Monday, April 5...Pavement Cracks (Annie Lennox)

  We left last night about 10:45 p.m., arrived at the vaccine site at 12:10 a.m., I got my second vaccination and were heading back to camp by the originally scheduled time of 12:39 a.m.  Busy, busy place last night.  While waiting the 15 minutes after my first vaccine a volunteer scheduled an appointment for my second.  She said the available time periods for second vaccines on April 5th  were midnight to 6 a.m. or 6 p.m. to midnight.  I figured the 12 hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. were specifically reserved for those receiving their first dose, no second doses allowed. 

   However, that’s not to say that only second dose people were in line in the wee hours of the morning.  First doses are scheduled online through the Arizona Health Department website and thanks to volunteers on the ground vaccinations are offered 24/7 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.  I don’t if other sites are vaccinating around the clock...I can only speak from my experience.  Anyway, I’m sure some were starting the process last night and some were finishing it up.  Glad to be in the latter category on this one.

   And traffic wise, midnight is a great time to be going through Phoenix on I-10.

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   I slept in...wait, we both slept in but that’s because we didn’t get back to camp until 2 a.m.  It’s currently 2:30 p.m....14 hours after receiving the second vaccine and I feel fine.  Hope it holds throughout the day.  I’d rather be an asset in the packing up process than a butt draggin’ liability. When we leave in the morning if fatigue hits I can sleep as we cruise on down the road.  But I’d like to stay awake today.

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   No back ramp down today...it was already over the warm threshold at 10 a.m. so it seemed prudent to turn on the A/C instead of inviting the heat in.  No walk this morning either...by the time I got out of bed I wanted no part of walking in the heat.  So I swapped it for an evening walk.  I'm shy of 10,000 steps but at least I got some exercise today.      

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   The bark of a palo verde tree is a very bright green.  It doesn’t have bark in the typical sense either...more like skin.  The leaves of the palo verde are starting to come on and the entire greenness of the tree out here in a landscape of muted colors is eye catching. 

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   It’s almost gone now but my arm was sporting a couple of bruises where the teddy bear cholla ball had latched onto me.  Biggest bruise belonged to the most stubborn spine.  Kim really had to pull on that one and I must say it was very odd watching my skin stretch upward as he pulled on the spine.  There must have been a little barb or something similar at the end.  It didn’t want to come out of my skin easily, that’s for sure.  Luckily the bruised area didn’t hurt.

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   Campground is getting empty.  This past weekend saw the typical weekend rush of campers but most of those left on Sunday and there are more of the bigger rigs pulling out than are pulling in.  Felicia said she’s ready for it to slow down.   We’ve already put our deposit on site #59 for next March so barring some weird happenings we’ll be heading back out here in 2022. 

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   After organizing our stuff and putting it into boxes, totes, etc., I came to a standstill.  I know where everything will eventually go but really can’t do the final packing until tomorrow.   Checkout is 11 a.m. but we hope to be out before that.

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   Most of the mature pecan trees have sprouted leaves seemingly overnight.  Yesterday I didn’t see any, today there’s a green haze in the groves.  There are still a few naked trees but that should change in the next day or so, I’d guess. Conditions have certainly been right:  the pumps have been running for about 10 days flooding the fields and the temperature has been solidly in the 90’s for a week. 

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   Came home from my walk and built a fire.  Certainly didn’t need it for warmth as it was still 79o at 8:30 p.m. No, it was about using up our last few pieces of firewood....didn’t want to leave them for Ryan to deal with.  And atmosphere...a campfire always adds atmosphere to the camping experience.    

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   Confession time: I still play the game “Don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mother’s back” when I’m out walking.  At home it’s about avoiding cracks in the sidewalk. But it rises to a whole new level when I walk down Picacho Highway.  Lots of cracks and I get lots of playing time.  I taught the rhyme to the grandkiddos when they were out here; however they had some concerns about whether they were really able to break their mother’s back simply by stepping on a crack.  After I assured them that I’ve stepped on plenty of cracks and Grandma Hall’s back never got broken and that it was just a fun rhyme, they were all in.  We play a similar game back home where we avoid the lava pits when walking...the lava pits being the ‘tar snakes’  made when cracks in the road are repaired.    

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