Tranquility Base

Today, Wednesday, there was no need to run into town for anything so we never moved from our desert campsite all day. This boondocking experience has been very agreeable for both of us, so far. Dar even commented that one of these years we should spend Christmas out here. Hmmm.

The portable propane catalytic heater is doing it's job very well. We left it on until sack-time last night and it kept us very warm while outside temps were dropping into the 30's. After that, the noisy, inefficient motorhome furnace took over for the rest of the night.

This morning I popped out of bed about 7am, checked the batteries (still had some poop left), fired up the generator, put the coffee on, and ran back to the warm bed before you could say "what's for breakfast".

Once the sun warmed things up to a tolerable level, we spent much of the day outside soaking up the sun and the solitude. I scouted our camp perimeter again, circling at about 500 yards this time... checking for wildlife and just lost in my thoughts. We have a group of about 5 campers at about the 500 yard distance, and another lone camper at about 300 yards. But other than that we're all by ourselves out here... and it's just great... something I think we needed right now. There are times when socializing and activities are great, but we've both come to really enjoy times of solitude as a balance.

We made a campfire tonight, watched the sun set and then the stars pop into view. The first "star" visible was very bright and right overhead. Thinking it might be a planet, I got out the spotting scope and, what do you know, we were looking at our old friend Jupiter and two of it's moons. Then a parade of stars, satellites, shooting stars, and constellations kept us busy until the chill sent us inside.

Just another day out in the desert.
T