Merry May - There is Life in the Desert!

31 May:  Ron and Cynthia hiked Aspen Vista today because tomorrow morning the Forest Service will close the Santa Fe National Forest.  It is too dry here.  Last week’s rains did not bring enough moisture to make up for no snow last winter.  The highway up to the ski basin was a bit lumpier than we remembered.  Cynthia's back can be bothered by too many jolts on the motorcycle.  Clusters of yellow, purple and red blooms were delightful.  We saw several huge patches of gray trees, which are evidence of the infestation of tent caterpillars doing their dirty work, eating Aspen leaves and stripping them bare.  The walk up mountain was hot in direct sun, so we rested and watered in every larger patch of shade.  Coming down was surprisingly pleasant because the sun had dropped enough so that the trees shaded the trail/ road.  Tonight we enjoyed dinner with Mike and Maria at the Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen.  Mike said that the Forest Service found 84 illegal fires yesterday; no wonder they closed the forest.  Afterwards M&M ferried us back to their house, and we watched the brilliant yellow-orange Santa Fe sunset from their back porch, which has a magnificent view overlooking the city.  At midnight we ran out of May - but our life in the desert continues. 

30 May:  Lacking adult supervision, Ron and John B. hiked in the Santa Fe National Forest up the Windsor Trail to the fence line, then up along the fence to a good overlook.  We were able to discern several small patches of snow in a few deep crevices.  Santa Fe Baldy received a bit of snow last week when the rains came.  Ron knee performed fine on the uphill but complained when asked to go downhill as fast as John, so Ron slowed down.  The knee is tender. 

These pink Roses have opened wonderfully well

Ron is happy to see his bride at Vinaigrette

29 May:  We sure have fun.  Cynthia was delighted to discover fleurs greeting her return from breakfast.  This will be a quiet day of walking and computer stuffs.  Our walks are inspiring, filled with wonder by colorful, unique flowers blooming in the desert.  Lovely yellow jasmine lining the walk to the chapel have an intoxicating aroma.  We don't see much wildlife; a lizard will race across the trail or there will be an occasional rabbit.  After lunch Ron rode to Janie's to assist with a broken water pipe.  Cynthia continued with a quiet day to heal a stuffy head.  People ask us where we live; they can't quite believe we really travel all of the time.  Now we have an answer to give them: it must be genetic.  This morning's Wall Street Journal had a most interesting article about the Wanderlust Gene; those of us who might have this unique gene are described as living every moment to the fullest; born wanderers are curious and open to mysteries, they are confident. That sounds like the twos of us except Cynthia doesn't quite fit the ones that turn off electronics.  The unique Wanderlust Gene is called: DRD-7R​.  Ron stopped still last night when he noticed a coyote crossing the trail behind him.  He stood still and watched the curious coyote walk away, then turn and stare for a bit, then approach somewhat closer, turn again and walk away, stop again, turn and watch Ron ever so closely before he finally returned the way he originally came.  By the time we went to bed, Ron's knee had become quite painful for the first several steps of walking.  This is quite the puzzle because he cannot remember doing anything to aggravate it.

28 May, Memorial Day:  Blessings on those who mourn and grieve the loss of all loved ones.  We especially remember our military with great thanksgiving.  Ron is still plotting properties for the James Lea book.  Cynthia is suffering from a bahd head cohd.  We walked the Butterfly Trail before lunch, and Ron rode off alone to visit Bob and Lupe mid afternoon.  Janie invited him to her Memorial Day party to talk motorcycles with Sean and to meet her friend Paul.  Cynthia stayed home believing that her miserable cold is quite likely actively contagious.  Ron returned at dark bearing blueberries as instructed.

27 May, Sunday Offering: 

Lord, your commandments are our best friends given to protect us from evil and suffering. Teach us to love them and respect them as a treasure. Teach us to listen to your law with our hearts! 

The Fifth Commandment: You shall not murder.

What does this mean? We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need. (Luther’s Small Catechism)


We had a lovely lunch with John and Linda at Harry's Roadhouse. The chopped veggie salad with salmon was delicious.  Ron intended to stop plotting properties for the James Lea book but failed and continued plotting til late.

