Woke up around the time the birds started making
their presence known…maybe about 7:30. There
are two constant noises here during the day…the birds and the traffic up on US
10. Although we live in the country in
Charlevoix and aren’t exposed to this kind of traffic noise, it’s amazing how
quickly it simply becomes background noise.
The birds quiet down about sundown and the traffic quiets down a bit
later….the sound doesn’t ever go away because this seems to be heavily traveled
by semis but nighttime is quieter than daytime.
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Word is that back home the weather isn’t quite as
nice as we’re experiencing here. On
Wednesday I called my mom who lives near Ludington to find out what her weather
was and…well, I probably bragged a bit about the sunshine and temperatures we
were encountering. As our conversation
came to a close, she wanted to know if I had my sunscreen and reminded me to
wear it. She’s 81 and I’m 57….I guess a
mom doesn’t ever stop being a mom. J
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This KOA has fresh eggs available. I had forgotten that detail but it seems Kim
remembered because I’m told it was the second question he asked when checking
in…“ Got any eggs?” The first question
he asked was if we could be switched to #35 because they had us smack dab in
the middle of the park. Lot #35 was where we were last year and it was an
excellent outer edge location for setting up the scope. Since there was someone
already camping on #35, we couldn’t have that but they did switch us to #32,
which is in the same area on the outer edge.
Good enough! The next day Nancy
(the desk clerk) approached me to say that they had a couple dozen eggs
available and I replied that I’d let Kim know, maybe he’d want some. She then
told me that yes, he did want some, that he had asked about them upon
check-in….and that she had put aside a dozen for us. It’s sort of like being in Charlevoix but with sunshine… J
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After a breakfast of ‘egg in a basket’,
which is a fun way to make eggs and toast, we got ready to take a ride. It was the first time we had the opportunity
to try out our new helmet communicators while riding. They worked great in the house but the house
doesn’t have loud pipes and wind. J Made a couple
of adjustments before riding, then we were ready to use them on the road. They’re Bluetooth and supposed to have a 900
yard range. I lagged back to test
that…don’t know that I was 900 Yards behind Kim but he was having a hard time
seeing me in his mirrors and we were still communicating. Wind noise was a factor today but then the
wind was forceful without being on the bikes.
We experimented and were able to dampen the wind noise by repositioning
my mike. However, when our direction
changed and the wind was coming at us from a different angle, the noise was
unavoidable. Still able to communicate,
just had to repeat what we were saying. As we approached the town of Coolidge,
my speakers started crackling and I thought they were blown because I was
playing my music too loud. While I’m
thinking through where and when I’d be able to get new speakers, I turned the
music down to give the speakers and my ears a break…..but the sound continued. That’s
when I realized that it was the wind crackling through Kim’s mike into my ears….and
that’s when I turned my system off.
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We stopped at the Coolidge Ace Hardware
to get some supplies for Kim’s next modification to trailer life. He wanted to add removable shelves on either
side of the mattress. Safe place to put
our glasses, phones, his sleep machine or whatever. He got to it as soon as we got back and our
trailer now has shelves which we can remove and store in the cabinet when the
bikes are stored in it.
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We had a hard time finding the Ace
Hardware in Coolidge….it’s not a huge town but we couldn’t find it just driving
down the main street. Excellent
opportunity to use the navigation screen on my bike, right? Stopped in a parking lot to plug in what we
wanted because my bike tells me I can’t do that while moving…comforting to know
that Zeus is looking out for my safety. I ran lead because I have the nav
screen….except I didn’t realize until we were moving that the map was too small
to read properly and I couldn’t hear the lady talking to me. Really?! This isn’t very helpful! Stopped in another parking lot to consult
Rapunzel…and I forgot that my mike was on when I was talking back to her about
my confusion on her desired route.
Finally Kim said “Would you turn that off? I can hear you while the lady in my phone is
trying to talk to me.” Oops! Sorry. So Kim leads the way….I see the sign for Ace
but we drive past it because his Rapunzel was bringing us in behind it. Aghhhh!
But we find our way there, buy our goods and then head to Tag’s Café
down the street. When we came out after
lunch the wind was fierce so we both turned our headsets off and moved the
mikes upward. As we’re approaching the
frontage road, we have options: straight
then left to Picacho or veer right to Eloy.
I figure we’re heading back to Picacho so I stay the course as Kim
hesitantly goes right. Too late for me
to correct my route and follow. We both
are at stop signs heading in different directions so I start yelling “Kim, I’m
over here….Kim…Kim!” as he’s searching for me in his mirror. Of course, he doesn’t hear me but eventually
figures it out. Old habits die hard…I’m
yelling across 25 feet through the wind and bike noise when I could have just tapped
a button on the communicator and talked to him…could have done that before we
ever got to that intersection. Good
Grief! (He pulled into the lane for Eloy
because I had mentioned needing gas which I had totally forgotten about.)
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Although the temperature was close to
80o today, the sun never came out in full force. Thin layer of clouds all day long. We got back from our ride and it was time for
Kim to go pick up his telescope. He
called but no answer so off to Tucson he goes…only to get there and find out it
wasn’t done because Frank needs sunshine to collimate the scope and the sun
wasn’t out today. Dang!! But all is not lost as he was able get a
broom for the trailer. Small
consolation, though. L
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While waiting for Kim to return, I
decided to do some reading. Because I
wanted to sit outside in the warmth, I chose to sit in the sort of shade of 3
very broad and tall paddle cactuses. It’s
less strain on the eyes if whatever sunlight there is isn’t glaring off the
page. After a fashion I put my reading
material down and closed my eyes to think on what I’d read. After a few minutes my thoughts strayed and I
became aware of something else….I was neither warm nor chilly, I just was. The temperature around me was neutral. It didn’t last long but for that brief couple
of moments I became one with the weather…it was a very zen moment. Namaste…. J
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Rode 79 miles today.
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