June on Two Wheels

30 Jun:  Ron has two inspirations to help "Black Lives Matter" and he has put up a web page (click here.)  

Number one is for all those black professional athletes who are interviewed after every professional game to start their speech by first encouraging everyone to get an education.  Those athletes can help make Black Lives Matter with inspirational words such as "Study and get an education.  I would not be where I am today if I had failed to get an education.  I thank all my teachers and coaches who pushed me to get an education."  

Number two is for every TV show featuring black performers to end their show with similar statements.  How many of you remember the "Red Skeleton Show?"  His final words, "God bless" left an indelible impression.

We had a nice visit with Nina at Harry's Roadhouse.  Although we were unable to sit in their patio garden, we did sit in the adjacent open-air porch.  Conversation was preoccupied with distress over the current situation in our country, but at least we three agree on the problems and causes.  The biggest problem is that the media is brainwashing Americans by repeating slogans and falsehoods endlessly.  We can all agree that some of the media channels are lying - because they report "news" with which we disagree - they must be lying.  (None of the channels actually report news anymore; it is all opinion.)  Why can so few of us imagine that our cherished media is also lying?  Another problem is that the media is encouraging hate, encouraging people to hate the opposition.

29 Jun:  Up, xercized, et, and ready to go visit, but when Ron called Lupe, she said another day would be better, so Ron can do his mending until 1 PM when we go see John and Linda.  After replying to e-mail from a friend, Ron Googled coronavirus BMI and found a great article (click here.). One article said that 78% of coronavirus deaths are people who are overweight or obese.  Another suggested that the most severe complications are among people who are overweight or obese.  Another said that hospitalized patients were most likely to be overweight or obese.  Another said that the young patients dying in a hospital were all overweight or obese.  So why does our vaunted media refuse to publish such alarming news and fail to strongly advocate a healthy diet and exercise?  Follow the money: who pays for advertising?  Ron concludes that our news and media has sold out to the "fast food industry."

28 Jun, Sunday:  We both slept wonderfully well despite the late hour of retiring.  We had to rush through our exercises in order to order breakfast before the 9 AM cut-off.  After eating we walked over to Arroyo Chamisa for a good walk on the asphalt pathway for a couple of hours.  Ron's sister relayed the exciting news that a cousin sent the will and probate of Nicholas Faust, a newly discovered ancestor, father of George Rambo's wife Maria Fist.  It is now 1 PM, and we are Staying At Home (in the hotel) until 3 PM when we can visit Michael and Claire for a couple of Social Distancing hours and then meet Mike and Maria at Radish and Rye for a Social Distancing dinner.  The hard part is that Cynthia has a dickens of a time trying to read lips through face masks.  Amusing that social convention now requires everyone to cite their precautionary habits of the last several weeks before friends can relax about pandemic paranoia and remove face coverings while maintaining a respectful 6 to 8 feet distance while conversing in the open air.  Fortunately, we all relaxed enough to see smiles and read lips.  The conversations were quite lovely and seldom touched on the disgusting political or societal events surrounding us all.  Children and grandchildren and even great-grandchildren held center stage.  Ron got to bed late (11:30) after walking while eating pretzels until turning around and walking while talking on the phone.

27 Jun: Today's delightful visit was with Charlie & Sam and Mark at the outdoor patio of Harry's Road House.  Cynthia and I arrived as Mark was parking his blue pickup in our favorite spot under a shade tree.  He left room for us, so fisticuffs were avoided.  Despite the grim news nowadays, we enjoyed our familiar humorous slants on everything.  Charlie had been in Richmond, Virginia during the latest reported protests and reported that they didn't see any unrest - thereby confirming Ron's belief that the media is full of lies and exaggerations.  Mark had a raft of new photos from the distant past to show Charlie.  Ron found it amusing that Charlie and Mark kept their face masks on until food was served, then forgot to resume face masks after eating.  The waitress failed to tell us that our omelets came with toast and potatoes, so Ron was stuffed by the time he finished both plates and the pancakes.  It was very good and tasted mostly oil-free.  Our waitress was the sourpuss, but after we finished eating, I asked the Maitre-d' if he needed our table.  The waitress said they needed it, but the Maitre-d' said they were not busy, so we stayed reveling in the conversation for three hours.  By the time we left, it was too hot to walk, so we waited until 7:30 to go for a short walk.  After discovering that we did not bring water, we returned to the hotel, and Ron resumed walking alone, talking to Janie until after 9.

