29: bed time

Dear Friend,

How have you been?

I’ve wanted to catch up with you before this and I’m sorry I missed posting last week.

We are grateful that you are here, reading Tracks by the Post!

Remember back when you were little and it was time for bed? What was that like for you? Was there a routine to your bed time?

Did your parents read or sing to you or tell you bed time stories?

It’s great when a child can feel safe and happy and drift off to sleep in the land of imagination… My Dad told us great bedtime stories, his laughter was security, our ‘lights-out’ wasn’t a scary thing.  Those are my earliest memories of bedtime.

Later years, ‘Good night,’ from Dad was a silencing of the house, and as a teen, my homework often saw me into early morning hours. But I’d hear a predictable shift, a slowing in the breath of the house, as everyone else fell asleep.  Quiet, calm, and dawn would bring a new day.

Do you look forward to sundown and the respite of your bed? Or are you one of those ‘energizer bunny’ people that see sleeping as a waste of time? Maybe you grab a catnap here and there. I get it, but I wish you sweet dreams whenever you snooze.

It’s Autumn, as you know, and in the mountains, this is the time of year that animals are gearing up for the coldest season.  Some gather food to have later, some will hibernate, while others are migrating south for the winter. All of the creatures, birds included, seem to be busy, gearing up with extra calories.

Last week in the Western Sierras, lake side at 3600’ elevation, bats were busy at dusk and dawn, feasting on midges, mosquitos and other flying insects. We noticed a variety of berry and seed plants growing. And the contents of scat, (not pictured & you’re welcome), of fox, bear, rabbit, goose, ducks, deer, heron… indicated that there was a fresh bounty of nature’s snacks still available.

Frank collected these photos along our hikes.

Blackberry, Pink Honeysuckle, Alder, Manzanita, California Buckthorn, pine nuts, black raspberries… yum!

In the past two weeks, we’ve experienced temperatures between 28* F and 95* F, balmy nights and snowy mornings.

One of the difficult things with cooler-weather trailer-living is managing the condensation inside the trailer, especially when it is very cold outside and warm in the camper. Our trailer has an efficient propane heater that we use sparingly. Talking and even breathing can cause a lot of condensation. And as moisture builds on windows and walls, problems like damp clothes and bedding, dry-rot and mold, can occur.    

I wrote about our trailer’s condensation last year, Tracks 2024 no. 48: miraculous, (link follows this letter). Luckily, our trailer is not large, and though it was in great shape when we bought it last year, (thanks to its fastidious previous owner), it, like all homes, still requires constant maintenance.

As you may or may not know, this time last year, it turned out that we needed to park our trailer for most of the fall and winter to help family. And during that time, we were plugged in to ‘shore power’ (the electricity from the main house). Throughout the cold weather our dehumidifier worked like a champion. We had desiccants and kept the windows wiped down as often as needed, and we added a mattress underlayment to keep a healthy airflow under our mattress (from AB lifestyles – not an advertisement, though we are happy with our purchase… link follows this letter).

Now that we are on the road and dependent on solar power, vs ‘shore power,’ running our dehumidifier day and night will require too much electricity for our current set up.

So… we have collected more desiccants than last year and will have to come up with another solution (we could camp in a drier location, use a generator to bolster battery storage, or we could always just minimize breathing).

Frank, handy-man, mechanic, photographer, comedian, etc… has been incredibly busy with our ‘rig.’ He’s replaced the wheel bearings and seals for all four trailer hubs, resurfaced the rotors, replaced our unused TV antenna with a 200 watt solar panel (wired internally to a solar controller and inverter for our working energy needs inside the camper). He prepared a special spot inside the trailer for our new Jackery 1000, a gift from two dear friends, and also resealed the top of the trailer along with most of the walls and windows, and, with the help of another great friend, engineered and installed an external plug for the Starlink system. (More on Starlink another time - in a nutshell, Yay, it’s working)! Frank's next bit will be to replace the U-Joints on the main drive shaft and the 4-wheel drive shaft due to new harmonic noises under the body of the truck. (The original U-Joints have been humming along for over 248,000 miles).

Our homes are worth the work, right? They provide comfort and shelter when we take good care of them.

