Felicia, one of the owners, stopped by to talk to Kim
today…she doesn’t have any problem with him leaving his telescope set up in the
little corner across the way. So now
that the telescope has been given the green light we can settle in for the next
4 weeks. 👍
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Last year there was major road
construction/reconfiguration happening in the Picacho/Eloy area. It was
difficult to tell what the final result was going to be but a sign outside of
Eloy indicated that it would be finished in Jan. 2019 and I was intrigued to
see the outcome. However, the full reconstruction isn’t done yet…now the sign
says October 2019. 😕
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The construction last year snarled up the
exit ramp (exit 212) near the campground which forced us to go up to the next
exit and come back…not a huge deal as the next exit was 211. But the frontage road we had to take back to
the campground had a 3-way stop intersection that I hated. One of those stop signs was at the end of an
underpass and I just didn’t trust the traffic coming from that direction to see
the stop sign. We came into the
intersection from the direction with no stop sign but I always did a big slow
down if not an actual stop anyway.
The Picacho exit is still closed and
campground traffic still has to use Exit 211 to get here. However, the route over to the frontage road
has been changed and I was delighted to see that we no longer have to deal with
the underpass intersection. In fact, the
eastbound lane of I-10 as well as the underpass has been taken out. Of course the new intersection configuration
is a bit convoluted with a rough road surface but all oncoming traffic is
visible. Yay!!
At
this point in the process it looks like the boys are still just playing with
big boy construction toys…the final outcome still isn’t obvious to me. Eastbound
traffic is currently sharing the lanes of the westbound traffic but I’m sure
that the eastbound lane will eventually be put back where it was. This area is big on frontage roads; however
the frontage road on this side of the highway has a detour due to a section of
it being torn up and while the frontage road on the other side of the highway looks
done and newly resurfaced, we can’t get access to it. Most we could do was look at it from up on
the highway. Just might have to walk
over to see what’s up with it.
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Can’t say we were up early but we did get a
walk in this morning. Clocked it at
about 3 miles in distance and got almost 7500 steps. Took a ride over to Coolidge on the bikes and
I discovered an issue with the Fitbit…it counts steps when I’m riding. Maybe it’s the vibration of the bike? When we left today I had about 8,200 and when
we got back it read almost 20,500. I don’t
think so! Going forward I’m going to
have to remember to take it off when we get on the bikes; that’ll be the only way
to accurately track my steps.
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We’ve heard from several people that this
area has had an unusual amount of rain throughout the fall/winter months and that
as recently as a week ago the lot we’re in was flooded…and that a broken water
pipe in this section just added to the mess.
Well, I’m glad it’s dried up and I’m hoping it stays that way.
Realized on our walk today that not only are
the weeds along the roadside an incredible green but they’re tall, too. Very tall! And the desert ground has a hint of green…sort
of like blond fuzzy baby hair, but green.
The whole area around here is unusually vibrant looking…not the muted desert
drab that we’ve come to expect. I’d say
that’s one of the pleasant side effects of the unusual amount of rainfall.
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Rode to Coolidge today to stock up on
groceries. While riding through town, I
noticed there was a car show on a side street.
We’re always game for something like that so we stopped on the way
back. Well, it wasn’t just a car show,
it was Coolidge Cotton Days. We found us
a small town festival! It had fair rides
that terrified me just watching them spin and twirl, it had all the appropriate
bad for you but you eat it anyway fair food, it had loud music and it had that
one announcer who holds the mic too close to his mouth. It was just the right way to start off our
time in Arizona!! We were looking at the
cars when my attention was caught by a stage, bleachers and music. Curiosity piqued I wandered over. It was a dance recital! How small town cool is that?! Cars forgotten, I plopped my butt on the
bleachers to watch, clap and encourage for the rest of the show. 😎 When the
show was over I saw a food booth offering Indian Tacos and I scurried over to
place my order. Small town fun, for
sure!
 |
| Just some of the cuteness experienced today! |
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Kim set his telescope up when we got back
from Coolidge. As people were walking by
they’d stop to ask about it. He probably
explained his interest in astrophotography to 5 or 6 different people. Earlier it was looking like clouds might be
an issue but he just came in grinning.
And that tells me it’s going good. He is literally a happy camper!!
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The last couple of years when shopping at
the little grocery store in Eloy I would go straight for the ‘little piggy’
cookies. It’s a pig shaped Mexican pastry that looks and tastes like
gingerbread cookie. My Google search of a couple of years ago netted me lots of
recipes but I couldn’t find a site that told me the history of the shape or the
name. The girl behind the bakery counter
wasn’t any help either…her explanation was “That’s just what they’re called”. Last
year I admit my consumption of little piggies got a little out of hand. This year, my mantra on the ride out here was
‘I must resist the piggies…I must resist
the piggies’….meaning, of course, that I should moderate, not deny. 😏
So we go to the store last night and on my
way to find the piggy cookies, I see a new type of Mexican pastry...the package
labels it “Coricos” but I call them donut cookies due to their shape. Coricos are not one of Mexico’s best known pastries, due
perhaps to their regional nature and their simplicity. They are mostly eaten in
the northern states of Sonora and Sinaloa, and consist mostly of instant corn
flour, sugar and lard. They’re only slightly sweet, and their corn flavor is
softened by milk. They could be described as a baked atole.
These simple cookies pair perfectly with a cup of sugary milky coffee.
Considering that the coricos contains lard and the little piggy cookies contain beef tallow, I was thinking that neither cookie is very healthy. Although I was slightly afraid of what I’d
read, I had to google the ‘difference between lard and beef tallow’. This is what I found on kitchenstewardship.com: Tallow is fat
rendered from beef, and lard is from pork.
They are both solid at room temperature and have a very high smoke point, so
they're great for frying. They're also quite healthy.
Although this isn’t as discouraging as I thought it’d be, I
think moderation is still the right way to go.
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Bike miles today: 52
Bike miles today: 52
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