August 22: Why Would They Tell Me That?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Staff are eating with the firefighters. The Chief said the fire is 10-11 thousand acres and moving away from us. The border closest to us is mostly secure and is about 7 miles away.

Today is my day off, but I am serving at guest breakfast 8-9 because we are short-handed. It gives me something to do. There was no room for me on a ride.

This morning, I sat around and talked to Penny and Savia. Penny grew up in Ireland, near Belfast. She is now married and lives near London. Savia is Italian, married to an American and lives in Connecticut. 

They told me to have the confidence to do what I want, to be confident in myself, and that nothing is more attractive than a confident woman. They said these are things they didn’t learn until their 30s and 40s, but wished they knew in their 20s. 

In the afternoon, a little before 1:00, the three of us started up the canyon. About 2:00, they turned back and I kept going. I went over the hill and followed the trail to the road. I went down the road 5-10 minutes and saw a sign that said Soda Lake was 1 mile back. I walked down the connecting road a little to see how far I was from the ranch. It looked like I could walk it in less than an hour, so I turned around and went to Soda Lake. It was nice, but small, almost a pond. The ground was littered with broken glass and cigarette butts. I got back to the ranch around 4:30.

On the Soda Lake road, I saw one print in the middle of the road, but I couldn’t find any others like it. It was almost wider than my two spread hands. I drew it and Wes said it was a bear print.