The Boonie Life: The Mountain Wanderers

Living out here is an adventure. There are wild animals here and there, yes, but one would never guess that so many (random) people would show up as well. Like the time, several years ago, that the doorbell rang at 10 o'clock on a Fall night and a man and his 10 or 11 year old daughter were on the doorstep after getting lost while hunting up on the mountain. They had been walking for a long time down the mountain and then saw our light. The daughter was shaken up and scared and cold and hungry, but nothing that a warm fire and some food (I think it was chocolate cake) and a call home couldn't fix.

And then there was Sunday evening.

I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready when Kate came running in the house saying that some people were coming on a bunch of horses. It was dark and freeeezing outside - like in the single digits freezing. Why would anyone be out on horses?

Thinking that they (whoever they were) were probably so cold and tired and hungry, I opened up another jar of tomato soup that I made and canned a couple months ago, dumped it into the pot of already warming tomato soup, and buttered some bread to broil in the oven.

About 10 minutes later Weston came in and told me it was a man and a woman who lived in the mountains and rode up asking for feed for their horses. He had helped them get some hay and tether their horses and I told him to invite them in for dinner.

When he came back in, he stepped in with two cold, very wrapped up and sort of rough looking people. The man was tall with several tattoos on his face and pale blue eyes, and the women had warm chocolate brown eyes and a tan weathered face. To tell you the truth, I was a little scared of the man at first sight, but he seemed nice as he helped the woman with her coat and introduced himself as John and the woman Chris. They took a few minutes to "de-snow-clothe" and warm themselves by the fire.

As we sat around the table filling up with warm soup and hot apple cider we talked about their curious lifestyle. He's lived this way for a long time, and the woman joined him about a year ago. I asked them what they eat on the trail and if they forage. He said they eat whatever they can get their hands on. How did they stay warm? Fire, of course. The woman would watch me interact with my children with a warm smile on her face. She told me she is a mother and a grandmother.

They were on their way to Cambridge and then on to Oregon to warmer weather. It had been fairly mild weather up until a few days before this, when it dropped about 50-60 degrees, and I don't think they were quite prepared.

He told us that a magazine called Idaho Magazine did a story on him last December (which also has pix of him), and that people take pictures of him just driving down the road, like the Paparazzi or something.

When we were done with our meal, he asked Weston for a piece of ground on which to sleep for the night. Weston offered the heated shop where there was a couch and we got our 2 camping pads for them with a couple of sleeping bags.

That night as I went to bed, I had a good feeling about helping them. I kept thinking of one of my most favorite hymns, Because I Have Been Given Much, and hoped that I was doing what the Savior would have done, and what He would want me to do.

The next morning they packed up and joined us for oatmeal and hot chocolate. It was hovering around zero degrees. I gave them a few cans of food, which hopefully was helpful to them. Which now as I'm typing this, I didn't ask them if they have a can opener. They were grateful, though, so hopefully that means that they do. As they walked out the door, I told them we would be praying for them. They thanked us, then they were on their way. I snapped a few pictures from the window inside my nice cozy house as they were leaving.