Adventure 323: Catalina State Park/Post E

Peace and Love. What a concept!

The morning sun, while cool, broke through today. We took advantage to keep to our self imposed schedule. We practiced the form (22 minutes), which felt quite good today. Doing the form is, in part, an exercise in focus. It's very easy to let the "Monkey Mind" wander with interruptions. Today, I managed to stay "In the Moment" for the most part. Judy continues to improve such that she no longer distracts me as we practice together. Even if she did district me, it would be my own weakness, not hers. Before the afternoon clouds descended, we rode for ninety minutes, extending our first trip by a half hour. It felt good, though I must say, I had nothing close to Tour de France fitness or strength. At our turn around spot there was a chalk etching on the outhouse wall. It said Christina Taylor loves butterflies. Christina Taylor was one of those killed in 2011 when Gabby Gifford was shot. From all accounts, she was a bright and loving young girl. There's a memorial park connected to this trail head. I was struck by the chalk artist choosing to write about Christina's love in the present tense. It reminds me that one of the best things a human can do on a daily basis besides random acts of kindness, is to maintain a child's sense of now. There are incredible moments that pass over us either as showers or as light. Looking for the light is a good thing. Speaking of good things: I finally broke the Wiley Cager's winning streak this morning, so from my perspective all is right with the world. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but since the weatherman promised a window of sunlight, we plan to hike as far up into the mountains as our conditioning will allow. I'm eager to get a view of the desert floor from a higher vantage point. We did manage to identify a couple of local residents. They have a scientific name (Phainopepla), but folks around here call them black cardinals. They have a shrill two toned call, a fluffy crest, and searing red eyes. They feed off the mistletoe that hangs in the trees in clusters much like the dripping moss that hangs from trees in the South. We also saw a red tailed fox yesterday, who quite casually made its way through the camp ground. I guess it was gopher hunting. Regardless, it looked very healthy and confident in its natural confines. We've seen bear poop along the trails, but as yet no sign of the actual animal. This park is quickly becoming one of our favorites. It's close to civilization, but feels quite remote. At night it's quiet as a tomb, and not much city light filters in. It's likely this place will become a regular stop for us as long as we're blessed to take the Fric and Frac show on the road. In the meantime, we continue to enjoy a life that is good, especially today.

 Every ride we'll stretch ourselves out down this awesome trail.

 My favorite biker babe posing like a Saguaro.

 I think really, it's all about the socks.

 Sadly, Christina was one of six people killed in the senseless event in 2011. Though definitions change the number, between 1966 and 2012 nearly a third of the world's mass shootings took place in the U.S. There's something wrong with that picture.

 I was moved by this chalk drawing; I found myself weeping right along with the chalk trails on the words.

 Curried cauliflower for lunch. Quite scrumptious.

 The male.

 The female.

 I also spotted this moose wood in the brush.

Tomorrow, we're heading up there.

Adventure 322: Catalina State Park/Post D

In my belief structure, Christ is worth the risk

Jeff Thune, Pastor of NW Bible church in Tucson, opened his sermon this morning with the observation that he may be living in Seattle rather than Tucson because it had rained steadily Saturday night, and promised to rain continuously throughout Sunday. He implored his congregation to rise above the storm. His message centered around the question "What are you willing to risk in the name of Jesus?" It was really a faith challenge. The text he examined came from Acts 21 where Paul was thrown into chains after returning to Jerusalem and began a time of persecution. The important part was that Paul and his followers had advanced warning, but Paul dismissed the concern of his followers saying, (paraphrase), "I'd be willing to die to advance the cause of Jesus." Pastor Thune then went on to give three examples of biblical figures so entrenched in their faith that they left the outcome of their worldly fate to the Lord. One example was Esther, the Jewish beauty who risked her life to save her people. Her flat expression when she was about to confront the king, "If I perish, I perish." Another was the battle general Joab who after realizing he was surrounded by overwhelming force expressed, "Let the Lord decide as he will." And finally Shadrach, Meshach, and  Abednego who jumped into the fire rather than worship a golden idol.  In all three cases, faith, in an uncertain outcome, was placed in the hands of the Lord. It encourages me because in the time I live I don't know (nor do you), and can't imagine the future, but I have faith that a power greater than me has a worthy plan. I take solace in that, and therefore I'm not concerned with uncertainty. I simply surrender to the Lord. One of the fun things Judy and I do on our travels is attend different churches each week. Today, we joined David and Ginny at their church, but over the years we've attended Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Morman, Churches of Christ, Megachurches, Southern Baptist Churches, Black Churches, and an assortment of others. I'm always amazed at the variety (not to mention the splintering truth) of Christian worship we've seen. We even went to a Methodist Church in Austin whose pastoral staff was made up of a lesbians. So, while I'm firmly entrenched in the myth of my own Judeo-Chrsitan upbringing, biased as it may be by my Catholic roots, I'm ever amazed at the nuance of God's truth. You see everyone sees truth through a different lens. Half the world has never heard of Christ. Another big number (Muslims) have heard of Him, but consider Him a lesser prophet. And yet another whole world believes Karmic truths.  And that's  not to mention the Atheists or Agnostics. What troubles me is why it has to be a contest. What distresses me is the the belief that if you're not one of "US" then your one of the lesser "THEM". How is acceptance possible when each group is so entrenched their truth as to ridicule the other? Even tolerance is double-handed. OK, we say, it's OK if you believe what you believe as long as it doesn't touch me. I can remember when I first started thinking about this stuff. I was ten. I used to climb up to the roof of my grandparents house and gaze west at the sunset. I always asked, "Who am I?; What am I doing here?; What is my purpose?. It wasn't until later that I realized I was just one in a long string of thinkers who contemplated these things. Greater thinkers than me have come to conclusions. Aristotle said, "To be is to do." Sartre said, "To do is to be." And Frank Sinatra sang, "Do, Be, Do, Be, Do". I'm just grateful the Lord has given me the gift of thought. It's risky on His part to let me think for myself; nonetheless, I conclude regularly that life is good, especially today, and more than that, It's through grace that I'm allowed this gift. For that I'm thankful, and in the end, if I perish, I perish.

