March In Motion

31 Mar:  Holy Wednesday Hymn meditation is The Old Rugged Cross. 

Cathedral Rock from afar

It is Smooch’s turn to choose the April blog title for April: Showers or Flowers in Sedona?  And I love you.  HaHa, and clever Ron earned his points for the first I love you of the day.  (You just read it.)  Oh my gosh, Ron will have to start cleaning and packing to be ready to switch houses by the 14th, and of course, he must find time to finish the diabolical puzzle.  We started hiking today before 10 AM and returned by 1:30, in time to have breakfast #2 at Miley’s, where they prepare our egg white garden omelets using water instead of oil or cooking spray.  Todays hike was again the Courthouse Loop, 7.9216385 miles according to Cynthia's watch.  Cathedral Rocks are the most photographed red rocks in Sedona.

30 Mar:  Holy Tuesday Hymn meditation is Susan Boyle’s Abide With Me.  We welcomed another day with exercises, oatmeal and electronic devices.  Now it is time to consider a hike.  Hike, we did!  Eight and one-half miles later, we are back to work on our electronics feeling mighty pleased with ourselves.  

29 Mar:  Holy Monday Hymn meditation is Holy, Holy Holy.  Today is a big day for Ron.  He will go to Dale and Linda's house at 1 PM (God willing) to see if he can finish their impossible puzzle in a single afternoon.  The short answer is no, the puzzle really is impossible, although the traffic to get there was even worse, 51 minutes for 8 miles bumper to bumper, advancing one car length at a time - and that will certainly be the case every day until spring break is over.  The puzzle is mostly complete after Ron's three hour contribution this afternoon - except that sections already put together (that look very good) will have to be torn apart to make room for the remaining pieces.

Hudson and Blaire

Hudson and parents

Hudson brought his parents to visit family in Houston and had lots of fun with his younger cousin Blaire, half his age at 1 year old.

28 Mar, Sunday:  Early to rise, Early to worship (the traditional service).  Today is Palm Sunday, also called the Sunday of the Passion, beginning the holiest week of the year.   Pastor David did indeed give an excellent impassioned sermon about obedience to God's will, starting with the colt that Jesus rode into Jerusalem.  After the early dismissal (before 9:30 !!), we ate at Miley's, which was indeed busy.  Because of that early start and a desire to hike before the heat of mid-day, we got going uphill towards the bell Rock Trailhead and the on the Courthouse Loop Trail, which was perhaps a bit too much for Cynthia's current condition.  The poor dear has sore feet.  We had precious little extra water and no extra jelly beans.  But a good time was had, and we are very satisfied with our Sunday.

27 Mar:  Going to bed at two AM and arising at eight-thirty AM is debilitating.  It is a gorgeous day to hike, if one can overcome that debilitation.  Lagos, Portugal sounds intriguing.  Ron continues obsessively eliminating excess files from his computer, but his butt is sore, so it is time to hike - after another bowl of frozen mango. And hike we did... six miles, taking the loop trail.  There are tiny tots riding mountain bikes, a set of five year old twins looked to be three instead of five, and the dad ran behind them.  

