It’s June all right.
First thing this morning, like every morning, Bridget, Spike and I emerge from the Best Little Trailer and walk around so the crew can do their business. That taken care of, we hurry back inside. I want my coffee and they want their morning kibble.
I make the mistake of leaving the screen door open momentarily.
Spike and Bridget are back under the covers and I’m at my laptop with my coffee. I hear the unmistakable whine of a mosquito. I get up and clap my hands, successfully mashing the little devil. Then I hear another. I clap my hands. Missed. I clap again. Boy this guy is good. He lands on the wall. I pound him into oblivion with the side of my fist. Take that! Another whine! Where are all these mosquitoes coming from? Finally, after much clapping, the pests are eliminated.
Now where did Bridget go?
I open the bathroom door and there she is, crouched on the floor, looking up with a face that says, “Please don’t hit me!” She must have nosed the door open so she could hide from my clapping. What a nut.
“Come here, sweetie. I wasn’t after you!”
She won’t budge.
I pick her up and carry her over to the bed. I hold her belly-up, like a baby, and reassure her with a soothing voice. All the while I’m thinking . . . She’s never been hit in her life and she cowers in the bathroom because I’m clapping my hands. This dog is insane.
I hear more mosquitoes whine. The buggers are flying in circles above the screen of the fan ceiling vent! They’re determined to get in here and eat us alive!
I first noticed a potential mosquito problem yesterday while Bridget, Spike, and I strolled the path along the reservoir. It led us into a reedy area where the mosquitoes greeted us with gusto. Spike was the first to notice. He spun around and sprinted back up the path with Bridget and me running behind.
We’ll stay at Freeman Campground north of Craig, Colorado for one more night.
Then we’re out of here! I’d put us on the road today but I like an early start and the BLT is a mess. I’m talking about mud smears on the floor from you-know-whose paws, plus residual sand and dust from the desert.
It doesn’t help that the back window won’t stay shut when going down the road.
It opens about an inch letting in the dust that flies up the rear of the BLT. (Heh-heh. Nice phrasing.) The little butterfly latch goes in the slot in the window frame but it doesn’t hold. Tightening doesn’t help, and taping is a joke. I considered rigging up a tension rod. The roads we go on, it probably wouldn’t hold.
This campground is pretty with lush grass, abundant wildflowers and several varieties of butterflies.
We even have a resident robin that patrols the campsite ignoring our presence. Yesterday I saw him catch a large, yellow butterfly in his beak. The butterfly did not give up, fluttering his wings until the robin lost his grasp. The robin seemed stunned as he watched the butterfly fly away.
Now the campground is empty except for me and a guy in a pop-up camper.
Yesterday evening before dark I look out the window and see this guy approaching. He’s tall and lanky with an unshaven face. The crew barks wildly as he stands outside our door. Immediately I notice one of his fingers is wrapped in gauze. His hand is clenched as if to stanch bleeding.
“Could you open this thing for me? I can’t because of my hand.” He holds up a zip-lock bag with gauze and other medical stuff inside.
“Sure.” I push aside the small, plastic section of the screen door so he can hand it to me without me having to open the door. I open the zip-lock and hand it back. “Are you sure you don’t need stitches?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you have an antiseptic or . . . “ He cuts me off. “I used to be a nurse’s assistant.” His voice is gruff and I get the message that he doesn’t want any advice from me. He leaves quickly and hurries back to his camper.
This morning I notice he’s gone.
The crew and I will stay inside today. I’ll research the next leg of our journey. Should we go north, then west, then north again to the Tetons and Yellowstone? Or should we continue toward South Dakota? I’m leaning toward the latter, so when we do camp at the base of the Tetons, I won’t be restless to reach a destination.
In the morning I’ll spray my clothes with insect repellant and break camp.
rvsue
P.S. rvsue and her canine crew is now available on Kindle! You can see my ad and read the reviews by searching “rvsue” at the Amazon Kindle site.
rvsue and her canine crew 