Day 47

July 25, 2017                                                                                                                Day 47

When I woke up this morning it was odd for I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep last night that's how tired I was.  Pulling the covers back it was a cool 55 degrees out so I grabbed a pair of pants out of my vehicle and ran back into my camper for shelter. From there I decided to head down to on the visitor centers near Colter Bay and brush my teeth in the bathroom.  I then went into the gift shop to buy my sticker and was shocked at how nice it was.  I literally wanted everything that was in that shop and there were so many great things that I could buy for gifts but at the same time the price was not my cup of tea.  What is interesting is that throughout the park there are about three visitor centers and each center has a grocery store, gift shop, laundry/showers, and a gas station.

Once I glimpsed at the weather I noticed that it was supposed to rain almost the entire day and frankly I am tired of hiking in the rain all the time.  So I figured this would be the perfect time to catch up on my blog and other things I need internet and cell service for.  From the visitor center, I drove to Jackson Lodge and went up to the lobby to find a place to sit.  Now, if I were to be honest it was nice to say that I was in a lodge but I would have preferred to be in a Starbucks for it would have been quieter to work.  People were coming and going constantly and kids were running around and then someone decided to play the piano; it was just a lot of commotion all the time and not tranquil like I was hoping for.  Finding an outlet was a whole other story for I kept following all the lamp cords to places in the center of all the rugs that I could not get to!  I finally found one that just reached when I pulled the chair a tad closer.  I then decided I would get a cup of coffee from the outpost in the lobby that had Starbucks cups with those little Starbucks drink holder things.  Oh but they were not associated with Starbucks and do not take Starbucks gift cards so I had to pay for the coffee and when I asked why then do they sell their coffee in Starbucks cups they could not give me an answer! Grrr.

Finally, situated with my expensive ass coffee and my computer plugged in I typed away.  I was there switching between writing in my journal and updating my blog for a good three to four hours. At that point it was going on 15:00 and I decided to leave the lodge.  I really didn't have anything to do since by the time it stopped raining an hour later it was too late to start any of the hikes that I wanted to do.  Instead, I drove around taking in the views and hoping to spot some wildlife along the way.   I saw a huge group of people pulled over on the side of the road and knew that there had to be an animal of some sort nearby so I did what any tourist would do and pulled over also.  Apparently, there was a mother grizzly with two cubs bedded down off in the distance.  I pulled out my binoculars and after a few minutes the mothers head popped up and then went back down: that folks is my grizzly bear encounter.

I will say that all day I have been in a crappy mood and I would like to attribute that to the fact that I am in this amazing place but spent the entire day inside a building and also that finding a true camping spot has proven to be difficult.  Granted it was raining today so that's somewhat justifiable since I am tired of being in the rain and if I got wet I would be cold and my camper does not have a heater.  Plus I have determined that although I love rain and storms most of the time when its foul weather my temper tends to join in and be foul also.

At 17:00 I decided to go back to the picnic area I was at last night to make some pasta and tempt fate by "parking" there again.  Yes, there was one campground still open but I am on a tight budget and do not want to pay $30.00 to just sleep.  Anyways, while I was cooking up my pasta a Indian family slowly drove backwards to my camper which was hilarious and as they passed the wife said they had to come back because she wanted to see my camper.  So I gave them the grand tour and they were a huge family all of whom loved my camper.  Then the husband asked if I wanted one of their subway sandwiches! I mean how nice of them to offer me a sandwich of theirs when obviously they only bought enough for themselves! I politely and graciously declined and as they were leaving one of the little girls said I was very pretty! I mean my heart just melted they were so cute and such a wonderfully nice and sweet family!

When they were gone I ate my pasta which was actually really good.  Then I did all my dishes and cleaned up my camper the best I could.  I tried to write in my journal outside to see the sunset but the mosquitoes were large and on the hunt!  So I finished writing in my blog and then crawled under all the covers in my clothes to go to bed.