26 Jun:  We did not realize that we had to order breakfast before 9 AM and were ten minutes late, so we had to eat our own oatmeal and berries in the room.  Google showed Ron the Villa Linda Park beside the Mall as a good place for us to walk, and we enjoyed walking for an hour and a half through the chain-link-fenced bedroom of dozens of (absent) homeless folks.  After misdirecting someone from Albuquerque, we discovered the improved part of Villa Linda Park on the other corner of the Mall.  After finishing our refreshing walk, we drove over to visit Tony in his back yard wearing our masks.  Tony is following strict orders from his children to Stay Home, Stay Alive, Social Distance, Wear Masks, etc.  It was fun to see Tony showing amusement with his eyes, even if we could not see his lips smile.  We enjoyed dinner at Harry’s Roadhouse again followed by another walk.  Santa Fe is fearful.  

25 Jun:  Ron took the bike to the Santa Fe BMW shop where they confirmed that the stuttering indicates that a coil needs to be replaced, now scheduled for July 2.  The afternoon was marvelous at Harry's Roadhouse eating on their lovely outdoor patio adorned with hollyhocks, etc. and enjoying great conversation with Janie, her brother, Paul, and Mark.  We all decided that we had beaten the dead horses of politics and viruses to death and need not revisit those conversations again while we are in Santa Fe.

24 Jun:  Up! Up! And Out, by 11:14 AM.  The projected ride from Gallup to Santa Fe was 2.5 hours, but we took roads less traveled, arriving 5.5 hours later, with Cynthia being thirsty, hungry, and tired.  North on US 491 (14 miles) to R on Navajo Service Road 9 E (40 miles) through Standing Rock to Crownpoint to L on NM 371 N (3 miles) to R on NM 57 Navajo Service Road 9 E to NM 197 (but here Ron missed the unmarked turn onto the unlabeled Torreon Mission Road) so we continued 30 miles extra to Cuba, NM, R on US 550 S another extra 20 miles before Ron found a Dollar Tree and on to L on I-25 N to Cerrillos Road into Santa Fe and the Hilton Doubletree.  After we turned onto US 550 in Cuba, Ron was looking for any safe place to pull over to feed Cynthia a Fiber D'lish bar, not knowing that she was overheated, but once we stopped at the Dollar Tree half an hour later, Cynthia was overheated, woozy and disoriented.  She refused the Fiber D'lish, used the bathroom, drank some water and felt feeble.  We resumed riding, and as the water re-hydrated her, Cynthia began to feel much better so that she was good to go to the hotel by the time we arrived in Bernallio.  For an early dinner that afternoon at the hotel, Cynthia celebrated survival with a glass of wine!  While en route to Wally World for groceries, Ron stopped at Santa Fe BMW to get an appointment for a diagnosis for ten-thirty AM tomorrow.  

23 Jun:  Today's plan is to check out as early as possible (for us) and hit the Indian highways towards Santa Fe.  Wish us luck. 11:14 AM, we are packed and checking out. The forecast is a high of 88 at Flagstaff and 94 at Gallup, NM on our five to six-hour ride.  The Indian highways have usually very light traffic and today was no exception.  I recall one gas station between Flagstaff and Gallup, to use a restroom.  We won’t need to fill the gas tank until we reach Gallup.  We did exactly that and arrived by 7:39 PM. The views riding across the reservations are amazing.  Wynn, the Indian highways show up on Google but not on US roadmaps.  Arizona 64 S from Tusayan to US 180 E to Flagstaff, L on Forest Ave becomes Cedar becomes Lockett to R on N. Fanning (2 blocks) to L on US 89 N/E to R on Townsend-Winona Road to L on Leupp Road aka Indian Route 15 to Indian Wells (80 miles), L on AZ 77 (3 miles) to R on Indian Route 15 to Burnside, R on US 191 to AZ 264 through Window Rock to US 491 S into Gallup, R on W. Mahoney to the HGI at the I-40 interchange.

