I am camped in a meadow on a mountainside in the Gunnison National Forest near Crawford, Colorado. The view is incredible.
Scout is tethered to the van but the lead is 25 feet long, so she has room to sniff the flowers and eat the grass. (Why do dogs eat grass? I’ll never understand.) I have learned the hard way not to let her run free any more. It makes me sad for her but I don’t know what’s out here. There could be coyotes or bears… or, worse yet, cattle. Ranchers don’t like dogs bothering their valuable inventory. Ranchers have guns. So Scout has to be tied up from now on.
People sometimes ask me if I’m worried about the dangers a woman alone faces while traveling. Dangers? Hah! I’m not afraid of thieves and murderers.
I’m afraid of bugs
Take ticks, for instance. Ticks carry diseases. I don’t want ticks in the van. Deer ticks transmit Lyme Disease. I saw a doe not far from here yesterday so there are bound to be more, which means ticks are more than likely populating this beautiful meadow.
I don’t use pesticides, so Scout doesn’t have the usual flea and tick remedies like Frontline, etc. But I’ve done some research and have heard good things about essential oils like rose geranium oil. Of course, I didn’t plan ahead and actually buy some or I would have it now, when it’s needed. Duh. It’s on order now and should get to General Delivery at the post office tomorrow. I hope it works.
Scout has just come in and jumped on the bed. Did she bring ticks with her? Deer ticks are said to be really tiny, like speck-of-dust tiny. I’m told that I should examine her thoroughly every time she comes in. How the hell am I supposed to find one if it did hop onto her? Her fur is short but so thick I can’t even find her skin. Ack.
Do you see any ticks?
These are the kinds of worries I have now that I’ve left the desert Southwest and headed into Green Country. Oh my God, is it green here. It’s beautiful, but all I can think about is the bugs.
And I might as well tell you I think Scout picked up one or two fleas at the former-tennis-court-now-dog-park in Taos last week. Scout is starting to scratch and I have two bites that are definitely not mosquito bites. We have been through two infestations in the van since I got her three years ago. Getting rid of them without pesticides was a lot like getting rid of lice naturally. I don’t advise getting fleas or lice. Not fun.
Bugs. Ugh.
And then there are mosquitoes. Here at 8600 feet, it’s too cold at night for them to hatch, but in Taos they were just coming out at Fred Baca Park where I walked Scout every day. It’s high desert there, but the park is situated next to wetlands so I got a few bites to remind me of my younger days in Minnesota, the “land of 10,000 lakes” — one of the destinations on my itinerary this summer. Minnesotans, like Alaskans, joke that the mosquito is the state bird.
Pretty much every destination on this road trip will feature numerous encounters with my favorite little bastards.
I’ve heard Listerine is a great, nontoxic mosquito repellent, so I bought some when I started this adventure over four years ago, but thanks to staying in the dry Southwest most of that time, I’ve had no need to use it. Now I will.
Cross your fingers that these ‘natural’ remedies do the trick.
