24: another direction

Dear Friend,

Have you ever started out your day with a list or a plan or even an itinerary? The day, on paper, might look like a delectable menu; you intend to serve yourself one amazing task after another until you’ve devoured it all… after which, well, what’s your idea of dessert, maybe just a solid night of sleep?

As you may know, (if you’ve been reading along all these many weeks since January of 2023), Frank and I don’t usually know where we’re going, especially not a specific place. But this time, for this leg of our adventure, we left Maia’s home (as I said in last week’s letter) and we had a plan! We headed up to the Eastern Sierras, intending to shoot south along 395.

Then we checked the weather report for the south-lands and realized that even in higher elevations, the heat was going to be in the high 90s F. So, we then decided to pivot and choose another direction.

We stayed a couple of nights at different BLM ‘designated campgrounds’ and we stayed one night at a fancy place with hook ups, showers, laundry, and time to (literally) charge all of our batteries.

One of our BLM campsites was on grazing land. It was nice to be around the cows.

I texted my friend in Montana who lives on a cattle ranch to ask her how much water cows need to drink everyday (because I didn’t see a water source). She first teased that “Nevada cows are half camel.” Then she answered that cows need between 10 and 20 gallons of water a day, suggesting that these cows might have a long hike to water and / or, a rancher might fill a trough or tank somewhere nearby with a big water truck. Then I described the land on which the cows were grazing. It didn’t look like anything but dead grass to me. She explained that these were “short cows… they can digest the stubble and turn it into body mass.” Nature is so resilient!

This past week has been full, so much so, that I will need to wait to tell you about some of the happenings at another time.

We’re currently staying in the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge. Our campsite is located near an artesian spring.

 Some of the roads, buildings, and other structures here, such as the water collection reservoirs for birds, fish, wildlife and so many other creatures, were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

The CCC was created back in 1933 by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a way of providing vocational training and employment opportunities for unemployed American youth. One thousand young men from the CCC were tasked with helping connect telephone lines in the western US. The Sheldon Wildlife refuge is one result of their manpower along with their efforts to establish a nearby refuge for antelope. (We are looking forward to visiting that area).

Our camp host, Tina, is not only a knowledgeable and friendly ambassador for the Wildlife Refuge, she is also a baker extraordinaire!

I met her at her campsite as she was placing a Dutch oven into her fire ring. She explained that it isn’t just a Dutch oven, it has feet, so it is a camping Dutch oven. She surrounded the heavy-lidded cook pot, below and above, with perfectly heated coals, just so.

She told me that she was baking a loaf of sourdough bread. (Apparently, she has done this countless times).

Tina set a timer and checked the loaf halfway through its bake; it smelled amazing. At this point, I went to get Frank, a huge fan of sourdough bread. I didn’t want him to miss out… and, of course, he brought his camera.

Using a pair of leather welding gloves and a lid-lifter, Tina removed the very hot lid to check the temperature of the bread.

After another few minutes, she decided that the loaf was done. 

A perfect crust, top and bottom!

Then, possibly just because she is a generous person, but also possibly because we were still standing around her campsite when she wanted to eat her breakfast, she shared a slice of freshly baked sourdough bread with each of us. It was, as you can imagine, absolutely delicious!

It’s been a summertime-hot, but wonderful campground and there is a lot to explore within the Wildlife refuge, lots of open space and photo ops for Frank’s camera. We'll share more next week.

Though reviews of this campground indicated that there is cell reception here, there isn’t. I did, however, hike up onto a very tall hill and was able to receive and send texts. In order to find better reception, we have to take a drive.  

We are, once again, considering some sort of Star-Link contraption. Though it is nice to put mobile devices away, we need to be realistic about having the capability of staying connected, and in the case of an emergency, we would like to be able to be reached, and/or, get a call out ourselves.

We don’t make such expensive decisions quickly (as you have probably gathered). So, over the course of the next few weeks, we’ll be researching and weighing out our options. One thing we do know is that in order to power new connectivity, like satellite internet, we will need more electrical storage... 'If you give a mouse a cookie... (the link explains what that means in case you've never read the cute little story).

Changes and more changes, life. Please know, it is very nice to have you along on this journey!

We are grateful to YOU for being here to read Tracks by the Post. And it is always wonderful to hear from you, so, if you’d like to Write to Us please do! (I will reply as soon as I possibly can)!

Wishing you and yours a happy week ahead.  

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank