No walk this morning. We had booked a tour for 1 p.m. and had to
leave the camp by 11...even though we had time to get in a walk, I couldn’t
bring myself to do it. Kim didn’t walk
either. Sat under the tree for a bit
then went up to the clubhouse and wrote postcards.
--------------------
Kim went to take a shower while I was at the
clubhouse. I was doing my thing with the
postcards when my phone rang...I could see from caller I.D. that it was Kim. What?? I thought he was in the shower.
Me: “Hello?”
Kim: “You know, the one thing a guy really should think
about when he heads to the shower is a towel.”
Me: “Really?
You forgot a towel?”😃
Kim: “Yes, I forgot a towel.”
Me: “Do you need me to go get one?”
Kim: “Yes, I’m standing here on my dirty clothes,
naked and drip drying. A towel would be
good.”
So it probably took two
minutes for me to walk to camp, get a towel and bring it back to him. I think I would have started using my shirt
as a towel until the real thing arrived.
--------------------
Yesterday
we decided that today we needed to play tourist. We really don’t do a lot of that when we’re
here. Or maybe we did the first couple
of years but not so much now. This year
our time has been spent walking, riding, visiting with friends/family and
imaging at night.
Today’s tourist thing was Colossal Cave
Mountain Park in Vail, AZ. Reserved two
spots on the 1 p.m. tour. We’re about 75
miles away and wanted to take the bikes.
Rapunzel said it would take about an hour and 15 minutes to get there. However,
this was a Kim n Karen ride and we’ve learned to add more time to whatever
Rapunzel indicates....so at least 1 ½ hours, which meant leaving at 11:30. But wait, the email said we should be there
15 minutes early to check-in...better make that 11:15. Okay, let’s just leave at 11 a.m.....that
will leave us plenty of time to
check-in, go to the bathroom and relax before the tour.
Get on the bikes at 11...we need gas so it’s
a good thing we left early. Stopped at
Picacho Peak Plaza...the first gas pump we stopped at wouldn’t take a card...go
to another pump which took the card but wouldn’t dispense the gas. I went
inside to find that the station is out of premium until tomorrow...we could have
gone with mid-grade but by this time Kim is a little peeved so we leave. There are certainly more stations down the
road. Ran into a construction traffic slow down at Marana and basic traffic
congestion in the Tucson area.
We’re about 11 miles from our exit with another
7 miles beyond that to the cave...Flame is showing about 20 miles remaining on
the tank. Must stop at next exit with
gas. Exit 268 has three gas
stations...we stop at the Pilot station.
Well, so did everyone else who got off at that exit...there were waiting
lines for the pumps. Decided to go down to the Circle K, which had tape around
all 8 of its pumps. Well, shit...but hey, there’s the Triple T on
the right hand side. Wait, Kim, you went
too far...Oh, well, just get back on the highway and we’ll find another exit.
Next exit has a Shell station...again all
pumps are taped off and not only that but there is a pile of rocks blocking the
side driveway that we used. What’s
up with these gas stations?! There’s
another one down that way. Let’s hope it
actually has gas. Yes, it did...we
filled up and went on our merry way. Still
had 10 miles to the Cave Park exit and the game of gas station leap frog had
eaten up some of our extra time. No worries, we’ll be about 5 minutes late
but still be there before the tour starts.
The seven miles to the cave park involves
turns and eventually a very rough road up to the cave....we have to take it
slow. Pulled in and parked, quickly changed
from my boots to my shoes, and we headed in.
Halfway to the visitor’s center, both of us realized we didn’t have our glasses...goggles
and sunglasses weren’t going to cut it in a cave. Oh, shit! Kim, you go check us
in and I’ll go back for the glasses. Hustle
out to the bikes, get the glasses and hustle back in.
We left at 11 a.m. to make a 12:45 p.m.
check-in time for a 1 p.m. tour, allowing 1 hour 45 minutes to drive a route
that Rapunzel said would take an hour and 15 minutes. Kim checked in at 12:59, one minute before
the tour started. It’s a Kim n Karen
thing...
--------------------
The Colossal Cave tour was good, although we
had a large group and we were at the back of the line....probably that last minute
arrival issue. 😏 Anyway, I wasn’t sure if I missed any
information from the tour guide so I decided to google Colossal Cave...this is from wikipedia.com
Colossal Cave is a large cave system in
southeastern Arizona,
United States, near the community of Vail,
about 22 miles (35 km) southeast of Tucson.
It contains about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of mapped passageways, and was
discovered by Soloman Lick in 1879. Temperatures inside average 70 °F
(21 °C) year-round.
The cave is an
ancient karst cave,
classified as "dry" by guides (though this is not a speleologic term).
The meaning of this is that its formations are completely dry, or
"dead", and do not grow. This is because the cave was formed by water
depositing limestone, but this source has disappeared. It instead feeds the
"active" nearby Arkenstone
Cave that continues to grow formations.
Colossal Cave was
used from 900 to 1450 AD by the Hohokam, Sobaipuri,
and Apache Indians. The cave was rediscovered in 1879
by Solomon Lick, the owner of the nearby Mountain Springs Hotel. He was
searching for stray cattle when he discovered the entrance to the cave. The
cave was then used as a guano source,
and a tunnel, 25 meters (82 ft) long, was built in 1905, and a total of
seven train cars
of guano were filled. The deposit was soon exhausted, and the tunnel was
abandoned.
The tour guide didn’t
say anything about the bat guano...or maybe I missed that part.
-------------------
The
clubhouse closes at 7 p.m. Got back from
the cave tour in plenty of time to head up there to finish our game of Hand and
Foot. We’ve been playing in the trailer
in the evening before Kim goes out to image.
We don’t have to clear out the trailer quite as much for two people as
we did for four. Bring the table
in...Kim sits on the mattress and I sit on the bucket. But today the trailer was just too darn hot
and stuffy when we got back. We had the
time to play and the clubhouse had air conditioning. Win-win situation.
--------------------
Saw a high of 90o on my bike
today. Between that and the extra heat from the engine
whenever we stopped, I was a sweaty mess by the time we got back to camp. Sitting in front of the fan in the hot stuffy
trailer didn’t really help cool me down, either. Eventually it did but not fast enough for my
liking.
--------------------
It was
a cloudy day which turned into a cloudy night....Kim wasn’t able to image. But the evening was warm enough that we both
sat outside after dark....me to type the journal and Kim to read on his Kindle. The problem is those little black bugs that
are attracted to the light of the computer and the Kindle. We put a lantern on the other table hoping
the little buggers would be attracted to the big bright light and leave us
alone. It was a mostly successful
idea.
--------------------
We
walked down to the tire and back this evening.
It just felt wrong not to do some organized walking today. I managed to get over 8100 steps despite my
refusal to walk this morning.
--------------------
Today’s miles: 153
Total miles: 1810
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