Today is the 11th, previous post was on the 5th, 6 days. I will recount the time spent determined by what I can retrieve from memory and is fit to be interesting. Most of those missing days were effected by my digestive system issues. I didn’t ride with buds on Sunday because of my condition. Sat night my guts put on a concert of random noises and gurgling, Sunday the effect lingered. I needed to be seen by a medical professional. My primary DR is up at Flag and his wait time stretches into weeks. There is an Urgent Care facility  down in Cottonwood that is  right across the highway from  the hospital. This location was convenient in case the hospital would be the next stop. I spent 7 hours in van parked outside waiting my turn. Mixed in with the guts was my heart pounding causing greater concern. The attending PA focused on my heart. He listened with his steth… and reported what he heard was the organ was functioning. He said they could perform an EKG and I asked for it as more data would be discovered  than his ear. The EKG reported abnormal heart function. His discharge instructions was to go to the ER for evaluation. Now I’m nervous about my heart, I planned on going down there this AM. Instead as the evening progressed I became more stressed which accentuated the hammering. I decided at 10PM to drive down to the ER and find out what’s what.  Admitted to ER, no crowd in the waiting room. I presented the attending DR the print of the EKG. He said they would perform their EKG and send several vials  of my extracted blood to the lab for learning a fuller understanding of my body. Their EKG was sim to the UC. DR said a more informative method was to test the blood for a chemical indicator that the heart puts out when it is hurting. The process was plumb my vein, draw blood, then send it to the lab then wait for 2 or so hours then draw and test again to see if there is any changed. I spent this time on a hospital bed not comfortable to fall asleep in. Blood work came back in scope indicating particularly my heart was heathy. Whew my blood pressure dropped. I was released about 5 AM. I drove back to VOC to the  outlet mall which is non USFS land to sleep late. I city slept.

Today I woke chipper and looking forward to a ride down here on Llama etc. I rode right from my parked van a mile something on pavement heading uphill to Red Rock TH. Big Park, Single Track byPass, Baby Bell, Llama, HT, Breezey, Templeton, Coconino, Slim Shady. I really struggled with my breathing that I exhausted my go before I needed max output. I sessioned several pieces on Llama, several I was able to make after several tries while another bunch I couldn’t solve. The Llama rock climb still escapes me. I realize that I have conditioned responses with built in failure. I did succeed in replacing the old with today’s success.

On Llama I encountered 2 solo riders and a group of 3. The first guy is from Fayetteville, AR, home of Kessler mtn land. I met the property owner on a previous visit, he gave me his sticker that I put on the right side on the van. We talked about Arkansas trails. He spoke with local accent. Next up was a guy who recognized me while at Bend. More sharing. Next up was the group. Last guy addressed me by name. Huh? He said he found this blog 8 years ago, Hi Jake. They are from Vermont, hey I rode in their state. More sharing.

Thursday was laundry day but the laundromat was closed. WTF? I had already pulled off my bed sheets and I wanted to wash and dry them then make up my bed just once. Next up was a ride out at Western gateway that Dave and Doug joined on. They are faster than me and more skilled which kept them way ahead of me. It was a late afternoon ride evening coming on and I had laundry to do, grocery shop, drive out to an open camp spot, and fix, eat dinner, and cleanup. It was a long night.

Small patches of freeze thaw mud exist in the shaded aspects. My bike picked up just a little mud and I caused little damage to trails. Friction is compromised by sand adhered to tire knobs. As viewed above it was a beautiful day.

I plan on spending the night here in the parking lot behind the outlet mall. VOC lacks an ordinance prohibiting camping. I am searching for private land down here to anchor on. I don’t want to abuse the outlet mall. I do put up the window curtains, the front window looks straight on to an apartment complex. City camping calls for protecting peepers from me being an exhibitionist.

FS is patrolling campers and documenting days camped. Reg here is 14 days out of 28. I need to figure ways to stay ahead of the checkers. My time in Sedona will be fewer unless I find out of forest camping. That’s what the mall is about.

Maybe back to the future? New years of 2010 was my first winter here, so this visit is the 12th winter here. Monday I left cold Hurricane driving on dry roads, I chose the flatter route thru Page versus a slightly shorter but snow covered road via Jacob Lake. Flag had been snowed on several days prior but  that snow melted. I prefer to not drive on snow in the van. Drive was 300 miles. Chose to check out Beaverhead camp spots to learn how muddy camp spots would be. My preferred spot was accessible with just 2 muddy spots. Spent the night, warmer than Hurkin, but temp did freeze the dirt. I walked a bit checking the health of the desert not seeing signs that cows were in here this summer. The desert is damaged, I noticed that every ant colony was still dead. The ants create an open spot with no vegetation and paved with ant size rocks. They started disappearing 2 years ago.

