6/28/92

   6/28/92

Place: Moose Creek Campground, 10 miles West and 4 miles South-West of Helena, Montana

9:45 a.m.

    We washed the clothes and diapers at a laundromat in Helena last night. Nika took her very first unsupported step while we were there. She had been holding onto the the walls and video game machines for support, trying to go around the whole room, but she let go of one video game and took her first step inorder to get to the next machine and did not fall.

   We wandered through the mall acroos the street from the laundromat, while the clothes were drying. It had the same stores and merchandise as malls everywhere.

   Helena seems a lot like Madison. The young people we saw looked and dressed like the people in Madison, long hair, Birkenstock sandals, over-sized T-shirts worn over over-sized shorts, and men with bandanas tied around their hair. Jasper says the only thing missing is the bumper stickers. The only bumper sticker we saw in Helena said, "Support your local skateboarders."

   Moose Creek Campground, where we are staying now, is free and is very pretty. We've decided to spend the whole day here and go back to Helena to look around tomorrow. Everyone is tired of spending all day every day in the car, driving.

    We only have $20 in cash left. Jasper has been trying to pay for gas using checks, but many of the places won't take out of state checks. We do have about $1000 in our Dubuque checking account. Since we didn't pay Nissan, we gave Jasper's mom back $2150.00 to pay for the roofing she's going to have done on her house, but we asked if we could hold onto the other thousand, just incase it was needed.

2:58 p.m.

    After breakfast this morning, we all put on our boots and did some rock climbing on the rocky mountainside next to our campsite. The kids and I only climbed part way up. I don't like heights and this was a very steep climb on loose stones and gravel, so I was not enjoying myself. Jasper did climb most of the way to the top, though. Almost an hour after he left us, he reappeared rolling a couple long pieces of wood ahead of him. He said that when he was almost to the top of the mountain, he went to lean against a tree and it fell over. He decided then that it was time to climb back down and he brought the tree back down with him.

    About the time that Jasper reached the campsite again, we could hear thunder and see dark clouds in the distance. It took almost another hour for the rain to reach us, plenty of time to put things away and get the kids down for naps in the tent. They are both asleep now and Jasper is in the tent reading. I have come out to the van to be alone for awhile, to write and sew.

4:03 p.m.

   A police car just came through the campground and stopped for a couple minutes directly behind our van.

   There is a chipmunk darting around our table and fire pit. Right now it is actually in the sauce pan that's sitting on the table, but it isn't eating. I guess it doesn't like the dried on remains of last night's spinach stew.