 Selfie of the day: Why does Judy always look better than I do?

 Traditional after church breakfast for the Williams' (Judy portion).

 After three straight losses, I've tossed the deck.

 Though discouraged, I'll enter the fishbowl again tomorrow.

 Gateway to the home of David and Ginny Kral with whom we enjoyed another fine dinner along with rousing cheers for our favorite teams. (David, a true Steeler fan, will tolerate lesser teams to a point).

 David and Ginny have been enjoying a remodeling project. They're embroiled in the fun of matching paint, choosing flooring, and pacing about as they wait for contractors to show.

Ginny and Judy, a couple of knit and pearls.

Go Steelers!

Daughter Elizabeth bought me this macro lens for Christmas. I've managed to capture one of God's angels.

 I know this for sure: Life would be better if we could find a heart for one another.

Adventure 321: Catalina State Park/Post C

We awoke to a cool morning with high clouds curling themselves around the peaks like hair tendrils curling about the ears of a Hassidic Jew. Undeterred by the cool weather, we continued with plan A. First, we enjoyed a typical breakfast of oatmeal covered with raisins and walnuts, a couple of steaming hot cups of coffee prepared in costa Rican fashion, and an orange cut into segments. During breakfast, the Wiley Cager beat me like a tired rug. She's managed to skunk me two days in a row. (If this continues, I may have to return to my gentlemanly tricks). After breakfast we practiced the form, which felt good. We haven't done the form for four days because my back was strained from shoveling snow. It's better now. We then took our first hike, which was a 2.2 mile loop called the Canyon Loop. It rolled itself up and over easily terrain, crossing the seasonal stream about six times. We managed to keep our feet dry the whole time. It was bliss. The desert was quiet, except for the gurgling of the stream, occasional bird whistles, and our greetings of "Good Morning" to fellow travelers. The hike took us about two hours because it was really more of a stroll where we soaked up the natural world like sponges. After a light lunch, we drove to the winter home of our good friends, David and Ginny Kral, to watch the Seattle Seahawks playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons. Sadly, the Hawks were soundly drubbed. It didn't stop us from enjoying our friends, which reiterates an early comment I made about the joy of sharing life with people you love. We've already made three dates while we're here. We'll go to church with them in the morning. We'll share a buffet lunch at an Indian restaurant that Kathleen Friesen recommended, and on the  26th we'll go to a star party at the Kitt Mountain Observatory. That should be excellent since it's as close to a new moon as we could arrange. Of course, we enjoyed a simple but exquisite dinner with the Kral's. Accomplished gardeners (And cooks and canners, et. al), it was a simple feast of home made goods. Beyond that, I'm sure we'll find other reasons to get together while we're here. But tonight, we'll cheer on the Zags against St Mary's. I hope the fare better than I and the Seahawks did, but regardless a day like this one once again assures me that life is good, especially today.

Selfie of the day.

Just a small peek at the panorama of the desert.

Twin Peaks in the distance.

Cactus on the hillside taken with the new lease Elizabeth gave me for Christmas.