Spaceship Rock near Courthouse Rock

26 Mar:  Day 5: Biopsy reporting: BENIGN CYST and scar tissue!  Yayayay!  We slept deliciously late, exercised, and oatmealed to face another excellent, cool, maybe wet day.  We are in discussion about living in Ireland.  Reports about no Covid vaccine in most of Europe and terrible case counts have closed the countries at present.  Notice that the death rates are not at all bad: 3 "excess" deaths per million inhabitants per 14-day span in Norway and Denmark.  Because testing has become more pervasive, more and more people test positive.  Since they are obviously extremely effective at spreading covid within the countries, why close the borders?  Ron started hiking at 5:40 PM while Cynthia stayed warm researching Cottages for rent in Ireland, Scotland, and wintering in Portugal.  Ron returned cold and wet, with the exception of his head.  The bald spot was still dry.  The rain started at the Spaceship Rock, about halfway along the trail.  Simultaneously, the light started failing.  Ron removed his down coat and stuffed it into its pocket to keep it dry because down does nothing good when wet, and my raincoat no longer sheds water.  (I keep it because it is still windproof, i.e. invaluable for motorcycling.)  As he hurried along through the Wilderness area, there was one brief moment he savored the sight of the massive cliffs enshrouded in fog, but without the time to stop and absorb the sight.  Just when the tral started getting muddy, there was just a glimpse of sunset through the clouds.  It is called slickrock because the mud becomes treacherously slick in rain.  Several times Ron detoured through the grass alongside the trail rather than risk a mudsliding fall.  Fortunately Ron had completed the hazardous part of the loop before it was fully dark.  And then, miraculously, the rain stopped and a full moon appeared enshrouded in clouds.  Ron was able to see enough to enjoy walking on rock the rest of the way instead of mud.  As he paused to peer at one of the signposts, he suddenly heard the sounds of an animal rapidly rushing towards him.  This causes an automatic paresthesias response.  (I used Google to find this word.)  The animal was a large black shaggy poodle sort of a dog, and before I could make friends with him, his owner called him back to take a different trail.  I was amazed that there was another man out here in the cold and wet without a light.  Oh, I forgot to mention that I was talking with Ed on the cell phone the entire time, and my hands were like ice after the rain.  By this time I had remembered the Phone trail to the Courthouse Rock Trailhead that I could use to get onto the highway rather than slipping and sliding on the slickmud Bell Rock Pathway back to town. That transition went smoothly and the return to town was uneventful although the shoulder is rather narrow in the many places protected by a guardrail.  And a fun time was had by all the survivors.

25 Mar:  And today we are both exhausted since neither of us slept well.  When Ron examined the file that Ken had sent to the publisher, he was appalled to see that the pages were entirely skewed and mis-numbered.  After hearing from Ken and Candace that their copies were fine, he found that to be true if he downloaded his copy instead of opening it in e-mail.  Since Ken and Candace seem to have the project well in hand, Ron is content to remain FINISHED.!!  Interesting to discover Houston drivers in Sedona, at least a couple of very discourteous drivers must be from there.  Most Sedona drivers are very thoughtful.  We hiked 6.9 miles. YAY! 

24 Mar:  Cynthia is allowed to indulge in light activity.  Ron awoke at 5:30 unable to return to sleep, so he sneaked out of bed to work on his computer.  Ssshush, don't tell.  Ron again spent the entire day collating the e-mails concerning Volume 7 into a text file.  (Yes, there were that many.)  Near bedtime, as he waded through the emails from this month, he was disappointed to discover that the publisher had refused to work with the format we sent (8 1/2 x 11) and required a 6x9 PDF.  Worse, Ken had taken it upon himself to involve Candace instead of waiting for a reply from Ron.  Todays choice quote from the old e-mails: "I hope that God smiles upon you and upon all your loved ones now and for a long time to come."

23 Mar:  Rain and snow are forecast for Sedona.  Ron plans to hike; Cynthia plans to follow the doctor's orders and refrain from exertion today.  She is mulling, pondering, contemplating investing in professional watercolor paints.  But, since she gave her daughter all of the rest of her equipment, like brushes, frisket, and tape, it isn't a small decision to first purchase, then figure out how to transport it on a motorcycle.  But, she misses painting.  The 50th anniversary of the ordination of women in the Lutheran Church is this year; the bishop requested a recent photo of Cynthia for church-wide assembly this summer so she contacted Kynn, a new friend we met hiking, but the biopsy interfered with that project.  Instead, she cropped a picture Ron took and sent that to the bishop.  It'll do.  We ate again at Miley's, egg white garden omelets made without oil, using water instead.  Now that there is no rain in the forecast for the next few hours, Ron should really get out for a good, long hike around the red rocks.  At 6:00 PM, in 36 degree cold, he finally ventured out into the wild, dark yonder for a quick Big Park Loop.  He chatted with Linda in Santa Fe on the first half of the loop and with Paul in Hawaii for the rest of his walk.  Ron has been going through old emails relating to Volume 7 (finished !! hurrah !! ) and discovered this sentiment worth repeating:  “Interesting to find that we can enjoy our aging bodies just as well as we enjoyed the younger ones; it just takes a lot more work.”

