Killer Hike part 2 3-13

The foot path eventually meets up with the road that goes up to the radio site at the top of the hill. We noticed it was paved; we thought at first…kind of odd for way out here, but we figured it out almost immediately. It was so killer STEEP that it needed to be paved so the vehicles the people use to get up there have traction going up and don’t slide off going down! Larry has been to a LOT of radio hilltops of course and I have been to my share of them with him, this wasn’t the steepest Larry has seen, but it was the longest steep road he had been on.

Now of course we realized it would be slow going, but until you start trucking up something that steep you don’t get how SLOW it will be and painful it will be and how you’ll feel like you are gonna die and how you think that you’ve made it THIS far you can make it to the top and…well you get my drift. It was only about three quarters of a mile, but it felt like five miles. Of course the corker is that people older than me had hiked it AND Larry could have been up and back in the time it took me to get myself up there, BUT it was worth it.

It was just such a gorgeous day and the views were pretty and the flowers kept me happy, but I had to stop and rest quite a few times and as we got closer to the top it was touch and go there a couple times for me whether I was gonna be sick. Partway up there is a resting rock, which I took advantage of…and then closer to the top the road bent and there was a piece in the shade that had rocks jutting out that I sat on and the rocks were still cool so that was somewhat refreshing. I considered at that point, stopping…the view was pretty good from there, but I HAD to get to the top. Though now I was worrying about going back down.

I made it and I signed into the book that they have up there, but there was actually another ridge top further along, as I was pooped and had to go back down, I gave Larry the camera and gave him my blessing…leave my carcass here in the shade and report back. I sat in the shade of one of the radio buildings and enjoyed the view, meditated, thought about how crazy people are to kill themselves to get to the top of mountains and enjoyed the breeze blowing through my sweat soaked hair and feeling the sweat trail all down my body….didn’t notice that while straining my way to the top, ick.

Larry was gone about 20 minutes or so and told me I didn’t really miss seeing too much because there were more ridges in the way. He said he would have liked to have seen them get all the concrete to the top that they used on all the buildings…there isn’t a lot of room to turn anything around up there. Hard to picture a cement truck making that road!

Going back down was no picnic either, but at least it was quicker. I was happy that my legs didn’t “noodle” on me after the climb up the hill, it was a concern, BUT it was really painful on the toes as they were jammed into the toes of our shoes at the sharp down angle we were walking. At this point I was really, really happy that it was paved and I didn’t have to slip around on loose rocks…I’m no mountain goat and even with my all terrain shoes I suspect my derriere would have made contact with the dirt a few times. We stopped at a short flat spot and I zipped off my pant leg bottoms so I would be cooler. After the pain of getting up the mountain I didn’t care about getting nipped by a rattlesnake!

So we made it down the mountain, now it was time to decide which path to take back…the foot path or see what the vehicle road was like………More tomorrow.

Today I was still feeling sore…calves and toes still, but I was able to get by without taking any Ibu’s. Larry decided to take his walk after stretching; I got myself together, made coffee, put on my shoes and sat outside reading….with the thought that I would catch Larry as he passed by for his last lap and would go along….HA…great timing for me….I missed him…..ah, too bad, so sad….he walked up and was looking at his completion time, he was done. Being the generous guy that he is, he offered to go around again with me….no, no, I said…that was okay…..tee hee; Time for toast…laugh.

We went over for coffee and then after we got back we decided we would go to El Centro, I needed something at the mall and we had some things we needed at Costco, it’s about an hour from here. We hit a flock, a group, a….I don’t know what you call a bunch of bugs…any way they slammed all over the windshield, we never figured out what they may have been…yuck. El Centro is around 36,000 people and we were of course the minority. We heard just about nothing but Spanish in the mall, even the sales people of course.

It hit about 80 today and was a little breezy, but another lovely day.

These last pictures are of the dunes in California west of Yuma.

Killer Hike Part 1 3-12

Yesterday I took about 150 pictures on our hike to the top of Telegraph Hill. I’ve whittled them down to less than 40 or so but I am going to break this up into three parts. The first part being the trek across the dessert to the beginning of the steep trail up the mountain; the second part will be of the grueling, slow, determined climb up the mountain and the views from the top; and the third will be the trek back to the truck across the lonely dessert. We were the last ones back!

We left the truck around 9:30. I had on my hiking pants with the extra big pockets and the legs that zip off and I had the pockets stuffed with what I felt was necessary: lots of tissue, lip balm, ibuprofen, pepper spray in case we came across a crazed javelina, I.D. and insurance card (in case our broken bodies were found at the bottom of a cliff or skewered a top a cactus), my keys and Larry’s asthma inhaler. We had applied mega strength sun screen before we left and I was wearing my broad brimmed floppy hat. We had our walking sticks to fend off attacking rattlers and our bottles of water, oh and I of course had my camera slung over my shoulder.