I met several people who shouted, "Go Zags!"

Judy, testing her sense of direction: Two roads diverged in a hostile land...

This sense is the macro, which is taken 1mm away. this is one nodule on the blossom of a barrel cactus.

Saguaros are my favorite.

Steady as she goes with dry feet to prove it.

Soft rain falling outside of the Kral's.

Adventure 320: Catalina State Park/Post B

To living right

Cool and cloudy today, but the mercury rose to a little over sixty. Undeterred, (In fact, encouraged) we got on the bike for 70 minutes and a total of fifteen miles. This is not bad, since the last time Judy straddled a machine was last August. We plan is to start slow, stay consistent, and work on our stamina. Our over all strategy is to ride every other day (Walk/hike on the alternate days). If we stick to that schedule, we'll ride 45 days and amass nearly 1000 miles.  This morning we met a gentleman (84) who commented on our Commotion. He said he had one of the originals and put 56,000 miles on it. Looking at him, I hope to see my own future. His eyes were bright, his wit sharp, and his outlook sunny. He said to Judy, "It's supposed to rain through the weekend, but get better next week." She replied, "It doesn't matter, we have rain gear." He looked at me and said, "I like this stoker's attitude!" Tucson has an extensive maze of bike paths and bike routes. We rode on a bike path which will be 133 miles long when completed. We're able to access the trail right from the park. Our only concern is other bikers, of which there were many today. The path is smooth, clean, and free from cracks. Our plan is to go a little further each day we ride. This particular path would take us right into down town Tucson if we chose to follow it that far. We also found the first (If not already the best) breakfast taco joints. Judy, wiley cager that she is, managed to skunk me despite the fact that hot salsa was dripping from her grinning chin. In the afternoon, we joined about three hundred senior citizens at the five dollar movies. We saw Hidden Figures, an especially inspirational and well done picture. I left floating on the accomplishments of three exceptional African American women. I dare say our space program wouldn't have succeeded without them. On another note, our friend Ross Coble posted a prediction that in ten years, you won't be able to find anyone who will admit voting for Trump. My own prediction (One of many) is that we'll be up to our bottoms in hungry alligators come summer. The swamp itself will be as murky as ever, and the suppression of those who believe other than the current leader will be systematically discarded as un-American losers who just need to get over it. But enough of cheery outlooks. Keep dreaming. I especially liked a line from the movie made by the character of Dorothy Vaughn, who had just been thrown out of a public library for daring to enter the "white" section. As she rode home in the back of the bus with her sons, she said, "Freedom and equality are two different things, but if you do right, you'll be right." She then pulled out a book she snuck out of the library on the computer language FORTRAN, which she taught herself and her team. She later became the first black woman supervisor of NASA's IBM data center. her sons said, "momma, did you steal that book?" She replied, "Son, I"m a taxpayer. You can't take what you've already paid for." Somewhere after in the movie, Mary Jackson, played by Janelle Monae, was complaining about how unfair things were. Dorothy Vaughn (played by Octavia Spencer) berated her saying, "Quit complaining. Protest, walkout, quit or stand up, but stop complaining." She took the advice and became the first black person to attend a segregated school in Virginia, earning her degree in Engineering. I think this idea inspires me the most. If you don't like how things are, work to change them. I believe in that. So, keep doing right, quit complaining, and work for betterment. It's up to each of us to understand that life is good, especially today.

Cool and cloudy was no match for us.

Selfie of the day: "We have rain gear."

This old fellow waved at us coming and going.

This could be our new breakfast haunt.

 This freshly made Machada Burrito was teaming hot and simply delicious.

My stoker pedals while I steer. One of the good deals we just negotiated.

Still, it may become a prickly situation.