22 Mar:  God Willing, we will ride again up Beaverhead Flats Road to Cottonwood for Cynthia's biopsy.  After our breakfast oatmeal, we again ate egg white veggie omelets at Miley's, but yesterday we ordered the "garden omelet" and enjoyed many more vegetables than today's veggie omelet.  The ride was cool both ways, but breathtakingly beautiful.  The procedure took a lot longer than anticipated, and it was everything we were told to expect.  Yuk.  Results are promised by five business days.  Since Walmart had no frozen mango, Ron insisted on stopping at Fry's and rediscovered that they are a Kroger affiliate.  He bought the one 3-lb bag of frozen pineapple they had available.

21 Mar, Sunday:  And we arose early, ate quickly, and rode to church by 8:30.  It was good to see familiar faces and to enjoy a good sermon about Zacchaeus.  Linda and Dale invited us to their home for dinner tonight.  Wonderful!!  Then, when we stopped for breakfast at Miley's Cafe (click here), we found Sharon and Dave already there, so Ron talked with them for ten minutes while Cynthia wondered where he was.  We managed only the Big Park Loop trail so that Cynthia would have enough time to prepare for dinner, which was lovely although Ron became totally preoccupied with the marvelous puzzle that their sadistic daughter gave them.  It is a doozie.

20 Mar:  We are thankful.  Life is good.  We woke up, fed ourselves, sudokued, and hiked.  Cynthia's feet were a bit tired after yesterday's long hike, so we took the shorter route today and espied a couple and a dog hiking across the face of Courthouse Rock.  Wonderful to think that there are undocumented trails up there.  Ron figured out his asset allocations (much, much easier now that he can look at his accounts on-line), and his conclusions support taking advantage of the enhanced surrender value of the annuity that he has held for 20 years.

Cathedral Rocks in distance

Looking east towards Lee Mountain

19 Mar:  We hiked 8 miles total today including 1.1 miles to the trailhead on sidewalk & 1.1 miles back to condo.  We slept in this morning, started before noon and hiked the long loop around Courthouse Rock.  We dressed lighter and enjoyed a nice cooling breeze.  The familiar sights (from last year) were a delight, and we encountered several delightful people including Alisha (on a mountain bike), who has lived in Sedona 27 years, and Kynn from Minnesota who now winters in Arizona.  What is incredible is watching the fearless 6- and 8-year-old youngsters pumping the pedals of their mountain bikes uphill, wobbling madly and bouncing off rocks, often leaving their young adult parents huffing and puffing behind.

18 Mar:  We slept long and well last night, uninterrupted from midnight to 7 AM.  Wow, the positive power of sourdough pretzels.  And now it is afternoon and Ron has been preoccupied with genealogy too long.  Shall we go for a walk?  And we did another long walk, 5.8 miles, despite Cynthia's initial disinclination and fatigue.  (Jelly beans helped.)  This was our first very dry and very warm day in Arizona, we aren’t acclimated.  Ron managed to specify e-delivery for another couple of financial statements.  At this rate he will be halfway modern by the end of the century.  Cynthia has puzzled over health issues the past two weeks and decided the rash is definitely an allergy.  Passing out is likely reaction to the 2nd Covid vaccine, and the benign cyst has been in previous mammograms, but we will have it biopsied on Monday.  Right now we feel might good, the twos of us.  But then Ron stayed up too late working on financial stuffs and retired after midnight.

17 Mar:  Ugh, up at 6 AM and exercising, preparatory to departure at 8:30 for diagnostic mammogram.  Eureka !! probably just a benign cyst.  Talk about stress relief.  After grocery shopping at Walmart, we rode back via the Beaverhead Flats Road and stashed refrigerated and frozen foods into the frig, before riding in line with a million other vehicles ever so slowly around all the dozen rotaries between here and Cafe Jose, where we enjoyed our usual egg white veggie scramble. (They can make it without any oil, using water instead.!!)  So then we went for a long walk to the trailhead and around an abbreviated loop for 6 miles according to Cynthia's watch.  It was dark by the time we returned to the rental condo.  Cynthia's rash and itching are much more tolerable after stress relief.  Cynthia adds, there are no words to describe relief, gratitude to God for answered prayers, and thanks to God for Ron!

