Mississippi River Trip: Apparently, where we go, fire follows

I’m writing this on battery, in the middle of nowhere.  Tonight we're camping near Turtle Creek is part of the Medicine Bow National Forest.  We’re camping in a dispersed campsite, and Larisa is off hiking in the hills while I catch up on blog entries.  Right now three baby chipmunks are playing about two feet away from me, gleefully ignoring my presence.  A moment ago a humming bird came swooping in and checked my water bottle and the pitcher for drinks.  They were dry, but I have a packet of sugar and an old coffee cup, so I’m going to make a feeding station to see if it comes back.
No joy on the humming bird, though after I dumped the water and took the cup to the trash Larisa reported that the bird came back.  Guess he's camera shy.

Medicine Bow is typical high desert - outcroppings of rock dotted with low scrub and anemic pines give the place a desolate beauty.  When Larisa finished her hike we headed over to Pole Creek to see if it had anything resembling a swimming hole.  No luck, but as we were driving back we noticed a huge smoke bank across the highway.  Medicine Bow was on fire.  The fire started about an hour after we got there.  Larisa was worried that the fire might come our way, but it was miles away, the wind was against it, and it would have had to hop a four lane freeway to get to us.  Also, we were camped in the rocks with very little brush around.  I explained all of this to Larisa and she accepted it with good grace and told me to call Sergei to check.

We're leaving this morning for Rocky Mountain National Park and Arapahoe National Forest.

Our bedroom



Our Kitchen

Our Living Room!!!!