And Cowboys, Too! - Idaho, 1982

When I told the owners about the incident they informed me that they weren't surprised. I was a woman alone, claiming to have a husband that no one ever saw, and after two months at the campground, the men who lived around just thought I told them that to keep them away. At the time we lived in Idaho, there were 10 men for every woman so they weren't shy about trying to make a catch. Even Frank who worked at the campground thought I was lying to him and told me it hurt his feelings. When Chuck did finally get to Idaho, Frank and a local doctor who kept asking me for a date, had a great laugh about it all.
I managed to do two things that got me into hot water with my (ex) husband. The KOA was creating a new publicity brochure and they asked Frank and I to pose as a couple in their hot tub. We sat there, holding a glass of ginger ale in champagne flutes and giggled about the silliness of the whole ordeal. We were down in the hot tub with only our heads sticking out and with my makeup starting to melt from the steam and my hair plastered against my head no one could have found me very attractive in that shot!!!

The second was to just stand on the street with my rancher/ski instructor friend, Ginny, watching the Fourth of July parade down Main Street in Hailey, with two cute cowboys standing behind us as my mother took our picture. I never noticed them and they probably never noticed us but my (ex) husband did and he never believed that I wasn't steppin' out with the cowboys. Cowboys have a pretty rugged yet overly romanticized reputation. Ginny knew all the local cowboys and told me to keep my distance. They, like the miners, loved to let off steam on a Friday night. There was actually a bar in the nearby town of Bellevue with a sign by the front door ordering all the cowboys to check their guns and knives before entering. Like the miners, a few beers and a good bar fight were considered a good time in the wilds of Idaho.

After mom left in late July, the stress of being so far from everyone I knew started taking its toll. Chuck was screaming at me on the phone constantly, sure I was being unfaithful and making me dread his arrival. I developed a horrible tick in my right eye whenever I spoke to anyone. This tick was constant but when I was calmer, it was not as noticeable. Whenever I was anxious it would make the right side of my face wiggle like jello. Miraculously, when I left Chuck in 1988, the tick left, too.