I looked at my wife and said, “We must be certifiably crazy.”

We had just got back into the van after four days of laying low in the Quality Inn in Rock Springs, Wyoming, sick from a nasty respiratory flu. We pulled in on Saturday and left on Wednesday. She came down with the bug on Friday morning and by Saturday, it had hit her harder than anything I’d seen hit her, and I was feeling the beginnings. We were headed from Yellowstone on Friday, after three days with family, to the Flaming Gorge, and on Saturday, I suggested we get into Rock Springs soon as we can and get a motel. It looked like we’d fair better with more room and fuller facilities. By the time we got checked in, I was dragging and she pretty much collapsed with a hacking cough and no energy onto the bed. We stayed there for three days until the chills were gone and we were feeling about 75%.

On Wednesday, we got back into the van after a business meeting with folks in the U.K. and Oregon and puttered over to–you guessed it–Wal-Mart. We were both quite happy to be back into our cramped 12 ft. X 6 ft. living space and staying in a parking lot. We actually couldn’t wait to get out of the motel, albeit the Quality Inn in Rock Springs is a very nice place with a lot of value.

But it’s the freedom we love. America’s favorite vigilante and fixer, Jack Reacher, calls it envying the wolf’s howl.

“Yeah, we’re crazy,” she agreed.

A few more days of resting up and we’ll be on our way to Colorado. The wolf is calling.