Yesterday AM the sun shown. Several of the yellow and green patterned hot air balloons livened the morning sky. Drove off to MBH for 10ish ride. Rama didn’t show and didn’t answer his phone. I deemed trails too wet anyway. After while I drove over to Soldiers Pass TH to hike over Soldiers pass. System trail that weathers the wet, several bikes rode thru. B4 the wilderness where bikes are allowed, the bikes went thru the muddy spots, the hikers worked around the edges actually making the hole larger. After the pass the trail turned less slickrock, more soil & like small boulders. Ground was saturated, h2o mostly ran down the trail, poor design.Biker made trails don’t have that problem as our trails are built to get the h2o off quickly. Nice day, warm.

Back out to Deer pass camp late afternoon. Just after dark I heard scratching in the engine compartment again. Pack rat return? Put on the headlamp & headed out to check under the hood. Opened it and the rat ran back & down from engine. Chewed pile of sound insulation from somewhere on van lay on the top of engine. Bits of wood & a few juniper berries. Cleared out the nest, shut the hood & crawled back inside van. Short time later heard scratching again. Checked engine and there was a small pile of insulation started. Damn, who is going to win this squatting battle? What tools do I have? I propped open the hood to make it less nesting hospitable. decided to set the mouse trap on the engine. The trap was too small for this critter. Concern was that if the rat got caught by the trap and wasn’t killed that it could crawl away w/ trap attached to die and stink. Or that the trap would scare it off. Today i checked under the hood to find the sprung trap and no rat, more importantly no chewed nesting material. I won last night.

Today I was swarmed by 4 balloons.

Drove down to Hilton for morning shower. My contact leaves @ 1:30. I hoped that B & B would have an afternoon ride which would dirt up my clean body. I needed the shower and would wash the sweat off. Hung @ B & B but started feeling queasy, almost sick. I wasn’t feeling well enough to ride. I decided that I would go out to Beaverhead flats and rest to see if I would get better before 2:30 ride. Parked @ my spot. Nice day. At first I stayed inside the van doing stuff. i noticed several rigs drive by. Sunny warm day outside. I set up my chair and sat in the sun reading. Several more rigs went by. One jockeyed & pulled up. Driver stuck his head outside and asked if I wanted to have some fun. I had been propositioned @ gaydar. Sat night this place will be the camping spot for the AZ Spring Fling. So many guys so little time.

My heart felt like it was pounding in my chest, I suspected my blood pressure was up, I was concerned about being able to ride. Drove back to West Sedona to Urgent Care. BP was OK, heart fine. DR said my feeling could be from not riding for several days. Don’t think so but he wasn’t going any further. This Thurs I have an appointment w/ a gastro dr down in Scottsdale. Suspect that gut problem is source of health issue. Flag is closer but their next appointment is early May as they are the only gastro facility in northern AZ.

Went for solo ride. Late afternoon. Saw 2 riders. Finished in long shadows of afternoon. Still comfortable 60 degrees. Trails are dry. Heart didn’t restrict effort, heart pounded from exertion. Downloaded the heart rate data to see that I had  high heart rates.

Sat is the Spring Fling ride in Sedona. Place will be packed w/ Flingers and weekend riders. Slight chance of showers

3 days of rain, wet, cold, & snow mixed in. To wet to ride, even Rama rain checked today, which was just as well as I watched several snow squalls back up against Grayback while parked in MBH parking lot. I was warm & dry inside my van taking advantage of faster internet speed. I did my tax return. Seems I owe $4.00, I am taxed @ 3.4%.

Monday hung out @ B & B staying out of rain. Staying down canyon to watch Zags WCC title game @ PJs. Jimmie invited me & guys on work Chewie & Tony down for burgers & beer. Guys like hanging around w/ boss & like wise. I enjoyed their company. Jimmie is from Long Island. Chewie is international. Zags game came on & they all left me to watch in shock as the Zags were outplayed & coached and lost to ST Mary’s. Find out Sunday their Big Dance ticket.

