Sorry for the silence these last few days. There is no internet or cell phone service for many miles. Those two messages i got off where sent from my satellite phone, if indeed they got off. Before i send this posting once i get internet in Aberdeen, the 22 postings stacked up in my outbox will go out first, so don't miss them, starting above the two sat phone postings.
What a great idea it was for me to take a four-day respite here. Of course, the campsite i got sure helped to make me want to stay. As campsites go, they do not get much better than this. Just when i thought i had seen the last of great campsites, another pops up. Of course, any campsite can earn the distinction of being great just by being there when i need it most, and there have been many in that category. Tenting is not like RV camping because when push comes to shove, an RV can pull over anywhere for the night.
I don't know why i never thought of a respite on my nine prior trips. Granted, i was forced into several of them due to pesky issues with the Defender and my dogs' health, but i would hardly call five weeks in the cold, snowy Yukon, sleeping in a tent in 14-degree temperature a respite. I have to admit that at home i am not one for just relaxing and just doing nothing -which carries over to my trips - but i think i can get used to this if i try hard enough.
Instead of chronicling each of the last four days, here's what each looked like. Add to this schedule - Absokutely gorgeous weather (low 70s during the day, low 30s at night), the sounds of the Pacific waves crashing on the shore a couple of hundred feet from me, the lush green forest on three sides, and no internet and you have sone idea why this is a place meant for getting nothing done.
7:00 - dawn, time to get up
8:00 - walk on the beach with Donner
9:00 - sunrise, breakfast
10:00 - get some things done
11:00 - free time - walks with Donner, meet new dogs, trear Donner, excursions, let Donner sniff around to his heart's content, meet my neighbors, treat Donner, visit to lodge for supplies, treat Donner some more, get more things done, sit and admire the view, etc., etc., etc. oh, and, lest i forget, treat Donner.
4:00 - read
5:00 walk on beach with Donner
6:00 - dinner for Donner
6:15 - dinner for me
6:30 - light fire
6:50 - sunset
7:20 - useable dalight disappears,
7:21 - in tent, organize photos, treat Dolnner, journal,blog, plan rest of trip, read
9:30 - lights out
The perceptive among my readers might note that this schedule provides for 10 hours of sleep, and they would be right. There is something about the sound of crashing waves that keeps one in a deep sleep with the strangest dreams imaginable. But these 10 hours also accommodate the inevitable interruptions, like the inconsiderate neghbor in an RV turning on his generator at 11:30 last night, either to keep him toasty warm while i, wide awake by then, froze, or perhaps just to watch some Archie Bunker dvds he brought along to help him get to sleep.
The biggest value in this respite, however, was having the time and occasion to chat with all the like-minded people camped nearby. It seems that i remember the people from the campsites as much as i recall anything else. I wish i had time and battery to recount some of their interesting and simetimes touching stories, or comment on the characters themselves, but those will have to remain hidden in my memory. Good people, all of them. Especially those with dogs, Donner would add.
Tomorrow, we start the downhill trip back home, but by way of the west coast, then Death Valley, Zion National Park, the north side of the Grand Canyon, and finally Arches National Park. Or so that is the current plan. Things can change in a flash, but i sure hope not a flash flood somewhere.
It's 9 pm. Time to turn on Wagner's Rienzi, open a bottle of Merlot, and get some reading done.
Ed and Donner, from the road, Kalaloch
P.S. Once again, i apologize for any composition errors in this message. I just do not have time or battery to edit it into my usual literary masterpieces. The spirit is willing, but time and battery are week.
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