Haven’t seen Larry the Lizard for a couple of
days…hope everything is okay.
----------
Took
a morning bicycle ride today. There was
a slight wind that made me glad I put on an extra shirt but sorry I had worn
shorts. My legs eventually warmed up but
it was a rough start. There are houses
across the road from the camp and then after about ½ mile, we run out of houses
and the road has desert landscape on both sides of the road…with the pecan
grove thrown in for scenic variety. Several
of the houses have fenced in dog runs…and I’m very glad for that based on how a
couple of those dogs bark and run along the fence as we pass. Today as I’m trying to get my rhythm going
against the wind, two little dogs come running out from one yard, yapping like
crazy. One was a Chihuahua and the other
was similar sized and hairy. Suddenly I
was involved in a different kind of chihuahua race than I watched yesterday. Instinct took over when I heard the barking, as
I was suddenly putting some extra energy
into pedaling without even thinking about it. They were formidable foes but I’m
pleased to say that I won. Both times… 😉
----------
Attendance in church was up to 35 people today. First, we spent time greeting one another as
we wandered around the room, then we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to a teenager who seemed
both pleased and mortified at the attention, and finally we watched as an
older couple renewed their wedding vows. They have been attending while they
winter in the area and today was their 10th anniversary; they wanted
to renew their vows in front of this little congregation that has come to mean
a lot to them. Then the pastor continued
his series on the book of Ruth. Four
little chapters full of some interesting allegory. Oh, and the church’s name is The Baptist
Church of Picacho.
----------
We’ve
been trying to eat in camp more on this trip than our past trips…it’s cheaper
and easier to control what and how much we eat. It definitely has its limits,
though, because we only have a cooler, not the convenience of a fridge. But we’ve been making it work. Today Kim requested that after church we go
out to eat somewhere to get some real food…and by that he meant a good chef
salad. There are no restaurants in the
immediate vicinity; however, we do know that Tap’s Café in Coolidge has good
food. It’s about 18 miles away…nice
afternoon for a ride so we take the bikes.
Both of us enjoyed our salads and talked about where to ride next.
----------
 |
| Kim's decorating scheme... |
We’ve
been decorating the inside of the trailer…stickers of places we’ve been are up
on the ceiling and posters are on the walls.
Kim’s side of the room has astronomy posters, one of which was a picture
he took this year and made into an 11x14 poster. My side of the room is more about the
motorcycle side of our trips. I made the
picture of Kim riding down CA 62 into a poster and put it up next to the poster
from Tombstone purchased last year.
Walgreen’s has been our go-to place to print pictures and posters…it’s fast,
easy and the stores are everywhere. So
today, after lunch and before we left Coolidge, Kim wanted to see about printing
a poster of another of his pictures.
Usually I order pictures online and pick them up or take a thumb drive
to the store. But this was spur of
the moment and the picture was on Kim’s phone. That’s all we had. Can we print from a phone at Walgreen’s? Why, yes...we can! And since it was so easy, while Kim’s poster
was printing I had a little fun with a picture on my phone. He made a poster of the Rosette Nebula
picture he took a couple of nights ago and I made a poster of my Peter Pan impersonation
up on the tractor tire. It’s not so much
the picture as the memory that prompted me to pick that one. Kim wishes he had gotten a picture of me
trying to get down…I say it’s a good thing he didn’t. 😏
 |
| My side of the trailer... |
----------
We had
eaten a late lunch and then it took longer at Walgreen’s than we anticipated so
we put our ride plans on hold until tomorrow and instead decided to go
exploring in the truck. We headed out to
the Bajada Loop in Saguaro West…we knew it was gravel and therefore not a bike
road. And after driving it today, I’m
not sure it’s a truck road either. Oh
goodness, but it was a slow and bouncy ride!
But the setting sun highlighting the landscape helped make up for the
condition of the road. The only thing we
did was drive the loop…didn’t get out to walk any of the trails because the
loop is gated at dusk and we were fighting the clock on that one. So we’ll go back another time because we’d
like to see the petroglyphs.
----------
Things I’ve learned about the saguaro cactus:
*The
saguaro is a common plant in the Sonoran Desert and is not an endangered
species.
*An
adult saguaro is generally considered to be about 125 years of age. It may weigh 6 tons or more and be as tall as 50 feet. The average life span of a saguaro is probably 150 - 175 years of age.
However, biologists believe that some plants may live over 200 years.
*The
spines help to cool the outer skin. The spines also help redirect the wind and
insulate the plant.
*The saguaro is one of many plants in Arizona protected by the Native
Plant Protection Act, and within national park lands, the removal of any plant
is illegal.
*From
the Arizona Cooperative Extension office of the University
of Arizona…Kim McReynolds, Extension Agent...pamphlet AZ1056:
Arizona is home to a wide diversity of
native plants. There are around 3,350 species of flowering plants and ferns
known to be growing without cultivation in the state. Some species are
scattered widely throughout the state, while others occur only locally and are
adapted to particular conditions within a certain habitat zone. What a lot of
people don’t realize is that many of Arizona’s native plants are protected by
law. These protected plants may not be removed from any lands, whether private
or public, without the permission of the land owner and a permit from the
Arizona Department of Agriculture. While land owners do have the right to
remove native plants on their land, there is a process that must be followed.
Protected species notification must be given to the Arizona Department of
Agriculture and a permit must be issued prior to removal.
*The maximum
punishment associated with the destruction of native plants is a class four
felony, according to 3-932 of the Arizona Revised Statutes.
----------
And if you need
extra incentive to not mess with a saguaro, consider this:
Cactus plugging is the practice of vandalizing or destroying a cactus, usually a saguaro, for fun. It is reported that the activity usually involves an inebriated person shooting at a cactus until it falls over.
In 1982, David Grundman was killed while cactus
plugging. After shooting at a saguaro cactus he poked at it to try to make it
fall over and caused an arm of the cactus, weighing 500 pounds (230 kg) to
fall on him. The trunk of the cactus then also fell on him.
----------
Bicycle miles today: 6.1
Bike miles today: 42
No comments:
Post a Comment