22 Jun:  Up, exercised, fed, and preparing to hike while also preparing to recycle to go.  We saw an elk as we rode into the park, first elk in three days.  It was HOT, so we took a short walk through the woods from the Village Market to the Rim Trail and returned when we came to the "Greenway" that doesn't show on Cynthia's phone GPS.  Not a very industrious day for hiking, but we both felt that the heat necessitated a bit more caution, given the last couple of days.  For once, by bedtime, Ron is nearly all packed and ready for tomorrow.  The motorcycle is still stuttering, but there is no dealer within 200 miles, so we will hope for the best and ride 500 miles to Santa Fe.

21 Jun:  Tomorrow.  We wonder how Cynthia will feel after yesterday's hike.  She said she feels great but is taking a day of rest with the DNA Painter.  And how will Ron feel after hiking three miles down into the Grand Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail?  He felt great after hiking down and great again at the 1 1/2 mile mark coming back up, but soon after resuming uphill he hit the wall and was progressively wearier despite following a beautiful young female athlete, heptathlete Lauren Doll.  Lauren had hiked down to the three-mile rest stop with her mother, who turned around there while Lauren continued down to Indian Gardens with another few people they had met hiking.  She came up to the three-mile rest stop and water station just after Ron and left just 5 seconds ahead of him.  Ron had no problem keeping up with her pace for that first mile and a half, and she was quite surprised that he could keep up.  Imagine that Ron was able to talk uphill the entire time following a fast-moving female !!  At the 1 1/2 mile rest and water stop, Lauren noticed three mountain sheep on a rocky precipice.  They were hard to see and to identify there, but shortly above that stop, Lauren pointed them out again, and it was easy to see that they were mountain sheep, not goats.  Ron's legs began to tire significantly after another half mile uphill and his pace began to slow.  Fortunately, that area of the trail demands that one stop to look at the scenery every hundred yards or two, or at least that is what Ron told Lauren.  About a half-mile from the rim we stopped to visit for 10 minutes with Lauren's mother, another lovely lady.  Ron recovered completely and was able to resume hiking rapidly uphill.  Now, however, after sitting in the room and eating a meal, he may never be able to move again.  The statistics were 1 hour and 30 minutes down to the 3-mile rest stop versus 2 hours back up to the rim.

20 Jun:  Ron awoke at 5:30, well-rested, and was unable to get back to sleep.  We are up, exercised, pilled, and preparing for our day of hiking.  Ron is realizing that departure is only three days away and he had better begin by taking recycling elsewhere.  We hiked 4.5 miles to The Abyss and encountered two delightful, young, hopeful and bright, actresses and their marvelous dad.  Ron will expound on this terrific family after eating.  Unfortunately, Ron's forgettory is much better than his memory, so he remembers that the father's name was Rob and the younger daughter was Lisa, but he cannot remember the name (Allie?) of the 20-year-old dyslexic math and science whiz who intends to go to MIT after beginning for a couple of years at Cornell.  Agreed that the entire family was delightful and the kids DNA is going to be quite a thorough mixture, dad being half Kenyan and mom being half Chinese.  Cynthia had not felt well early AM, and then became nauseous at the Abyss with a headache and threw up.  She rode back to Canyon Village in an ambulance, after being fully checked by paramedics.  Her blood sugar was elevated, suggesting dehydration.   Ron was freed to hike back to Canyon Village at an aerobic pace.  The motorcycle has started "stuttering" at times, suggesting an ignition problem such as a bad coil.

19 Jun:  And we hiked close to seven miles today on a mule trail along the south rim, east of the South Kaibab Trail, and we met a lovely family with friends in a delightful picnic area.  We saw one mule deer and one elk.  Ron has been curious about the number of deaths in nursing homes and Forbes published an article saying that at least 42% of all deaths occurred in nursing home populations (click here.)  In some states that figure was 70% of all reported deaths.  Once we arrived home, we both fell asleep over our computers.  The hotel WiFi is abysmal; Cynthia is very frustrated by the internet, trying unsuccessfully to work on several projects.  Ron posted 2020_March_annual_letter to his website and wrote another letter informing Santa Fe friends that we expect to be arriving there on June 24th.  Cynthia immediately booked a room at the Doubletree because their rates are within our price range, thanks to lower tourism this year.  Since it is a Hilton property, they will allow us to cancel daily up to 24 hours before the reservation.