26 May: Homewood Suites, Buffalo Thunder near Santa Fe:  We walked our basic 10,000 steps under cloudy skies before 11:00 AM by walking on the "Butterfly Trail."  Soon after we sank into decadent laziness.  The leftover salads from Whole Foods made a perfect lunch.  Late in the day a little of our energy returned, and we managed to complete another round of the Butterfly Trail giving us a whopping 19,500 steps today! (7.75 miles)  WOOO HOOOO!  There are a couple of places on the trail, with blossoms or new growth, where there is a marvelous fragrance.  The desert flowers are blooming after the preceding 2 days of rain.  Many of the blooms appear for a day or two then disappear.  Ron has completed phone invitations to our June 3rd dinner party at Radish and Rye Restaurant.  Almost everyone will attend.  Good night!

25 May is a stellar day.  WOW!  At 10:00 AM Cynthia's manuscript, "Nancy Drew Does DNA" was submitted to the NGS Quarterly Journal.   It may be months before we know if it will be accepted for print.  Cynthia is eternally grateful to editor-in-chief (Ron) for analyzing every dot and tittle of the documentation.  She is very, very thankful sermons don’t need documentation.  Our morning hike was most pleasant.  Fearful that the cleaning staff might discard his precious recycling collection while we were out walking, Ron hid all the recycling, etc. in the refrigerator.  He then spent the afternoon with Janie before rejoining Cynthia at Vinaigrette for a lovely dinner with Clare and Michael G.  

24 May:  How can two retired people be so crazy busy?  "Retired and busier than ever" is a frequent litany from friends.  Our daily routine of exercise, oatmeal, and computer stuffs was followed by the usual 2.5 mile walk on the Butterfly Trail.  After lunch, we mailed cards at the Tesuque Post Office. The postal clerk was very amused when Ron showed her a post card of Javelinas.  She shared an enjoyable early memory of seeing a momma Javelina with her cute little babies, and we told her to be thankful that she didn’t smell them.  (Javelinas have a terrible odor.)  The BMW motorcycle shop phoned about 4:00, during our afternoon visit with John and Linda, so we zoomed off to retrieve our motorcycle.  Afterwards, we avoided rush hour by dining at the nearby Ranch House Restaurant.  Ron rode his motorcycle to Walmart to shop while Cynthia waited patiently in her car outside the restaurant.  Ron led the way back to Buffalo Thunder, and Cynthia followed in the rental car. Cynthia’s terror level dropped to near normal terror as we drew closer to the hotel.  The rental car is a very large SUV and is consequently uncomfortable for Cynthia to drive.  Thankfully the hotel kitchen had not yet cleaned off the salad bar, so we enjoyed a second meal. 

23 May:  Uh oh! We forgot to remember to blog for two days.  Santa Fe BMW  phoned with a report on the motorcycle repair that includes two new tires, plus a couple of parts that will have new warranties. The bike may be ready tomorrow afternoon.  Cynthia continued girlicuring at the Hilton Spa next door while Ron is deeply engrossed in Sudokus, writing letters and eating microwave air popped corn.  Cynthia learned about a new trail not far from here: Rio de Media that runs up  7 miles to a waterfall. We know we can hike 7 miles up, but we might have to roll back down again.  We walked the Butterfly Trail late afternoon, followed by eating more rabbit food at the Homewood Suites Happy Hour buffet. Ron was delighted to see a marvelous sunset on this evening's walk.  

22 May:  Cynthia"s girlicure at B Beautiful Salon ran over time because someone wrote her appointment down for June 22 by mistake; but never mind, they made time for her.  She walked to Vinaigrette to meet Ron, Maria Tortilla and Mike for a marvelous lunch until it turned very chilly.  The car was parked at Whole Foods which allowed us to stop in and eat more salad.  We had a couple of hours before dinner at Mark's house, and the rains came again, so we purchased a Culture Pass to tour ten museums beginning with the International Folk Art Museum.  Dinner at Mark's was Babette's Feast without oil, butter, cheese, salt or sugar.  YUM!  

