Walking in the rain... just waaaalking in the rain.

Katie and I took a walk on a trail today.  This is the first time since I've been traveling that I've taken a "trail" walk.  We took the one that starts behind the restroom near our site that has all the resting benches.  It's a well defined trail and was a very easy walk.  We got to bench five or six, the one past the Indian ruins/sign, and it started sprinkling.  We kept going anyway, I was hoping the rain would stop, and I wanted to see as much as we could.  Then it started really raining, big drops, and we had to turn around.

I was surprised to see a little sign describing an old rubble pile from the home of some prehistoric Native American Indians.  Not much left, but you could easily make out the "Tower."

 Rocks from the Tower

We jogged part of the way back. I was really surprised I was able to jog, considering there are times I still can't catch  my breath in this 7,400 foot elevation, but I was fine.

When we started out on our walk, we caught the trail behind our site, going through the trees until we met the trail, instead of walking down to the restrooms and starting at the beginning at the first bench.  We were soon at the second bench and I realized this part of the trail really isn't very long.  I guess it gets harder past the spot we turned around.

Katie doesn't like rain, but she just kept walking, shaking off the water, walking, shaking off the water.  Where we caught the trail behind our site is in the middle of the trees, no trail or anything, and I had no idea where it was, so I figured we'd just walk to the beginning and go back out by the restroom, right down the road from our site.  As we were walking along, Katie suddenly turned of the path into the trees.  There was nothing familiar that I could see, but I thought I'd follow her and see where she took us.  I started recognizing tree stumps and other things, and she took us right back to The Palms, exactly the same way we had gone into the forest to catch the trail. I thought that was pretty cool. I guess she has a good nose!

This afternoon I was pouring some Jelly Bellies into a little jar and dropped one on the kitchen floor and it rolled down onto the rug where she was. (No comments on how level ARE we, anyway?)  She looked at me and picked it up in her mouth.  I never give her any of my food.  She has kind of a delicate stomach, and I don't want her begging or grabbing my food off the table if I walk away.  She knows she's not supposed to eat anything except what's in her bowl.  She just sat there and looked at me with her mouth closed tight around that jelly bean.  Then she came into the kitchen and sat at my feet.  I reached down and tried to open her mouth, she wouldn't open her teeth, but I could see the jelly bean.  I told her she could have it, and she ran back to her blanket and ate it.

It sounds silly, but I felt she was asking me if she could have it.  I guess it didn't hurt her, because so far she's okay.  I was pretty stunned, though, that she didn't just gobble it up while she had the chance.

WOW, am I ever glad we came back when we did!  As I'm writing this, it started raining again, then hailing!  The rain was so hard it came into my MaxxAir vents, the first time that's ever happened.  I had to close all my vents.

 Really neat hail storm.

 Hail on the ground and my chair with the umbrella in the background.

Thunder, heavy rain, hail - I love it!

We met a full-timing couple who are also bloggers, Gayle and Jim, shown below with their gorgeous Lazy Daze RV.  They have been traveling in Colorado for a little while, and we e-mailed back and forth a few times about this park I'm at now - McPhee.  They decided to stop at this campground for a few days, and I'm glad they did.  It was really nice meeting them, and we've chatted the last two days, and taken some short walks together.

They are traveling with another full-timer, Debbie, who has a really nice Lazy Daze RV, too.  She also has a really cute dog, Elliot.  Next time I'll have a photo of Debbie and Elliot and her rig, too.

They all went to Mesa Verde yesterday to see the Indian Architectural Ruins, and said it was really interesting.  Check out Gayle and Jim's blog for info and photos on that, I didn't travel up the mountain to see them, so I'm going to enjoy their post on that outing. The post about Mesa Verde isn't up yet, but it should be the next one. :)

After we got back from our walk, I put Katie's muddy feet into the sink and cleaned the mud off, and wiped her down with a towel.  She was so hyper after that, running around back and forth in the rig, playing with her "baby," and wanting to play ball.  Notice another smiley face!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday, everyone!  :)