18 Jun:  And our room in the Red Feather Lodge is now entirely freshly cleaned and sanitized.  (The hotel has suspended housekeeping for "stay-over" guests due to coronavirus concerns.)  Our housekeeper looked to be Navajo, and yesterday Shannon said that coronavirus is affecting the Navajos so severely because the young folks go off the reservation and bring coronavirus back to their multi-generational homes.  So perhaps the key to the much greater impact of coronavirus on ethnic populations is as simple as their preference for multi-generational living, a preference that provides desirable benefits to all - except during coronavirus.  We got out of the room and off to hike at 2:30, so by 4:30 Cynthia was ready to turn around, and Ron offered to agree if she would "let" him hike down the Bright Angel Trail for a half an hour.  At 5:25 I started rapidly downhill and enjoyed conversation with a young female park ranger whose mission suddenly appeared in the form of a very tired and overweight couple who needed help to get to the rim.  When first I thought that perhaps half an hour had passed, only 15 minutes had elapsed.  I thought my cell phone had lost signal and stopped keeping time, so I asked another person; only 15 minutes - WOW.  At 5:55 I stopped to zip off my pants legs, remove my shirt and hat, and drink a cup of water.  Then I hiked rapidly uphill, breathing hard for 33 minutes to return to the rim by 6:33.  My opinion is that this 73-year-old is in pretty good condition.  In another few days, I might be tempted to go down for an hour.  The Canyon is so awesome, and the descent provides another dimension to its impressiveness.  Amusing to enjoy getting "up close and personal" with rocks.  While riding "home" today we saw three mule deer, one was a little guy with velvet-covered antlers, two elk "kissing," and four free-range horses.  Pill alarm has rung; time for bed.

17 Jun:  We did ride to Williams, AZ, and arrived at 10:30.  The wind was terrible and there was a lot of traffic headed north, so the Grand Canyon is getting busier.  Cynthia did get her document notarized and mailed ASAP.  We did save money on groceries, but the gas was still $3.29 per gallon for premium.  Ouch, no savings there.  After returning by 3 PM, we didn't hike very far, despite good intentions.  Instead, we sat on the first convenient shady rocks after the steep uphill beyond the Hermit's Rest shuttle bus terminal.  Before our breathing was back to normal, a lovely young female asked if we went to MIT.  (We were both wearing MIT ball caps.)  Katherine graduated from MIT in materials science in 1998.  She is a substitute teacher for the school at Grand Canyon Village, which boasts about 300 students total enrollment.  The other young lovely was Shannon, a Navajo who works for Xanterra in the Canyon.  They both love the Canyon and enjoy living in a place that makes hiking as easy as walking.  We had a delightful conversation with these two for nearly two hours !!  We covered a whole range of subjects, and Ron told several of his favorite stories.  (One has to wonder how many stories he could tell if his memory were better.)  Katherine's husband, Steve, is an overachiever athlete who has run to the river and back in slightly over 3 hours and has run rim-to-rim-to-rim (42 miles) in a comparably short time.  Cynthia was curious to know how Shannon had escaped from becoming another typical reservation "statistic," and Shannon gave entire credit to her coach.  Both girls played basketball in school, but they haven't played a game since meeting each other.  These two delightful mothers made our day.  Our evening afterward was short and sleep was very welcome.

16 Jun:  Did we sleep well or not?  We did sleep well, woke up late, and were out the door to hike at 1 PM.  We parked in a different spot in the same picnic lot close to the Yaki Point Road and were astonished to see Alex and his son again at the parking lot.  They had quite the adventure, hiking to the river before the son started experiencing cramps on the return.  They slept out along the trail at times and had just emerged when we parked.  Both were euphoric on their achievement.  Cynthia and I again walked through the woods on a well-worn path to the South Kaibab Trail.  Then we followed the rim trail for a couple of miles to Mather Point and beyond before returning.  Fortunately, it was a "cool" and windy day, so we enjoyed a great hike and met a new teacher, 30-year-old Will from Georgia who teaches 3rd grade and loves it.  His first six months were in an Atlanta ghetto school and that was trying.  Four of sixteen kids were willing to learn; the rest were constantly behaving badly.  Will agreed with Ron's perplexity about the rioting ghetto folks who refuse to educate themselves to qualify for better jobs and who waste government money on liquor and drugs while neglecting their children for whom that government money is nominally intended.  Then they riot and loot and burn all the businesses that provided jobs.  It is a really messed up system that pays people to raise large families of neglected children who refuse education and refuse to behave.  After our hike, we resupplied at the grocery store and saw two elk as we left the park and three big bucks in a lot across from the hotel.  8:28 now, we are preparing for bed early tonight.  Amazing, tonight I found a no-nonsense article from the Boston Globe about the correlation between overweight and coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths (click here.)

