31 May, Sunday. Hate has no home here. The level of hate permeating the news, on social media fueling racism, riots and looting, is simply unacceptable. No one can justify hate. Hate becomes a cancer that eats your own flesh, and it is in the process of destroying America. We did our normal morning exercises and our normal hike to the top of Sugarloaf. Ron made a second trip to bury compost and discovered that his favorite hiking pants are too brittle to push his way through brambles - i.e. mending is again in order. Now the challenge is to get everything packed and to make the final recycling and trash runs before dark. Good-bye May
30 May means we are running out of the month. Carpe Diem! Seize the day! Actually, savor the moment. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Marty and Roger as we started our hike, only wishing we had more time to continue a most pleasant conversation (appropriately socially distanced.) This evening, we saw a couple we met earlier and again enjoyed a couple of brief verbal interchanges. Our hiking mileage was 8.8 for the day. Ron’s Mac is throwing a hissy fit and won’t boot up. A trip to the Apple store in Tucson may be in order.
29 May: This is the day to drop off recycling. We have to wonder if Ron will have everything ready to go or will merely make the first installment. Success! Ron delivered most of the recycling by four PM and was able to ask his questions.
28 May: It is supposed to be even hotter today and so far that seems likely true. Cynthia walked outside briefly to consider our normal constitutional hike, and returned immediately with the pronouncement that it was too hot to breathe. Ron wrote and rewrote his coronavirus rant (below) until 2:30 and then decided to hike alone to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain and back. It was indeed hot and sweaty, but he was happy with his level of fitness to be able to charge up rapidly while talking with Donna on the cell phone. After an hour at home, Ron charged up Sugarloaf a second time, talking this time with Ed. Again, the body handled the exertion without any distress. Ask me again in the morning. Goodnight.
27 May: Good grief, but it is getting hot now. 96 degrees by the time we finished our hike early (1:40 PM). We are vegging out and feel very virtuous. After climbing the steep part of the trail to the Upper Chimney Rock branch, Cynthia declared it enough for today but agreed to Ron's request to "Just wait here while I hike up the trail another 10 minutes." True to his word, Ron turned around at 11:30 punctually after pulling out all the stops and pushing uphill all the way to the Lizard Head turn off, next to the saddle. It really paid off because Ron felt puny all the way back to the house. Congratulations to granddaughter Lauren and her husband, Tyler, on their new home, contract signed today.
After writing letters to a couple of cousins, Ron has decided to put his coronavirus views a bit more bluntly. Feel free to send him hate mail; our "Hate has no home here" society loves expressing opinions full of hate.
1) Coronavirus is a pandemic. That means it will come back again and again until nearly everyone has had it.
2) That being said, anything you can do to strengthen your immune system will give you a much better chance to survive it. Why is the media not harping on that fact?
3) You strengthen your immune system by diet and exercise, diet meaning lots of veggies.
Hey, how is the media supposed to profit by recommending exercise and a diet of veggies? Now it makes sense why we don't see it; advertisers like McDonalds pay for ads of burgers, not veggies. Veggies are cheap. Veggies don't pay for ads. Veggies promote weight loss. Exercise is cheap and promotes weight loss.
Oops, suuush don't mention weight; it is politically incorrect to point out that excess weight is a risk factor for a multitude of health problems including death from coronavirus (click here.) Why are we suddenly so concerned about the 3% who die from coronavirus when we have ignored doing much to avoid death by heart attacks and strokes and diabetes and cancers for years and years? Everyone should know about the deadly metabolic syndrome? (click here)
And let's not discuss rediculous concepts like reducing deaths from alcohol over-consumption or automotive misuse.
Best to just shut up and bury our heads in the sand, to isolate ourselves from the world and snack on chips and dip. Who cares if we come out of self-isolation a few pounds heavier?
Remember point # 1) It will come back again and again.
And point # 3) Snacking on veggies is much healthier.
I know people who intend to self-quarantine until a vaccine is developed and distributed, even if that means staying in the house for a year except for grocery shopping trips every two weeks.
Are they prepared to self-isolate every time a pandemic virus appears in the US? The answer is yes because it beats exercising and avoiding their addictive, unhealthy foods.
What if another pandemic virus escapes from China next year? China has proven to be a prolific source of pandemic viruses, even though we can be proud of the Spanish flu of 1918, home grown right here in Kansas. And to keep morale high during WWI, our government did a terrific job of covering it up and denying it (click here.) The Chinese government didn't do nearly as good a job of media suppression and cover-up as ours did. (Amusing that the detailed article I read two months ago is no longer available on-line. That one stated that any publisher of negative news could be charged with treason.)