There were quite a few cars parked at the trail head so it wasn’t like we were on a solitary hike, but as we were getting a late start by desert standards most people that passed us were heading back. The light was perfect so we didn’t get very far along the trail before I was snapping pictures. The desert is a living painting right now with all the cactus in bloom and the wildflowers and you all know how I feel about flowers. There were plenty of rocks too, only one made it into my pocket, but the flowers were the stars of the day.

First it was the yellow flowered shrubs everywhere and then we started seeing the Ocotillos with their bright red-orange flowers on the ends of their lush green sturdy thorn covered branches. We ran across some really enormous Ocotillos and Larry took my picture under one of the largest we found. Then I took lots of pictures of its flowers. That orange red against the blue, blue sky makes for a very energetic pic and I was graced by the presence of a hummingbird. I managed to get this one picture that was clear in spite of it being in the shadow of the plant.

Soon after we started seeing the bright pink flowers of the prickly pear cactus scattered everywhere, we saw a few Saguaros and many different flowers that I couldn’t begin to identify, but I have their pics!

For some reason I have a knack for spotting reptiles. I had stopped to photograph some flowers and had turned to look back down the trail and as my eyes scanned across a very large deep brown rock I noticed this very large, fat lizard the same color as the rock sunning itself. It was about the ugliest lizard I had ever seen and used telephoto so I wouldn’t scare it off before I got its portrait. It didn’t make a move so I got a little closer and then it turned its head and put its good eye on me, but other than that it didn’t leave, so I got a few more pictures of it. Isn’t that tail ghastly? It reminds me of the way an earthworm looks.

Tomorrow, part 2. Today was another lovely day in the mid seventies, no wind and as I was able to move still thanks to Ibuprofen, we took a couple of laps to get our muscles loosened up. My calves were and are still really, really tight and other than some tender toes and a few tight hip muscles I fared better than I had expected. All that darned exercise pays off and that really ticks me off!

Then we went over for coffee and I carted Ruby (my laptop) over to share my photos of our hike with our friends.

After coffee we hauled the laundry up to the laundry room, which was absolutely empty….shocking. We filled our water bottles and we went through the returned books basket in the “library” and shelved the books…something to do while we were waiting to put the wash in the dryers. As before when we went to get the laundry out of the dryers, the place was packed…glad we were done.

The rest of the day I spent procrastinating over getting the pictures picked out for the blog, editing and writing. And so here I am getting it done finally. When I came up with the plan for three parts it made it easier to get done.

Overload 3-11

We go along not doing much of anything and then we get crazy busy…for us anyway.

Today we had a great field trip, a hike through the blooming desert and to the top of a BIG hill and I took a lot of pictures and just as we got home we were invited to dinner, which we just returned from so now I am brain dead and you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for today’s pictures and story.

But, we could be busy tomorrow too; we haven’t decided what we’ll be doing yet.

I took lots of stunning pictures and I have to pick out the best and edit and get them posted, so I hope to get time to do that soon.

It was a gorgeous day today and we had a wonderful dinner at Jim and Dorothy’s…they are leaving this weekend, Ron and Marilyn pull out in the morning (Thursday) and more will be leaving this next week.

The first picture is driving towards the "hill" we climbed, those little mountains in the distance and the second picture is a view from near the top, it took us a long time to get to the hard, serious part of the climb because I had to keep stopping to take pictures of cactus, ocotillos and wildflowers, but at least it wasn't hot and there was a breeze which kept us from overheating and we had our water and walking sticks and I was wearing my wide brimmed hat. I thought I was going to collapse a couple of times but I made it (never a problem for Larry of course), so more tomorrow!

Cactus Shooter 3-10

Another gorgeous day. The shocker for today was cactus missles coming over the wall, a couple of bored little miscreants were batting large pieces of cactus with a stick and a couple hit the truck pretty hard. They were real surprised when Larry popped his head up over the wall, I guess they didn't think anyone would notice. Larry gave them a talking to...they might have seriously hurt someone if they had hit a person, they were big, heavy chunks of cactus. The parks "security" stopped when they saw all the cactus pieces on the street and Larry talked to them, but the management here doesn't do much about anything. Larry got an earful about thefts and property damage that have occurred here in the park and the office refuses to do much about it.

