but it's going to be a
few years for that spot. Whichis okay, we got to go check out
and look for some camping sitesalong that area. Because it's
still a great little hiddenreservoir that I want to get
(05:54):
kayaks on, hopefully in themonth of July. So even though
that was disappointing, it was ahomerun part of the trip. Then
it was up to check on a campsitethat I loved and actually did a
podcast on a few years ago.
Place Called that I called itmeander. I didn't name the
(06:17):
campground because it's crowdedenough as it is a great place to
drop a kayak in the the waterand play around and know your
kids are safe and their lifejackets. And it was about an
hour away from our first stop.
Why don't why didn't we just gocamping, because I assumed that
the campground was going to befull by the time I could get
(06:38):
there on Saturday afternoon. AndI was curious, wanted to know
how much higher up in themountains, I'd have to go to
find a place that I couldpossibly disperse camp. And we
had good intentions to maybejump in the water there. But by
the time we got there was about60 degrees and high mountain
lakes are not conducive toswimming when you're dealing
(07:02):
with 60 degrees. So we moved on.
But the girls took it in stride.
There was a lot of sleeping anda lot of laughing on this entire
trip. And we weren't done. Wejust continued up. We were
exploring looking for dispersedcampsites just in case, our
favorites were all taken up thenext time. Because last year,
(07:25):
due to a combination of workinsanity and more work insanity.
We didn't make it out campingonce. And I think it was only
once the year before that. Sotrying to figure that out now.
In the course of another hour,we went further up and found us
(07:46):
ourselves about 10 places thatwe could possibly disperse camp,
which is to say camp withoutbeing in a campground that
looked pretty cool. Little bitof water around it. Nothing I
would kayak and quite honestlybecause the kayaks we have are
meant for lakes, not for a lotof rocks. But there's potential
(08:09):
there. And it was about thispoint. Even though we weren't
hiking, even though we weren'tkayaking. We were getting in and
out and looking at things andwandering around and taking
pictures. It was enough that Icould see the tension rolling
off. My wife rolling off merolling off the girls. There's
(08:31):
just something about breathingmountain air and getting away
from people letting it be quiet.
So while we sat next to a miningclaim and ate our lunch in
there, the rain that wasn't aproblem. That was a celebration
(08:54):
because there wasn't anybodyaround and better yet for me. We
are in an area where it suffersfrom cell phone interruptus.
AKA, there's no service. Andthose are special places in my
world. I know I'm kind ofwandering tonight but my point
(09:14):
is this. Get away fromcivilization. Get out in the
hills. If you can't get up andhike, go out and find a picnic.
The therapeutic value to allthis for my entire family was
off the scale and it led to moreplants. When we sidetracked into
(09:39):
a hot springs that I haven'tbeen to and up about 19 years I
think it was the first year wewere married. We camped near it
and then hiked over to it with acouple of friends because pre
kid days. You had time for thesethings and in the Process found
(10:00):
a couple of roads that I really,really want to see what they're
like at the end of the line. Itlooks like there's some pretty
country up there. There areplaces I haven't been. And I was
definitely not ready for thatsort of trip. Didn't have my
shovel my bucket, the extra foodand a sleeping bag toss in the
(10:26):
back. So we didn't do it. But wehave plans to get up there and
do it. We have deadlines. And Ican handle this kind of deadline
right now. Because it'ssomething to look forward to
something to celebrate, andsomething to experience with the
family. Because we came backtonight, ate dinner, and
(10:53):
everybody just kind ofcollapsed. That's a great day,
folks. A great day. And for me,it's enough. As I go out the
door tonight, I want to makesure I celebrate something. Want
a shout out film rage, a podcastthat I followed for a very long
(11:17):
time. They have supported thisprogram for a very long time.
And they do an outstanding jobtalking about a variety of
movies that I can't even imaginesitting through at times.
Today they hit episode 200. Andas someone who has stumbled a
little bit in the last year, andonly published about 30 episodes
(11:43):
for this season instead of mynormal 50 I can't even imagine
making 200 So salute to all youguys that film rage and I'm
going to urge the listeners tothis podcast to drop by and give
you a listen. Well friends,that's it for this week's
edition of strife seek find.
Thank you again for listening.
(12:06):
If you'd like to join thediscussion, or have ideas for
future episodes, hop on over tothe strife seek find podcast
group on Facebook.
