Orr rousted him out when it was still barely light outside. A few sleepy birds chirped in the cottonwood trees. Otherwise, it was very quiet. Jase yawned hugely and scrambled out of bed. Today he put on the boots and collected the extra clothes and the jacket he’d pack in the duffle bag Orr had told him he could use.
By the time he got out to the kitchen, Orr had a pot of oatmeal ready as well as a skillet of crisp bacon and a heap of fluffy scrambled eggs.
“Eat up,” he said. “We’ll probably skip lunch and move right along to reach my first campsite, well up into the Gila. I checked the weather and they’re not predicting any summer type storms, but you never know. It feels a little more humid than usual to me this morning.”
Jase hastened to obey and tucked away a good deal more than he