16 Mar:  The Benadryl worked, but red skin reappeared after a shower, and Cynthia is tired and dragging after not enough sleep last night.  Ron was delighted to see snow-covered everything again early this morning and went for a walk to the Bell Rock trailhead to see the sights.  Unfortunately, the snow wasn't as significant to the mountain views as to views about town.  The rash reappeared by bedtime and the itching is intolerable.

15 Mar:  And the sun rose bright and cheerful this morning, and we followed suit a few hours later.  Today we used the correct app on Cynthia's phone to send Ron's pacemaker reading to the doctor, and we enjoyed a lovely walking conversation on the Big Loop Trail with Adam, a delightful psychologist from Cleveland now working in Phoenix several days a week.  And yay!  We walked six miles!  Poor Cynthia is under the weather with a new red rash added to other issues.  We are hopeful that Benadryl will take care of it.

SNOW on the mountains !!

14 Mar, Sunday:  Is supposed to be dry and sunny for our motorcycle ride to church (at 38 degrees).  Since Arizona does not change to daylight saving time, we didn’t lose sleep.  Exercised and oatmealed, we prepare for worship.  Everyone recognized us as soon as we rode the motorcycle into the parking lot after an amazingly scenic, three-mile ride.  After worship, we rode into Sedona for breakfast, but Sedona Reds stops serving breakfast at 11 AM, so we ate again at Jose's Cafe.  Since Claudia no longer works at Sedona Reds, we lost our primary reason for patronizing them.  Late this afternoon we walked to the Bell Rock trailhead and walked another half mile on the trail before turning back.  It is surprising to see the maintenance that has been done on the trail in terms of wider water-bars and outflows.  Ron started in on his receipts and financial spreadsheets.  Since the stock market is at all time highs, it is time to rebalance the asset allocation.

13 Mar:  Sedona for the next couple of months.  The snow had all disappeared by sunrise, and we enjoyed a very nice breakfast at the Red Rock Cafe with Cynthia's friends from Northwood, Mary and Lon.  However, new snow was falling by the time we left the restaurant to walk back to our rental condo.  No white accumulation until 5:58 PM, and now it looks like Christmas.  And at 9:44 Ron was completely finished with Volume 7 and sent the final version back to Ken.  He will certainly sleep well tonight and wonder what to do with his "free time" in the morning.  HA.

12 Mar:  SNOW !!  Boy oh Boy, Sedona in snow this morning.  Red rocks benefit from white highlights, but it is cold at 35 degrees.  Around 3 PM, the snow stopped, and the color radar looked clear for an hour, so Ron decided to ride the bike to Sedona to pick up the UPS box, which has just arrived from Texas.  Once precipitation stops, the roads dry out in this arid climate in twenty minutes.  One or two vistas were breathtaking in fresh snow, and Ron arrived at Safeway pleased as punch.  Basha's was next for carrots and pretzels, but by 4 PM as Ron entered the UPS Store, a very light mist began falling, and the skies to the south looked darkly ominous.  After strapping the box to the passenger seat, precipitation changed to a mixture of rain with sleet and snow.  That is a very, very cold combination.  The rain wets the hands so that the sleet and snow have maximum effect.  Once past the airport mesa, the precipitation ceased, but the hands stayed icy.  Again, the scenery was worth the discomfort, especially since I arrived alive at the condo.  Alive, but very cold.

11 Mar:  We awakened in the Village of Oak Creek in a condo near the Clark's Market.  Today's forecast is chilly 46 degrees high with an inch of snow later tonight.  Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Snowball fights and forts.  Ron walked to the market, to mail postcards, and to the Bell Rock trailhead (uphill all the way there).  We were able to buy pricey groceries at Clark's, but they don't carry sourdough pretzels.  The plan had been for Ron to ride to Sedona for the UPS package shipped from Texas and to buy groceries at Safeway, but the UPS package wasn't dropped off "for lack of the suite number," which was on the package.