There, now I can get off my soap-box.
Here is wishing you all good health and happiness. And please do eat your veggies.
26 May: And we both woke up too early, so we went for our walk early, hiked to the top of Sugarloaf, and were back in the house by 11 AM. Today we need to ride to Cottonwood for Cynthia to visit Labcorps, and prior to that we need to ship Cynthia's box to Texas, so that it will arrive before she does. Wow, it was a lot hotter in Cottonwood, although the breezes were not exactly invigoratingly cool on our return. We did visit Walmart to get air in our tires, so there is one less thing to do before departure now. Ron spent the evening preparing recycling and organizing.
25 May: Tomorrow is here, and it is time to write a little bit. We were up "early" and are ready to go hiking at 10:30. No telling how our bodies will react today. We will probably opt for a shorter hike, maybe to the top of Sugarloaf. (Nope, we repeated the same hike to the far side of Chimney Rock and back.) Since it is still a holiday weekend, there will probably be a crowd of hikers today just like yesterday. (Yup) Ron continues to make great progress towards being ready to move out on June 1st, only six days away now. Cynthia has a box packed to ship back to Texas already, so Ron is under the gun to find anything he wants to ship back immediately. As if he isn't busy enough it looks like Volume 7 of the Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania is going to end up in his lap again soon. Oops, Cynthia has backpack on, so it is time to get hiking. More later. It was a lovely cool hike at the beginning. That hour early really helps, because after an hour it got as hot as yesterday. We enjoyed our entire hike because there was enough shade and enough breeze. Thank God. As we sat in the shade in one stream bed, we were delighted to see a Gambel quail couple scurry down a rock and across the arroyo, followed by a cascade of chicklets, each the size of a walnut, scurrying after, many dropping two feet to the ground without hesitation. There must have been thirty of them in the covey. Too cute. Then as we walked through the neighborhood a coyote dashed across the road after a dog walker was a safe distance past him. In the evening, we walked again to the Teacup trail overlook. The rocks turn an awesome red as the sun drops. Despite best intentions to get to bed early, it was 10:30 by the time Ron retired.
24 May: Once we arrived at our "decision tree" today, we decided to make the same hike as yesterday, to the far side of Chimney Rock. Although the weather felt hotter, there was a brisk "cooling" breeze. We thought we felt good enough to consider continuing over Chimney Rock Pass. By the time we arrived at that decision tree, Cynthia's wored out legs vetoed going over the pass. Ron's legs were pretty wored out too. Despite that he walked to Safeway for popcorn and Splenda - which Safeway did NOT have, although they did have pretzels, cinnamon, blueberries, grapes, and frozen mango. So Ron returned home with those goodies and rode the motorcycle to Basha's, where he DID find Splenda and popcorn. After recuperating at home, we walked to the decision tree again and our legs voted unanimously to return home and rest. Ron has been interested to find out what his odds of dying of coronavirus might be if he did catch it. If Ron and nine other people with heart conditions all catch coronavirus, the odds are that one of them will die. (Ron is betting that he will be one of the nine survivors since he is thin and active every day.) Click here for the stats according to WorldOMeter. I particularly like the statistics from China that say that only 2 of every thousand people infected under the age of 40 will die from a coronavirus infection. While these data are preliminary, they do make you wonder how the media can create such a panic over something much less severe than SARS. Does anyone remember that the Hong Kong flu in 1968/ 1969 killed 100,000 Americans? Does anyone even know someone who died of the flu that year?
23 May: Today we decided that a lighter workout was better for our bodies, so we walked to the far side of Chimney Rock but turned around at the Upper Trail marker. That way we hoped to avoid injuries that can result overdoing it and from pushing a tired body too hard. In the evening we again walked to the Teacup Trail overlook for a marvelous view of the red rocks reddened by the evening sun. Our timing was terrific; we arrived home just as the light was becoming too dim. Now Ron is eating some cornbread and pretzels preparatory to beddie bye. Again he focused on being ready to leave on June 1st. There is still plenty to do in that regard. One of the disadvantages of this property is that the master bedroom gets light very early in the morning. We intended to get to bed tonight shortly after 9 PM - but we didn't, 11:30 PM ouch.
