Big skies; cold nights

Wow! It was a cold one last night. Must have been in the teens. We sleep in late, trying to remain insulated, but around a quarter to 11 I unzip the tent door since the first rays of sunshine are finally making it over the mountain. Buddy lunges forward with a deafening bark and suddenly there's a German Shepherd in my face. Some girls-- I suppose they were college students--had found our hidden camp under the pines, or it would be more accurate to say that their dog had.

Bud proves to much for the elder canine whose initial offensive is relegated to pitiful yips from a distance. The girls seem frightened, so outwardly I scold my companion: No, no Bud! None of that now!' But inwardly I'm saying: 'Way to go boy, you whooped him!'

We do about seventeen miles in the day in spite of our late start. At a small petrol pump/store we stop for a break and I order a burger. Jess, the girl at the register, takes some interest in the trip so I give her a card. She kindly offers some chocolate bars and cinnamon buns as a contribution, oh, and doesn't even charge me for the coffee, which I'm now enjoying as I type a few meaningful memoirs to a setting sun. One more night beneath the pines. Ominous clouds approach from the east. I wonder if we'll wake to snow.