21 May:  Rain fell on Santa Fe for the first time since last October.  Our activity level has flatlined.  We slept late, ate late, exercised late, and napped again.  Our Texan friends were unable to join us for dinner because a low tire alert popped up on their dashboard.  Ron cleaned up for nothing!  This is the second time in a year he has had to cleanup.  Once the rain ceased it was a good time to walk and and talk to Donna G. most of the time. Greg is still in  cardiac rehab but cooperating. Will our energy return tomorrow?  This fatigue is unusual.

20 May, Sunday: We are still too much over tired.  Ron took his turn being lethargic and returned to bed for a nap after breakfast.  Charlie B. invited us to his brother's home for a family get together about 2:00 PM.  Mark V and his friend from Bogota, Columbia stopped to welcome us to Santa Fe.  We left at 5:00 to take Janie S. to dinner at Harry's Roadhouse, and we enjoyed ourselves so immensely it was 9:00 by the time we took her home.  We included a stop at a nearby Walmart to fill up on frozen berries and popcorn. 

19 May, Buffalo Thunder:  We awoke successfully again, better rested this morning, breakfasted on oatmeal as usual, and then Cynthia faded towards lethargy as Ron made phone calls about the bike and service.  Darryl at Bob's BMW said that David Grunberger is "the best" Master Tech for working on motorcycles and that he trusts him with all of his collection of motorcycles.  I called Santa Fe BMW and told them to go ahead with the service.  It is perplexing that ALL of our friends in Santa Fe are busy or out of town just now.  Charlie in Albuquerque said his family is having a get together tomorrow in Santa Fe and invited us.  John and Susan, the angels who picked up off the side of that dusty dirt road, will join us for dinner tonight at the Red Sage here.  To try to jump start Cynthia out of lethargy, we walked the hallways here at Homewood Suites and then over to the casino where their hallways led us to the Spa.  Cynthia scheduled a manicure & pedicure.  Then we asked about a walking path and were told that the Butterfly trail is now a walking trail.  Apparently that golf course had soil issues so it is now a walking path.  We walked a pleasant mile before returning to the hotel for hats and sun block. After a marvelous dinner with John and Susan, we walked the entirety of Butterly Trail. Cynthia reports 7 miles for. her daily total.

18 May:  We are near Santa Fe, New Mexico for the next nearly month to visit our many friends in the area, although today most of them are elsewhere.  We stay at the Hilton Homewood Suites on the grounds of the Buffalo Thunder Casino in Pojoaque.  The bright sunshine of the early morning felt like an assault to Ron since his body demanded much more rest.  Apparently our BIG Adventure has been more wearing than he realized.  After breakfast he laid down for a rest before washing his official "Ride Like Ron" riding gear and hanging it to dry.  Next stop was the Pojoaque Supermarket, so now we have plenty of groceries to keep us going, and we are ready to go visit Stewart and Judy.  Stewart and Judy were interested as Ron proselytized about the Pritikin Longevity Center and the benefits of daily exercise and morning stretches.  Good friends are amazingly tolerant.  After our visit, we stopped for salad and groceries at Albertson', and arrived home just in time for Robert and Laura to deliver their homemade green Chile stew!  MMMM!  Ron then called the BMW shop to inquire about the bike and was told that they filled the radiator and the bike runs a little warm but seems fine.  The next step would be to remove the radiator and inspect it for damage, but since that is part of the 36,000 mile service they asked if I wanted them to do that service.  I said no because I prefer to patronize shops that I have learned to trust for good work like their competitor, OCD Motorcycles, and Bob's BMW in Jessup, Maryland.  Sam laughed and said that their tech David used to work at Bob's and that they could get the service done by mid-week.  I told them I'd think it over and give them an answer in the morning.  "Early" to bed for us tonight.