 

Day 46

July 24, 2017                                                                                                              Day 46

Off to Wyoming I go!!!  The excitement I had in getting to Wyoming was short lived for the drive was boring and due to no cell service that meant no music and the only radio channel that would come in was church music and no offense but I will not be listening to that.  If you don't know already, driving for me is not a good thing if I get bored for I have a bad tendency to fall asleep.  I used to be great at driving no matter the distance but I think as soon as I moved into a newer vehicle that was not as bumpy and loud as my truck it all changed.  So in order to make myself stay focused I ate and I ate the shit out of my dried fruit and nut mix!

As soon as I crossed the border into Wyoming I came across a group of "cowboys" on their horses rounding up cattle and I so wanted to pull my vehicle over to the side of the road and ask if I could join them! But alas I kept on driving.  Wyoming near the Utah/Colorado border looks pretty close to the landscape in Oklahoma, southern Texas, and northern Utah if that makes any sense at all.  It is just an open landscape that stretches on for miles with rolling hills of no green. I did see my first ever Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaeots) on the side of the road on top of a deer carcass!  I wanted to pull over to snap some photos and admire it but apparently the people of Wyoming love to drive right on top of each other.

After about four hours of driving I entered Rock Springs, WY and went straight to the UPS store to ship out a gift for a family members birthday.  At the store, I got to talking with the guy that was assisting me so I ended up being there for about ten to fifteen minutes.  From there I drove to the Starbucks across the street and was going to go in and update my blog but after speaking with Travis I decided I would rather be closer to Jackson, WY where I was planning on camping.  So off I went again and arrived in Jackson around 18:30.  Unfortunately, when I arrived I realized that there wasn't a lot of free camping spots.  It was either National Park campsites or free natural forests sites that I could not find a road to get in to anywhere.

With no real plan at all (tends to be my life story!) I drove on wards to Grand Tetons National Park.  Entering the park, I had just missed the visitor center open hours so after showing the "gate keeper" my Access Pass and ID I began a trek up the park on the scenic route.  It was indeed scenic! With the sun setting behind the mountains the view was breathtaking for I was driving right next to those massive mountains.  I should mention that as I gave my pass and ID to the "gate keeper" I noticed a sign that said all but two of the park campgrounds were full.  To give one an idea of how many people had to be within the park; just one of those campgrounds accommodates 81 RVs and additional sites for tents!

By the time I was in the park and driving up the scenic road it was getting darker and darker out and I was exhausted from driving all day long. Sooooo...I saw a sign for a picnic area and although in the park newspaper they give you (which of course I read because I'm a nerd like that) it states that camping in picnic areas and other such areas is prohibited.  Well if one wants to get technical I'm really only "parking."  I decided to chance a meeting with a ranger, already coming up with my excuse in the best innocent girl act I can do, and spend the night at the picnic area.  

Day 45

July 23, 2017                                                                                                               Day 45

So last night I had planned on possibly getting up and being in Canyonlands National Park to see the sunrise at one of the arches. Though I did wake up at 05:00 I decided that instead of rushing to get to the park to see the sunrise and possibly missing it that I would just stay at my camper and enjoy it from there.  While I sat in my camper waiting for the sun two girls who had camped at a site across the way were very loud and acting like annoying high school girls and at one point a guy from another site yelled at them to please be quiet which I was truly thankful for.

Once the sun had risen I left my camper behind once more to drive to Canyonlands National Park.  The drive was relaxing and although it is difficult to wake up in the morning once one does it is so rewarding.  As I entered the park the views were amazing and it was a change of scenery from that of Arches National Park that was only a few miles down the road.  In Arches one is traveling down among-est the rocks and landscape where in Canyonlands one is looking down upon the great canyons so it was nice contrast to Arches.  During the drive I did stop along every scenic overlook to take in the view.  I should mention that the park is divided into three different sections due to the two rivers that run thru the park and the section that I was in was known as the "Island in the Sky."