10 Mar:  We have to arise about 7 AM to get to a medical appointment for Cynthia at 8:30.  Gosh, but there are a lot of demands for poor hubsands like me.  Life is Still Good, and we move into our condo afterwards.  Thankfully the hotel is giving us a late check out of 1 PM.  Deb, the physicians assistant, was delightful and reassuring.  They have top quality imaging and doctors here.

9 Mar:  Sedona, AZ  Life is Good!  We slept late and walked to Sedona Red’s for breakfast only to discover that they serve breakfast only on weekends.  Very peculiar.  Fortunately Cafe Jose (click here) was open and able to feed us wonderful egg white veggie scrambles without any oil added.  On our return walk, Ron was delighted to recover the two packets of Quaker oats that had fallen out of his pocket earlier.  In the evening we walked a second mile to Safeway for pretzels and grapes.  Dinner was a microwaved baked sweet potato and the aforementioned pretzels and grapes respectively.

Sunset at Ron's pee stop #2

8 Mar:  Greer, AZ.  Life is Good! but the winds are strong.  No rain in today's forecast, but it is in tomorrow's hourly, 50% for every hour, so we will pack up and leave ASAP for Sedona, 220 miles hence.  The decision to vacate a day early (and lose that prepaid lodging) was actually trivial.  Today is windy and chilly; tomorrow is forecast to be colder and windier with rain; Wednesday is also forecast to be chillier, windier and rainier.  Wish us luck in our 17 to 35 mph winds this afternoon.  Our route is trivial to remember, AZ 260 until I-17 N to 179 into Sedona.  The ride was wonderfully sunny and "warm" although the winds made it necessary for Ron to keep his eyes on the road instead of soaking in scenery.  The few glimpses he got were very beautiful, especially all the snow-covered everything.  After two roadside pit stops, we arrived in Sedona mere minutes before sunset, happy and delighted with the ride.  Using points, Cynthia found us a room for free at the Arroyo Pinion Hotel (click here), an Ascend Collection Hotel. She wanted a couch but got a jacuzzi instead.

Cynthia liked this one !!

Ron decided that it is time to explain the challenges of winds and sun to those who do not ride motorcycles or who wear helmets and sunglasses.  We've all experienced the discomfort/ danger of sun in the eyes, so without sunglasses, the only feasible defense is to hold a hand up to block the sun without blocking the view of the road ahead.  This is no problem on a straight road and a nice day.  It gets much trickier on curvy roads with wind.  Wind is its own challenge.  First thing to know is that without a helmet, the sound of the wind can be as loud and unsettling as a freight train, especially when gusts hit.  When those gusts hit, they try to push the motorcycle off the road left or right, and on a good day that push can be left for miles then suddenly right.  Now combine all of the above to use one hand to negotiate turns while the wind is roaring and pushing sometimes right and sometimes left.  When the gusts hit 30 mph the noise is deafening and the push left or right is substantial.  It always feels peculiar to be leaned over 10 or 15 degrees on a straight road.

No bad scenery for morning walks

7 Mar, Sunday:  Well, we cannot hike on the muddy trails, and rain is now forecast for Tuesday, so maybe we will leave a day early and ride all the way to Sedona tomorrow to avoid the cold weather and showers forecast to arrive Tuesday.  But the forecast is for only a 25% chance of showers for a couple of hours, so we will continue to eat as much of our food as possible.  Our walk to the Rendezvous was pleasant and warm.  The food was good, and the return trip was wonderful without the chilly breeze of the previous two days.  Finally Ron can commence final processing of Volume 7.

