Mother Nature has a way of talking a man's pride away. I love her dearly, but she is truly dispassionate. She doesn't care about man's mighty intellect, or his mighty accomplishments, or even his dreams. If a man goes out in the rain without a coat, she wets all over him. If a man goes out in the cold, she tingles his fingers and toes. If a man is so brazen as to challenge her, she can quite literally swipes him off of her planet like a bread crumb off a table. It's best to be prepared because, frankly, she just doesn't care. We prepared with great reverence this morning. We had food, water, rain gear, tools, tubes, a pump, and two pressurized air canisters, and we had confidence that we could ride twenty plus miles. And that we did. Mother Nature, and her boss (God) blessed us with favorable warm weather, a bright morning, a smooth road, and a truly sublime patch of greenway to ride on. It delighted us, even though we felt a bit small every time we stopped at a view point to peer into the canyon. Truth be told, I'm a bit tired, but I think that is altitude related rather than the mileage ridden. Judy held up well, though she got a little fatigued by the end. Tomorrow we plan to descend into the canyon along the Bright Angel Trail. We'll play it by ear in terms of how far down we go because as anyone whose ever hiked a little knows, what goes down must come back up. Stay tuned. On another note, I haven't reported the shenanigans of the Wiley Cager lately. She's still up to her old tricks: moving her front peg, snatching the turn card, counting her crib twice, and now she's even started trash talking. This morning, after I had a particularly satisfying run of pegging (Out thinking her as it were), she exclaimed, "You dog! I just out thinked myself". Her noxious comments did her little good as I beat her handily (Once agin--although truth be told, she has been on a win streak lately). It's fun. We start our morning playing a game while we eat our breakfast. We say a prayer thanking the Lord for the food, our good fortune, and we ask Him to bless others, and then we say, "Game on!" It is what we call the good life, and each morning we thankfully remember that life IS good, especially today.
Tomorrow's challenge, the switch backs down the Bright Angel Trail.
A view from Maricopa Point.
A view from Pima Point.
There's that Wiley Cager.
Papa took a rest at every view point.
A view from Hermit's Rest, an amazing building designed by Mary Colter, one of the few female architects of her time.
Art shot of the day. One of Mary's "shelves" inside Hermit's Rest.
Art shot two: I'm just fascinated how the twisted branches claw themselves out of this arid ground.
The mighty Colorado River.
This spine formation probable has a name as well.
We hope to catch this view at sunset sometime this week. When we do, we will catch the shuttle.
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