And so here we are, camping by the side of a forest service road, in an area that has innumerable cow paddies. The dried out and gloppy piles are almost evenly spaced, as if left by alien cows. Bovine land mines for sure. Step on one and new shoes are ruined. Dogs love them though. They are fun to eat, and even more fun to roll in.

In all fairness to Ryder, she’s getting better about this, maybe because she’s gotten her fill. Absolutely disgusting for, sure. As for Rainbow, she has better things to do with her time, like chase cows away from camp.

Most of the people I know would not camp here. Admittedly, this place is a far cry from a Day’s Inn, and an even further cry from a Marriott. That is, unless you’re a stock person and smell like cow dung. However, places like this do have their perks. First of all, I can hear a creek. And when I look up, I see foothills with odd rock formations. And to my left, aspens are shimmering, a sign that the wind is blowing softly, meaning less bugs.

It gives me great joy to see our tidy camp, complete with horses on the highline. They are eating their dinner in what appears to be a contented fashion.

It was another day in which the animals all again proved to be adaptable. We loaded up the horses and dogs at 9 a.m. and left the Moose Creek Trailhead area. We then headed on over to Driggs, where we went grocery shopping. Pete picked up a New York Times, and I got caught up on the news. The Syria situation does not sound good, but Serena Williams is kicking butt again.

We drove from Driggs to Arco, lots of flat land, being farmed – hay, potatoes, wheat. Then outside of Mackey we took a forest service road to where we are now camped. The campsite was adjacent to the road – we went for a ride before even setting up the tent and highline. The dogs of course came along. I got a scare when Rainbow disappeared down into a creek bed and entered a culvert. I thought she was a goner. It took a few seconds but she emerged on the other side, unscathed.

So all in all, a good day. Tomorrow we’ll do another ride in this area, then head in the direction of Salmon. From there we’ll head on over to Montana. Got a real estate guide and are now looking at property in this and other areas.

Next: 167: 8/3/13: Could you Live Here?