Need Help

I've got a mostly packed house this weekend so lot of cleaning before next week fills up again. Teresa didn't make it back from New York in time so I could use some help next week. Jax has surgery on Tuesday so I will be in town and can give somebody a ride back Tuesday after he can travel and take you back Friday night. Mostly cleaning, some landscaping, and maybe some pet sitting. Kobae wants to go hiking as well. I can clean, I can nurse Jax, and I can deal with Kobae. Just not sure I can do them all at the same time so if you're bored could use some help. 435-260-1783 or email me at tom@basecampadventurelodge.com

Love Hiking with Jax

The Road is Sweet

Took Jax to town to get a haircut and some supplies. On the way back ran across this. They aren't done but it's already pretty good.

The Sign

The Base Camp sign has been lying on the ground since a wind storm blew it over last month while I tried to figure out how to get it back in the ground which is mostly all rock. When Dalton was here last month he said "Why don't you just haul that old truck out there and attach it to the truck?" Then he checked out and I'm the only one here. Last week Ginger and Doug checked in and I told Doug about Dalton's idea and he said "I'll help you. I got a big truck to town the old Ford 250 out there and a Can Am Defender with a winch to haul the sign." So.

Over the years I've had an occasional guest say they missed the sign at the turn. Those days are over.

The Road

Years ago San Juan County, the county I'm in, not Grand County where Moab is but I'm a mile over the border in San Juan. They are wonderful people and I've lived a lot of places in my life and they are the best by far. They leave you alone. The road over Hurrah Pass has been a little different. Years ago when I first got here there was a pissing contest between Doug who use to own most of the property out here and the county. They graded the road quite a bit when I got here but somewhere in there, not known to me. they changed the road from a B road to a D road which apparently says they can grade it whenever they want, or not ever. So for many years they would grade the road once right around the end of the year and that's pretty much it.

I get really good reviews from guests that stay here and if there is any criticism it's nearly always about the road over Hurrah Pass getting here. A lot of people enjoy the road and it's beautiful views and it does weed out all the pussies which is why I think to a degree that I get really good guests, nobody expecting a mint on their pillow.

Two weeks ago I emailed the county to could they grade the road twice a year. Late August just before the busy season starts and again in late Feb or early March just before the other tourist season starts. The email came back undeliverable. I called and ask for the road guy and it's somebody else. I told him about my twice a year suggestion and he liked it. I ask if they could grade it before Labor Day weekend and he said "I think so." I hear the grader out there on the pass somewhere right now. This is really encouraging.

A Good Day

100 degrees for a month or two, then a couple of 90s, and on this day high of 86. We started early putting water in Doug's solar batteries where his place is still a mess. Then Last Hurrah (north side of the property) batteries, dug trenches around Kobae's yard to make the fence higher so he can't escape if I can't go hiking with him. Right around the 1st of September every year he takes off down the drive way and somebody has to go with him. Teresa won't be back for another week so I have to make sure I can lock him in his yard if I have to.

Then we head down to the main beach and start cutting the trail from the kayaks down the stairs to the beach. Still got to cut trail to the creek bed and the creek if the dead deer is mostly gone. While we were down there we saw a young mother mule deer with two one year olds and two brand new babies. While on the beach we saw six deer on the hidden beach and later three more on the hill up by the mud huts.

A Day in the Life of Kobae

Most days Kobae comes across the drive way from his house around 4pm. It has been hot, 100 plus every day for a month or two. So, he lays down in the kitchen and pees, then sets in it to cool off. Eventually he walks through the lodge to see if anything has changed. I keep a bucket next to where he pees to clean it up right away when he leaves.

He'll go outside, rain or shine, he doesn't care.

Then he'll hump the stairs, then eat, then hump the stairs again, then set on the porch until it gets dark.

He can't see very well in the dark so usually I have to get a headlamp, shine it on the ground, and he'll follow the lit up ground to his house. He doesn't really know where he is. On days when he irritates me I'll do a figure eight with the light as we're walking to his house just for my own entertainment A couple nights ago I shined the headlamp trying to get him to follow it. He wouldn't. He just set on the porch but now it's dark and the little people are showing up. Racoons own the left side of the porch, skunks the right side, ringtails the rafters, gray foxes the left side of the parking lot and red foxes the right side of the parking lot though the gray foxes are starting to take that over and the red's are in Kobae's yard. Kobae notices the commotion on the left side of the porch where I have to headlamps set up and the raccoons are eating. He heads down the porch and sends raccoons running in every direction not knowing what this 200 pounds of something are. They're running out into fox territory in the parking lot, up the poles to ringtail territory, just running from whatever this is. He takes over one of the Kit%Kaboodle bowls while the raccoons watch from a distance. In time he returns to the front door where he falls asleep and the feeding returns to normal.