Got down in the 40s overnight…warmed up
nicely once the sun made an appearance.
Dark clouds were blowing by and we felt some raindrops but nothing worth
getting excited about. I think the
exciting rain is supposed to roll in overnight and hang around until sometime
tomorrow morning. We've only experienced a
short lived rain once in the 4 years we’ve come out here…and we were in the
truck returning from Mesa when that happened.
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Jeff was into hiking…not just putting on a
pair of hiking shoes and walking across a field kind of hiking. He was into the
getting on the North Country Trail carrying a backpack filled with camping gear
kind of hiking. That was not my
gig. I liked walking but the 30+ lb
backpack was enough to do me in. But he
was able to talk a couple of the kids into joining him. In fact, Zac/Angie and Levi/Amanda did an
overnight hike through the Jordan Valley with him topped off by a canoe trip.
So today, on the 9th anniversary
of Jeff’s death, Kim and I took a hike up/around Picacho Peak as a tribute to him. On the way I asked Kim to tell me something
about Jeff that I didn’t know. He told a
family camping story…Jeff was going to the camp store and getting candy on his
Uncle George’s dime without his mom’s knowledge. There’s more to it but that’s the short
version. And when he mentioned Aunt
Butch laughing at Jeff’s ability to con Uncle George, I could hear Aunt Butch’s
explosive laugh in my mind. 💓
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Jeff wanders through my thoughts every
single day but on March 11, he comes in and hangs around for a spell. I think of how life has moved forward/changed
for our 5 boys and myself since March 11, 2010 and it’s an appropriate mix of sad and
happy:
**Jeff got to see two of our
grandchildren before he died…number 10 is now on the way.
**Jeff got to see our three older
boys get married and while he met Callie as Marshal’s girlfriend, he wasn’t
there for their wedding. Our youngest
son Ezra will be getting married later this year. He never met Ezra’s fiancé Anna but I know
he’d be thrilled about her inclusion in our family unit.
**Four of our boys have become
homeowners.
**Three of our boys live out
of state.
**Two of our boys have earned their
masters degrees.
**I learned to ride a
motorcycle and to tap dance.
**My hair has more gray, my face has more fine
lines/wrinkles and I need to wear glasses all the time.
One thing hasn’t changed
though…Tick still owns the ’05 Chevy Impala that Jeff sold him in 2008. Tick has managed to keep that car running
through the years and to date it has more than 205,000 miles on it. Jeff would be proud!!
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 |
| Our destination is hidden by Kim's hat |
We hiked Calloway Trail today…it’s about 1 ½
miles roundtrip, rises about 400 feet in elevation, and ends about halfway up
the peak on the far side of it. There’s
an overlook with a bench to sit on to admire the view but really it’s an
opportunity to rest up for the hike back down.
It’s considered a ‘moderate’ trail and takes about 1 ½ hours. We came prepared: fanny packs with water bottles, walking
sticks and proper shoes. On the way up
the walking stick kept trying to trip me up but on the way down it was a good support
when picking my way down some of the rocks used as steps.
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Picacho Peak State Park was a very popular
place today. It was good to see lots of people out enjoying the sunshine, moderate temperatures and beautiful wildflowers.There are several trails up
and around on the peaks…from our vantage point we could see the hikers on the
Hunter Trail which is labeled as difficult. Difficult as in gloves are required because there
are cables involved in a couple of almost vertical places. No Thanks!...I'll stick to the moderate trails.
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The
wildflowers that are dotting the landscape are quite an attraction. I admit that they're a colorful addition to
the landscape but cars stop in the lane of traffic so someone
can get out and take a picture. Of course, pulling off the road to park would mean running over the flowers which wouldn't be cool at all...so you do whatcha gotta do. Same in the State
Park. As we were ascending the trail
I looked back and saw a crazy amount of parked cars lining the road through the
park. Flowers…people were taking
pictures of the flowers. Amazed at the
frenzy, I asked Kim if there was anything in Michigan that prompted that kind
of behavior and he promptly said “Tulip Time”.
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During supper it began to rain. It hasn’t been steady…but it sounds like a
medium rain when it's there. Doesn’t seem to be any wind
with it. Hopefully we can time that last
evening stroll to the bathroom to fall between rain showers…otherwise it’s
going to be a mad dash on sore knees.
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The demolition of the overpass near the
campground has started. I described it
as a jackhammer crane….Kim said it was a pneumatic jackhammer on an excavator. Whatever the name, it’s loud and jarring when
it’s in operation. After a full day’s
work all that’s left of the eastbound side is mangled rebar; the westbound demolition
was just being started when we returned from hiking. I watched the process for a few minutes this
morning and the finesse the operator showed in moving the jackhammer around was
quite impressive. This couldn’t have
been his first time behind the controls. I assume there will be more noise and
vibration tomorrow as the westbound side comes down. Or maybe rain will delay it until Wednesday.
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In addition to the sound and vibration of
the nearby jackhammer, the campground was filled with the smell of hot tar as
the roof of the clubhouse was being replaced/repaired due to the damage from
the hail last October. That crew was
gone by the time we returned from hiking so I assume they finished the job.
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Today's miles: 42
Total miles: 774
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