Almost
two miles down the frontage road there’s a Stop COVID-19 sign on the
highway. That was our goal this morning
when we set out. Took about an hour and
a half but we got’er done. From campsite
to the COVID sign is just over 2.1 miles. So
before 10 a.m. I had racked up 4.5 miles and over 10,000 steps....and I still couldn’t
flip any tiles on my Bingo game. 😕
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After our walk and breakfast but before we headed out to see the Picacho
petroglyphs, Mom and I were sitting outside just minding our own business when wind
and dirt came flying through the campsite so suddenly that all we could do was
duck and cover. It was twenty seconds of
“What the Hell is going on?!” It came
in, swirled around, then moved on leaving everything covered with a fine layer of dirt. A big dollop of dirt had been left on the
outside rug and any chair that remained upright had dirt deposited on the seat. The front of my black shirt, my phone, my
hair and even my lips were covered with a fine layer of grit. I had my Keen sandals on and there was dirt
blown in between my foot and the sandal.
At that point I had an epiphany...we had just survived our very first
encounter with a dust devil. An
experience I don’t care to repeat.
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After we brushed all the dust off we set off for the petroglyphs. We put Mom in the front seat because if a
roadrunner crossed our path we’d wanted to be sure she saw it. Well, one did dart across the road in front
of us but because she was watching a dust devil off in the distance she only
caught a glimpse of it before it entered the brush at the side of the
road. Oh, well.
There were all kinds of cacti out where we were driving today. Excited doesn’t begin to explain my reaction
to seeing flower nodules on the arms of the saguaros. That means there will be
flowers soon. Stop, Kim! I need to get out of
the truck. He heard that more than a
dozen times today. We saw another type
of cactus in bloom and I caught sight of a nest high up in a saguaro a distance
away. Eventually made it to the
petroglyphs where we got out and walked around a bit. No climbing to the top of the rock pile
today.
Then we drove farther down the road where we hadn’t been before looking
for more rock art on the hillsides. Found
a couple more rocks with drawings. After we turned around the cacti really captured our
attention. Yellow prickly pear flowers
were out and there were more of the little red flower. Then I caught sight of a lizard....larger than
one of our tree lizards. It crawled into
a nearby prickly pear where it was still visible to the eye of my camera. Spent several minutes watching the lizard. Start driving and I spied the nest again...Stop, Kim, I need to get out of the truck. I could see that there was a bird in the
nest...walked a little closer and was ecstatic to see what I assumed was a baby
hawk sitting pretty in the nest. I knew
it wasn’t going anywhere so I got closer...until I was in danger of not seeing
it because of the angle of height. So, so
cool!!
We were almost to the cow gate when I saw a coyote come from behind a
bush. He was one step away from walking
into the road when he heard us coming. Backed
up and kept his eyes on us as he trotted off into the brush. Couldn’t get a picture even though he
appeared several times as he retreated.
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So it was a roadrunner, lizard, coyote, baby hawk, petroglyphs and
cactus flowers kind of day. The stop at Dairy Queen on our way back to camp was
just the cherry on top of all that.👍
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As we were slowly bouncing along the dirt road I was looking out the window letting the scenery tell me different stories. This is my favorite: The teddy bear cholla invited the saguaros
and the prickly pear out to dance in the bright sunshine. Some of them brought
flowers to add a dash of color. They were all having a fine time when they
heard a vehicle approaching. Someone
yelled ‘Freeze’. All dancing stopped; some
of the cacti getting caught in ridiculous poses. Once the vehicle passed they started laughing
and the dancing resumed until the next one came along.
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No bike miles today but I got 22,102 steps. That’s a lot of walking for these short legs. 😐
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