Friday, March 12...Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield)

   Stepped out for my walk this morning in shorts and t-shirt and stepped right back in for a fleece.  The breeze coming around the corner of the camper sure was a cool one.  And yet once I got going down the road in sunlight it was more tolerable.  

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   It was an odd weather day all the way around.  Puffy clouds were passing directly overhead the campground this morning but dark rain clouds were lurking in the northwest.  Decided to head to Coolidge for groceries and before we even left the campground decided that today was not going to be a bike day.  Yesterday Kim thought 70o was a bit cool...when we left today it was still in the mid-50s with a cool wind.  Ran through a patch of rain on the way to Coolidge...enough to need the wipers.  Then after about 5 minutes drove out of it into bright sunshine.  Sunny the rest of the day but never got above 60o.  A good day to not be on the bikes.

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   Despite having the back seat full of groceries we stopped at a food truck for lunch today because it was past noon and it was there.  Ordered Carne Asada Nachos and when she asked if I wanted jalapenos I said “Sure” thinking they would be mixed in. I’m not a fan of real spicy food but I can tolerate a few pieces of jalapenos.  OMGoodness! I opened the clamshell to find that the chips were smothered in a layer of jalapenos.  Smothered!  Took me a few seconds to process what I was seeing.  This was a bit more than I bargained for when I said, “Sure”.  Kim offered to take them off my hands but I decided to try a few bites before I handed them over.  And surprisingly the peppers were tolerable...either my tolerance for spicy has grown or they were on the mild side.  By the time I was done, my lips were feeling the heat but a good dousing of chapstick helped with that.  Might have to stop by there again before we leave.  But I won’t have the birria tacos.  I had to look that up and found that it usually involves goat or lamb meat.  I’ll go for another layer of jalapenos before I go for goat. 

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   I don’t like to just sit in the camper on a sunny day...I figure I might as well have stayed home if I’m not going to be out enjoying the sunshine.  Sitting outside reading would work but I figured just sitting outside today might be a bit on the cool side.  Needed to move. Since we weren’t going to take a bike ride I suggested going for a walk/hike somewhere...Kim thought it would be good to take a nap.  If that’s what you want to do, that’s fine. But I want to be outside moving.  He agreed to come with me...he wanted to go to Picacho Peak State Park because it was closer than Saguaro Nat’l Park and he was still thinking about that nap.

   Picacho Peak has a very distinct notched look from a distance but up close it’s obvious that there are two mountains and it’s just a matter of perspective that makes them look like one.  There are several hiking trails of various difficulties.

We walk a lot; however, out here our regular routes are on flat roads. So when it comes to hiking up a mountain we look for the easy to moderate trails.  These were our moderate options today:

Calloway Trail: 0.7 miles; moderate; leads to an overlook

Sunset Vista Trail: 3.1 miles; moderate first 2 miles, becoming difficult; Travels on the south side from the westernmost parking area and goes to the top of the peak. The first 2 miles are moderate, then the route becomes difficult, steep and twisting, with steel cables (gloves are recommended) anchored into the rock in places where the surface is bare. This trail is not recommended during hot weather seasons.

   Steel cables anchored into the rock where the surface is bare??  Ah, thanks but no thanks!   Calloway Trail on the smaller peak here we come! It was close to 4 o’clock when we started which put the sun behind the larger peak.  That plus the cool breeze made for a very comfortable hike to the overlook and back down. 

   We could see hikers on the ‘moderate’ section of the Sunset Vista Trail; I wouldn’t mind hiking part of that trail at some point.  We talked about that today...Kim thinks that if we did part of it we should do all of it and that I’m more capable than maybe I think I am.  My response was no matter how capable I might be, first I have to ask myself if I want to do it and at this point in time I have no desire to deal with ‘steel cables anchored into the rock’...it’s simply not my jam, capable or not. 😏

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   Back to Kim wanting to take a nap today...that isn’t normal for him, especially after two nights of good sleep.  It took longer than it probably should have to put this together but we think that Kim’s tiredness today and his chill yesterday might have something to do with the vaccine he had on Monday.  I looked up the side effects of the Pfizer vaccine and tiredness is right near the top of the list.  Good to know.

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   No imaging for Kim tonight.  Cloudy, rainy, chilly...it’s a good night to stay inside.


 

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