Tues was mid morn shower @ Hilton spa. I drove out to Cottonwood via Beaverhead flats rd & thru Cornville. Intense thunderstorm dumped wet snow big drops of rain propelled by gusting winds. Head lights & regular speed wipers. Visited Dean’s new employment shop Zoomers but he was off. Finished day back @ deer pass. Later afternoon several snow showers moved thru. Nothing stuck. Ran heater again while inside.

Today the skies looked more favorable but forecast was still for rain & snow. Bought propane. Drove to MBH for shop ride. Called Rama, he decided to remain dry.

Decided to see Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton’s new movie.  Crazy Heart was also playing 15 min later. Too many surreal images for me. Special effects were great. Would rather of seen Crazy Heart. Senior citizen discount of 50 cents.

Back out @ desert. Still cold w/ scattered light showers. Roof repair is keeping me dry.

Today in the Safeway parking lot I was searching for a parking spot close to door. Turned up an aisle and watched a truck  back out of a stall & drive away. I pulled in behind him before the dust settled. I noticed a rig in the traffic lane w/ turn light flashing. This person to follow turn light would have had to scribe a tight turn to get into the stall I was in. The drive hung in the lane. I got out and approached the rig. She electrically lowered the window and said did I see her waiting for that spot. I said no. Man, I don’t know if she was there ahead of me or not but I was embarrassed enough and offered to leave the stall. She said no. I don’t know if I took a spot she had been waiting for.

Hoping tomorrow no precip falls and that the sun shines and temps climb drying out trails. Sat is Sedona ride day for Arizona Spring Fling. Weather forecast is for Thurs & Fri being dry & warm which will make Sat ride just right. Washes will be running.

Sat night rain out @ Beaverhead Flats. Down below the Dry beaver creek flows not like it’s adjective, ever higher after last night’s rain.

Stopped @ B & B to return pedals borrowed for Grace. Jimmy & I shared thoughts that trails other than Sedona are boring. I was looking forward to Black Canyon trail for it’s pedaling & steering on a “smooth” tread. Once riding that excitement lasted about 20 mins and I was ready for chunky & some walk over. I will so miss riding here.

Made MBH, a fresh scrubbed woman in bike gear was looking to join the shop ride. She is from Cincinnati and way out of her league. Johny, Tim, Rama, the girl, & I headed out in a sucker hole. Plan was to ride the washes & stay nearby and out as long as we could tolerate the rain to fall. I was running late leaving even though I was first to arrive. I was living up to my moniker of Talkin Dude.

A white Sprinter w/ WA plates and a home conversion pulled into the parking lot.  I might have approached the guy, Dave, to aggressively. He was back pedaling getting some space . I shared my story and he relaxed. He & his wife are on a 90 day tour of the US making DC visit to a child. They are from Winthrop. His van interior is like modular. He outfitted it w/ removable things. They cook etc outside. Idea works for him. They are mtn bikers. He said he had only today to ride in Sedona and it would be wet and maybe rain. They will miss out, the nature of traveling.

Clean clothes again.

Drove back down to VOC and a bar, PJs to watch Gonzaga basketball, WCC tournament. Had bar seat comfortably distanced from big screen TV but volume turned off for bar band. Zags won & music was listenable.

Camped @ B & B. Dean called asking for moving help. I volunteered for Mon ( Today) to help.

This AM I helped Dean load & unload, out from the old into the new. He has a large & heavy rock collection to move. Interesting things cast into the rock. Dean was a big part of the original Red Bull Rampage @ Bootleg Canyon. Dean is just now managing a bike shop in Cottonwood. Years earlier he had a shop in Springdale, UT outside Zion. Remember I met him on my trip thru back in ’98.

Wet day today. Sat is AZ Spring Fling ride in Sedona. An informal gathering of mtn bikers to ride several places as a moving festival. Weather dries up Thurs. Traildoc has a blood clot in his lung that broke loose from one of his legs. He had a worse go than i did w/ mine 3 years ago.

Grace made it back to Huntsville and her luggage is getting additional address tags put on as it is elsewhere. Sun was her 49th b-day.

New snow is landing on mountains above town; tops look like 6800′, are in wilderness & off limits to bikes.