Alternatively, if Facebook's notyour thing, you can find me on
Instagram at strife seek findpodcast on Twitter, as at chance
Whitmore five, or even on email.
(12:30):
Links for all those are in theshow notes below. Until next
time, my friends, keep seekingyour own brilliant future
Hello there friends, both old and new. Welcome to the
strive seek find podcast, I'myour host chance Whitmore home
to bite sized lifestyle advicefrom a fellow traveler on the
road to a better life. Broughtto you by someone who is a
longtime educator, writer,parent, and an outdoor
(00:27):
enthusiast, who may just maylike a good draft, because our
future is set not just throughour choices, but by our
willingness to explore and finda better way. Well, now happy
June, my family and I just gotback into town after a short
(00:53):
visit to the mountains. And ifyou've been listening to this
for a while, you know, mountainstend to be my happy place. And
I'm noticing more and more. Formy girls, it's becoming the same
thing. My youngest, especiallyhas been begging every week,
(01:13):
since it started to warm up thatwe needed to be out camping. And
I'll be honest, I completelyagree with her. But life isn't
allowing for it right now. Maybenext month. But what was this
trip? And what made it sorestorative?
(01:36):
Well, let's get started. AndI'll share I've probably needed
to get to the mountain sinceJanuary.
I don't think that's anoverstatement. My wife has
probably wanted to lock me in acloset and leave me there for at
least that long. I'm kidding.
There at least beer hallsreally. But today was the first
time that we've been able toshake loose and get away. We're
(02:01):
at that age, his parents werewe've got one in high school
that's doing athletics, one inmiddle school doing athletics
and a little one, be in a littleone. Consequently, what used to
be taken for granted, there'snot a lot of time for. So today,
we grabbed the opportunity. Andwe had to make it serve multiple
(02:27):
functions. Because it may bethree weeks before we have this
opportunity again. And when Istarted this list, I
intentionally had three reasonswe went up the hill the way we
did, actuality it's probablycloser to five or six. But first
one, trying to get used to adifferent vehicle for road
(02:49):
trips. wasn't in the truck. Itwas odd. Next up, kids have been
working really darn hard whilethey're at home. And, and I'm
not. And that deserves somethinggetting away is important for
them. And it's for the otherreasons I'll kind of explain as
I go. But we were out the door.
(03:12):
Seven o'clock this morning.
place we were headed was a twohour drive north of us. We're
going to stop into McCall alongthe way, which is really the
only part of our planes journeyas planned as it actually was.
That happened today. Now stepone was about an hour and a half
into the drive. We got off themain highway went up into the
(03:38):
hills along the reservoir thatfor the last four or five years
we've checked regularly andtried to get huckleberries
because about every other year,it is intensely amazing what you
can get there. And for those ofyou not in the Pacific Northwest
(03:58):
huckleberries are a regionaltreat. They only grow wild and
you have these tiny littleblueberry, like as far as looks
go. But very, very tart berries.
And they are expensive. Becauseas far as I know, you can't
(04:24):
cultivate them. They'retemperamental. And they produce
about every other year, anythingworth having. So we get up there
and we check every year. Thereare entire Facebook subculture
about when to pick berries andfind things and probably the
best analogy for this is simple.
Huckleberry spots are protectedlike a guy protects his favorite
(04:47):
fishing hole. You're not tellingyou. You ask. He's gonna lie.
You're asked about the bait.
He's gonna lie about that too.
So as much as we like him It'sas much about the exploration
and having a little fun gettingit done as anything else. Last
year, we got a grand total ofthree berries. And they were
(05:09):
pretty expensive. Because weended up having to buy four new
tires after I basically explodedone coming off the mountain.
Anyways, back to this trip, wewent up, we went looking for our
spot, knowing that there hadbeen fires in the area. And
we're not going to get anyberries out of that area,
(05:32):
because the whole thing wasburned. The areas around it, if
not, so there's places tosearch, but it's going to be a
few years for that spot. Whichis okay, we got to go check out
and look for some camping sitesalong that area. Because it's
still a great little hiddenreservoir that I want to get
(05:54):
kayaks on, hopefully in themonth of July. So even though
that was disappointing, it was ahomerun part of the trip. Then
it was up to check on a campsitethat I loved and actually did a
podcast on a few years ago.