Yesterday was making connections with people in Sedona. Visited with Jimmy. Picked up packages from The Worm. That’s as far as I got for connections.

Sunshine with 50 degrees riding enticed me. I figures if I rode trails that faced the sun there might be freeze thaw mud which would turn me around. I parked at Sunset Park then rode out to start of Old Post. Dry. The trail  was dry. There are places on the trail where it was protected from full benefit of sunshine but very few and short soft spots. I kept on. I turned on Skywalker, another sun exposed trail. Again, almost completely dry. I was looking for a shorter ride as I had not ridden for 7 days and seeking dry trails. I chose to drop down Herkinham basked by sunshine then make the ummph climb up Old Post returning to my van. My tires were clean and my bike had some small blobs of mud. I was kind to the trails I rode. I didn’t stop to snap pics. Ride was 7 miles climbing 718′, seems typical of Sedona 100′ vert per mile.

This Revel Rail bike, coupled with my stronger legs and improved tech skills, made for a smile on my face. My engine still blows up.

Joe says Hero dirt. I will find out more tomorrow after volunteer trail work in the morning. Tomorrow is wash day up in Sedona, wash first then go try W Sedona. How dry was Girdner down along Dry Creek?

Doug from Canada is here again after the US allowed Canadians across the border. He and Leia caught up with me while I was creating this. Doug and I rode quite a few rides 2 years ago during our shared time here.

Another night of below freezing is visible by how the dirt is shrunk away from rocks in the ground. Warming trend, tomorrow forecast high is 62 degrees. Super.

Installed a new smoke and CO detector replacing worn out one. I had been without a warning generator since start of heating season. I sometimes buy needed items on line as for this one. The order forms requires a ship to address and sometimes a choice of shippers is available to me. I sometimes use General delivery to a city. Sometimes the shipper is established with no provider. If the shipper is UPS they can not deliver to the USPS. Sometimes the ordering process wants a street address to go along with general delivery. My considerable experience with general delivery is no street address is required but the ordering form hiccups erroring on a their required street address. Then I schedule my travel to either be at the present location or to where my next stop will be then I need to go to that place. One time I had mail sent to me at Oakridge while I was in Bend, I planned on riding at Oakridge. A weather system came in blanketing Oakridge etc with rain. The mail was a mail ballot that I needed to vote and postmark prior to election date. I drove over, picked up the ballot, voted it, and made the date. I bought a shuttle ride up Alpine, I was the only customer. I was held hostage at a location because of slower than figured time. Here in Sedona I have a business address to receive my stuff such as this detector. Just another variable on living on the road.

 

The gun sounded, pedal within yourself, here comes 2022.

Going forward I will share data from year just completed.

I rode trails in 8  states, leaving AZ early April, in order: NM, CO, UT, ID, OR, WA, MT. Montana was the head back south state riding in some of the same states back to Hurricane, UT.

By state ride info:

AZ, 50 rides covering 670 miles

CO 13      ”       ”         158  ”

ID   14                         161

MT  10                         136

NM   1                          9

OR    63                       1078

UT    60                        841

WA   19                        283

I rode 230 times covering 3,336 miles. I spent $6,568 on bike stuff, $1,920 on diesel, van repair $2,070. My food bill was more than bike. Mileage was 12,834  there about.

I am on day 5 of antibiotics to eradicate H. pylori from my digestive system. This afternoon my health and the meds seemed to have overcome my malaise. I haven’t ridden in 7 days, some attributed to the fight. Weather took a turn to winter conditions with occasional precip, a day of van rocking wind, several days of below 40 degrees, and now freeze thaw. At 8:30 this morning with the sun over the ridge, outside the temp was 22, I was toasty inside at 48 degrees. I held a thermometer at the heater heated  duct that showed  the heated air was 144 degrees. Heat loss is greater than heater output. My bed area is warmer than where I am sitting typing this.

Sunshine and warmer temps are forecast going forward into 2022.

I just finished reading, “Hannibal”, same author wrote “Silence of the Lambs”. I allowed myself to turning the pages for many hours. Getting lost in a novel means I don’t have to mess with my life. I could have “Red Dragon” by same author waiting for me at Sedona.

Friend Steve lives south of Bellevue which is south of Ketchum. He sent me a 10 sec video from behind a window seeing many inches, maybe feet, of snow. I travel to stay ahead of what he shared.  My settle down spot near La Pine, OR is also snowy, I do not have images of what I would be dealing with.

Will prolly take off Tuesday for Sedona which is also warming up freeze thaw mud.

This is it. Say good night.