Dear Isaac, Maia, and Virtual Wanderers,

It was a chilly but beautiful morning at State Forest State Park. It was picture-perfect, in fact! I played with my pups, ate breakfast, and packed up. Today, we are headed to the Front Range. I actually dread city driving these days. My eyes aren’t what they were 20 years ago and I am no longer used to Denver area traffic. My days of Denver commutes ended almost 2 decades ago. And, this is only my 2nd trip to Denver this decade – my first was to pick up Kokopelli, also from Harley’s House of Dreams in April.

I’m also nervous because I haven’t had 3 dogs since Sazi passed in March. That’s almost 6 months. This trip has been so wonderful for Koko and Kachina to bond. And, they have been pretty easy to manage overall. I want Cimarron because I like having a tiny dog in the pack. But, this morning I am both excited and hesitant.

The drive is beautiful, but not straight! CO Highway 14 took us almost all the way to our next campsite – Boyd Lake State Park. This part of Colorado is truly the “Rocky Mountains” – meaning they look very much made of rock with many heavily touristed spots along the way. It only takes a couple hours, but it seems longer because of the speed limit.

I could feel my city-driving anxiety kick in when we descended into Fort Collins. How did I ever do this before Garmin? I took this route a lot when I lived in Lyons and Boulder – but today it seems foreign to me. We checked in with the rescue and they would not be ready for us for a while. We stopped for lunch and headed to Boyd Lake to set up camp before heading to the Harley’s House of Dreams.

So, from a cool start to the day in the tent, we are suddenly in 100+ degree weather. Our site had no real shade. I put the dogs where they had shade from the table and set up camp. I was sweating like a pig and I smelled like I hadn’t taken a shower for 3 weeks (I took one 48 hours before). We were near the showers, but I didn’t want to leave the dogs in the heat that long, so I just washed up and changed shirts. It didn’t work for more than 5 minutes.

Then we headed out to Harley’s House of Dreams in Berthoud. Not a long drive (about 20 minutes) but more cars than I pass in a month in Montrose. I remember when there was space between these towns! Anyway, the rescue is co-located in a little gift shop called Wishful Living – I would like to go back without dogs someday because it was really a cute place.

Koko’s foster mom, Nina was there and she was excited to see Koko, again. They had Cimarron and handed her to me. They told me she screamed occasionally when picked up but the vet could find nothing wrong. Over the next few hours and days, I would find out that she had fear-aggression about being touched around her collar or harness. LOL – my easy rescue dog would need some intense work.

Anyway, we got back to Boyd Lake. Cimarron is built like a tiny Italian Greyhound, so I was really afraid she would back right out of that harness. I zipped her in the stroller and we walked around the lake – we logged a mile or two for our Hikers 365 challenge. She did OK but was notably anxious. I had never adopted a dog when I was living in a tent before, but she settled into the sleeping bag right next to me. What a day!!!! There was a Blue Moon that night – so I can now say I drive to Denver once in a Blue Moon to adopt a dog. Unfortunately, I didn’t take photos because I was snuggling puppies. Tomorrow, we have a LONG drive home.

Love Ya’all, Cathy Hartt (Grandma Hartt)

PS – For those interested in Tractive battery life, I charged at State Forest last night but had to charge again in Fort Collins because we were in and out of cell range since late yesterday.

If you like this photo of State Forest State Park, I have signed prints available through my Etsy Shop – www.ArtfromtheHartt.Etsy.com

For more info email me at cathy.hartt55@gmail.com