At one of the lookouts I got out and did a short two mile hike and it led to a lookout that jutted out from the canyon so it felt as thought I was literally on an island in the sky.  When the day began I already had decided I was going to give my body a reprieve and not do any of the hikes in the area.  Since I wasn't hiking it didn't take me long to visit all the stops along the way and I was finished with that part of the park by 12:00.  Leaving the park, I did contemplate going into the city of Moab but that was about an hour in the opposite direction and I really didn't have anything there that I wanted to see so I didn't think it was worth the gas and miles.

I was back at my camper around 13:00 and really had nothing else to do for the day so I retreated in my camper to get out of the glare of the afternoon sun.  With no trees for shade and not even a breeze to silence the heat it wasn't long before I was melting inside.  The sides of my camper felt as though they would spark on fire at any given second and the sweat was just rolling off of me.  I took a quick walk to the porta-potty and thought I was going to pass out from just that little activity!

While I sat there in nothing but a sports-bra, shorts and my t-shirt over my head my phone went off.  The caller ID showed it was my older brother; however, upon answering I was rewarded with the sound of my niece Ella.  She wanted to skype and although both my brother and I were unsure of how it would work with our internet signals we tried anyway, but to no avail.  Instead we talked for awhile and I hate how much I miss all of them and how I am not able to be there for them and to see them growing up and boy do they grow up fast!  It wasn't long after we hung up that my mother called, for my brother had called her, and wanted to see if she could possible skype with me.  So we tried skyping once more but again to no avail.  We talked for a little bit after that discussing what was going on back home, how the family reunion went and what I was doing.  When we hung up I laid there trying to go asleep to pass the time until it grew cooler out but sleep would not come.

The quickest way to Wyoming from where I am at is to go back through Grand Junction, CO and then up.  Since I was going back thru Nate offered me to stay at their place where I could get out of the 100 degree heat and seek shelter in the AC.  It took me only about three minutes to have my camper packed up and hook it back up to my vehicle to head back to a cool environment.  When I arrived back at their place we headed out to the liquor store to pick up some beers and I don't think anything could have tasted better after a day in the heat!  The rest of the evening we watched movies, hung out with his roommates and participated in some relaxing Colorado activities.

He has some attitude!

 

Day 44

July 22, 2017                                                                                                           Day 44

I woke up around 07:00 but just couldn't get out of bed I was so worn out from the past couple days.  I sat there in bed, trying to work up the energy to get up and make some coffee, for about an hour.  When I finally decided to get going I made a  cup of coffee and headed off towards Arches National Park without my camper.

Pulling into the park there was already a line of vehicles and I waited there for about 15 minutes.  Surprisingly, I was able to find a parking space at the visitor center and went in to find my sticker and to talk to the rangers.  When I had a plan I began the drive along the scenic route and with the advice from the ranger was going to bypass all the scenic stops until I got to the end of the route and would work my way back.  The first stop was going to be the Devils Garden but there was no parking due to the amount of people.  The 7 mile hike that is at that stop I had already decided I was going to due tomorrow morning while it was cool and there was parking available.

As I worked my way back down the scenic drive thru the park I hiked in total around seven miles.  Seeing the arches was amazing and I was interested in learning how they were formed and seeing how the landscape was a variety of reds everywhere one looked.  It was a warm day but there was a constant breeze which made it comfortable.  The longest continuous hike was three miles and was to the Delicate Arch which is the symbol of the park.  Although there were people everywhere the hike was still enjoyable and so was the park itself.

By the end of it all it was going on 16:00 and honestly I was just tired of driving around and looking at everything.  So before I left the park for good I stopped at the visitor center to fill up all my water bottles and went in to ask if it was okay for me to fill up my 5 gallon water jug.  Fully reloaded on fresh drinking water I drove back to my camper.  Along the way I passed by the Moab Giants Museum and really wanted to enter and pretend I was being chased by a T-Rex or another dinosaur for they had greatly detailed statues throughout the park.  Alas, it was $22.00 just to enter and I didn't want to see all the other stuff so I drove on wards to camp.

