An Unusual Spring Migration

It is easy to get nervous as we near the spring solstice.  But this is the time of year when a camper has the greatest opportunity to improve their life.  Extend.  Extend the bug-free season, extend good sleeping, extend sweat-free outdoor exercise. 

That is what I was thinking the other morning when I had a freshly-laundered poodle under the sleeping bag with me.  My little dog smelled like lavender-rosemary doggie shampoo.  There is a primal satisfaction to burrowing deeper and deeper underneath the sleeping bag, and seeing how few square inches of skin need to be exposed.

Spring migrations are easier than autumn migrations because the sun is at your back most of the way.  I really look forward to that.  For the first time in years I will migrate through Nevada.  Let's hope I can find a grocery store or two.

I have never done my spring migration by going northwest immediately and staying close to the Colorado River.  It is counter-intuitive to return that way, since I migrated downstream along the Colorado River in autumn.  Why repeat the route so quickly?  And I am not in love with the rubble.

But this is the best way I can get to western Idaho/eastern Oregon without going so far east and then backtracking to the west.  More importantly, the high altitudes of NM and UT keep a person too far south too late into spring.  Then, when you finally realize that it is getting warm, you have already missed early summer in the Northwest.  Early summer is the time to be there.  Late summer is the wildfire season.