Roberts Towing picking up Ron to go pick up bike

17 May:  Tonight Ron is worn out and too tired to blog satisfactorily, so you will have to wait for tomorrow for the thousands of details he likes to write.  Suffice it to say that BMW Roadside Assistance found that Roberts Towing in Espanola was willing to drive ALL those miles to pick up his bike stranded at mile marker 21 in the dirt on NM 126.  Robert and Laura picked Ron up from Buffalo Thunder and entertained him with very compatible conversation all 70 miles to the bike and similar distance to the Santa Fe BMW dealer.  The bike was intact (and very dirty).  Winching onto the tow truck went without difficulty, and the bike stayed very stationary through all the bumps and jostles on the return trip.  It is actually a good thing that we broke down where we did because the next five miles of the road had several sections much worse than the one that almost threw us.  That retrieval took from 10:30 am to 4pm, and we liked Robert and Laura so well that we invited them to dinner.  Laura liked us so well that she offered to bring Ron green chili stew tomorrow night at 4:30.  Ron is excited about the green chili stew but tired and ready for bed.  Goodnight.  Cynthia told me that she has been terrified ever since the first fishtail and was too petrified to speak up while we were on the dirt.  Ron accuses her of harboring terrification since he was terrified only for the brief instant when the ground was approaching rapidly as the fishtail leaned us downwards.  Thank God that his reflexive behavior was the right one.

16 May:  The Smooch Family had an Adventure with a capital A.  We did everything right, starting with morning exercises and oatmeal before driving out of Gallup, NM to ride through more of the Navajo Nation on Indian Road 9, enjoying spectacular views.  We passed by a dirt road leading to the mystical, spiritual Chaco Canyon, but with this bike, the dirt road wouldn’t work.  Indian Road 9 turns into New Mexico 157 and we arrived at a restaurant in Cuba, NM without difficulty, although the only gas station on the entire route was in Castlerock.  During lunch Ron asked the waitress about the condition of NM highway 126, and she confirmed his years-ago impression that it was well maintained for the five mile section of dirt/ gravel, so it was a huge shock when we ran into deep loose dirt and fishtailed madly.  By madly fishtailing, I mean the we almost dumped the bike and us right there.  Ron's big mistake was in not turning around immediately, and after another couple of miles and two more disturbing fishtails, he noticed that the engine was hot and the warning lights on the instrument panel said the temperature was a violent max red.  Not good, so we stopped at the first nearly level wide spot in the road and considered our predicament.  Not good, being in the middle of nowhere on a infrequently traveled dirt road.  Then a lovely couple in a small car responded to our signaling to stop and offered us a ride to civilization.  We crammed all our luggage and our bodies into their car, parked the bike off the road and thanked them mightily ... all the way to Buffalo Thunder.  We saw next to no traffic on the dirt portion of 126.  We were shocked that Buffalo Thunder had no rooms for tonight, but they did extend our previous booking for the additional days we expect to be in the area in order to get the motorcycle's 36,000 mile service done.  BMW Roadside Assistance said we are still covered and will provide a transport to pick Ron up in the morning to retrieve the motorcycle from NM 126.  Cynthia vows to NEVER again ride on dirt.  I don't blame her in the least.  That was a scary day, but all is well.  We both survived physically intact.

15 May, Tuesday, 10:00 AM:  Lets roll!  We plan to make it across the reservation to Gallup, NM before dark, and we have "miles to go before we sleep."  Our route was 89 E out of Sedona (elevation 4350’) to 89 N winding through gorgeous Oak Creek Canyon (http://www.arizona-leisure.com/oak-creek-canyon-drive.html) and climbing to Flagstaff, AZ (elevation 7000’).  Traffic was light, but there were always cars ahead until suddenly, miraculously, there were no cars slowing us down as we climbed the serpentine twisties (several marked 15 mph) up to the mesa top.  The temperature cooled off nicely at that elevation.  About 12 miles E of Flagstaff, we left I-40 to ride through Indian lands the rest of our 220-mile day.  Leupp Road turns into Indian Route 15, and we stayed on that most of the day.  For the most part it had a good asphalt and next to no traffic.  We were already at a high elevation, yet the flat, barren landscape was not exciting until we realized that we were looking at old volcanos, some so old that nothing was left except for the craggy cores.  Surprisingly, luckily, gas stations were spaced about an hour apart, crucial for Ron considering all the fruit that he ate for breakfast so that it wouldn't go to waste (versus waist).  Just after our first pit stop at the Leupp Shell gas station (!), we crossed the Little Colorado River which had not even a trickle of water in the stream bed.  Strange to think that we saw it only a month ago at Greer, flowing nicely near its source.  After about 70 miles into our ride, the landscape changed to display extremely colorful mountains and buttes with splotches and horizontal strips of vivid red, pink or white.  We were spellbound; we've never seen mountains anything like this before.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day riding through the Navajo Nation.  Strange to hear contemporary music or oldies playing at every gas station or grocery when we stopped.  The highways through Indian lands are not on highway maps because they are not part of the US Highway system.  They are Indian Roads.  We had never heard of these roads until Ron looked for a route using Bing, then examined them for road surface with Google Earth and even Google Streetview.  This was an awesome day of scenery on good roads, although there was one lumpety-lumpety lump section of asphalt for about 15 miles west of Burnside before we again found major highways US 191 and AZ 264.  We arrived in Gallup, NM at 6:30 PM, thankful to check in just ahead of a entire bus load of tourists, and quickly hoofed it to Denny’s Restaurant for wild Alaskan salmon and vegetables.  Ouch, 11:44 now.  G'night.
PS, for Wyn and anyone else interesting in seeing our route, we went through Leupp, Dilkon, Indian Wells, Greasewood, Burnside, and Ganado before hitting US 491 at Yah Ta-Hey in New Mexico.