At camp I wrestled my canopy in order to acquire some shade and almost went sailing with it due to the strong winds.  I finally got it set up and really wanted and needed to take a shower but there was no way I would be able to get my portable shower tent set up without it blowing away.  So I took showering to a new level and placed my boiling solar shower, with some cold water added to it, in my camper on my bed and knelt on the ground below it in my swimsuit to shower.  Within a matter of minutes my towel, swimsuit, and hair was dry due to the wind and the heat of the desert.

Once I was feeling clean I updated my journal and wrote a few postcards for my nieces and cleaned up the camper some.  When the wind died down I took my canopy apart and then tried to update this blog; however, after over an hour I had only finished one post since the internet was so slow.  Once that uploaded I opted for bed.

 

Day 43

July 21, 2017                                                                                                                  Day 43

This morning started off great for the guy I met the other day after hiking Mount Garfield, whose name is Nate, him and I went to the store to get food to make breakfast burritos which were amazing.  After breakfast, I planned on leaving and heading out to hike the Colorado National Monument before heading over into Utah.   So I would have some company on the hike and since it was only about 30 minutes away from Grand Junction Nate joined me.

After dropping my camper off at a Walmart parking lot we headed to the Colorado National Monument to hike the trail to the monument. This hike was a breeze after yesterdays death climb up Mount Garfield.  In total we hiked about seven miles and the majority of the hike was under an overcast sky with a breeze every once in awhile.  It was on this hike that I saw my first ever wild Big Horn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) and it wasn't just one but a whole group with two big rams.  At one section of the hike I was leading and as we rounded a corner I looked up and jumped for right in front of me was an adult female bighorn!  After regaining my composure I concluded the experience with shooting a video of her grazing in close proximity to us.

In the end, we finished the hike around 17:00 right before it started raining.  At this point, my body was completely exhausted for within the past 24 hours I had hiked about eleven miles.  Once he dropped me off back my camper I bought a bag of ice and headed towards Arches National Park in Utah.  It was only about an hour and forty minute drive; however, it rained the entire time and the wind was wicked strong, add to all that how tired I was and it was not a good combination.  I originally wanted to camp in the natural forest but due to the weather and it it being a longer drive I opted for BLM land near the entrance to the park.  When I arrived, I called my mom to let her know where I was at and then I literally passed out as soon as I hit the bed.

Day 42

July 20, 2017                                                                                                    Day 42

Last night I barely slept for it was like the Fast and Furious in the Walmart parking lot.  People were setting off car alarms, revving their engines, and making so much noise.  By 06:00 I was on the road and headed to Palisade, CO to hike Mount Garfield per my friend Josh's suggestion.

Today I learned two valuable lessons.  The first and most important one is to NEVER take hiking advice from my friend again! He informed me that the hike wasn't that difficult that one goes up a steep incline, hits a meadow and then one just has to go up a little further and then one is at the summit.  He purposely lied to me about the length and difficulty of the hike just so that I would do it!  By the way Josh, you know I say all of this out of love :-P  Lets begin with me pulling into the parking area, of which I am the only one there, and I look up this mountain of dirt that seemed to shoot straight up.  It looked like a hell of a hike but with the information he gave me I figured I would be able to do it.  Ha.  The entire hike was at an incline of at least 45 degrees or more and not even a quarter mile in I was already in pain and out of breath!  To give one an idea of the difficulty of this hike it was literally the stair-master to hell on expert level.  Eventually, I made it to the meadow which was only a reprieve of about 20 steps without an incline.  There I sat on a rock to rest and eat some trail mix and suck on a piece of hard candy since I was getting dizzy.

I talked myself into standing back up for I just had one more incline to go and then I would be at the summit so I could do this.  When I finally made it up the second and "last" incline I was so relieved to had made it to the top only to be standing there looking at another incline like I was just hit in the face and didn't know what happened.  I then texted my friend asking why the hell there is another incline after he told me there were only two.  You want to know what his response was?!  He responded, "Lovely meadows right."  I could have murdered him if he was there.  Well at this point, I had already made it this far and in my stubborn nature there was no way in hell I was turning around for now I was dedicated to this hike.

