Good morning. It’s Saturday, July 25, 2020, temperature 7°C. I’m at Cottomwood, a campground near the foot of the Oldman River Dam. It’s chilly this morning, and there is a breeze.
I got here yesterday evening about 7pm-ish, set up the trailer, set up the screen tent, and decided to go into Pincher Creek to get some beer. When I came back, the screen tent was taken down and folded up under the picnic table, and its bag was stuffed into the wheelwell of the trailer. Apparently, while I was away, the wind picked up and carried the tent out into the grass beyond. A guy from another campsite found it and tried to pull it back. The neighbour ran out and helped him. They brought it back to my campsite but didn’t know how to fold it up. The guy across the way ran over to give them a hand. It turns out he had the exact same model, so he folded it up and stowed it under the picnic table. I was puzzled when I got back as to what might have happened. Did I take the wrong site (B35), and someone was politely telling me to pack up? Did the park warden come by and notice that I didn’t have a reservation sign printed out and posted on the post? What could possibly have happened? A little while later, the first guy who rescued my tent came by and told me what happened. I thanked him as many times as I could, and we had a good laugh at it. I went across the way to thank that guy, too. “Oh, I didn’t do much. I knew how to fold it up,” Later, while sipping a beer, the neighbour came by and introduced himself as well, and I thanked him and offered him a beer, which he declined. It was an eventful evening, and I hadn’t even gotten started yet.
I settled down with a book a got from a tiny library at a campground (To Tame a Land – Louis L’Amour), got some corn chips and my beer, sat my chair and table next to the trailer’s amber porch light, and had a good read. However, with no screen tent, the bugs were driving buggy, so I wound up the evening shortly before 10pm.
This morning is the first time I actually used the trailer microwave for something meaningful. I’d forgotten my travel cup at home, so I’m having coffee in a plastic cup, but it had gotten cold (as it is a chilly morning), so I microwaved it, and now it’s hot and tasty. (For all my ESL students, that technically isn’t a run-on sentence. I’ve used conjunctions to join all my sentences.) Of course, using the microwave means that my solar panels have to be in the sun, otherwise I’ll quickly run out of power to run the fridge. Microwave, fridge, propane stove, organic cotton mattress, fresh coffee with toast, computer … this camping sure is roughing it. But I’ve always been a gadget person, so this is my thing. I’m sure the European settlers of this area and aboriginals before them would have done the same thing had they thought of it first. I’m now warming up some water to do dishes and wash my hair.
The next day after breakfast, I had a visitor to see me off.
More pics & vids:
7/24/2020 8:46 PM 3445193 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_204614 evening skyline with power lines.jpg 7/24/2020 10:16 PM 4362263 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221626 night.jpg 7/24/2020 10:16 PM 4626723 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221639 trailer at night.jpg 7/24/2020 10:17 PM 2255461 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221704 night e1.jpg 7/24/2020 10:17 PM 3439742 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221704 night.jpg 7/24/2020 10:17 PM 2835062 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221721 night e1.jpg 7/24/2020 10:17 PM 4197657 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221721 night.jpg 7/24/2020 10:18 PM 4263686 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_221802 trailer at night.jpg 7/24/2020 10:47 PM 250264 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_224715 inside trailer panorama s1.jpg 7/24/2020 10:47 PM 13956548 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200724_224715 inside trailer panorama.jpg 7/25/2020 8:54 AM 5230232 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_085408 breakfast.jpg 7/25/2020 10:32 AM 38779659 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_103224 campsite panorama.jpg 7/25/2020 11:28 AM 7770974 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_112854 tree roots.jpg 7/25/2020 11:29 AM 15876790 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_112912 Oldman River river panorama.jpg 7/25/2020 11:31 AM 6399122 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_113134 rocky riverside trail.jpg 7/25/2020 11:33 AM 12685404 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_113334 river valley.jpg 7/25/2020 11:34 AM 6583605 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_113417 grass, purple flowers.jpg 7/25/2020 11:35 AM 3576061 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_113500 grass, purple flowers.jpg 7/25/2020 11:35 AM 3917784 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_113553 grass, purple flowers.jpg 7/25/2020 11:37 AM 5525456 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_113756 river, hill, windmill.jpg 7/25/2020 11:42 AM 12628819 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_114220 field, playground, windmills.jpg 7/25/2020 4:41 PM 6946937 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_164143 camp in afternoon.jpg 7/25/2020 4:41 PM 6299381 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_164159 rock painting.jpg 7/25/2020 4:42 PM 6385598 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_164205 rock painting.jpg 7/25/2020 9:37 PM 74593923 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200725_213710.mp4 7/26/2020 11:09 AM 9240986 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200726_110904 solar panel, prairie dog in grass.jpg 7/26/2020 11:09 AM 3848484 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200726_110908 prairie dog.jpg 7/26/2020 11:09 AM 45322257 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200726_110935.mp4 7/26/2020 12:08 PM 6585077 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200726_120834 Teardrop 1, camp packed up.jpg 7/26/2020 12:08 PM 6375391 Cottonwood, Oldman Dam PRA, AB 20200726_120836 T&C, camp packed up.jpg