Place Called that I called itmeander. I didn't name the
(06:17):
campground because it's crowdedenough as it is a great place to
drop a kayak in the the waterand play around and know your
kids are safe and their lifejackets. And it was about an
hour away from our first stop.
Why don't why didn't we just gocamping, because I assumed that
the campground was going to befull by the time I could get
(06:38):
there on Saturday afternoon. AndI was curious, wanted to know
how much higher up in themountains, I'd have to go to
find a place that I couldpossibly disperse camp. And we
had good intentions to maybejump in the water there. But by
the time we got there was about60 degrees and high mountain
lakes are not conducive toswimming when you're dealing
(07:02):
with 60 degrees. So we moved on.
But the girls took it in stride.
There was a lot of sleeping anda lot of laughing on this entire
trip. And we weren't done. Wejust continued up. We were
exploring looking for dispersedcampsites just in case, our
favorites were all taken up thenext time. Because last year,
(07:25):
due to a combination of workinsanity and more work insanity.
We didn't make it out campingonce. And I think it was only
once the year before that. Sotrying to figure that out now.
In the course of another hour,we went further up and found us
(07:46):
ourselves about 10 places thatwe could possibly disperse camp,
which is to say camp withoutbeing in a campground that
looked pretty cool. Little bitof water around it. Nothing I
would kayak and quite honestlybecause the kayaks we have are
meant for lakes, not for a lotof rocks. But there's potential
(08:09):
there. And it was about thispoint. Even though we weren't
hiking, even though we weren'tkayaking. We were getting in and
out and looking at things andwandering around and taking
pictures. It was enough that Icould see the tension rolling
off. My wife rolling off merolling off the girls. There's
(08:31):
just something about breathingmountain air and getting away
from people letting it be quiet.
So while we sat next to a miningclaim and ate our lunch in
there, the rain that wasn't aproblem. That was a celebration
(08:54):
because there wasn't anybodyaround and better yet for me. We
are in an area where it suffersfrom cell phone interruptus.
AKA, there's no service. Andthose are special places in my
world. I know I'm kind ofwandering tonight but my point
(09:14):
is this. Get away fromcivilization. Get out in the
hills. If you can't get up andhike, go out and find a picnic.
The therapeutic value to allthis for my entire family was
off the scale and it led to moreplants. When we sidetracked into
(09:39):
a hot springs that I haven'tbeen to and up about 19 years I
think it was the first year wewere married. We camped near it
and then hiked over to it with acouple of friends because pre
kid days. You had time for thesethings and in the Process found
(10:00):
a couple of roads that I really,really want to see what they're
like at the end of the line. Itlooks like there's some pretty
country up there. There areplaces I haven't been. And I was
definitely not ready for thatsort of trip. Didn't have my
shovel my bucket, the extra foodand a sleeping bag toss in the
(10:26):
back. So we didn't do it. But wehave plans to get up there and
do it. We have deadlines. And Ican handle this kind of deadline
right now. Because it'ssomething to look forward to
something to celebrate, andsomething to experience with the
family. Because we came backtonight, ate dinner, and
(10:53):
everybody just kind ofcollapsed. That's a great day,
folks. A great day. And for me,it's enough. As I go out the
door tonight, I want to makesure I celebrate something. Want
a shout out film rage, a podcastthat I followed for a very long
(11:17):
time. They have supported thisprogram for a very long time.
And they do an outstanding jobtalking about a variety of
movies that I can't even imaginesitting through at times.
Today they hit episode 200. Andas someone who has stumbled a
little bit in the last year, andonly published about 30 episodes
(11:43):
for this season instead of mynormal 50 I can't even imagine
making 200 So salute to all youguys that film rage and I'm
going to urge the listeners tothis podcast to drop by and give
you a listen. Well friends,that's it for this week's
edition of strife seek find.
Thank you again for listening.
(12:06):
If you'd like to join thediscussion, or have ideas for
future episodes, hop on over tothe strife seek find podcast
group on Facebook.
Alternatively, if Facebook's notyour thing, you can find me on
Instagram at strife seek findpodcast on Twitter, as at chance
Whitmore five, or even on email.
(12:30):
Links for all those are in theshow notes below. Until next
time, my friends, keep seekingyour own brilliant future
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