It dipped down to 49 this morning and the high was in the mid seventies again.

haircut and cornbread 3-9

I thought I would have something new to share today, but we decided not to go anywhere. We were going to go to El Centro to Costco, but we need to make more room in our freezer first.

Larry did four laps and I did two...the low was 53 and the high was 72. We found a few friends to have coffee with, most had gone off on jaunts somewhere. I did cut Larry's hair...turned out great and I made a batch of scratch cornbread to go with our Anasazi bean soup for dinner, walked up to get the mail after dinner and that was our day...it seemed to fly by.

Can't say the same for the first night of Dancing with the Stars...it seemed to take forever, by the time they got to the last pair we had forgotten the dancers at the beginning of the show...it gets better after they've eliminated a few.

Off to Walmart again 3-8

It was cool again this morning, the low was 50 and most of the day was overcast. Larry went off on his laps and I did my intense Shred 3...after completing my Shred I just sat on the floor and watched T.V. for almost a half hour...it was too much effort to get up.

After our breakfast we toddled off to Walmart, and it was a pleasant, uncrowded experience today. We wandered around until we found all that was on our list. After getting home and putting everything away we just read our books...Larry was outside and I was inside listening to soothing New Age music...I go between knitting several rows and reading several pages of my current novel.

We had dinner and after the kitchen was cleaned up took the garbage to the dumpster and took our after dinner walk. It helps the digestion to slosh everything around in there. We said Hi to our friends as we went along...they were all engaged in social activities and after we returned home it was back to our relaxing activities! The high today was only 71, better than 41!

Same 3-7

More of the same for us today...boring for you readers...lovely for us. I worked on a scarf and wound some yarn, we took our walks...the high was 72 and the low was 49, I just haven't anything brilliant to share with you for now. Have a great day growing!

Our day 3-6

Drag ourselves out of bed, low was 51, get dressed, Larry 5 laps, me 2 laps, coffee with friends, home for toast, drive laundry up to laundry room, walk back to trailer, walk back to laundry to move laundry from washer to dryer, back to trailer, walk back to laundry room, fold clothes, drive back to trailer, put away clothes, read, make dinner, eat dinner, phone appointment, high was 71, take garbage to dumpster, take a walk, back to trailer, read, T.V., snacks, showers, T.V., reading, talk to Seth on phone, brush teeth, blog, off to bed. There you have it...I left out anything X-rated and trips to the bathroom...laugh!

Heading North Potluck 3-5

Tonight I am just blogged out...I'm tired I guess, so this will be quick. It was cooler today, the low was 54 and the high was 74.

Tonight was our end of the season potluck. Starting this weekend and over the next few weeks our friends will start flocking back north to their homes two by two. Every dish was wonderful. I had made a Pumpkin/Maple Bread Pudding...I've never made it before and it is a keeper, I'll make it again and Larry made one of his great Peach Cobblers.

So now it is bedtime after showering the campfire smoke out of our hair!

Torturing Teeth 3-4

Now back to last night. They called it Country Junction USA on some ranch east of Wellton and it was in a big metal, cement floored barn...it was dinner and entertainment. The whole operation is family run and they are in the first years of getting their venture off the ground and they seem to be getting a good start.

It was $39.50 per couple for dinner, dessert, non-alcoholic beverages and the entertainment. The dinner was chicken fried steak, gravy, green beans, twice baked potato and of course a bisquit with apple pie for dessert. It was all hot and they got us all served pretty quickly, we got in line and they dished up our food and off we went.

The entertainer was Jack Jackson from Alberta, Canada who sang and played guitar and told corny jokes and his backup who was an incredible musician...burned up the fiddle and different guitars, whose name I can't remember, his first name was Armand. They had a guest steel guitar player and then a surprise guest who lives in Yuma and was the blazing guitar from the Venture's, a group big in the 60's...Nokie Edwards. He was slow getting to the stage, but his fingers still flew over the strings! It was a night of country classics and was fun.

Now for today. Larry did his laps and I did my Shred, then breakfast and getting ready for our trip to Mexico...digging out passports, getting our water and walking over to catch our ride.

Stan and Maxine were going so Maxine could get her crown installed and invited us along so off we went. We got into Mexico a little before 11:30 and strolled through town to the building housing Maxine's dentist. Just before we got there, at the restaurant across the street we ran into some of our home group that had gotten there earlier.

This dental office that Maxine's appointment was at was large and new and has a lot of staff, so we checked to see if we could get in, while waiting for Maxine, to get our teeth cleaned....well lucky us, they could fit us in.

