And now Montana!

Idaho went by too quickly--what a lovely state! At least the northern panhandle, and I hope one day to discover whether it's representative of the whole state. For now, I have entered Montana and camped here 3 nights. The first, just over the boarder (I am following a trend here) at Big Eddy was a fun little discovery. I was offered water by a very kind woman who happened to see me as she was carrying apples from her garden to her car. I accepted and rode down her driveway to meet her. We walked together towards the house and I saw she had well loved and very faded prayer flags hanging over her wood shed. She and her mom had both grown up on the land there and she told me about battling the bears and squirrels and bees for the apples...I wondered how bees would get into apples but didn't ask. She filled my water bottles and recommended a camp ground 10 miles down the road. I asked her to repeat the name, but I forgot it 2 miles down the road anyway.

As I pedaled on into the dusky evening, I began to create my ideal campground: a small place with fire rings and bear boxes near a body of water with pit toilets so I wouldn't have to waste water and there would be less required maintenance and maybe it would be free. I rode by Big Eddy Recreation Area about 5 miles from my water connection, but my heart said to go back and take a second look. The sign at the entry said "camping limit 14 days" but nothing about being full or any fees, so I rode down to check it out.

I had a small twinge of trepidation when the road turned to gravel/dirt with potholes and seemed to stretch on a ways downhill...this breaks my no dirt road rule formed while riding google maps's recomended forest roads and challenging my right knee considerably. I also figured climbing up the gravel in the am would not be a fun start to the day. Intuition kept me going and I found the campground exactly to my created specifications! 6 sites, a central pit toilet, bear boxes, picnic benches, and fire rings at each site, and just down the road a little farther was the day use area: a boat ramp into a beautiful lake! Or maybe it was a river, but it was big and beautiful. I set up camp and went down to the water with my no-see-um headnet (thank you Aspen!) to meditate. Beautiful place to practice metta!

As the sun set, I returned to camp and began to feel fear intensifying in my field again (this fear began as I rode across the ID-MT boarder). All my scented stuff was safely stored in the steel bear box provided by the site. I heard several gunshots at dusk and took solace that I was in an established camp ground, and I felt nervous that I was alone and being very quiet and without a sizable vehicle in said campsite.

I used all my tools: ho'oponopono, metta, reiki, the freedom process...not much effect. After laying in my sleeping bag for about 20 minutes on the picnic table (I decided to sleep on the table because I felt safer off the ground at this particular site--a little less vulnerable) almost sweating from fear, I remembered the latihan! I invited this sacred energy to flow in me and I felt immediately cleared, centered, and protected by the love of God. I am SO grateful for this divine connection in my life. Thank you, Subud spiritual community! When the latihan completed after about another 20 or 30 minutes, the energy within and around me felt totally transformed and I slept more soundly than I have in weeks! What a wonderful night!

The next morning I packed up after my sleeping bag dried in the sun and ride on into Bull River (that was the town my water bearer friend had recommended I camp at) and found a little convenience store with bulk foods and some organic produce! Wonderful. I enjoyed breakfast in front of this store (the Big Sky Panty) while my receptionless phone charged.