Sadie had only been on the road for a couple of hours now. She had been so excited about getting under way that she hadn�t even thought about eating breakfast. Now she realized that she was feeling hungry and she thought she would stop and the first decent looking restaurant she saw. She had already purchased some food for the motor home, but it was mainly provisions for supper. She had made up her mind that she didn�t want to start out the day having to cook and wash dirty dishes! That would come when she found a place that she would stay for several days or longer.

Up ahead she saw a sign for a Denny�s Restaurant and figured that would be a good place for breakfast. The parking lot was about half full and she had no problem parking her motor home. She went inside and was seated in the non-smoking section and given a menu. In a few minutes the waitress came and brought her a steaming cup of coffee. �Are you ready to order, or would you like to take a little longer?� Sadie had decided on a short stack with a side of bacon...crisp. While she was waiting for her meal, she took a look around the restaurant. There were several couples and a few singles seated. Sadie used to like to play a game with herself trying to figure out which ones were married and which ones weren�t!

Several older couple were obviously married. They just sat and ate and hardly said a word. It was as though they had said everything they wanted to say to each other and they were out of words. Sadie felt a little sorry for them. She had had such high hopes when she married. She was ready to grow old with her husband and have a wonderful life. �Well, it just wasn�t in the cards for me,� she thought. �Here I am, in my sixties and alone. I never thought that would happen. Oh well, I�m healthy and reasonably happy. This trip will be a real adventure for me. Something to tell my grandchildren!�

Sadie paid for her meal and headed for her motor home in the parking lot. �It�s time I got back on the road. I can�t spend all day in Denny�s watching people!� She laughed to herself and she realized that she really felt good. She started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot headed east. When she left Seattle this morning she headed out on I-90 and she figured she could make it to Missoula by dinner time. �So here I go....headed for Missoula and my first night on the road.� Sadie had already decided that she would head for a small state park just a little farther east past Missoula. It was called Beavertail Hill State Park and it did have camping facilities available.

She found the exit for the park without any trouble at all. She had been driving for several hours and she was ready to stop for the night. Luckily there were several sites available and Sadie found one right away. It was a nice little park and the spot she picked had a picnic table and a fire pit. There was even some wood stacked by the pit. �I�m so glad the evening is nice. I�m going to build a fire and just enjoy myself.� The campsites had running water but that was it. No electric hook-ups but that was alright with Sadie. She lit a small fire in the fire pit and while that was getting started, she fixed herself a turkey sandwich and some chips and took a diet pepsi out of the fridge. She took her food outside and sat down at the picnic table to eat and watch the sun go down. The scenery was beautiful and Sadie just enjoyed the peace and quiet. �Oh, I wish I had thought of doing this a few years ago! Look at what I have missed just sitting around in my house.� It was getting dark and Sadie decided to go inside and look over her atlas to see what her next stop would be. She had a Coleman lantern to use for light and it was starting to feel a little chilly outside. She stirred the fire and poured some water on it to make sure it was out and went inside.

When Sadie woke up the next morning, the sun was up and it looked like it would be a beautiful day. She fixed herself a cup of tea and got a container of yogurt out of the refrigerator. After she ate, she got dressed and decided to take a look around the campground. As she was out walking around, she realized that she wasn�t in any hurry to leave. So she decided to stay for at least another day and just enjoy the peace and quiet. �What a beautiful day! I�m so glad I decided to stay a little longer,� Sadie thought to herself. After she finished her tour of the campground, she got back to her campsite and decided to go into town and pick up a few things that she had forgotten. �I don�t know what it is, but every time I have ever taken a trip I always seem to forget something.� Sadie kind of chuckled to herself at the thought. She locked up her motor home and unhooked her little Toyota from the tow bar and headed into town.

She found a WalMart and decided that would be the place to stop. As she started going up and down the aisles she heard a voice behind her, �Your one person I never expected to see here.� Sadie turned toward the voice and saw a man with gray hair and a bit of a beard on his face. She looked and thought he seemed familiar but couldn�t place him. �Come on Sadie, don�t tell me you don�t know who I am.� As he got closer, Sadie studied his face. All of a sudden, she realized who was talking to her.

�Well, for goodness sake Harry, I didn�t recognize you. It�s been over 20 years you know!� Standing in front of Sadie was her ex-husband of all people! �Harry, I sure didn�t expect to run into you either. I thought you lived in Idaho.�

�It�s kind of a long story Sadie. Do you have time to sit and have a cup of coffee and talk a bit?� Sadie said sure and they headed across the street to a restaurant. They found a booth and sat down and ordered coffee. �Well, I was living in Idaho until about 6 months ago. My wife passed away and I decided to move back here. After all, this was where I moved after you and I split....remember? A while back, Jolene started feeling kind of poorly but she kept putting off going to a doctor. She finally gave in and went to the doctor for some tests. It turned out she had cancer of the liver and it was terminal. She had just waited too long. She went very quickly though which was kind of a blessing. She would not have wanted to be a burden to anyone. So, after she died and I got everything settled, I decided to move back here. I always did like it here. So that�s my story...now what are you doing here, if I may ask?�

�Well Harry, I�m heading out on an adventure! I just decided to take the bull by the horns and do some traveling. I sold my house, bought a small motor home and here I am! I�m saying in a small state park a few miles from here. I just got here yesterday and thought I�d come in town and pick up a couple of things at the store and just look around a little bit. I don�t know how long I�ll be gone...I guess as long as I can afford it! It�s so nice around here I may stay for another day or two before I take off again.�

Harry smiled and realized that Sadie was still a nice looking woman. �Sadie, in a way I�m not surprised. I always knew that you loved traveling and sightseeing. But it must have taken a lot of thinking before you decided to follow through. I�m proud of you for doing this and I have to say I�m pleased to have run into you like this.� They continued talking for a while, mostly just about the �old� days. �Say, would you be interested in having dinner with me this evening? It would be great to have company for dinner.�

Sadie thought for a moment. �Alright Harry, why don�t we just stay right here. We could have an early dinner since it�s getting close to that time.� Sadie wasn�t sure that she wanted to spend a lot of time with Harry anyway. Their divorce hadn�t been that friendly and she didn�t feel that there was that much more that they could talk about. But, what the heck, it didn�t hurt to be nice to someone she thought! They both ordered a steak dinner. Sadie had a glass of wine and Harry ordered himself a martini. The conversation continued on during dinner and then they ordered dessert. All in all, it had been a pleasant evening. Sadie checked her watch, �Thanks so much for the dinner and conversation Harry. It was quite a surprise to run into you I must say, but I had better be getting back to the campground. You take care of yourself. It wouldn�t hurt to let the boys know where you are either.�

They said their goodbyes outside the restaurant. Harry leaned forward as if to give Sadie a kiss, but she took hold of his hand, gave it a little squeeze and walked back to her car. As she was driving back to the campground she thought about running into Harry. She realized that she was happy with her life. And darn, it made her feel great!! It was going to be a wonderful adventure!