But even after all of that, there can be unplanned things. During a rainstorm the other night, we parked along-side a river at 7100’. We were weary and cold and decided that it was bed time (it was 6:37 pm). Much to our surprise and disappointment, we realized that half of the bed was sopping wet. It was along the one wall and window that Frank had not, yet, resealed. Suddenly, we had a different sort of evening.

Our little propane heater chugged along, dried out the mattress, we got to sleep, and all is well.

In other news, yesterday morning, camping along the Walker river, I decided to take a stroll. Across the highway from the campground was a trailhead at the far side of a parking lot. A highway bridge spanned the river just before the entrance to the parking lot. As I neared the bridge, I heard barking, whining and howling coming from the other side of the road. I hiked down and looked under the bridge, hoping to see a fisherman with his excited dogs but I couldn’t see anyone. I walked a bit closer and saw that there were no cars in the parking lot. The barking grew louder, closer.  

The barks were sharp and I pictured at least two pit bulls. I love all dogs and to me, pit bulls are sweet, sweet souls, but these dogs sounded frantic. I didn’t have cell phone reception in that hollow, there was no one around… I opted to walk back to camp and ask Frank to come with me; these dogs were very upset about something.

Frank and I drove down the road through the BLM dispersed campground to cross the bridge, and there, in the middle of the highway, stood a female pit bull wearing a harness and attached leash, barking her head off. She followed our truck as we entered the parking lot and continued to follow and bark as we parked on a ridge as close to the river as we could. A male pitty came up from the riverbed and joined the female. He was a younger (more fearful) dog with no collar, leash, or harness. The two dogs were clearly together.

For about 10 minutes, Frank and I sat and waited. We talked to the dogs and hoped that they would calm down. Over and over, they ran down to the river and over to a tall clump of saltbush next to the canyon wall and back up the hill to our truck, barking and howling. We couldn’t see what was in the bushes, the overgrowth was too dense.

We rolled down our windows and stayed in the truck, hoping to earn their trust. At times they’d appear to settle, but then they’d trot back down the trail toward the river, looking back at us, their barking still frantic.

We wanted to follow them on foot. I knew that they wanted us to help, but it upset them even more each time I opened the truck door.

When the female returned to the truck and just stared at me, enough was enough.

I called 911. (I hadn’t had even one bar of cell reception until that moment).  

Two Sheriff cars arrived about 10 mins later. The Deputies drove down the trail followed by the dogs.

Frank took that opportunity to walk out toward the river and get a better view of the bushes along the canyon.

There was a newish looking pickup truck tucked away in the overgrowth.

We heard a Deputy calling out. Eventually, the dogs calmed down and remained with the officers downhill. Then the Deputies walked in tandem along the river through the bushes, looking for something.

After a bit, they waved up to us and told us to go, they said that there weren’t any people on the scene, that a vehicle had been abandoned, that animal control would be coming for the dogs.

It was clear to us that these two Deputies would be there for a while.

What do you think? Could something have happened to the owner of the truck while climbing the canyon wall or out on a hike, or could the person have slipped into the river … or… ?

Well, no matter what, it’s strange that they just disappeared like that. The Deputies of Lyon County are on the case.

I only know two things for sure… 1) the dogs were asking for help, and 2) there is way more to this story than we will probably ever know.

As we drove back to camp, we wished we could do more to help the dogs and obviously, we hope that the person is OK.

The dogs had mind-melded me to call for help. I hope that they are reunited with their person, and in the meantime, I hope that both dogs are treated very well!

A true-life mystery like this is certainly fodder for my imagination … I’ll be dreaming about those pups.

Bed time beckons to every creature. And to make it all the better, before you hit the hay, you could try snacking on pinecones, fill up on juicy bugs, or raid a patch of black-raspberries … as a busy human being, it’s important that you do what you can to get good rest.

What does tickle your imagination and pull you into dreamland to snooze, comfy and warm, in your bed? Do tell!

We hope that you will Write to Us, it is always great to hear from you! We’ll reply as soon as we can.

Until next time…   

Wishing you lovely days and restful sleeps!

Gently Be,

Leslie and Frank

PS - The Sheriff dept. has my phone number… if I hear any updates or can find anything out about the dogs, I will let you know.

PPS - Here are the links I mentioned:

Tracks 2024 no. 48: miraculous

Read about mattress underlayment