The Cabin Fever Antidote

Story and Photo by Pam Streeby Astley

I woke up with cabin fever. My husband Rick and I packed a picnic and our dog Bubbles and went for a drive into the Salmon-Challis National Forest. We used to do spontaneous trips fairly often but lately life has been getting in the way. Indeed, cabin fever means something new to me these days.

We added a thousand square feet to our home in Twin Falls, including all the safety features we could think of, and in 2023 we moved my parents in with us. Dad, who is ninety-four, has glaucoma that has accelerated in the past two years.

He had a stroke last year just before Thanksgiving and now spends his days listening to his favorite authors—mostly westerns and detective books. Mom is ninety-two and they will be celebrating seventy-five years of wedded bliss this summer. They stopped traveling with us last year, as it was too tiring for them.

We used to be snowbirds and would spend the winters together in Mesquite, Nevada. Mom prides herself on being able to care for Dad and we fill in the spaces of caregiving as needed. We also have wonderful helpers in our family and good friends who feel like family, but even so, getting out into Nature has taken on a whole new meaning. Time away from the house is time to rejuvenate and reflect.

Before Rick and I retired a decade ago, we took multi-day road trips by motorcycle. After retirement we traded the two wheels for 4WD adventures. One summer we completed the whole 1,250 miles on gravel road of the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route, from Jarbidge, Nevada to the Canadian border. It was the most amazing trip we ever took and I think we did it the right way.

We had to find a spot to put up our tent every night but we had an eight-inch air mattress and a lot of other comforts from home, including a hot water heater that allowed us take warm showers every night before climbing into our sleeping bags. Every three nights or so we would stay in a motel, have a meal at a local restaurant, fill up our water jugs, and do some grocery shopping.

We also used to take one-night road trips, such as up to Salmon, where we’d stay at a bed-and-breakfast. We loved going up through Stanley and then through Garden Valley to McCall, and we’d end up at Kamiah. These were long days traveling Idaho’s scenic roads.