Loose Life of a Truck Camper

I wandered around until I found a dirt road. And signs saying ” Caution: Horses”. That was a good indication for bucolic tranquility. So I went deeper into the woods, and up very rocky, dusty dirt roads.  And stopped to look at a bullet ridden map.

Looked good to me. In the San Juan National Forest. As I was getting ready to head out a convoy of flatbed trailers pulled up and unload 12 ATVs. It has been very dry here. They drove in with huge cloud of dust that swirled around in the breeze they created. They left in a very loud dust cloud. Then two more gooseneck trailers  pull up with 6 more atvs, crosswise, on each of the beds. There must have been some kind of rally going on. I wandered off. Passed a few more atv haulers on their way in. Glad I left.

I wandered up to a favorite camping spot and met the guys from Slick Rock Outfitters.  I am not crazy about what they do (big game killing). I wish no one did that any more. They were very polite and informative about the land and vegetation.  They had gotten the rights from the National Forest Service  to hunt the area. They were here to cut a trail to the area.

I was off to read a book.

Mysteries are my next-to-favorite fiction genre*.  I read Kill The Father 2 years ago and told all of my reading friends about it. I gave it away. Just the other day I found another copy of it in the Second Chance Thrift Store in Dolores, Colorado. I bought it again, read it again (so rare for me), and it is still a winner. Love the characters. Love the setting. Might read it again, if I find it in another thrift store.

I am TRYING to segue int0/ on to a Kindle. Damn hard. There is not the tactile pleasure of a book. No book smell. No riffling the pages. No color in the kindle covers. No reading the gushing reviews from other authors. No easy way to check the pub date. No airline ticket envelope holding a place. No old Polaroid images falling out as you gently open the gently used book. No former-reader-notes (with exclamation marks!)  written in tiny letter in the margins. I rearrange books. I am frustrated and annoyed while trying to arrange the Kindle “books”.

I know it makes sense to read with a Kindle. I like reading at night with the lit page. I almost like holding 100 books in one hand. I have Kindle Unlimited, yet will still go to a thrift store and buy a bag of books for $5.

*Science fiction is still #1, particularly Octavia Butler.