Another wonderful winter desert day here resting in Village of Oak Creek (VOC). Letting my body recover from what I imagine to be a chest cold which hit hard Friday driving my temp into fever range. Hard chest cough. Elevated pulse but 98% O2 saturation. Data is very important as I recorded those 3 vitals. At this morning’s check and reaffirmed moments ago the vitals are where they belong. Rest today because tomorrow is same weather. I will only know if it was / is covid will to be tested. I stayed the entire day out in desert. Stayed inside reading Killer Angels, the classic novel of the Civil War, the battle of Gettysburg. 

So, lungs need to be protected and the brain wants to be distracted. Solution: cannabutter. Yesterday I put a liberal piece of my creation on my skillet corn bread made on the stove top into my mouth and let the chemicals take over. Hmm, I lost track of dosage time, I felt “Huh”, as the day progressed. My butter lacks the pazaz. Help is nearby. I now have 3 cannabutter gluten free chocolate chip cookies not Tollhouse. Raw material is a mix of shake and flower of maybe I guess this looks like enough quantity. Cannabutter made with resulting unknown THC content. Important thing about learning from your mistakes is to apply those lessons. I quartered a cookie then entered it into my psyche. Now 2 hours later the effects of that action has long been felt. A quarter was more than adequate. The thing about eating is the buzz creeps up and builds all the while too far removed from the stimulus to make a change, raising the when will I top out question. You just don’t know what you’re going to get until you got it. Don’t try this at home as this has been performed without adult supervision.

Convicted felon facing the sentencing judge  asks the defendant any words before pronouncing sentencing. To that the defendant replied, ” Your honor, I feel like a bride on her wedding night, I know what I’m going to get, I just don’t know how big.”

Superbowl Sunday parked behind the outlet mall. First superbowl was 1967, the year I graduated high school. Perspective. XM radio needs additional money from me to hear the game on XM.

Remember manual typewriters that had a margin bell before you typed off the edge of the paper? Prolly not party telephone lines. This word editor does its programming intelligence to keep the right hand margin and words whole, and it corrects the spelling real time. Just keep hitting the keys and the computer will take care to eliminate correction tape. My parents gave me a manual typewriter for graduation and my college paid for. Typing was not main stream college prep course load, it was done usually by women in an office, not college graduates, the skill was not permitted in my education. Hunt and peck learning where the keys were for my 1 finger key pounding. I used many inches of correction tape. That manual typewriter and the slide rule are in the museum. I sure owe it to myself maybe, to teach myself touch typing. Facia is a covering over muscle that is said to prevent a muscle form completely relaxing, it is relived by, for me, a ridged foam roller. The brain is convoluted offering multitude of possibilities for bridging something like facia which stiffens the brain not allowing it to learn new things. Yeah didn’t Cliff on Cheers say something about that? 8″ portable black and white TV set was all I could afford on foundry labor’s wage. I have yet to learn if this is real or not but I will stick to it to justify my stick in the mud approach.

The past is so great because there is a lot of it, as one ages there is more time behind than in front. We can search our past for remembered events that are filtered for the desired emotional feeling we want to wrap ourselves in. Pick high spots and reward yourself. What does the future offer but uncertainty. I remember if he incoming call was long distance it was something. Paid by the second. Get on and get off as it was money. Hollering Long Distance brought the requested person to the phone quickly. Leave it to Beaver. Movie came from Moving Picture when it was introduced, it has ben replaced by digital projection yet they are still called movies. Recorded music was captured on a record and was hence called an album which might be a cassette tape. Yet music is still called album. I am safe with this labeling. To what will the future more descriptive names be and when and who? Early Christians coopted Paganism  by incorporating  same events till eventually the Pagan meaning was forgotten. The money people won out. Albums and movies, what will name change be?

See, my lack of blazing touch typing speed keeps my posts short, perhaps doing the reader a favor to free up more time for their choice.

Been listening to the classic music XM station all day. While under my parent’s roof on Sunday they played the OSU AM radio station in the car on the way home from church that played classical music such as what I am listening to now. Ah, reliving, comfort memory. The car did not have seal belts. Manual station tuning.

Off to the desert.

Monday afternoon I was hanging at the cultural park. A rapping came upon my door. I opened it up and faced a geared up mountain biker. He greeted me with you might not remember me but…..  In just a few seconds of memory recall I remembered the visit with him back in Indianapolis. We first met in ’14 as my note on his retained business card reported and the visit at his house. He lives on a dammed river and has a pontoon boat that he sailed quietly in the hot July night. We didn’t ride. So he’s back in Sedona. We visited then went our separate ways. The next day he asked me to join him on a ride. I agreed then drove back to park. I arrived several minutes passed ride time. He said he just nailed a short ride. He said in his estimation the ride was easy. We rode off taking Stay High down to lower red rock road then a loop around Focus. Part way around he said his legs were wobbly. We cut short our ride. Old age and deceit will be youth and skill every time. case proven.

Been staying out at MP4 snaking around mud pits on beaten in track. I prefer this location.

Wed I parked at outlet then pedaled the 1 mile to bell rock TH. Loosened up. Hero dirt. Single track bypass, Llama, Little Horse to Chicken point, Broken Arrow to a Hogs then Twin Buttes rejoining Broken Arrow, Hogwash to Peccari down to Mystic, climb pipeline right away to Chapel rd pavement rhru the neighborhood returning to a system trail maybe HT to Breezey to Javapi TH continuing to Slim Shady for descent. I encountered fewer than 10 people. 15.6 miles pedaling for 2 hrs 11 mins climbing 1312′. back out to MP4 for the night.