I4 May, Monday:  While celebrating “us together forever” we are packing for departure to Santa Fe tomorrow.  Ron slaved the day away, recycling, packing bags and a box he shipped to Santa Fe, but by 8:30 he went for a walk to get some exercise.   Good night!

13 May, Sunday:  Happy Mother's Day !!!  What a happy weekend.  After church and breakfast at Red's, Cynthia packed in preparation for our Tuesday departure, napped and relaxed.  Ron slaved away updating the verbiage on this blog.  We enjoyed our late afternoon hike because of cooler, less windy weather.  Because it seemed cool and windy, we left our hats and suffered from blinding sunlight for the first half of the hike.  The cacti blooms still excite our interest and wonder.  Now it is bedtime and Ron has spent the entire day updating this blog back into early April.  It is amazing that the photos from April 1 seem like a distant past.  Speaking of distant past, Cynthia and I have been married forever - since 12 May 2011, and we are still enjoying our married life as much as on day one.

our wedding invitation

I still do

Yes Dear

12 May 2011 2018__.12 May:  Hooray Hooray for the 12th of May!  It’s Ron’s 71st birthday (terrific) and our 7th wedding anniversary (more terrificker).  Several friends called Ron to wish him Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary.  Sistah Carol & nephew Eric called separately and sang.  Granddaughter Fyn turned 4, niece Robin turned +1, and granddaughter Kiira graduated with her MA degree in counseling.  Ron reassembled the Toshiba laptop after replacing the "new" fan that is defective with the old fan that worked much, much better.  Thereafter he spent the afternoon entering receipts prior to recycling them.  We started a bit late and enjoyed a pleasant hike through Chimney Rock Pass with a dicy little detour along Lizards Head Trail for a quarter mile of pushing our limits.

11 May:  The weather cooled, but the wind picked up.  Ron was elated after yesterday’s hike.  Ever since his heart procedures people have asked him if he feels better now with improved circulation and a pacemaker, and the answer has been a definite no, "I do NOT feel as good as I did the day before the atrial fibrillation changed my life."  His complaint was shortness of breath, and it seemed likely to him that the Brilinta prescribed to keep his stents open was causing it.  This year his doctors agreed that the Brilinta was no longer necessary, and Ron is now elated to report that his shortness of breath appears to be gone.  On the other hand, for the first time in two years, his legs are very sore this morning.  We remain enamored with the desert plants in bloom.  Today for the first time, many prickly pear cacti are flowering, and they are covered with buds.

Fooey, the prickly pear photo disappeared ... and they have such cute little blossoms.  I cannot imagine where it went or why Ctrl-Z did not restore it.

Fascinating FAT Century Plant

Ron with new best friend,
a century plant

This century plant is a fat one, probably 6" in diameter.  It is only as tall as Ron in the previous picture.  It is obviously growing faster, shooting up, and maybe twice as tall.  (Good thing Ron isn't twice as tall.)

On our afternoon hike to the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain, in one particular spot, Ron ushered Cynthia so that she wouldn't see the cute little snake with a diamondback pattern but without the adder shaped head.  Whew! That narrowly averted a terrifying scream.  We did hear, and then we saw a HUGE javelina through the bushes.  Thank goodness we didn't smell it.  The wind was fierce, especially on the summit, and the air was hazy from the fire burning south of us in Prescott Valley.