This is where my second lesson came in, which I guess is not really a lesson but just verifying a reason to what I do, and that is that I am thankful that every time I go on a hike no matter how short I carry a pack with everything I might need if something happens and I am stuck out for a night and that I carry way more water than I need.  The hike itself was only four miles but was very strenuous due to the incline and heat.  When I finally made it to the top I was completely exhausted and felt dizzy so I found some shade, reapplied with sunscreen and ate some food.

The view on top of Mount Garfield was pretty amazing for one was looking out over the valley and there was a refreshing breeze.  At the top, I came across a gangster looking chipmunk, multiple lizards, and while I was sitting on the ledge with my legs hanging over the rock two peregrine falcons came flying by at the same level as me!  I sat up there for about 15 minutes trying to talk myself into the climb back down for I knew it would be easier on my lungs but more difficult on my legs.  Heading back down was indeed a steep and perilous descent for the earth crumbled beneath each step I took.  When I was almost to the bottom I passed a guy that was heading up the trail and we exchanged greetings.

By the time I reached my vehicle I literally collapsed into my car and with my legs propped up on the door just laid there contemplating whether by body was going to give up on me or not. As I laid there, the guy I had met earlier was coming back down and as he entered the parking lot he asked if I was having car trouble.  Soon we got to talking and found out that we were both from Wisconsin and planned to hang out the rest of the day and have a well deserved drink.  The rest of the evening was spent hanging out, meeting his roommates (another guy was also from Wisconsin) and they even let me take an actually shower at their place.  I find it so interesting that after being in South Carolina for three to four years now when I meet someone else from Wisconsin I can't get over their accent and wonder do I really sound like that? Ha.

Yes...that is the trail

Day 41

July 19, 2017                                                                                                                  Day 41

I woke up with the sunrise and snapped a few pictures while I boiled water for a cup of coffee.  With coffee in hand, I drove away towards Aspen, CO with no real plan of action.  My main objective was to hike within the Maroon-Bells Snowmass Wilderness; however, it turned out that that would not be the case. 

The drive toward Aspen on the “Top of the Rockies Byway” was phenomenal!  The land was very lush, green, and vibrant in wildflowers and the air was crisp due to the cool temperatures.  I had to keep stopping and taking pictures of the landscape for there were rapids, waterfalls, and just pure un-kept beauty.  This is exactly the type of climate that I enjoy and could thrive in!  At one point, I was driving up this steep highway and ended up at the Independence Pass-Continental Divide sign and when I stepped out of my vehicle the view was beautiful.  Just a day ago, I was traversing sand dunes and now I was walking out over a tundra with mountains surrounding me that still contained snow. Every day I am taken aback by the beauty and diversity of this great planet of ours and to think I have only covered a few states within only one country!  How much more there is for me to discover and experience.

While driving my mind went to many things like relationships...or should I say the lack thereof and just life in general.  Though I do not have the answers to many things that are and have occurred in my life I do know that in this moment I am blessed to be able to do what I am doing now.  I know that I will never regret my decision to quit both my jobs and do this journey for already I am happier then I have ever been and this is the first thing I have done in a long time that feels right.  Well now that I went off track some lets get back to the day at hand shall we.

I had reached Aspen, which is a quaint little mountain town that I would have loved to explore more if I didn't have my camper behind me.  Before I knew it I was already out of Aspen and did not find a spot in which I could have parked my camper.  I was going to go back thru for there had to be somewhere that I could park it and get out and walk around; however, as I was leaving the line of vehicles heading into town was insane.  I would have been sitting in traffic for at least an hour just to get back in and since I didn't really have any place in mind to see in Aspen I didn't not think it worth the headache and wait.  So I drove on towards Snowmass village and mind you every town I go through I am trying to find a laundromat also.

