Friday morning at Lake Roberts

Brrrr

Lake Roberts, Friday morning April 10

I’m not sure what the elevation is up here, but it sure gets cold at night!  I’d left a window open a crack last night, and woke up close to shivering, even in my sleeping bag.  A mug of coffee helped, as did running the rig’s furnace for a while to take the general chill off, and then getting out the little propane-bottle-fueled catalytic heater and pointing it at the chair where I sat, reading and watching the sun rise.  Closing the window helped, too/

I found my little portable thermometer and put it outside for a while, in the pre-dawn period which is generally the coldest part of the night, and — ta-dah! — 25º  That’s cold!  

I’m not sure when this will get posted, since I’m not sure when I’ll get into Verizon territory again, but it’s sure different from Tucson weather!  Not that Tucson is that hard to take these days.

The day’s agenda is to pack up the RV for a day trip up the river to the Gila Cliff dwellings, stop at the “general store” which is apparently a mile or so up the road from the campsite entrance, and investigate the hot springs which are between there are the cliff dwellings. I’m leaving a tablecloth and a folding chair and a note on the picnic table associated with my site here,  hoping that will keep someone from poaching it when I’m gone.  I’ll try to get back here before the late-afternoon influx. We’ll see.  This is when a “toad” would be handy. I have the process of de-rigging pretty well down by now:  I’m guessing it’ll take me about 30 minutes to disconnect the utility umbilicals and stow the contents of the rig so they don’t bounce around on the road.  If I think to, I’ll time it.

NOT having internet access for a while is a lesson in how accustomed I am to having information at my fingertips.  I wanted to look up the elevation of where I am.  (6043) I wanted to see what the temperature is in Tucson right now.  I wanted to download the next in the series of fantasy novels I’m reading.  I’m fine with not being able to check my bank accounts for a while, and emails will be waiting for me in abundance when I “hook up” again. 

Breakfast.  Oatmeal!  A steaming bowl of porridge! Yeah! 

(Later… drove up to Gila Cliff Dwellings.  Windy, steep, and very enjoyable drive. To get to the dwelllings, it’s a half mile of steep trail.  Back on a circuit route: what goes up must come down.  Achy back.  Achy knees.  Spent $5 at the Gila Hot Springs for a soak — helped  a bit.

Up and out tomorrow, headed for Carazozo and Valley of the Fires by way of Deming. I know that’s not what I said I’d do.  I’ll explain.  Next post.