Though even that was again like I said, less than what I had always wanted or hoped for. Most of the time she'd let me know she was in the 'mood' by s...anding at the foot of the stairs in one of the few somewhat sexy negligee's she actually owned. After seeing her, she'd head back upstairs to the bedroom. By the time I got there, she was in bed, with the lights off. I rarely saw her actually naked, only a handful of times really in all the years we were married did she consent to 'day-light'. We found the campsite the trappers used on their way to Council Bluffs on the east side of the first branch of the Elkhorn River. That first part of the river was more like a stream than a river, but we both tested the shallow ford before continuing across.Just like Samuel said, we found the main branch of the Elkhorn River about two miles farther on and found where they had crossed it. The ford was still there, and we checked it thoroughly. I found a small gap where the depth dropped suddenly. We slide — if you want to call it that - the roof assembly into the hole just before supper time.We all have a nice dip after supper and go to sleep.Small trees of the right diameter are getting hard to find close to the camp. We have to drag each tree, branch, and sapling quite a distance now. Constructing the walls is boring and tedious work, but Algossi quickly catches on to my lessons on doweling and knot-tying. It's a little tedious working around the hole to the tunnel, but that turns out. I just felt safer in the dark. I hugged one of the dogs to my body, burying my face in his fur.I remembered some things from the night before, or I supposed it could have been the week before, since I felt like I'd been sleeping forever and my memories seemed distant and remote. They were surreal and disjointed, and I lay there trying to put them in some order, but that was pointless. It just made the numbness turn into a little throbbing pain and I tried to shut it all out of me.Eventually.