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On the subject of the bird cactus, I saw the
woodpecker on the side of the cactus this morning as I was walking to the
clubhouse. As I circled around to sit on
a picnic table, I startled the bird and it flew; it was then that I saw the
woodpecker was actually sitting on the outside of a hole. Perhaps it’s a new hole, perhaps it’s been
there and I’ve just not seen it because of the grass. But it’s got me wondering if there are 3
active nest holes in the cactus...be
still my shutterbuggin’ heart!
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Today started out warm and got warmer. Ate a late breakfast the went for a walk
about 10:30 for no other reason than it was a lazy morning. *Note to
self: Get your butt outa bed earlier so you can walk when it’s cooler!* Jumped on the bikes in the afternoon with a
purpose: ride out to Gu-Achi Trading
Post for some chips and cheese which was going to serve as a late lunch. We both had other things we wanted to
accomplish on this ride: I wanted to ride
out AZ 86 about 10 miles to check on the crested saguaro I discovered last year
and Kim wanted to ride into Casa Grande to get a picture printed for Kym from
Ontario. She walked out with Kim to the
telescope last night on one of his trips to check on it...Dan and I stayed by
the fire. She was very intrigued by what
she saw...Kim told her that if his efforts produced a good image he’d print a
picture for her. The image turned out good and since Dan and Kym are leaving tomorrow the time to get a picture printed was today.
 |
| Orion nebula |
 |
| Crested Saguaro |
We found the cactus...I took some pictures; then we headed back down IR
15 into Casa Grande to find a Walgreen’s.
By the time we were done with our business in Casa Grande it was heading
on dusk, so in the interest of time we jumped on I-10. The speed limit is 75 and I’m not a big fan
being among semi trucks when on the bike, especially at that speed, but it was
only 18 miles back to camp so I took one for the team.
**When we were by the crested saguaro
I noticed another cactus that had a variation in a couple of its ‘pleats’. I searched online but couldn’t find out why.
However, I came across an article written by a very knowledgeable chap and I
sent him an email, complete with pictures.
Hope to hear back from him.**
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Water Leak Update #4: The leak has reappeared
but it’s slower and Kim couldn’t tell where it’s coming from with just a quick
glance under the trailer. Tomorrow he’ll
crawl under to get a better assessment of the problem and possibly smear some
more stuff on it....or replace the pipe.
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Dan
and Kym stopped in to say good-bye. They
have a huge Grand Design 5th wheel and on their way to Picacho from
somewhere in California the rolled up awning on their rig blew off. Yikes! I didn’t know such a thing could happen. Anyway, he stopped, assessed the damage and
then started making phone calls. They
have to be at the Grand Design manufacturing plant in Indiana by March 11 to
get it repaired. That appointment has
caused them to make some minor adjustments to their schedule so they’ll be
pulling out early tomorrow morning to make it on time. I enjoyed our campfire time and other
opportunities to talk to them. We have a lot in common: second marriages,
motorcycles, sewing, camping, cameras and chapstick. 😎
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Coolidge Cotton Days is this weekend...I’m
always up for a small town festival. We
stumbled across Cotton Days last year...car show, entertainment by local dance
studio, Indian tacos, etc. I looked it
up to see if our time here would overlap with the festival dates. Yippee skippee, it does! Parade is Saturday at 10 a.m. with more
festivities to follow. However, on our
ride today we saw a large sign advertising Arizona City Daze for this weekend
also. Two small town festivals 30 miles
apart...don’t know that we can do both so there’s a decision to make. I’m going to see what I can find online and
maybe we’ll have to flip a coin to decide.
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Saw 83o today...riding without a jacket weather. The next couple of days are supposed to be
the same...partly cloudy in the 80s.
Then I’ve heard there might be a couple of days of rain. We’ve not had that experience in all our time
in Arizona. One year it rained for about
an hour but it wasn’t a hard rain. With
the warm temps and rain I’m thinking that things may pop around here. It would be fun to see the cactuses in
bloom.
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Too cloudy to image so Kim is working on a
presentation he’s going to give here at the campground. It’ll be a power point about what’s up in the
sky and what he does over in the corner of the campground with his
telescopes. How he goes from viewing something
in the telescope to holding a picture of that something in his hand. Enough people stop and talk to him about it
that there ought to be a few people in attendance.
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Bike miles today: 170
Total miles: 703
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