The need for a change in my non-plan arose. Actually, I’ve decided to refer to it for now as my flex-plan… In all honesty I’ve been unable to completely kick the planning habit all together. Anyway, I got to my room in Lolo and settled in.

I got to thinking about this being a holiday weekend upcoming, so it seemed logical to check on room availability in Orofino, and probably go ahead and make a reservation… just in case. WOW! All the motels listed on the website were already completely sold out!

The motel where I’ve stayed before was not listed, but even if they’d had a room vacancy, it would most likely be upstairs (naturally no elevator), and I really don’t care for those. Several trips up and down the stairs and along corridors carrying heavy bags was never fun, but nowadays it’s downright drudgery. In addition to being a rather nice room, the one I already had in Lolo happened to be a downstairs park at the door room, so I figured I’d just do my lay-over there instead…

I returned to the office. Yep, I could keep the room until Saturday morning… but no longer! They, too, were booked solid through the weekend! I’m really, really happy now that I took that cabin when I did! It ain’t much fun riding around from town to town on mountain roads after dark searching into the night for a place to stay… I know this for a fact!

On the other hand, this choice would mean two days of just sitting around… I could go for day rides, but… nah. I took the opportunity to just veg and hangout. It would appear I still have some of that lazy streak in me that my dad was so critical of back in the stone age… I never cared much for stalking Wooly Mammoths, you see…

This lay-over had given me a chance to receive calls from my friends and family, as they helped me begin to rebuild my phone directory. It’ll be good, and comforting, to know I have those, as I’ll surely be needing them down the road someplace.

It also had given me a chance to chat with some folks who mean a great deal to me, but with whom I don’t often get to chat… Maybe the creation of my brick was actually a blessing in disguise…? Nah, but ain’t it typical of us humans to try to find some way to put a positive spin on a negative event?

I only left that place once in the time I was there… I rode down to a store to pick up a sandwich and some treats. Mostly I’d just been lying around napping, watching TV, writing stories, and talking on the phone. I’d ordered pizza, and I’d otherwise just been pent-up all by my lonesome doing what I do… Yep, the amount of solitude I need would drive most folks up a wall, but I was enjoying it quite a bit. I suppose I was also practicing for my tenure at the cabin soon…

My revised flex-plan had us riding directly to the cabin on Saturday, since I wouldn’t be staying in Orofino after all… Too bad, really, I was looking forward to visiting a couple of my favorite bars there… and doing some reminiscing and such… I’d never stayed in that town and not enjoyed myself…

The natives were friendly, the fishermen and other tourists pretty much stayed in the motel facilities, so the local pubs were populated mainly with… locals. And, my kind of folks, at that… I may wind up there yet on this trek, but not likely… Oh well, another time perhaps.

I sometimes awaken in the middle of the night, and the second night in Lolo was one of those times. I got up, did a quick chore, then went outside to combust one and study the sky. As soon as I looked up from performing ignition, I spotted a doe and two half-grown fawns.

There is a line of assorted trees that form a border and act as a privacy fence along the back edge of the parking lot, and there are several apple trees in that foliage collage. The deer must have seen me, but they gave no indication at all…

They were busy with did-din, and I must have looked harmless enough, even though we were no more than twenty yards apart. A short time later I bid them a good night and took my leave… They never even looked my way… sort of reminded me of the girls back in high school at our sock hops.