Morning was spent hanging out, talking and preparing to take Gabe to the airport in Mesa. He actually had two options for his return trip: his original non-stop Allegiant flight out of Mesa or a flight out of Phoenix Sky Harbor with a layover in Denver. That was the round-trip ticket he bought when he missed
Gabe left here
in Michigan dress mode, meaning jeans and heavy zip-up sweatshirt. He didn’t
bring a heavier jacket because…Hel-lo, it’s Arizona! Anyway, he was a little overdressed on the
way out, but it should feel good upon arrival in Michigan.
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I really didn’t
know what to expect when Gabe suggested this as his vacation. We haven’t spent
any large amount of time with him since his 10-year-old birthday trip, which
was almost eleven years ago. And let’s face it…there’s an age gap between him
and us. What appeals to a retired senior citizen might not appeal to a
twenty-year-old. But fortunately, Kim had some toys to play with…e-bikes,
telescope, drone and the Switch. Of course, we didn’t have the games on the
Switch that Gabe plays at home, but he seemed more than willing to help his
grandfather whoop the AI guys. The
generations did fine.
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We saw dust in
the distance when we were driving back from Coolidge. Thought it was the result
of the fields being plowed but turns out it was a baby dust storm accompanied
by some rather large dust devils. As we got closer to Eloy, we could see the
dust extending over toward Casa Grande. My first thought when I realized it was
a dust storm covering a wide area was, “Oh, shit, I left windows open in the
camper.” We know from experience what
the camper can look like inside if windows are open during a dust storm…even a
little one. A leisurely drive home from Coolidge suddenly became a little more
urgent in my mind.
Despite seeing dust devils and dust still
blowing in the distance, the air was clear when we pulled up to the camper.
Yay! It was still windy, though, and one
of the e-bikes had been blown over but it seemed none the worse for the tip
over. And thankfully, all surfaces were dust-free when we opened the door…nothing
but a wall of hot air waiting to greet us.
Later, Joe said
that after the wind increased, there had been some dust blowing through but it
last maybe only 10 to 15 seconds. Nothing to fret about.
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I draped one of
the sleeping bags over the picnic table today to air it out, thankful for the windy
day. But that was a mistake because…tree feathers. Gave it a good shake but I’m
sure there will be some still in it when we make up the extra bed again in a
few weeks.
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I was going into
town to mail letters so I thought it would be a good time to take a ride over
to Toltec Rd; asked Kim if he wanted to go along, but he wanted to deep clean the
camera he uses for imaging. Some unknown artifacts showed up in last night’s
image. That’s okay, I’m good to go on my own.
Over the years, driving
over to Toltec became one of things we did out here. There was the hawk nest on
the electrical pole to check on; after about six years it was removed, sticks
scattered at the base of the pole. At the same spot, there was the creepy one-eyed
monkey mask, which oddly became something we looked forward to seeing. It was
there year after year until suddenly it wasn’t…and it was a sad day when that
happened.
After dropping
off the mail, I headed over to Toltec Rd. I checked the top of the electrical
pole to see if a nest had been rebuilt. Nope. Didn’t stop to check on the
monkey mask…hasn’t been there for two years now. Maybe next time I’ll take a
walk down to see if it’s reappeared. Further down, I checked for burrowing owls
at a spot I’d seen them in the past. Nope, not there.
It was still a
nice drive, though. Drove slowly, taking in the familiar sights. Hey, wait a
minute! Were there burrowing owls on top of that canal? I backed up and sure enough, there were two
burrowing owls by a canal on Harmon Rd., not far from the corner of Sunshine
Blvd. Yeehaw! These were even closer than the two on Toltec…maybe 3 miles
from the campground.
Turned right onto Picacho Hwy and realized as
I passed it, that a hawk was sitting atop an electrical pole. Backed up to get
a picture, but it was gone. Oh, well. Down the road a little farther,
there was another hawk. Just as the truck approached it flew to the next pole…almost
like it was leading me, but most likely keeping tabs on me. It flew across the
road and I lost track of it, but about a mile down the road, I saw two sitting
at the top of a tree. And about 50 feet down the road, there was a rather large
nest in another tree. They certainly didn’t intend to, but they led me right to
their nest. Zoomed in with my camera but couldn’t see any little heads popping
up yet. I’ll drive by occasionally just to check.
Also saw a
killdeer standing by a canal or a ditch.
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Kim wasn’t able
to test out the clean camera because thin clouds rolled in. Forecast indicates the
next clear night isn’t until next Tuesday. In our experience, this isn’t typical
of Arizona.
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