30 May means we are running out of the month. Carpe Diem! Seize the day! Actually, savor the moment. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Marty and Roger as we started our hike, only wishing we had more time to continue a most pleasant conversation (appropriately socially distanced.) This evening, we saw a couple we met earlier and again enjoyed a couple of brief verbal interchanges. Our hiking mileage was 8.8 for the day. Ron’s Mac is throwing a hissy fit and won’t boot up. A trip to the Apple store in Tucson may be in order.
29 May: This is the day to drop off recycling. We have to wonder if Ron will have everything ready to go or will merely make the first installment. Success! Ron delivered most of the recycling by four PM and was able to ask his questions.
28 May: It is supposed to be even hotter today and so far that seems likely true. Cynthia walked outside briefly to consider our normal constitutional hike, and returned immediately with the pronouncement that it was too hot to breathe. Ron wrote and rewrote his coronavirus rant (below) until 2:30 and then decided to hike alone to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain and back. It was indeed hot and sweaty, but he was happy with his level of fitness to be able to charge up rapidly while talking with Donna on the cell phone. After an hour at home, Ron charged up Sugarloaf a second time, talking this time with Ed. Again, the body handled the exertion without any distress. Ask me again in the morning. Goodnight.
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| Happy new homeowners |
After writing letters to a couple of cousins, Ron has decided to put his coronavirus views a bit more bluntly. Feel free to send him hate mail; our "Hate has no home here" society loves expressing opinions full of hate.
1) Coronavirus is a pandemic. That means it will come back again and again until nearly everyone has had it.
2) That being said, anything you can do to strengthen your immune system will give you a much better chance to survive it. Why is the media not harping on that fact?
3) You strengthen your immune system by diet and exercise, diet meaning lots of veggies.
Hey, how is the media supposed to profit by recommending exercise and a diet of veggies? Now it makes sense why we don't see it; advertisers like McDonalds pay for ads of burgers, not veggies. Veggies are cheap. Veggies don't pay for ads. Veggies promote weight loss. Exercise is cheap and promotes weight loss.
Oops, suuush don't mention weight; it is politically incorrect to point out that excess weight is a risk factor for a multitude of health problems including death from coronavirus (click here.) Why are we suddenly so concerned about the 3% who die from coronavirus when we have ignored doing much to avoid death by heart attacks and strokes and diabetes and cancers for years and years? Everyone should know about the deadly metabolic syndrome? (click here)
And let's not discuss rediculous concepts like reducing deaths from alcohol over-consumption or automotive misuse.
Best to just shut up and bury our heads in the sand, to isolate ourselves from the world and snack on chips and dip. Who cares if we come out of self-isolation a few pounds heavier?
Remember point # 1) It will come back again and again.
And point # 3) Snacking on veggies is much healthier.
I know people who intend to self-quarantine until a vaccine is developed and distributed, even if that means staying in the house for a year except for grocery shopping trips every two weeks.
Are they prepared to self-isolate every time a pandemic virus appears in the US? The answer is yes because it beats exercising and avoiding their addictive, unhealthy foods.
What if another pandemic virus escapes from China next year? China has proven to be a prolific source of pandemic viruses, even though we can be proud of the Spanish flu of 1918, home grown right here in Kansas. And to keep morale high during WWI, our government did a terrific job of covering it up and denying it (click here.) The Chinese government didn't do nearly as good a job of media suppression and cover-up as ours did. (Amusing that the detailed article I read two months ago is no longer available on-line. That one stated that any publisher of negative news could be charged with treason.)
There, now I can get off my soap-box.
Here is wishing you all good health and happiness. And please do eat your veggies.
26 May: And we both woke up too early, so we went for our walk early, hiked to the top of Sugarloaf, and were back in the house by 11 AM. Today we need to ride to Cottonwood for Cynthia to visit Labcorps, and prior to that we need to ship Cynthia's box to Texas, so that it will arrive before she does. Wow, it was a lot hotter in Cottonwood, although the breezes were not exactly invigoratingly cool on our return. We did visit Walmart to get air in our tires, so there is one less thing to do before departure now. Ron spent the evening preparing recycling and organizing.