Snowmass village is like something out of a Christmas movie...minus the snow of course.  It had that small Alpine village feel and therefore was quite odd to see mountain bikers absolutely everywhere when one feels as though they should be seeing skiers instead.  I think this village along with Aspen would be fantastic to visit in winter and that is what I plan to do one of these years.  I also discovered that I am not a fan of mountain bikers or at least the bikers here in Snowmass for they are very rude and act as though they own the roads...let me tell you little bikers my vehicle is bigger!

After I drove to the top of the village and back down to the information center I went in to speak to the lady there to find out about hiking in the area and a possible laundromat.  To make things short the lady was nice but completely unhelpful.  It was actually quite entertaining to watch for as she tried to explain trails to me she was going in circles pointing in different directions outside the building as to where a trail may possibly begin.  All the trails she mentioned were within the town, which I didn't want, and she kept back tracking on what she was saying and at one point she even confused herself! HaHa.  I couldn't get frustrated with her though because it was just too cute to watch her get lost in her own directions.

Leaving the information center, with no information mind you, I spoke to my friend Travis for some time and he was very informative on things/places I should stop and see and so once I got off the phone with him a plan was forming in my brain.  By this time one would think it should be late afternoon...nope it was only going on 10:30 am! The temperature at this point had risen so I changed into shorts in my camper, made a protein shake and headed towards Glenwood Springs, CO to do laundry.  While my clothes were in the washing machines and then the dryer I made use of the free WiFi and hatched a plan.

The plan.  Due to Travis having the 26th thru the 31st off of work I planned to meet up with him near Cody, Wyoming and we would see the Big Horns, Yellowstone, the lower part of Montana and possibly the Grand Tetons.  Basically, we were going to have one epic couple of days and rock it all on a low budget! In order to occupy my time until the 26th I was going to do a couple hikes in Colorado and then head to Arches National Park in Utah since that was only an hour and forty minutes away.

With my laundry completed I felt a million times better and drove to Rifle, CO to spend the night in a Walmart parking lot for there was no free camping nearby that I could find.  The funny thing about all this was when I was talking to my friend Josh I told him that I would have to call him back later since I wanted to find a place to stay for the night due to it already getting late and dark out. Come to find out it was only 14:00!  Here I was thinking it was like 20:00 or later and so with all this extra time I decided to just chill in Walmart and create Excel spreadsheets of my finances.  I also planned to update my blog, listen to a talk, and get back to someone about doing an exercise program while traveling; however, none of that happened for first one friend called me, then I called my mother, then another friend called and by the time all that was over it was practically 22:00.

 

Day 40

July 18, 2017                                                                                                              Day 40

This morning I woke up with a jolt, my phone was going off and in my sleepy haze my brain instantly went to something wrong back home, it took me a few seconds to realize it was just the alarm I had set the previous night.  My plan for waking up at 5:00 am was to make coffee and relax but the more I thought about it it probably wasn't a good idea to have coffee before hiking The Great Sand Dunes.  I substituted a protein shake for the coffee instead and by 6:30 am I was driving the short distance to the park.  Before I even reached the park my day was already made for I saw my first ever wild pronghorn (Antilocapra americana)!  It was a male and ran across the road in front of me; not too long after that I came across two huge male mule deer (Odoceileus hemionus) and then a few minutes after that four adult females and two fawns!!!  Morning made ;)

When I finally made it to the parking lot I had already determined that today would be a good day.  So grabbing my water pack I headed for the High Dune which was a 699 foot sand dune.  In order to reach the dunes I would first have to cross the Medano Creek which was quite cold mind you.  Once I made it across, I put my socks and shoes back on over my muddy feet and looked around to see where I should start.  There are no trails going up the sand dunes but one can see the multiple foot prints from those who came earlier.  Off in the distance I saw three people and so I decided I would follow them and see where it took me. It didn't take me long at all to decide that I am no fan of hiking up sand dunes!  It was hard going and I had to stop quite often to catch my breath and rest my weary feet which never got a strong hold in the sand.