15 Jun: let's hope for a good night's sleep.  Exercised, oatmealed, and we were off to the South Kaibab Trail.  Parking was limited, and parking in the shade was almost non-existent.  Creative genius Ron parked across the front of the cars, but still within the parking area.  Getting out again was a challenge, but he did it.  We met a delightful newly-wed couple, Mark and Cindy Lou Who, from Phoenix, plus a couple more folks interested in Ron’s adventure stories about previous hikes before we started down the trail.  We stepped aside for a couple of younger guys to pass us, and instead, Ron fell into rapt conversation with Alex, the father.  Cynthia could not keep up the pace and turned back after 15 minutes while Ron continued hiking rapidly downhill with Alex and son for another thirty minutes or more.  Neither of us had trouble with the return.  Ron was delighted to discover that his legs and breathing were normal for his entire rapid uphill return.  Apparently, he has acclimated to the altitude here (7,000 feet.)  When it is cooler, we will try it again.  Maybe we won’t park the bike in the same place.  After a lovely salmon dinner at the Grand Hotel across the street, Ron became fascinated by Sistah Carol's multi-colored chromosome chart from DNA Painter until 10 PM.  Differently colored segments indicate DNA from different great grandparent couples.  All this through analysis of cousins who match, some of whom know their ancestry too.  About 1/4 of Ron's DNA is already mapped to specific ancestral couples.  Sistah Carol is pretty amazing (even if she did abuse poor little brother Ronnie when they were younger.)

14 Jun, Sunday:  Sunday was mere minutes away when Ron realized that he had better get to bed ASAP ... except it didn’t happen until two-thirty AM.  We are so slow-moving and groggy today.  It is nearly noon, and Ron still hasn’t eaten breakfast.  Well, those two cousins that he e-mailed last night sent new messages, and Ron felt compelled to reply again.  We finally exited the room after three PM.  We went for a short hike that turned into a fascinating five-mile hike because we met a lovely young couple.  Julianna was wearing a shirt with a Montgomery County, Texas Logo.  How much fun we had walking the Timeline Trail with them back to their car.  After returning to our motorcycle and buying a fresh supply of carrots, etc., we exited the park, scanning the forests for elk.  We have been seeing one or several every day, and today was no exception.  Two elk were grazing the shoulders of the road as we passed the entrance station.  Our hotel and the park seem a bit busier today.  Perhaps our secret about the Park being vacant is getting out.

13 Jun:  Another slow start to our morning.  Another day without the usual crowds at the Grand Canyon.  After mandatory exercises and oatmeal, Ron mended underwear briefly (pun intended) and recovered this June blog that Cynthia accidentally deleted.  Now we are prepared to go hiking, and Cynthia agrees that Hermit's Rest is an appropriate direction for today.  That asphalt pathway is rough and uneven, which seems better for Cynthia's osteo-athritic feet.  She is quite amazed that taking MSM stops arthritic pain.  We successfully hiked 8.1 miles, roundtrip, reaching the Mohave Point on the Rim Trail.  Beyond Hopi Point, the rim trail becomes a nice, smooth rock and sandy gravel trail, an entirely different, natural experience compared to the asphalt pathway previous to Hopi.  The Canyon is indescribable; the color changes as light and shadows move and reflect on the mountains.  How fun to see Gwen Frost again, and today she wore a found gown!  Dinner tonight was a baked potato and sweet corn at the Yippee-Ei-O Steakhouse; we won’t return. And again Ron is up too late, this time researching the Watts riots to find out if the Watts neighborhood ever recovered.  The answer appears to be no, things are about the same or worse.

Jean Francois' newest home (Ron & Cynthia in foreground

Ron & Cynthia - photo credit to Jean Francois

12 Jun:  Today we exercised, oatmealed, and again rode east to Navajo Point.  Forecast was for a hot day, but instead, it was pleasant, windy, and warm.  We parked and retraced our steps eastward, following a sketchy trail that bypassed the barricade on the road.  Ron suddenly realized that the Desert View Watchtower (click here) was closed to traffic, but nothing had been said about foot traffic, so we walked the 1.5 miles there and back.  Ron has been saying all week that the news, media, and press is not reporting the news you can use, meaning that the Grand Canyon National Park is nearly vacant.  Most of the time it feels like we have the Park entirely to ourselves.  Well, at Desert Watchtower, that was literally true; we saw absolutely no one and no sign of anyone for an entire hour.  We stopped again at Lipon Point and fell into a delightful conversation with the one other couple who had parked their painted bus and traveling home there.  After we returned to our Red Feather room, Cynthia exclaimed, "Jean Francois is famous !!"  Our new friends are indeed noteworthy.  You can read all about him on extremeart.com (click here.)  And Rachel is a dream come true for him, exactly as Cynthia is for me.

