Leaving

It seems like everything requires more thought when you live simply, even leaving. Gregg and I left the cabin for our first-ever vacation last May, not a visit to see family, a real vacation. Living offgrid with the nearest neighbor eight river miles away requires a lot of forethought be given when getting ready to leave the cabin empty for two weeks. There are hungry, wild critters in the area, the occasional crazy person, and our dog to take into consideration.

Since we don’t have a refrigerator or freezer, in the spring, we have a cooler that sits right outside the front door where we keep fresh meat and vegetables, condiments, and cheese. We spent the last couple of weeks before our departure eating up everything that might go bad over the course of two weeks. The only thing left were some condiments in jars, so Gregg took the cooler downstairs into our storage area which will stay cool during our absence, and detour hungry animals away from the front door of our cabin.

High water when we returned home

Next, we had to make sure the cabin was clear of as much food smell as possible. The jug of old oil needed to be taken to town. The saved bacon grease needed to be used up and the entire kitchen scrubbed clean, including the stovetop. The container that we put eggshells in for compost was taken downstairs to the storage area along with the cooler. All dishes were washed, dried, and put away.

Since our trip would mean we would be away from the cabin when the river started to rise from the snowmelt in the mountains, we had to make sure everything below our lower deck was secured to higher ground (this is also why our greenhouse is on stilts). Sure enough, when we returned, the water was up to the third step!

All of our vegetable starts had to be replanted into their summer homes in the garden and greenhouse, and we made sure everything got a heavy watering the morning of our departure. Even with friends promising to stop by in a week to water things, they’re going to get pretty dry while we’re gone.

Bear Welcome-Mat

Finally, we shut the front door, leaving it unlocked because we’d hate for someone to break a window if they were trying to get into the cabin, and Gregg went around to the back of the cabin to collect the bear welcome mats, three by four foot pieces of plywood with 4-inch nails hammered through and then placed nail side up. We laid one of these in front of the door and one on the back side of the cabin where the deck meets the outhouse trail through the woods. We don’t know for sure if they deter bears, but it makes us feel better. Gregg did have a bear break into the cabin once after stepping on the board, and the bear tracked blood everywhere inside as he continued to tear apart the kitchen cabinets. However, as luck would have it, this was not to be one of those times.

Nuka and Luggage loaded up

It’s an eery feeling as we drive away in a boat loaded down with luggage and our dog. Nuka, our Chocolate Lab, will spend the two weeks with some friends in town who also have a dog. We considered taking her with us, but that’s another $200 airfare and limits our freedom on vacation. She ended up having a terrific time with playmate Kona, a Miniature Blue Heeler.

Planning ahead is a part of our daily life. Whether it’s making sure we take enough fresh meat home with us from town to last until our next trip in or keeping an eye on the weather so we don’t get caught on the river in a storm, forethought is the one necessity for living our simple life.