Denver East/Strasburg KOA, Strasburg Saturday, 26 September 2020
Today we'll be having almost an equinox with sunrise at 6:49 and sunset at 6:46. Just a few days off schedule because of the latitude, I guess.
I've been feeling increasingly dry - my skin is dry, my mouth is dry even when I drink a lot of water, and I've even had a few nosebleeds and headaches. Today we're forecast to have 12% humidity here in Strasburg so yes, it's dry.
Add to that the fact that Strasburg is actually higher in elevation than Denver - 5,381' - and the dryness contributes to my breathing difficulty, I think. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe increased humidity would make it harder, but right now it just feels like I'm being sapped of energy from not getting enough air to breathe.
I don't know what this campground is like in normal weather, which everyone tells me this isn't. But what it's like these days is dry dirt roads all around the campground with gravel campsites. The dogs come back from each walk coated in dirt from rolling around in it. I still don't understand how they can do so much better at coating themselves than I do when I try to batter a piece of chicken. Anyway, Dexter's developed the habit of scratching up dirt after he's done some bathroom function - normal for a dog, but Dext goes overboard as usual and scratches and scratches and turns in a circle scratching the whole way around, while Gracie and I just try to dodge the debris and the resulting dust cloud. It's hardest on Gracie who's down there on his nose level.
Between the incredible lack of humidity and the effects of the altitude, I'm starting to look forward to getting to Kansas. I know it may be nothing but flatness and I'll miss the mountains a lot, but it'll be 3,000' lower in elevation and the forecast is for double or more the humidity. Growing up in central Texas as I did, I've never thought of humidity as a friend, but I'm starting to change my mind. And much as I love the mountains, I'm beginning to think I mostly like to look at them, not hang around on them.
There's so much dust in the cabin now that I've started thinking again about what life was like during the Dust Bowl. It seems to be in my nostrils, in my throat making me cough, it's settling on the table, on every surface because anyone who drives around the campground kicks up dust. And nothing stays cleaned off, once I've wiped it. I've had the windows open because the weather hasn't been too hot, but I finally closed them to try to shut off some of the dust.
That turned out to be a good thing because about suppertime, the wind really picked up, probably part of a cold weather system coming in, and that kicked up even more dust. I ended up wearing a mask when I took the dogs out for their last walk of the day. Crazy situation.
I'd intended to clean the windshield because I knew I'd be heading into the mountains tomorrow and wanted them clean in case I took photos through them. Except I finally decided not to bother because they'd just be layered with dust again by tomorrow, and I'd have been playing around outside in the dust when I didn't need to be.
For much of my travels I've seen signs here and there for Hunt Brothers Pizza, with people acting like that's a really great thing. This campground offers it too, and I finally broke down and ordered one. They delivered a 12" pepperoni pizza to my site for $10.31, which seemed reasonable. And it was pretty good. So now I know. I looked them up and learned they're a chain with outlets in maybe 28 states, but they don't have restaurants of their own. Instead they sell through convenience stores and campgrounds and like that. I ate half the pizza and put the other half on a paper plate, because the box wouldn't fit in my frig. When I was folding the box up for the trash, I saw on the bottom of it something about Hunt Brothers delivery to stores - I've forgotten already how it was phrased, but it made me think the company makes everything up beforehand and ships all the pieces to the outlets, so they aren't chopping onion and peppers themselves. But the product was good. And I watched The Martian to appreciate how Matt Damon handled an alien climate.
No comments:
Post a Comment