25 May: Tomorrow is here, and it is time to write a little bit. We were up "early" and are ready to go hiking at 10:30. No telling how our bodies will react today. We will probably opt for a shorter hike, maybe to the top of Sugarloaf. (Nope, we repeated the same hike to the far side of Chimney Rock and back.) Since it is still a holiday weekend, there will probably be a crowd of hikers today just like yesterday. (Yup) Ron continues to make great progress towards being ready to move out on June 1st, only six days away now. Cynthia has a box packed to ship back to Texas already, so Ron is under the gun to find anything he wants to ship back immediately. As if he isn't busy enough it looks like Volume 7 of the Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania is going to end up in his lap again soon. Oops, Cynthia has backpack on, so it is time to get hiking. More later. It was a lovely cool hike at the beginning. That hour early really helps, because after an hour it got as hot as yesterday. We enjoyed our entire hike because there was enough shade and enough breeze. Thank God. As we sat in the shade in one stream bed, we were delighted to see a Gambel quail couple scurry down a rock and across the arroyo, followed by a cascade of chicklets, each the size of a walnut, scurrying after, many dropping two feet to the ground without hesitation. There must have been thirty of them in the covey. Too cute. Then as we walked through the neighborhood a coyote dashed across the road after a dog walker was a safe distance past him. In the evening, we walked again to the Teacup trail overlook. The rocks turn an awesome red as the sun drops. Despite best intentions to get to bed early, it was 10:30 by the time Ron retired.
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| Some of the prickly pear cacti are blooming profusely. |
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| Teacup Trail overlook |
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| Yes, the colors are that spectacular !! |
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| after (next morning) |
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| before (evening) |
20 May: Another day, another hike, in very pleasant weather. Today we hiked around Coffee Pot Rock to the Devil's Kitchen followed by the Seven Sacred Pools, only five of which contained water. But, we managed nearly eight challenging miles round trip, and Ron added two or three more by walking to Basha's Market.
19 May: Tomorrow is Today, and we did not get to sleep until nearly midnight and awoke at six AM. This is a groggy day! The forecast is cooler, but it is windy, meaning Cynthia doesn't like gusts of wind that threaten to blow her over the side of the mountain. HA !! Leave it to mee beloved WeeFee to exaggerate a little around the edges. Ron actually was asleep soon after 13 minutes before midnight and awakened at 5:30 AM. We had a delightful hike exploring to see if Ron was correct in thinking that an alternative path would take us to a different familiar trail. Instead Ron learned that most uncharted pathways take us into an arroyo. Climbing up and out of an arroyo is less scary than walking down one on sandy, slippery steeply-inclined surfaces. So we punted, reversed direction, and returned, but not exactly the same pathways. All in all, we are again relieved to return home without bodily injury. And best of all, Ron got to enjoy exploration, and Cynthia was NOT scared silly. Now we've eaten our Pritikin dinners and are ready for our evening stroll. We've discovered that our aging bodies are complaining mightily about being required to develop muscle.
18 May: Wow, did we sleep a long time last night. In bed by 10:30 until Ron's pill alarm went off at 9AM. Thanks, we needed that. After exercises and breakfast we were out the door by 11 and opted for another "easy" hike to the far side of Chimney Rock and back. We again turned back where the trail gets steep. Ron was just now hit by the realization that other people rave about their meals and gourmet delights, whereas in the last two years, we have seldom talked much about meals and restaurants. I guess you could say that we prefer to eat foods that will keep us alive and in good health. Good grief, it is 10:30 again already.
17 May: Another beautiful day for thanking God. After normal exercises and oatmeal we were out the door on a new hike, up an unmarked trail to the top of several rocks. Nice views of Sugarloaf, but we were not so high as that peak. Today was hot like yesterday, but strong breezes made it seem comfortable. These hot, breezy days allow dehydration to sneak up, so we drank water often. We were done and back home by 1:30 and changed to cleaning mode for the afternoon. Dinner was again delicious salmon and a sweet potato. Ron did complete all of the sudokus that Oke sent, so that happy time-waster will be in abeyance for a while. Now it is time to resume work on the SCS package about Israel Peterson. Cynthia was alerted that her ranch that she sold in 2009 is on the market once again, less 300 acres the buyer sold a couple years ago. She and her former husband started the Ranch (click here) and built everything on it from scratch. The buyer’s interior design is very rustic.
16 May: We thank God for every day when we awaken, and today was no exception. After exerises and breakfast, we were out the door on a hot hike. (Apparently we did not arise early enough to enjoy cool morning air.) Still we enjoyed our exhaustingly hot hike to the far side of Chimney Rock before deciding that turning back was smarter than climbing the steep trail over the pass. Temperatures were not scorching, but cooling breezes were few and far between. After our second, evening hike, we had totaled nine miles. Ron keeps trying to get to bed early, but it was 10:30 again tonight.
