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Back Home on BLM Land

I was given fair warning when I started the driveway-guarding gig in Ouray that the late sunrises and early sunsets would take their toll on me. But it's beneficial to experience voluntary, short-term suffering when traveling. It just whips up your appetite for the next thing, and it adds drama. Even Mark, of Box Canyon Blog, had to buy a new and more mobile rig just so he can escape to Arizona in the winter and receive self-administered emergency "heliotherapy treatments". Near the end of the gig, the dogs were becoming despondent.


In fact the sun was perverse on the last day. After a day or two of clouds and rain, the sky finally cracked open. Here's how things looked from Mark's driveway:


Impressive indeed. That was at 2:30 p.m. By 2:38 the sun went behind the western cliff. That did it! I'm outa' here.

I love being back on spacious BLM land. I'd forgotten how much pleasure you can get from small aspects of boondocking, such as orienting your rig so the door faces the morning sun and the "den" window faces sunset. And up here on the mesa, surrounded by nothing more than grass and sagebrush, I get to experience each lawful minute of daylight.


Camping on BLM must be similar to blue-water sailing. It offers the freedom to move and to live without bumping into neighbors, cops, and cars. The visual manifestation of this freedom is horizontal-ness. You see it everywhere.

Comments

Anonymous said…
When your dogs become despondent it's time to move on. I understand your feelings about camping on BLM land. Most of my happiest times have been in those wide open spaces.
Well, with a name like "bigskymo", nobody should be surprised that you love the wide open spaces.
go ahead, rub your plentiful sunlight in my face... see if I care. You're all alike, you boondockers, accepting gracious gifts of pleasantry then hightailing it to greener/warmer/sunlit pastures when the goin' get tough. But I'll see you in arizona... maybe even beat you there.
Box Canyon Blogger, you know how a person just loses on one issue and gains on another when they change locations. I can't imagine better hiking right from the front door that Ouray offered. How many places -- sunny or not -- can make the same boast?