The Smooches at Grand Canyon

Is my hair really THAT white now?

Ron and Cynthia at the Hopi Point in the Grand Canyon

11 Jun:  We had a marvelous day hiking the paved rim trail to Hopi Point where the photo was taken (left.)  (The many videos that Cynthia has been taking cannot be uploaded to the blog.  The Red Feather Wi-Fi is even slow uploading simple photos to the blog.)  We met a delightful young woman named Gwen Frost, a poet from Portland and an adventurous young woman who is traveling by herself.  She has published a book, Somewhere Between the Stem and the Fruit, a must-read.  Gwen was bicycling out towards Hermit's Rest and found it hard to tear herself away from our conversation.

10 June:  At the Grand Canyon, oatmeal made in the microwave works since there are very few restaurants open.  After hiking along the east rim, Ron ventured down the very steep Grandview Trail towards Horseshoe Mesa just long enough to get winded on the return.  Cynthia stopped short of any real descent.  Ron loves telling people about his first experience hiking on this trail in the 1970s.  We crammed lots of fresh veggies and fresh fruit into the room refrigerator.  The Canyon Village Market in the National Park is better stocked and less expensive than the Tusayan General Store.   Strange to have a warm day immediately after such a cold yesterday.  We are also enjoying seeing the same blooming cacti that we learned to love in Sedona.

9 Jun:  Breakfast at the Best Western cost $60 for two omelets and a bowl of fruit.  Now broke and well-fed, we are off on the motorcycle (fully bundled against 60-degree temperatures) to the Grand Canyon for sightseeing, hiking, and groceries.  Our first Grand Canyon experience was riding the road out to Navaho Point near the east entrance to the Park.  There was wonderfully little traffic and no Park Rangers en route, so Ron had a fun time with all the twisties.  Navaho Point overwhelmed Cynthia with colors and textures, a multitude of shades of red, rose and green laid down on a patchwork canvas of immense size and depths.  Towards six PM, we rode within 10 feet of an elk as we left Grand Canyon Village en route to shop for groceries at the Canyon Village Market.  Life is grand !!

8 June:  What a day!  Yuk, our lodging for this evening canceled because they don’t have their restaurant open yet.  Cynthia quickly found another hotel twenty-five miles closer for only ten dollars more a night.  The trip to the Grand Canyon started poorly with a stop-and-go traffic jam on I-17 in the middle of nowhere (due to a brush fire) for 3 miles before we could exit at Black Canyon City.  Ron discovered a parallel road heading north which appeared to bypass most of the stopped traffic - - - until we encountered the Deputy County Sheriff standing in the middle of the road who told us that the fire was at that next entrance ramp, so it was now closed.  We returned to the Rock Springs Cafe and enjoyed a great southwestern salad.  By the time we were ready to leave Ron decided to return to chat with the deputy again, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that entrance ramp now open, whereby we avoided twenty minutes of very slow traffic.  We had much cool temperatures for the remainder of our ride to the Grand Canyon.  And then the wind whipped up strong with cold blustery blasts necessitating jackets.  Today Flagstaff really seemed to be the coldest place in the US of A.  We ate a hearty breakfast type dinner at Denny's and thereafter hooked up Cynthia’s heated gear.  With the sun blinding our eyes, we ventured forth once again northward and westward.  Highlights of that Arizona highway 80 were seeing a large mule deer cross the road ahead of us, and he was still standing in the forest nearby when we passed by.  Even more fun was to see an ungainly moose galloping across the road.  Ron didn't watch da Moose as well as he could have because he was alert for others following him.  We arrived in Tusayan close to dark, both cold and tired.  Our hotel has a 20% occupancy rate. 

7 Jun, Sunday:  The Smooches Reunited.  Whoopie !!  Cynthia’s flight to PHX was delayed an hour in departure.  Ron had time to arrange a few delights in the room to welcome his beloved WeeFee home.