15 May: Amazing grace allowed us to sleep late, 8 AM. After our usual exercise and oatmeal, we enjoyed seeing two gambrel quail, a mourning dove, and a lizard in our back yard aviary/zoo. A few days ago a cardinal was flitting through the trees. The pink-eared bunny rabbit has not made her presence known for several days. We wonder whether he and the bobcat have joined company. And off we went hiking to the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The prickly pear are displaying more and more little yellow blooms, and the hedgehog cacti are often adorned with some variety of red/pink/purple blooms. Always conscious of time racing away, it is only two weeks until we leave our beautiful Sedona; Cynthia to Texas for a few days and Ron to Tucson to visit cousin Jim. After a delicious salmon and sweet potato dinner, we enjoyed a brief stroll around the neighborhood. No matter how hard he tries, Ron seems incapable of getting into bed before 10:30.
14 May: Another day, another set of morning exercises, oatmeal, and hiking. This time we walked the Andante Trail over to the Chimney Rock Loop and turned around when the trail became steep on the far side of Chimney Rock. And believe it or not, we have a dinner date !! with Craig and Karen, who we met mid-trail. Now we need to hope that the Old Sedona Bar & Grill is serving their fish in rice paper. And the dinner was delightful. We thoroughly enjoyed Craig and Karen from Vancouver, Washington. Craig is a former surfer bum turned into a medical consultant. Karen razed him by saying that he has done everything to injure himself except fall into a pile of cactus.
13 May: Former placeholder for another day, which is now past. Sister Carol is the genius behind tombstones for Ron and herself with their GEDmatch.com kit numbers. Isn't she a sweet sistah. How many guys do you know who received a picture of their tombstone for a birthday present? This witty sister hopes Find-A-Grave will post this photo with the date of death to be announced. Cynthia and Ron will have ashes co-mingled and spread upon their favorite trails IF they die. And today we hiked the Tea Cup Trail again, and Cynthia was forced to admit that the exposure was not so unnerving after crossing it four times in three days. Ron had to be VERY persuasive to convince Cynthia to take another short hike in the evening, but she was forced to admit that it did help her muscles recover, and she did sleep VERY soundly.
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| Sistah Carol with her newest acquisition. |
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| Photo taken in British Columbia in 1986. Mom wanted a studio portrait of Ron |
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| Cynthia's thought for the day - good for a life time. |
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| Ryan, Rachel and baby Blaire |
9 May: Good grief, did another day slip by unnoticed? Well, Ron remembers going for a walk late in the morning (i.e. noon) when the sun was too intense, and we went for a second hike on the Andante Trail in the early evening. Ron made friends with a couple of contract nurses who had a lovely dog carrying a ball. (The $64,000 question is "How do you throw a ball in Sedona without sending the dog into cactus?") It was a lovely, pleasant hike on soft dirt mostly for a mile there and back, so it was a comfort for Cynthia's feet. Ron spent most of the day working on the Israel Peterson package for the Swedish Colonial Society. It is rewarding to find more and more information to include. Creating a new blog and a Facebook page for The Rambo Family Tree prompted Ron to realize that he can make corrections to the text version of the book without much problem and discover the changes easily whenever he is ready to resume with XYWrite. If you have a Facebook account, you can click here to see the Facebook page.
8 May: Day dawned late for us even though Ron awakened at 5 AM (daybreak) and was unable to get back to sleep. We are just finishing breakfast at 10:50. Wow, I wonder what the temperature is now. 85 degrees with 12% humidity, a forecast high of 88. Cynthia panicked this morning upon discovering a communication that the BMW Finance was going to debit our bank account (without authorization) for the remaining $13,000 balance of payment due; the payoff was mailed per their instructions. I think that has to be illegal. Now as Ron returns yet again to listening to the Cream concert, he realizes that he has not listened to the Grateful Dead for a week or two and has not listened to the oldies station for months. What a revelation about how computer usage has changed his life.
7 May: And Ron continues to listen non-stop to the Cream concert from Albert Hall in 2005 (click here.) Gosh, but those guys play good, and this was when they were old farts, over 70 years old (like Ron.) !! Cynthia had her heart set on watching a webinar about FTDNA, so now we have more "homework" to maximize the work that others will do for us. Ron walked into West Sedona to the Post Office and to Safeway to mail the payoff check for our motorcycle loan and to buy aspirin. It is another hot day, 91 degrees, 9% humidity, with a light hazy sky. We stayed indoors occupied with genealogy projects on our computers until 5:45 when Ron asked about a hike, Cynthia declined, and Ron hiked in a hurry all the way around Chimney Rock (click here), including the steep uphill at speed (or what passes for speed at this age.) Despite best intentions, Ron stayed up late looking for another family group sheet among Peter Craig's collection and got to bed at 11:30.