The saga of the broke down Propex heater and its reinstall. I might have called French’s RV on 1/21 to ask for them to remove the heater. Scored that appointment for the next Tues. They removed it and I boxed it up. Wed I dropped it off at Sedona UPS store. friday vancafe, the Propex fix it shop telling me it was repaired and this is what was replaced and charge. On Monday i called french’s again and asked for reinstall today, Friday. The furnace arrived their shop on Wed. Today I hung at their shop for reinstall. Furnace runs and is much quieter. The hot air hose had a large break in it allowing hot air to warm the underside of the van. new ducts and piping. It’s just money, $1230. I will be so much happier with the Propex forced hot air and blower noise but thermostatic control and no condensation. Tonight return of comfort.

The second trail builder. Yesterday was laundry day, drive up to west Sedona to the laundromat. Clean clothes. drove up to cultural park for a ride. I kind of had a route out there, I linked trails to do a loop around Cockscomb. Again empty trails. At Doe mtn trail there was a FS trail crew rebuilding the hiking trail. A young woman in FS attire smiled at me and greeted me.  we worked on projects together last year. Nice visit. Further along at an intersection I encountered 2 riders studying the posted trail map to figure a ride. I asked if I could be of assistance. I rattled off various trail choices then he introduced me to Amy that I was the green Sprinter dude. I asked how he knew me. He’s from Hood River and has built several trails in the area including all of the Whoops system that I shared part of a ride with him while talking trail work. Second trail builder.

Time to turn too for repast. I boiled up a pot of black beans.

Slow internet here. I might add more later.

Wow, a change of scenery and environment, big effort, and sharing friendship.

Yesterday Ian picked Lee and me up then drove us round trip down to Bumblebee interchange off l17 about an hour south and downhill from Sedona. BCT is in Sonoran desert with different plants and topography. Our ride start this time was further out the road to Bumblebee instead of where the trail crosses the road almost at the interchange. Numerous rigs with ATV trailers populated that trailhead plus others further along. Sheesh, different kind of recreators where their rigs take up 2 spaces because of a pulled trailer. We met Jimmy and Christine. We have all known each other for 12 years. Just old friends, dunno know why no newbies are included. Ride and hang with comfort.

We rode out to tank at Treasure mine location. Ian and I pedaled around a snout of an outcropping in time to hear a gunshot and the sound of a bullet hitting nearby, too close for safety. We saw 2 shooters uphill from us. Ian yelled at them. We waited for others to join us for our safety before pedaling on. The 2 guys walked down the road towards us and Ian pedaled to have a conversation, how to communicate with a gun toter? Shooters explained they were shooting at a target uphill and away from us. Seems that it was the echo of their shot made it seem they shot at us. We pedaled on much relived. We ran into Cody who used to work at the Bean and is a hard charging hard tail rider. He told of riding up a road 3 miles to connect with the BCT for a crazy descent back to the tank. We stopped at the tank for a break and discussed extending our ride. 2 women backpackers hiked up seeking their water cache. I asked them about it. Their friend deposited several jugs of water not hidden.

We pedaled uphill the 3 mile wide dirt road grunt 3.17 miles climbing 907′ took 40 mins. I pushed my body, my average heart rate was 139 bpm, my threshold is 128. Beater. Made the top of the climb where we reconnected with the trail for this  4.99 mile dropping 833 feet in 31 min descent back to tank. Trail is a real piece of work being full bench cut into steep hillsides. Bit of exposure. Ian and Jimmy are faster downhillers than me.

Made it back to the tank. Thing about riding with others on a ride I did not plan I did not know of what our ride was going to be. My preparation was for just riding from Bumblebee to tank and back so I filled my hydration bladder accordingly and stuck in 1 small sandwich. At the tank I checked my water because I was concerned I would be out of water before we finished back at rigs. I checked the hikers cache and saw they did not need 2 jugs of water that were available for public. My bladder was sufficient. Whew. Finished the 6.47 miles in 45 mins back to start. What an effort for 21.2 miles climbing 1834′ pedaling for 2 hrs 55 mins. Garmin reported I burned 1492 cals with heart rate average of 131 bpm, recovery time was 41 hours. Today is a recovery day.

We piled back into Ian’s truck for ride back to Sedona. Just as we made the l17 intersection the low fuel light lit up on the instrument panel. It said 10 miles till empty. Which was was the closest gas? To the north was 15 miles. Ian went that way. As the miles ticked off the instrument data counted down the miles of fuel remaining. We made that gas station, the tank took 19 gals, I read from the owners manual that tank capacity is 21.1.

How to comprehend the spectacle of bumper to bumper traffic for miles and miles heading south away from us. Beyond understanding as it was Sunday evening not even rush hour and miles away from population. Where did all those people go that they were returning at same time? I wondered what the previous Friday evening looked like. Just way too many people on this planet.

Propex heater has been repaired, I am waiting for tracking number. I have a Friday appointment to reinstall it. tech told me several parts were broken from vibration and the air circulating guts was packed with dirt. Hmm, vibration from me driving rough roads which I minimize and am gentle to minimize hammering my rig. what happens to heaters mounted on rigs that are hammered for greater distances? And the dirt is sucked up from the van floor. I will vacuum the floor more frequently. I prefer the Propex but an dismayed at its lack of robustness.

Feb 1st. Groundhog day tomorrow.