Great because it saved us another trip and great because I didn't have time to worry about it....I really don't like going to the dentist. I was called back almost immediately and the experience was better than where we had gone three years ago. This place has very modern equipment...in fact my teeth had never been cleaned with the technique used here today and even though I had some sensitivity, it was quick and my teeth, I feel are the cleanest they've ever been.

Larry joked when I came out about them using a Dremel on my teeth and I said yes, it seemed like something similar....smile. Then off he went and we were both cleaned and out of there in about a half hour.

Maxine was still in so we went off and did a little shopping and a took a few pictures of the town and then we wandered back. Most of the buildings in these pictures are dental offices...there are between 400 and 600 dentists in Los Algodones alone...amazing.

We met Stan and Maxine at the restaurant across the street and had a great, great lunch. My chicken enchiladas were the best ever...we all enjoyed our meals and there was live entertainment and the seating was outside in the shade.

After lunch it was off to get in line to get through customs. The end of the line was about the middle of the pond/river and it was warm, but not horrible. It took us over an hour and a half and as we were getting near the final squeeze shoot two women were brought through because they were ill...looked like heat related. We visited and I took pictures of the gorgeous bougainvillea that lined much of the waiting area.

When Larry and I wandered around shopping there didn't seem to be that many people, so all those people that are in that continuously long line must be in the multitudinous dental offices or the many little restaurants...it is a lot of people.

So we were back home around fourish. It was a nice, relaxing excursion in spite of the torture of my teeth. The low today was 57 and it got up to 80 today and with a breeze which helped a bit in that line...though we seemed to be mostly sheltered from it...

The couple in the pictures are Stan and Maxine and then Stan took one of us showing off our shiny teeth! I took several shots around Los Algodones and most of the buildings are dental offices and then the bougainvillea while in line.

For some reason this isn't breaking the paragraphs where they should be, so sorry if this all seems to run together.

Busy day 3-3

We had a busy day for us and I have some pictures but I don't have time or the brain power to do anything much with them tonight. (I've added the pic next day)

The low today was around 67 and it was cloudy all day and still, but the high got up to 80. It was coffee and birthday cake this morning...it was Dave's birthday this past weekend and they had been out of town.

There was another run to the market, Larry filled our propane bottle and then we went out to a ranch east of us here where they had a big country dinner and entertainment. It was a fun day.

I was going to say I'll catch you up tomorrow, but we'll see. We are going to Mexico with Stan and Maxine and I might be too pooped and sleepy from lunch and shopping!

Funny, Funny Day 3-2

I didn't have much planned for today but then I received an email from my sister Lori after we got back from coffee. It said: "And why didn't I get the picture tribute given to many other family types?? You know from birth on up to beautiful???" Be careful what you wish for toots!

It took me a few hours, but it turned out pretty funny! I laughed hysterically over some of my chosen pics and the stories that swam around in my head for each one!!! There was quite a lot of editing and cropping, but she did pose for all of the pictures used...tee hee. She laughed as hard as I did when she saw it...she made ah sounds with the first pictures from babyhood and then just as planned...the first screech came with the recital picture....laugh!!! It was all downhill and hysterical from that point on! She was twelve in that picture by the way.

So I had fun today!!! The high today was 90 (only for my sister would I swelter in a tin box) and the low was 60. A gorgeous day. We took a walk as the sun was sinking when it was a little cooler. We had taken our power lap first thing this morning after doing yoga.

Tomorrow is a busy day and I may not have time to blog before bedtime...we'll see.

Happy Birthday Lori 3-1

It was brought to my attention that for my sister Lori's birthday yesterday I neglected to give her a photo montage as has been my current custom. Today I am sitting in a hot trailer just to make my sister happy! Laugh, laugh, laugh!!!

I must reiterate that this here is MY BLOG, my story, my opinion! The photos are in no particular order....so without further ado:

I howled over some of these pictures! The stories I could make up...AND there were others that I've left out. But she knows my sense of humor and fortunately she has one too! Hopefully she is in good humor today......Laugh, giggle, guffaw! The picture where she is sitting with her feet up was at the motel where she and her girls were staying in Oregon for the family reunion.

I must say she is the best sister ever and one of the best Registered Nurses on the planet...she cares and her patients know it. She is also a great Mom. Love you Lori!

Lovely Day 3-1

Helllooooo! Just another gorgeous day...high was 87 and low was 60 and it was danged windy most all night and during the first part of the day. About mid afternoon it all but quit and then it really got warm, it was a lovely afternoon and we just wandered around until we found someone to talk to. Now that it is March people will start pulling out and heading home.

Happy Birthday to my sister Lori!