6 May: Already?? What happened to the 5th? We arose early (before 7 AM) so that we could be exercised & fed for an early hike today - and we were quite successful, out the door about 9:30, to the top of Sugarloaf (click here), and back inside before noon. Now Ron has created a new blog for Rambo documentation (click here), and Cynthia is snoozing beside him on the couch. Life is good. 92 degrees now with 16% humidity; it is called the arid Southwest for good reason. Cynthia added a new Facebook account for "The Rambo Family Tree" too. At 6:20 PM Ron decided to hike again, managed to summit Sugarloaf for the second time today, and returned home just at dark.
5 May: Maybe we can remember another day if we put our heads together. Let's see: awoke, exercised, ate oatmeal, went for a hike - oh, yeah, we decided to hike around chimney rock and were lucky to make it partway up to the chimney. Cynthia overworked herself and was perhaps dehydrated and low on sugar also. My bad, I should have been more aware. Then we came home and found the handyman covering the skylight in the bedroom - can you imagine putting a solar-powered skylight into the bedroom with no off switch. How is one suppose to rest comfortably 'til noon? We did not get to bed early enough because Ron called a genealogy correspondent who no longer does e-mail.
4 May: Thunder Mountain Trail, a three-mile hike, purportedly has 360 feet of elevation gain, but the uphill half of the trail was grueling. The hike seemed strenuous, perhaps because the individual of female persuasion in our duo doesn’t like exposure where the trail slopes towards a drop. Ron usually holds out a helpful hand. Confidence. That’s what it takes! We rode to the post office in Oak Creek to cancel our mail delivery and purchased salmon at the grocery next door. At six PM, we hiked until Cynthia decided she was too panicked to trek down a thirty foot embankment, so she sat down and scooted down the steepest part. Guess who needs new pants?
3 May: The Teacup Trail. We had an early start but thoroughly enjoyed the hike, even in the exposed areas. Ron especially delighted in seeing a four-foot-long yellow-and-green diamond patterned snake that looked like a rattler without the rattles. The little snake had slithered underneath a rock, with his head pointed up mountain on one side and his tail still close to the trail on the other side of the rock. Cynthia was puzzled by Ron's behavior when he took her hand and guided her past the rock thereby guiding her view away from the trail. After we were ten feet past the rock w/snake, he turned her around to see what we had just passed, and she was less terrified than usual. At five-thirty, we ventured forth again for a pleasant hike through an arroyo and up to Andante Trail where we exited to visit our friend Konstanz from two years ago. We hit the ten mile mark for mileage with 23,800 steps. In the last six weeks we have had mule deer and javelina in our backyard, and now Ron has seen a bobcat.
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| SmoochSmooch, I love you |
We enjoyed a marvelous quick hike to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain again today - again because we last hiked it on May 1 in 2018. On our way hiking, we met an elderly, white-haired man, with a white beard, wearing a saffron orange turban, and white pantaloons. He greeted Ron, “You look so young, is that (meaning Cynthia) your mother? Ron explained, “This is my wonderful wife.” WHAT?!?! Was Cynthia’s reaction. Ron hiked on ahead on the narrow trail, and the first woman Cynthia met said to her, “You do look younger than he does.” (He was telling women to say that to her.) Now Ron walked down to Basha's for groceries. And we hiked again at six PM.
1 May: Happy May Day! Just thank God. We do. We are thankful for food, a comfortable place to sleep, marvelous views, trails to hike, good health and each other. At noon we mounted the motorcycle with half of our belongings to move residence to West Sedona. Because we booked our accommodation late, we had to find two locations. Ron returned to the Village of Oak Creek to pick up the box that Cynthia shipped from Texas and everything else that did not fit into our normal luggage. First he stopped at the Post Office to mail postcards to Richard and then at the grocery to buy additional frozen fruits and berries. At the house, he packed remaining items and cleaned the refrigerator and counters after emptying them. As he approached the final turn onto Windmill Drive in West Sedona, he was puzzled to see an unusual cat crossing the street ahead of him. It had sharp ears and a muscular body but was not much larger than your typical house cat. Upon reflection, he realized that he had just seen a bobcat (click here.)
Upper Chimney Rock Trail
