An old Dog, an old Man in an old Truck

It's been a while since my last update because there's been very limited cell service and no data. Someone at Cherry Creek Campground told me about the Gila hot springs Campground, where you can camp for $8 a night and have 24 hour access to 3 really nice soaking pools. So on Friday the 28th of April we went there and arranged to stay four nights. I could have stayed forever. It was very quiet not crowded and dogs were allowed to roam free as long as they got along with each other which Duchess did an excellent job of. The hike up to the cliff dwellings was amazing. It's a one mile loop with quite an elevation gain but you can actually walk through the Gila cliff dwellings. The Hot Springs Campground is a stopping point on the Continental Divide Trail where hikers can spend the night, soak, meet other hikers, exchange food and other items and just generally relax. I met and spoke with eight or nine different hikers and as I was leaving left some food and a smal

Yesterday afternoon smoke began moving across the sky. It wasn't thick but I could smell it. Having lived in Colorado close to several major fires, I decided it would be a good idea to be prepared. I was also tired of looking at the one I believe stole my eggs. So I took down the big tent and loaded everything but the small tent and our bedding into the truck. As evening came the smoke diminished but I still wanted a change of scenery. There were several places that had been recommended to me so lvilovthe dry heat I chose to go further south to Silver City. Just north of there is the no fee Cherry Creek National Forest Campground. It looked good so after making coffee and tearing down the small tent we were off by seven this morning. I'm sittiing in the shade here because it's HOT. All is well and in a few days or a week we'll head north again. As always, thanks for following and if you can help, please visit https://gofund.me/an-old-dog-an-old-man-in-an-old-tr

Thursday, April 19 The sun is shining bright it feels like it's about 65° a little windy and we're getting ready to go walk around and explore some more. We took a walk along the mighty San Francisco River and discovered the reason for the name of this campground. There is a ditch obviously for irrigation purposes that at one time fed from this raging torrent of a river. After a treacherous fording we came back to camp where I decide to turn the unorganized jumble of firewood into nice neat well stacked pieces.  Now I'm sitting in the shade drinking Gatorade after eating a well deserved campground special peanut butter sandwich. Friday, April 20 The wind blew like crazy all day. We found a few places to hide behind the tent or the truck in the sun for a little while but mostly we stayed inside the tent. Saturday April 21 Took one of the protein drinks out of my river refrigerator for breakfast. It was ice cold and delicious. Cleared out the li

We had spotty cell connection so I perused a map as well as google maps and found El Morro National Monument near Grants New Mexico, a no fee campground called Head of the Ditch National Forest campground  unimproved except for fire pits and rustic picnic tables and pit toilets, another no fee National Forest campground called McGaffey Campground situated in an old ghost town also near Grants New Mexico. So we left Valley of Fire on Wednesday the 18th of April at seven thirty in the morning and arrived at head of the ditch campground around three o'clock. We passed two occupied campsites going in towards what looked like the end of the road a quarter mile away with several nice campsites and then the road turned left and there was a water crossing across the mighty San Francisco River. We eased across, came up a hill and around the corner and there was a perfect campsite with two fire pits on either side of a long rustic picnic table and room for many people to camp. I don&#

We've been in a no cell service zone for a week so this is a multi part post that was written as the days went by. The last part will tell where we are now. Our last post had us enjoying a primitive Mountain Campground near Mancos Colorado.  It had gotten down to freezing a couple of nights but when we woke up to eighteen degrees and a forecast for snow on Wednesday the 11th we decided to break camp and go south. I don't think that was a mistake but we went the wrong way. Had I known about the campground where we are now I would have come here. Instead we went to Durango to a washateria that had showers and washed clothes and my body. Duchess made a friend who had treats in his pocket and accepted one then growled at him. Then we headed south down highway 550 into horrible winds. None of the possible destinations we're acceptable with winds like that. We ended up going back east with the wind behind us and it followed us all the way back to the Santa Fe National

Today is Tuesday the 10th of April 2018. We have found a beautiful wilderness camping area in the San Juan National Forest near Mancos, Colorado where we actually have good cell phone service. We arrived here Sunday afternoon after journeying from the Santa Fe National Forest where we camped for several nights. After seeing the welcome to colorful Colorado sign I could think of nothing but Orvis Hot Springs. This is one of my favorite places in the world. So rather than hang around on the Front Range or in the middle range I headed directly over to Orvis and arrived about four o'clock in the afternoon on Friday. They have a camping area so I arranged to spend the night set up my tent took Duchess for a walk and went in to soak in the most wonderful lithium filled Waters I've ever experienced. Later while cooking dinner in their microwave in the kitchen a husband and wife came in and the woman said "You look just like Jeff Bridges." That was a new one to me. A