Soon I passed the three people I had been following and learned that they too did not really know how to get to High Dune so I took off in one direction and our roles were switched, for they were now following me.  During the rest of the hike I pretended that I was a survivor that had become lost in the desert and now spent my days hiking in a wasteland of sand dunes searching for civilization and a trace of water.  Let me tell you it actually worked to take my mind off of hiking those sand dunes.  I also passed the corpses of many a beetle, throughout the hike, which after some research I discovered were ten-lined june beetles (Polyphylla decemlineata).

By around 8:00 am I would say I reached High Dune and carried on to the next dune over which was a tad higher.  The view was spectacular for all around me were sand dunes which were themselves surrounded by green mountains that contained snow upon their summits.  It was a surreal experience that is for sure.  After just sitting on the top of the dune looking out over the vast landscape and snapping a few pictures I headed straight down the sand dune as if I were sand boarding.

Back at my camper, I headed in the direction of Garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs since everyone I had spoken to had told me how absolutely amazing it is; plus I already had it on my list of things to see.  The reality of it was unfortunately not as glamorous as everyone had made it out to be. It was basically a few large red rocks sticking out of the Earth, which I can appreciate the geologic history, but I just don't get what all the talk was about.  It was so crowded with people that all the parking areas within the park were completely full so I was not able to stop and truly look at anything.  The only thing I could think that would be worthwhile at this park would be rock climbing but that was $170.00 and if I am to spend that kind of money I would prefer to climb somewhere where the view does not include thousands of people.

By the time the drive thru the park was over and I had failed to locate a laundromat that I could park my camper I was irate.  For the first time since starting my journey I felt like I did beforehand when I would become angry and upset.  I think that the reason I felt this way was due to a combination of things such as: Garden of the Gods not being as great as I was anticipating, the roads were rough to drive on with my camper, homeless people were everywhere and I just received a bad vibe from Colorado Springs.  I find it interesting how some places affect people in such a way and there have now been a few places that as soon as I entered the city I wanted out, whereas others put off a good vibe.

From Colorado Springs I drove west towards Aspen with a plan to head into Maroon-Bells Snowmass Wilderness for some hiking.  The further I got from Colorado Springs the more beautiful the landscape became.  There were mountains all around me and the air smelled fresh with a storm off in the distance.  After a few failures in finding a place to camp I settled on BLM land near Twin Lakes.  The view I had of the mountains was breathtaking and the temperature up there had dropped to around 58 degrees so it was perfect for snuggling up in pants and a sweatshirt.

The Great Sand Dunes NP

Garden of the Gods

Day 39

July 17, 2017                                                                                                                     Day 39

During the night I had decided that I was not going to go into The Great Sand Dunes National Park but instead just take the day to relax and gather myself.  Therefore, I slept until about 09:00 at which time it had become too hot to stay in my camper with the door shut anymore.  Opening the camper door, I didn't make it far at all I actually just laid back down and opened my laptop to watch some Netflix.

Eventually, I figured I should step outside since it was such a beautiful day.  I attempted to seal up the leaking areas I had discovered last night; however, the sealant I had didn't want to corporate but I think I got what I needed for a quick fix.  After that task was completed I wanted to take a shower since this was suppose to be a relaxing day.  Setting up my shower is quick and easy which I love and in a few minutes I had everything together that I needed.  I used almost all of the water I had left in the solar shower and afterwards spread baking powder on the floor to somewhat sanitize it and let it dry before packing it away.

My next "chore" (I love that to me this is now work :)) was to clean my dirty dishes which was a task I finished in less than five minutes while listening to the Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats radio station on Pandora.  By this point, after such exhausting work, I was starving for some food and sated my hunger with plain rice.  The rest of the day I literally just sat around going back and forth between watching Netflix and sitting outside reading my Dummies book for my camera.

As it was in Carson, New Mexico the landscape has an eerie calm about it and is so quite it makes one feel as if they are the only person left on this Earth.  One hears absolutely nothing but the wind and an occasional cow off in the distance reaching out to a member of its' herd.  Sitting there, just gazing out into the vast landscape, I decided that no matter where I end up I want to find a place that is this quiet.   Where I can be as tranquil and content as I am now in this moment.