Lovely bouquet from Cynthia's children

10 May:  The internist reported that Cynthia’s MRI ruled out a tumor.  Cynthia has peace like a river, but the river has rapids.  Lookie the Gorgeous Mother’s Day Fleurs from kids and kidlets!  Today was hot and windy.  Cynthia wasn't up to a hike, so Ron was able to hike without adult supervision.  He started at 5:30 and hiked along industriously non-stop until he summited Little Sugar Loaf Mountain.  That trail is steep with lots of loose dirt, but uphill wasn't a problem.  It was WINDY up there, and the footing coming down was a bit unsettling, but Ron is reassured that he didn't fall even onct.  This two-mile loop climbs again through Chimney Rock Pass, and during the descent from the pass towards the stupa, Ron realized that he felt terrific and that he was once again capable of hiking long and fast without becoming intolerably short of breath.

9 May:  The Smooch family is back on track blogging after the breakfast walk huffing and puffing home, uphill in the desert heat.  Ron is editing Cynthia’s article in between Sudokus.  At 5 PM we hiked about half way to Sugar Loaf Mountain.  Ron was delighted to see the FAT Century Plant taller than he is in just three days.  The recent rains brought buds and blossoms on plants and cacti!

8 May: We are having so much fun we forgot to blog.  It has become Too-Much-Over-Hot.  Walking home from Cafe Jose at 12:30 was a beast. Hiking was delayed until 6:00 PM, but we met so many interesting hikers to visit, we turned back halfway around Little Chimney Rock Trail as the sun set.  There is much more to do, but Ron has finally caught up with demands from patrons of the Swedish Colonial Society, so he is free to spend the entire evening for editing Cynthia’s article, Nancy Drew Does DNA.

7 May:  God WAS willing, we woke up!  And we had a lovely, pleasant ride to Verde Medical Center in Cottonwood, AZ for Cynthia's MRI at 10:15.  To reduce her anxiety about being enclosed, the internist gave her a low dosage valium.  Pastor Gwen, the pastor's wife, recommended praying for others and meditating to reduce anxiety.  It worked.  Good idea.  We will know nothing until we receive a report, within a week.  We presume this is a benign tumor that will be watched annually to see if it is growing.  The technician told Ron, “Your wife has a BIG brain in there!  Be careful.”  Afterwards we shopped at Walmart and rode back to Sedona, where Ron dropped Cynthia off at Cafe Jose for food before dropping the frozen foods in the refrigerator and walking back to join Cynthia.  We then got in half of the daily breakfast walk uphill.  (We would hate to miss that uphill exercise.  HA.)  We had a very pleasant evening hike by waiting until 5 and hiking on the Thunder Mountain Trail (mostly in the shade).

6 May, Sunday:  Worship at Christ Sedona is always joyful and lively.  The pastor's sermon about extravagant love included an exceptional true story about Tony Campolo who traveled from PA to Honolulu waking up at 3 AM wanting breakfast.  In Hawaii, there is no place much open for breakfast at 3AM.  He discovered a hole in the wall greasy spoon that soon filled with a group of regular customers, prostitutes.  One of them announced that the next day was her birthday, to the scorn of the others.  After they left, Tony talked the owner into having a party and a birthday cake for her the next night at 3:00 AM.  Tony bought decorations, and the owner made a birthday cake. Word got out on the streets and other prostitutes showed up to surprise her and sing happy birthday.  Agnes, the birthday girl, was overcome.  The pastor prayed, and one of the prostitutes realized he was a pastor.  "What kind of church would do this?", she said, "If I could find a church like this one, I would join."  We all want to be part of that kind of church with extravagant love!  It is certainly an inspirational story, and one for Christians to ponder.  The handbell choir was marvelous and so was the quartet singing an old gospel song, "Standing on the Promises of God."  Christ Sedona may be our favorite place to worship. They receive so many visitors that the guests are welcomed to stand up and tell their home congregations.  Most of all, we appreciate singing the Lord's Prayer holding hands even across the aisles. Breakfast at Sedona Red's was most enjoyable meeting Gerry and his lovely wife Nance. The best part was listening to another motorcyclist describing the kind of life we live and getting it!  Gerry is a marvelous story teller; he wrote about about his life, "Navigating My Life." Nance called it a  hoot.  Cynthia agreed after reading a preview on Amazon, Nance is right.