Da Beautiful WeeFee all dressed up

Paul, Jon, Rox, and Julie surrounding Mom

Mom & Julie

6 Jun:  Ron again spent the day mending up at the top of Mt. Lemmon, and amused himself for another hour hiking around the summit trails and down hill for quite a way.  Upon the return, he realized that he is no longer in the kind of shape it takes to hike at those altitudes easily.

Cynthia had dinner with her children, and a fine time was had by all.  (The pictures tell the story.)  

Adam, Samantha, Cynthia, Jon and Steven at the Yacht Club

5 June: Friday, Cynthia boogied to the CPA in Hempstead to pick up bank records.  Dinner tonight with Jon, Tina, and Grandchildren Steven, Samantha and Adam. 

4 Jun:  Again Ron did not sleep very well.  The pine straw helped, but the night was cold and much windier, so his sleeping gear was inadequate.  Sleep was also hampered by rain.  RAIN in Arizona, who ever woulda guessed.  Well, the elevation was nearly 8,000 feet, so climate is different there.  Ron spent the day with cousin Jim W. in Sierra Vista, AZ.  He does not have access to internet for his computer.  
Cynthia had a doctor appointment and drive to see Sasha for a haircut. 

Great grandmother and baby Blair

3 Jun:  Ron slept on Mount Bigelow near a University of Arizona observatory last night, but the foam pad wasn't soft enough to allow a sound sleep.  Once he awoke and began exploring, Ron discovered that his camping spot was 100 yards downhill from the observatory at the entrance to Bigelow Road.  He could have saved all that stressful gravel road riding by parking ASAP.  He also hiked to the top of Mt. Bigelow to see the communications antennas there.  Soon he was joined in his camping spot by a kindred spirit in David, a computer whiz and entrepreneur who is looking to change his life similarly to the way Ron has previously lived his life.  We had fine, fun conversation until David's father showed up on a bicycle from Tucson.  Ron then moved his camp to a new location with some pine straw for better padding.
Cynthia, in Texas at Jon and Tina’s house, tossed and turned.  We sleep better together.  Cynthia had an appointment with Bambi, followed by lunch with granddaughters and new baby Blaire, plus a trip to the pharmacy and the audiologist. 


2 Jun:  After breakfast at IHOP, the hotel shuttle ferried Cynthia to the airport, where she took off on two wings and a prayer to Houston town.  Sneaky Ron accompanied her on the shuttle, then put a lovely card into the mail, hoping that it would arrive while she was at her son Jon's house in Montgomery, TX.  He then rode south in 105+ degree temperatures (crazy at this time of year) to Mount Lemmon northeast of Tucson.  En route he planned to stop at Walmart and buy a sleeping bag and foam pad, perhaps a tent.  He found a Walmart north of Tucson and spent $30 on sleeping bag, foam pad and liner, but the tent was too expensive.  The bonus was discovering a Whole Foods where he bought veggies for dinner and for the next two days.  Once he arrived at Mt. Bigelow Road, a dirt road, Ron gingerly maneuvered his huge motorcycle up hill and down and around a few corners until he found a less occupied area and a nice wide parking spot.  Then he walked up a steep hill to find a nice level camping spot, home for the night.  By the time he had hung his "bear bag" it was dark enough to go to sleep.  The plan is to ride further south to Sierra Vista, AZ on Thursday to visit cousin Jim W.  The media has done a terrific job of making everyone paranoid, so that, even though we are among the healthiest people on the planet, most people are too paranoid to see us face to face. 

1 Jun:  The news of continuing mass looting and pillaging, masquerading as "justifiable" black rioting, caused sleeplessness and anger.  Ron is convinced that most of these stores will never reopen and that blighted area will just become more urban ghettos.  How can everyone be so stupid from the "rioters" aka looters to the mayors who told the police to allow them to "express their anger" without using force to stop them?  This is a very disturbing precedent.  It is Ron's guess that those emboldened "rioters" will next be looting private residences.  No problem as long as they leave the mayor's home alone.  After packing up we headed out on two wheels to Phoenix, arriving in 106 degree temperatures.  Our favorite restaurant, Ruby Tuesday, was not open so we munched on spinach, carrots, and popcorn until the hotel shuttle whisked us to IHOP for omelets.  

