Travels With Tosh: A Journal: Ep.1

Dear reader: This is the first entry of what will be a regular, though not daily, journal of my travels to, at, and from the Bureau of Land Management’s Long Term Visitor Area in the desert Southwest along the Colorado River that separates California and Arizona. This is the only episode I will pin; just look for the rest in my lists! I hope you enjoy reading.

Tuesday, 27 August 2024

It is time I tell you about my travels, Tosh. I am sure there will be many boring days, and I am equally sure there will be excitement to share. Sit back, relax, and come on this journey with me, Tosh. It will be anything but plain, I am sure.

I have been here in this U.S. Forest Service campground in the Black Kettle National Grassland since last Thursday, so five days. The first of them were very typically Oklahoma hot days. I sat in the shade as I moved around because if the heat. There was a lot of sweat and stinky clothes, so there was also a lot of swimming, mostly to cool off. I am not even sure if swimming is allowed — there are signs that apparently prohibit diving, but I am not sure why they would have that; there appears to be no place to enter the water to swim other than the “beach.”

I came here from a visit with my daughter and grandkids in Oklahoma City. I had been there for the past school year, and helped her move from one apartment to another as she changed jobs. Things were a bit tense, of course, what with my inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies rubbing her and them the wrong way. Communication had diminished to a low level, partly because of her work schedule and the time she spent away with Charles, and most likely mostly because of the tension that was building.

It was time to leave, and I did.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have been here five days, five very hot days. Today is the second day one which temperatures have subsided; it is one of those very fine Oklahoma fall days I recall. It is not chilly, by any means, but it is cooler than it has been. Cooler temperatures are in the not-too-distant future, for sure.

In these past five days, I have been hunting and finding things I either need or know I will…