New fleurs for Cynthia

5 May:  It was great fun to meet our new friend, Konstanz, at 9:30 for a 30 minute walk to Sedona Red's.  We arrived by 10:00, they close the breakfast grill at 10:30.  After a delightful visit with Konstanz, Cynthia is happily smelling pink roses from Ron.  The forecast was for more heat, and Sedona turned into a fiery furnace by 4:00 when we started  hiking to see if the Century Plants grew overnight.  No. They did not.  Cynthia certainly droops in the heat.  She prefers chilly temperatures for hiking and sleeping.  At all other times heat is good.  By 7 PM, it cooled off, just about the time we arrived home.

Erika Proud

4 May: Our niece Erika graduates from Edwardsville, IL high school, with two scholarships for academics and color guard.  To top it off she is the cover girl for her high school yearbook!  We are Erika proud and so is her grandmother, Ron’s sister Carol.

We hiked the same trail as yesterday to check out the Century plants and blooming cacti.  They are amazing. We were delighted to see two hikers we met yesterday; we thoroughly enjoyed a conversation with a most congenial fellow from Los Angeles who lives here part time.  Bob is a very youthful and fit 78.   His advice is to keep hiking.

3 May: What a day!  The temperature of 63 degrees was perfect for an awesome hike to the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain.  We finally summited something! Two little boys (maybe ages 4 and 5)with their parents were running and bouncing all over at the top.  Cynthia told the mom she was very brave, thinking she was crazy to not have them on a leash.  But, we were very proud of our climb.  And we were delighted to see abundant life in the desert.  Several Century plants surprised us with their size.  A hedgehog  cactus with several red flowers looked like it was ready for Christmas. A gray rabbit with very large eyes looked at us as he ran across the trail, and a bluebird darted from bush to bush.

Million Dollar Smile

Marvelous Century Plant

View to the North of Sugar Loaf Mountain

View South of Sugar Loaf Mountain

2 May:  A Winter advisory warning is out for today; blue on color radar means snow in the mountains.  A 70% chance of WET forecast means a lazy day for us.  We finished being lazy by nine AM and boogied down to Cafe Jose to catch a forecasted break in the rain.   It seemed like the perfect morning to treat ourselves to a sweet potato pancake with egg white vegetable omelets. And we made it home just as the rain came. In a day or two there will be life in the desert!  Sedona and surrounding areas will see blossoms everywhere.  The cacti will bloom profusely after rain.  Late afternoon we walked to the park to see if snow fell on the ridge.  Apparently it did not snow.  Two girls bundled up for a winter storm said it was snowing in Flagstaff.  This is our first May in Sedona to experience unseasonably cold weather or rain.  We had fun.  Thanks be to God!

1 May Basket Day: A much loved custom of delivering May baskets to friends and neighbors doors is gone;  sometimes May baskets were filled with flowers or they were hand made of construction paper decorated with doilies and filled with popcorn and candy.  Friends who grew up in the fifties and sixties shared fun memories of May Basket Day on Facebook.  Ron and Cynthia slept deliciously late.  By noon we were home from the round trip  (2.33 miles) to Cafe Jose for breakfast, dressed warmly because it was chilly.  The weather cooled down from 64 to 55 degrees when we started our afternoon hike; we were determined to hike to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain.  And such fun we had en route visiting with a delightful young hiker named Mallory what was returning from an adventurous 20 mile hike that included two overnights.  She recently graduated with a MA in environmental science; we agreed she was very brave to hike and camp out solo ... not because of danger from other hikers but there are wild animals.  Footing can be dicey, if one falls or gets a concussion, there is no one to help.  So we agree Mallory is brave.  Ron had fun telling her about Pritikin until the raindrops began falling.  We next encountered an older male hiker; his age is a guess, judgement. based on how young we think we are.  He hikes six days a week, having done ten miles today on an unmarked trail with very little gear.  The rain began in earnest, and we hustled home.