After SCLC initiated its Chicago Campaign that fall, Martin Luther King asked an audience there: “What did Watts accomplish but the death of thirty-four Negroes and injury to thousands more?  What did it profit the Negro to burn down the stores and factories in which he sought employment?  The way of riots is not a way of progress, but a blind ally of death and destruction which wreaks its havoc hardest against the rioters themselves” (King, 12 March 1966).

May, our annibersary

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.

Happy new homeowners

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.

Some of the prickly pear cacti are
blooming profusely.

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?

Teacup Trail overlook

Yes, the colors are that spectacular !!

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.

after (next morning)

22 May:  And we hiked again, a more strenuous day over the Chimney Rock Pass before we split up.  Cynthia took the low road, and Ron took the Thunder Mountain Trail, whereupon he re-learned that it is very strenuous and the exposure that Cynthia remembers vividly is indeed significant.  Now we are again worn out with aching body parts.  Ain't life wonderful?  Following our evening hike, Cynthia's Apple watch totaled almost ten miles for today.  Ron is such a good boy; today he focused on projects oriented towards being ready to leave on June 1st.  Wish us luck with that.

before (evening)

21 May:  After hiking five miles to the summit of Sugar Loaf Mountain, The Smooch Family (us) went to market.  This was one of the Very, Very Rare Occasions Cynthia has gone into a store since quarantine began, first to Staples where they couldn’t find her order (because it was already printed), then to UPS to use their Notary and to mail packages, and then to Clarke’s in Oak Creek Village for frozen mango, blueberries and raspberries.  Clark's sells single rolls of TP - no multi roll TP packages.  After returning to Safeway in Sedona, Ron found a 12 pack of TP at Safeway Market.  YAY for Ron!  Yay for us having an outing.  An exhausted Cynthia was in bed by nine-thirty PM.

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.

Sistah Carol with her newest acquisition.

Photo taken in British Columbia in 1986.
Mom wanted a studio portrait of Ron

12 May:  Hooray, hooray for the 12th of May and Ron's birthday, which means it's also our annibersary.  Happy us!  Amen.  And it has been a good ride.  Cynthia relayed dozens (if not hundreds) of birthday wishes to Ron from her Facebook friends this morning after exercises.  (Ron is still one of those benighted souls who doesn't do Facebook.)  But enough of this morning message, it is time to put on sunblock and head out the door to hike.  More later.  After these 9 years of marriage, it finally dawns on me that Cynthia has never given up being a cheerleader.  She arranged for her thousands upon thousands of friends on Facebook to send me birthday greetings.  Ron has now experienced the largest virtual birthday party ever known to mankind.

Cynthia's thought for the day - good for a life time.

11 May:  Exercised, oatmealed, and out the door by 10:45.  Well, we had planned to be hiking early, but we are such slow movers in the morning.  The temperature was very warm, but we had a nice breeze at times for a very arduous hike from home around the Chimney Rock Loop.  Ron had an interesting thought that perhaps literally millions of Americans would give anything to be in the shape that Cynthia and I are in at our ages ... but they refuse to give up their fattening diets or exercise.  I.e. they'd  give  anything ... except effort.   We are committed to lending our strength to achieve good health. 

Ryan, Rachel and baby Blaire

10 May:  Happy Mother's Day !!  Ron and Cynthia awoke to a day with a cooler forecast, so we were out of the door to hike at 11 AM and it was/ was not hot.(to be concluded later).  It was too hot, but we persevered and hiked down the Teacup Trail past the scary rock ledges that set off Cynthia's exposure terror.  On the way back she just motored across those ledges as if they were the hallway to the bathroom inside the house.  Cynthia is enjoying a new bouquet of fleurs, oodles of texts, and emails overflowing with love; it is a challenge not to see children on Mother's Day.  The laundry is almost completed, we are showered, and Ron is sporting a new haircut for the second time this year.  Today is our granddaughter Rachel’s first Mother’s Day. Yay! 

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. 

SmoochSmooch, I love you

2 May:  Thank goodness that Cynthia opened a new post for May; Ron was thinking of entitling it, "How did May get here so soon?"  When we opened the front door to go hiking, aha!  Cynthia discovered the roses Ron put down last night so he could sneak them in to surprise her when she wasn’t looking.  When he couldn't sneak them past her in the first fifteen minutes, he entirely forgot about them.  Oops.
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