We woke up late today...9:30! Kim wasn’t feeling so good last night so the
extra sleep was probably necessary…I have no excuse. Kim was feeling good so we got right on the
walking...my phone was reading 68o and even though it was cloudy sunglasses were still good idea. Filled the water bottle and set it on Zeus
while I switched my glasses for my sunglasses. Started on our walk video chatting with our
buddy Jeff Glasscock and about a ½ mile into the walk I realized I’d forgotten to
grab the water bottle. Too bad, I’m not
going back for it! It was tolerable on
our way out as there was a slight breeze coming at us; however on the way back
the sun peeked out a time or two and the breeze was non-existent. At that point I was sorry that I hadn’t gone
back for the water…lesson learned the hot and sweaty way. We didn’t set any speed records today…took
about an hour and a quarter of straight walking…no stopping to look at things
along the way. I got slightly more than
7600 steps for my efforts. There is more
walking to be done today to get my fireworks.
(Got my 10,000 steps and fireworks at about 7 pm.)
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The campground roads are gravel/dirt and
there was a fair amount of dust blowing by today as I sat under the tree. A person has to get used to dust out here. We’ve been amazed by the dust devils out in
the fields and a time or two have encountered a minor dust storm while out on
the bikes. There are signs along the
highway indicating what to do in the event that a dust storm moves across the
landscape. The signs make those dust
storms sound intense and we’ve never been involved in one of those. Mostly for us it’s just a small breeze coming
through camp coating everything in its way with a fine coating of dust,
including me. So put the dust on top of
a little bit of sweat and sunscreen and the result is a tad bit of crusty
feeling. Shower tonight felt sooo good! 😃
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Freddie and Flossie are garnering a lot of
attention…if we’re outside people walking their dogs stop by to comment on our
little display. Last night I walked
outside to see if the solar lights were on yet.
OMGoodness! I was amazed at how
bright that area is with those 4 solar lights reflecting off our white trailer.
I think it’s a good thing that there’s
nobody camping out in front of us and I’m surprised they haven’t caused an
issue for Kim’s imaging. It’s our own
little source of light pollution.
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I was sitting in the trailer last night with
the door open letting the breeze in and movement by the door caught my
attention. I could see the tip of a tail
disappearing under our trailer. I am not
an especially brave person when it comes to wandering around in the dark but I
grabbed the flashlight to check it out.
I really thought it was Annie, the neighbor’s dog, on the loose
again. Surprised to see a cat sitting
under our trailer. Well, okay, a cat
seemed non-threatening enough but I closed the door anyway. Didn’t want any four legged company. And then this morning I had a little dream
that the darn cat started leaving dead rodents on our step stool outside the
door. No…not going to put up with that.
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The day remained cloudy and warm, no rain in
sight, so we jumped on the bikes. Needed
some grocery items so we reversed the ride I did the other day…starting on Park
Link Rd, turning on the Tom Mix Highway and ending up at the Safeway in
Coolidge. The sky got a bit cloudier and
the air a bit cooler but still no rain, which was a good thing since we took
the rain gear out of the saddlebags to make room for groceries. Didn’t go to Coolidge by way of Florence…this
time we turned on a road that was a more direct route into Coolidge. Saw it on the map, it looked like a decent
road so we went for it. As soon as we
turned there was a moment of déjà vu…yeah, we’d taken Cactus Forest Road before.
Just didn’t realize it from looking at the map.
It cut out a few miles of highway from Florence to Coolidge and indeed,
it was a decent riding road. Stopped at
Safeway and then headed in the direction of camp; however, first we stopped at
Tag’s Café in Coolidge for a tasty burger to top off the day…even thought we’d
just bought groceries. 😏
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Stopped at the Tom Mix Memorial, skimmed
over the information and actually signed the guest book today. As we were sitting there I noticed movement…a
rabbit came into view but it wasn’t like any rabbit we have back home. This one has long legs and long sort of
translucent ears…it was big, almost like a small dog…and it didn’t hop, it sort
of ran. It was on the move so while I was
trying to get a picture, Kim pulled out his phone to find out exactly what we
were looking at. Thought it was a jackrabbit but it looked larger
than the jackrabbits we saw in Marathon, TX.
Turns out we were looking at an antelope
jackrabbit. Huh! Wanting to know more I dug a little deeper.
Found this information on an Arizona State
University page…it was compiled by Jennifer Arellano, who was pursuing a degree
in elementary education. I also used a
picture off that page since I didn’t get one of my own.
WHO AM I
HOW DO I LOOK
I’m one of the largest hares in North America. I have long,
white, skinny ears that help me listen to dangerous predators. I also have big
eyes that are placed on the upper part of my head. This allows me to see
predators coming from all directions. Another thing about me is that I have
large feet which allows me to quickly run in zigs and zags from predators.
FUN FACT ABOUT ME
I technically don’t
drink water; the water I drink comes from the tasty plants that I eat. I’m also
considered nocturnal because I like to go out and look for food in the
afternoon when the sun isn’t as hot.
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Found this
on animalsake.com:
The name jackrabbit is said to be derived from the large size
of their ears. According to the locals, the large ears of these mammals
resemble donkey ears. So, the early settlers called this animal jackass rabbit,
which was later shortened to jackrabbit. In short, a jackrabbit is a hare with
large ears and long hind legs. They are larger in size, as compared to rabbits
and make their nests above the ground.
Being a hare, antelope jackrabbits have large ears
and long hind legs. The ears of an adult can be as long as eight inches.
Whitish in color, the ears are almost devoid of hair. However, the upper edges
of the ears have white hair and so the ear tips appear whitish. This is
uncommon in most hares, which are found with blackish ear tips. These
animals have a sandy coat with whitish or grayish flanks and underside. Their
body length may range from 18 to 25 inches and they may grow to a weight of
around 3 to 5 kilograms (7 to 10 lbs). While, the length of the front legs may
range from 4 to 8 inches, in case of hind legs, it is around 8 to 12 inches.
The tail of antelope jackrabbits are found to have a blackish color on the
dorsal side.
I feel very lucky that we got a
glimpse of one today. 👍
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Kim switched out his telescope tonight…put the bigger one on. High thin clouds are playing games with him,
though…he wasn’t able to get an alignment so no imaging tonight.
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Today’s miles: 92
Total miles: 484
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