6 Mar:  Greer, AZ  Life is Good!  Despite steps down to the bathroom and back up, we slept well and walked to the Rendezvous Diner for breakfast.  The Rendezvous is under new ownership and seems much improved and is no longer so private and quiet (and decrepit - even the bottle collections on windowsills were washed and sparkling).  While walking back to our cabin, we turned in our order for baked potatoes tonight at Molly Butler's (click here).  Ron rode into Springerville for groceries but was disappointed to find no sourdough pretzels at either Safeway or Basha's.  This cabin #2 is rather dark and dungeonous.  Cynthia's ribs are much less uncomfortable, and she is a happy girl after a nice warm shower.  We walked to Molly's for dinner and were pleased to recognize and be recognized by our favorite hostess; besides, our dinner of salmon w/ potato was very good.

5 Mar:  Carrizozo to Greer, AZ, God willing.  What a ride!  What a day!  The flat-barren landscape shifted to barren mountain-scape with patches of snow, sage, scrub pine, mesquite shrubs.  We stopped in Socorro for lunch at El Camino Family Restaurant and stopped again at the Gatherin' Place in Pie-Town (click here), where we didn’t eat pie, but we wanted to.  Terrific chef, waitress, egg white veggie omelets, and a great visit with a retired army Colonel.  The landscape in Arizona has been quite pretty with lots of snow on the mountains. We stopped in Springerville, AZ for groceries, and Cynthia's rib seemed to shift when she dismounted the motorcycle at Safeway, so we visited the emergency room at the White Mountain Regional Medical Center for a three-hour little checkup.  The entrance looks to be an old loading dock to reassure us that the facility is top-notch.  They first ran a CAT scan of Cynthia's brain and found nothing wrong there.  (Ron shortens that to say that they found nothing there.)  X-ray of the ribs showed old fractures, but nothing new.  (It is possible that a rib is fractured but that it just doesn’t show on X-ray.)  Finally they did a CAT scan of her liver to assure themselves her liver wasn't lacerated.  She passed all those tests and was rewarded with her very own "Get Out of Jail Free" card and discharge papers.  We immediately rode towards Greer, although it was dark and cold after sunset.  Two blocks from the hospital we startled a young deer or two crossing the road.  After that close (10') sighting, we opted to follow a car as soon as one passed us.  Once, when he was somewhat further ahead, the driver flashed the brakes several times.  When we arrived at that spot, Ron spotted several elk on both sides of the road.  Did I mention that it was cold; I saw 30 degrees on the thermometer briefly.  Our Trails End Cabin is not what we had hoped.  The bedrooms are upstairs, the bathroom down; Crazy layout for people with overactive nighttime bladders.

Our magnificent lodging in Carrizozo

4 Mar:  And Ron did indeed sleep well after his pretzels, 8 hours without awakening.  Now Cynthia has to decide whether to go to the emergency room in Lamesa, go to emergency in Roswell (200 miles away), or ignore the ribs another day.  She opted to ride on.  Many miles after leaving Lamesa, TX, a sign read 134 miles to Roswell, NM.  It was the longest 134 miles I can recall, through miles of flat-barren West Texas with oil wells every five inches, horrific sand-filled winds, and six trees, wind-bent and almost touching earth.  Crossing into east New Mexico, the scenery changed to flat-barren lands, no trees, six oil wells, horrific winds, and wind-bent telephone poles.  But, we endured it happily because of our enthusiasm for a wonderful lunch at the Cattle Barons Restaurant in Roswell, and boy, did it plummet after we discovered the restaurant closed due to Covid.  We made do with ... maybe the worst I-Hop on earth.  (Ron could have, should have chosen the Denny's.)  We again mounted the motorcycle, fought the wind, and arrived still upright 90 miles later at the Carrizozo Inn in New Mexico at 7:00 PM.  We are worn out and ready to sleep at 8 PM.  (Old folks don'tcha know.)  Ron has to add that he was delighted to see the mountains as we neared Ruidoso, NM and hoped (in vain) that maybe the winds would be less intense soon.  A time or two the blast of wind from an east-bound truck was unnerving.  The wind was so strong as to make it hard to breathe and to make the eyes water.  Most peculiar that the wind changed from a southern assault in Texas to a northern assault in New Mexico.  Because Ron was much more familiar with the name Carrizozo (from his days working for the New Mexico Supreme Courts), he assumed that it would be a much larger, more prosperous town.  WRONG.  Carrizozo has 996 residents and no grocery store.  Tiny's restaurant serves breakfast all day, but neither the cook nor the owner knew how to extract egg whites from eggs.  Capitan (of Smokey the Bear fame) would have been a much better choice.  Our route was TX 137 NW from Lamesa to Brownfield, TX, then US route 380 through Plains, TX (where the winds because suddenly intense) to Roswell and on to Carrizozo.  It seemed peculiar that the road was lovely through Texas and into New Mexico until the turn off to Ruidoso.  Then the surface became rough (and very tough on Cynthia's rib) until Capitan (where the road from Ruidoso to Albuquerque joins 380).  In other words, if you are going to bypass Ruidoso, you are going to suffer bad pavement.  We were quite suitably impressed to see snow beside the road and on occasional mountainsides.

