Monday July 18, 2016
Woke up early with Pumpkin so she could watch silent cartoons
and complain about having to wait for breakfast while Chuck Roast slept in. I
snoozed a bit more since I was up in the middle of the night, 3-6am. The light
that was shining through the curtains and the constant horrible reminder that I
lost ALL of our pictures kept me up. We dressed and had a breakfast of cold
cereal, bagels, danishes, and orange juice. Not much more than I would have
offered out of our food supply in the trunk...
On our way to Grand Junction, we stopped in San Juan National
Forest to pick up the walking stick that Pumpkin wants to make for me but left
at our campsite the other night. Back on the road, we drove through Durango and
headed north.
Google Maps told us we had a 3 hour drive. More like 6. But I
found my future home. Silverton, CO or just north of it. This was the most
amazing road I've ever driven. Iron mining, mountains, cliffs, a beautiful
river. My heart ached to stay. It was incredible and made me feel so content
just standing on the side of the road; just imagine if I were to wake up to the
view and hike in the trees up the side of a mountain. I was completely in awe and
the kids had to keep reminding me to stop swearing because all I could utter
was Holy Sh*t for miles.
I started to feel sick just south of Montrose and then
remembered that I hadn't slept more than a few hours the night before and I was
drinking a Mountain Dew, which keeps me alert but doesn't sit well when I'm
tired. We made it to Grand Junction and found REI, where I purchased a new
sleeping pad and a camping pillow with my $20 gift card I earned with my last
shopping visit there.
We asked about dispersed camping but was told there
wasn't anything around. We were tired and there was a 50% chance of rain in the
area, so I gave in and we stayed at the Saddlehorn Campground in ColoradoNational Monument.
We showed up at the monument with 30 minutes left of the
Visitor Center hours. We picked up our Jr. Ranger books and found a campsite.
We had an amazing view of the Book Cliffs from our site and were able to watch
the rain clouds go around us. Once in the tent, we needed another bathroom
trip, which may have had to do with this being our 1st time camping
with flushing toilets and a sink on this trip. On our way back, we watched a
rain storm with lightening on the other side of the monument. No rain when we
went to bed but it was hot and sticky.
In the middle of the night, the storm hit. I awoke to the
tent swaying dangerously! I had only staked down the two sides of the rainfly,
since it didn't seem that it was going to rain. Usually this works just fine in
the rain, but the wind coming over from the canyon was intense and catching the
side of the rainfly! Good thing I keep our tent case in the tent at night, I
was able to untie the corner ropes, wait for just after lightening to reach our
from inside the tent and stake down the ropes! The rain was coming sideways
along with the wind for quite some time! With the rainfly staked down, the tent
seemed much more stable and I was able to go to sleep.
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