Adventure 319: Catalina State Park/Post A

Home for now

Mind you I'm not complaining, and in this post factual world, I can't even be accused of telling the truth. So, at the risk of sacrilege, I nearly melted today! We went from the Spokane weather slogging around in a couple feet of snow in near zero tempeatures to Arizona weather flip flopping around on drive pavement in a shimmery and balmy 72. The sudden change gave me tremors which shook me much like a young southern Beauregard fluttering in the face of his fetching young Bell. Not to worry; I plan to adjust. We left Lake Havasu under cloudy skies after another fine breakfast courtesy of Mr. Ellsworth. We can't thank the Ellsworth's enough for their hospitality, the graciousness, (their parking lot), and their friendship. I can't claim to know much truth these days (As if I ever could), but I do know that good friends make this life worth living. Good friends give this life promise. Good friends propel us forward with a sense of hope. It's great to be friends with people like Mike and Kathy, and of course, their good friend and neighbor, Bob Bolan. It would have been easy just to hang out in Havasu, but as vagabonds, we just had to hit the road. Our drive was uneventful, and though the traffic massed around us like a vicious blood clot through Phoenix, we managed to stay in our lane and avoid mishap. Thank you, Lord. We stopped in Tempe to meet Kel Friesen and Bill Beck, who are boy tripping this weekend to a steel guitar festival. Their schedule just happened to match our rush through Phoenix. We hope to spend more time on our way back West to see our other favorite Phoenix people (Our O'brien relatives and our Isaac cousins), but this trip has us buzzing though Phoenix on our way to Big Bend National Park. This would be a good time to take stock of the parks we've visited sot far: Yellowstone, check; Yosemite, check; Death Valley, check; Redwoods, check; Bryce Canyon, check; Zion, check minus (we just drove through); Kodachrome Basin, check; Olympic National Park, check; Grand Canyon, check; Mesa Verde, check; Canyonlands National Park, check; Mt Rushmore, check; Badlands, check; Acadia, check for me-not Judy; Everglades, check for me, not Judy; Blue Ridge Parkway, check; Smoky Mountains, check for me-not Judy. We've also stopped at too many national landmarks to mention. We ain't bragging because we're not yet the greatest RVers God ever created, but we do enjoy the journey, and we're ever grateful for our Graces. We'll spend two weeks here in Tucson. We're hoping to regain some of our fitness on the bike, some of our fitness hiking, some gentle bathing in UV rays, and of course, we'll search for the best local cuisine we can find. If we can rein in the last, we may even catch a bit of the skinnies. In the meantime, we'll rest in the knowledge that life is good, especially today.

Hug bugs, Kathy and Judy

Good bye, Nelson

Mike and Judy

More hug bugging

"Guitar (And more) Billbabe" 

"Guitar (and more) Kelbabe"

I just love the evening sunlight. It has a way of making me reverent. 

Frac, nestled in site #B60.

Adventure 318: Lake Havasu City

See you in the Spring, Buddha.

We left Tuesday morning, escorted as we were by our driver, Ed Drouin. Temperatures were frigid; snow swirled, but Ed's all wheel drive Escalade carved its way easily toward Spokane International Airport. Our flight was delayed due to a slow exit of our plane from Boise, which is being slammed with unusually severe winter weather. The delay didn't affect us at all. The Havasu shuttle was waiting for us at the Las Vegas airport when we arrived. (Ain't we lucky to be living in the first world?). We settled in for the two plus hour ride across the desert to Lake Havasu. Mike and Kathy welcomed us into their home, but they weren't nearly as glad to see us as we were to see them (no white stuff in Havasu). Unfortunately, we ran into a small inconvenience when we opened the trailer. Somehow, the refrigeration stopped, so we opened to the rotting smell of Denmark. (Sort of like watching the upcoming inauguration one could suppose.) We spent some time cleaning mold, disinfecting surfaces, and diagnosing why the refrigerator quit. In truth, I think one logical cause is that I actually turned the unit off when we left. This however, could just be fake news. The refrigerator worked fine over night. The smells are dispersing, and tomorrow we're off to Tucson for leg one of this winter's adventure. We treated Mike and Kathy to dinner at a local eatery last night, slept like hamsters in Frac, and enjoyed a fabulous breakfast special of flapjacks, bacon, and juice as prepared by hash slinger extraordinaire, Mike. Today, we'll hook up so we can get an early start toward tomorrow, which at three hundred plus miles is farther than I like to drive in one day. On the way, we'll have coffee with Kel Friesen and Bill Beck, who are out west to hear some steel guitar music. Once again, we feel fortunate to be able to enjoy good friends, wide open spaces, and the majesty of this great country. Stay tuned for the adventure, and while I can't promise a rant free blog, I can promise to remain true to my own world view, which is "Life is good, especially today".

 I shoveled the snow off the boat twice (Daughter Elizabeth helped me once). I hope she's still floating in the spring.

 Grinning like a Siamese, Judy's ready for this winter's adventure.

 Everything except the beer, the castor oil, and the soy sauce was spoiled. I wonder what that says about soy sauce.

 Luckily, everything is easily replaceable. Hopefully, the rotten smells will dissipate as quickly as my physical powers have over the years.

 Frac, safely tucked into its parking slot at the Ellsworth RV park.

 Selfie of the day. Notice, no stocking cap!

 Mike, hard at work at the griddle.

Kathy, anxiously awaiting Trump's first press conference. Like many, she's taking a wait and see attitude in this burgeoning Trumpian world. I think her quote was, "Give me a break!"