3 Mar:  UH-OH!  All was well with Cynthia sleeping soundly until she arose to use the restroom at 4:30 AM.  Upon hearing a thundering thud, Ron raced to the bathroom and found her passed out on the floor.  He helped her to her feet, and she passed out again.  (This time he lowered her to the floor gently instead of letting her drop with a second resounding boom.)  She has no awareness of feeling faint, nor does she have a history of losing consciousness or fainting.  Apart from very sore ribs on the right side, all is well.  Ron had a different problem in that he awakened at least once every hour until the 4:30 THUD.  After exercises in the morning, we decided to throw caution to the winds and ride 280 miles to Lamesa.  The day was marvelous with clear skies, bright sun and highs approaching 80 degrees.  Ron missed seeing spring greens since all of the vegetation was still clothed in winter browns and drabs.  After checking in to the Best Western, we sashayed across the street to the Steak and Seafood place for a nice cut of salmon and a baked potato.  Ron then walked a mile to the Dollar Tree and was amazed to find Snyders sourdough pretzels.  Between the long walk and the pretzels, he figures to sleep well tonight.  G'night.

 2 Mar:  Covid Vaccination #2: Apparently we can now go INTO St. Luke's instead of riding the motorcycle through the drive-through vaccination line on our way to Fredericksburg.  Our appointment is at 8:30 AM!  YAY!  At 9:21 AM, we are card-carrying fully Covid vaccinated patriots.  As a precaution, Cynthia took a Tylenol and an Advil.  We packed the bike, then stopped at the storage unit to get the charging cord for Ron's Mac (which he misplaced during his 10:30 packing frenzy yesterday), ate breakfast at Magnolia Diner, then took off westward to Fredericksburg.  That ride to Fredericksburg is beginning to be very familiar.  It was a bit disappointing that we were too early to see bluebonnets and green fields.  We arrived at five PM in time for a shower and a Sudoku.  Dinner at August E's with Casey and Lucinda was once again a delight.  And we felt just fine when we went to bed at 11:00 PM.  And then...

1 Mar:  We must be out of the condo by 11 AM, return the keys, ship a package to UPS in Sedona and return the rental car to Enterprise.   Again Ron awakened at 3:30 and could not sleep, so he arose and continued packing and loading the car.  At 12:10 Ron exited the condo, and was quite surprised to discover that Cynthia had unloaded all those heavy boxes from the car to a dolly and into the storage unit.  By 2:03 PM, we had organized the storage unit and were eating lunch!  At 3:15 the forecast calls for rain the remainder of the evening, so Ron finished loading the motorcycle; Cynthia dropped packages at UPS while Ron ate spinach and formerly frozen mango in the car; Cynthia dropped the car off at Enterprise while Ron ate formerly frozen blueberries in the restroom, and we motorcycled without pause to the Candlewood Suites adjacent to St. Luke's Hospital (where we will get shot tomorrow).  We even had time to walk from the hotel to St. Luke's to discover that it will be a lot easier than trying to find parking tomorrow in the hospital lot.  Ron is kinda wasted after two consecutive nights of 2.5 hours sleep.  Surprisingly, he is not sleepy.  Since we enjoyed our route last year, Ron has consulted his spreadsheet and finds the route faithfully recorded.