Hiking in Tonto National Forest

It was chilly and windy this morning (Thursday), so we wimped out on water aerobics, but Carl suggested that we go for a hike instead. He did not find exactly the trail that he was wanting to take, but we enjoyed what we found instead!

We stopped at Bulldog Canyon...

There was part of the Maricopa Trail accessible from here...

... part of a large trail system in this area.

But we decided to ask another couple of hikers who had just come back into the parking area for their recommendation, and they recommended a trail up EJ Peak (I've also found it listed as Lone Mountain, I think)...

"We're going up there?"

"Are you sure?!?!?" (It doesn't look all that high, does it?)

There were some beautiful ocotillos along the way, all leafed out.

Initially the path was pretty broad -- in fact, it started as OHV road, then down to a hiking and horseback riding trail (this part), and then it narrowed to a very narrow hiking trail.

The views were beautiful.

Another leafed-out ocotillo -- there were many along this trail.

The sky was so blue!

Does that look pretty vertical to you? It did to us too!

The Jeep is down there where the wash from the mountain on the other side comes to the road.

A view toward the west -- I think that mountain in the middle is known as Red Mountain.

It was a gorgeous day!

At the top

Taking pictures toward the east

East of the peak

Carl at the peak

I think this is looking south

Looking west

A marked up version of the previous picture -- the Jeep is where the arrow is pointing!

Beautiful views in all directions

I'm not sure what Carl was laughing about, but... we almost always have fun!

It may look barren, but there is a lot of vegetation around... not like the forests of other parts of the country, but, beautiful nonetheless.

This bench was at the top, with "EJ Peak 2787" on it... we think the elevation.

A few more pictures before heading down... northeast

Looking to the east.

I think this was almost a 180 degree panoramic picture

Red Mountain...

... and Red Mountain zoomed in.

I think this is toward Fountain Hills.

Though it did not take as much energy as the climb up, the trek down was actually more challenging -- the path had a lot of loose gravel and we had to be very careful not to slip.

Carl was wearing his new hiking boots. I had decided to go in my walking shoes as I didn't want my feet to get "broken in" by the boots! I think I would have had better traction with the boots, but my feet are happy that I didn't wear them... especially since we made it down safely anyway.

We stopped for Gyro Salads on our way home - yum!

A little too cool and windy to enjoy pool exercises, but about perfect for hiking!

Getting stuff done - new chase

When Mike installed the wiring from the roof to the solar controller, he covered the wires inside of Gracie, but the cover was not working well for us (it was hard to adjust when we needed to get to the wires) and we didn't like it being white. I didn't specifically get any "before" pictures, but these two were taken as the work was being done and show the white chase covering:

We decided we'd rather have a darker color, and hoped to run it in such a way that it would be easier to uncover if we needed to change the wiring...

Carl getting the new chase in place.

The brown looks a *lot* nicer!

It blends in well with the existing colors of the coach.

A relatively small task to get accomplished, but required getting the materials and getting it done! This was not a task that we had on our to-do list, but we added it and then checked it off to give us a feeling of accomplishment! Are we the only people who do that?

Lunch at Lou's

On Tuesday, we met friends Wayne and Nancy at Lou Malnati's for salad and pizza.

Oh wow!

In progress...

Yum!

Each couple ordered a large so we each took home about half... so we'll get to have pizza for leftovers in the next couple of days.

Wacky vehicles

The RV Travel online magazine that we get had an article with a video of wacky vehicles. I haven't been able to find the video in another source (like YouTube), so I'm including a link to the RV Travel magazine. I don't know for sure that you'll be able to access it... but if you do... don't miss the car carrying the longhorn, or the massive package haulers (probably from Asia)!

https://www.rvtravel.com/wackyvehicles987/ 

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Dwayne!

Two years ago today, Dwayne celebrated his 73rd birthday on earth and also started living in his eternal home in heaven. One of my friends recently wrote as she shared about her husband's death that I have lifted and customized: 

On February 14, 2019, Dwayne peacefully passed from the land of the dying to the land of the living...

What a blessing to know that even as we miss him being with us physically, that his life has not ended.

On today's service from our church in Irving, TX, the song "Christ our Hope in Life and Death" spoke to me:

Christ Our Hope In Life And Death

What is our hope in life and death?

Christ alone, Christ alone.

What is our only confidence?

That our souls to Him belong.

Who holds our days within His hand?

What comes, apart from His command?

And what will keep us to the end?

The love of Christ, in which we stand.

O sing hallelujah!

Our hope springs eternal;

O sing hallelujah!

Now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death.

What truth can calm the troubled soul?

God is good, God is good.

Where is His grace and goodness known?

In our great Redeemer’s blood.

Who holds our faith when fears arise?

Who stands above the stormy trial?

Who sends the waves that bring us nigh

Unto the shore, the rock of Christ? 

Unto the grave, what shall we sing?

“Christ, He lives; Christ, He lives!”

And what reward will heaven bring?

Everlasting life with Him.

There we will rise to meet the Lord,

Then sin and death will be destroyed,

And we will feast in endless joy,

When Christ is ours forevermore.

 

Words and Music by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, Matt Papa

Listen on YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvwlwL1FUEg&feature=youtu.be&mc_cid=988419e59d&mc_eid=6dbb4cfd80 

Only in Christ do we have hope!

A few things over the last couple of days

For the past few days, we have just been doing things around the park and Mesa...

Carl put the vent cover back on the fan over the kitchen. It allows us to use the fan even if there is rain -- the fan has a rain sensor that causes to automatically close if it senses moisture -- the cover allows it to continue working as long as the rain is not blowing directly in.

We had removed it when we were going to Quartzsite because we did not figure that rain would be an issue and we wanted to avoid any shading that might occur from it over the solar panels.

On Thursday, there was an event in the park by "Hams at Heart" -- no, not a Ham Radio group, but a group of folks who live in the park and who put on plays and entertainment in the park -- I guess normally they would have several things scheduled, but this is the first thing we had seen scheduled and been able to attend.

They did "A Trip to Nowhere", written by one of the ladies in the group, based around folks waiting at an airport for flights that weren't leaving, singing and dancing about the places they were hoping to eventually get to... maybe... This group sang about the joys of Zoom meetings.

The long suffering gate agent seemed to only have bad news about flights being delayed. And... she had strange passengers that needed her attention!

"Somewhere over the Rainbow"

"Vive Las Vegas"

"Goin' to Houston"

The cast -- it was fun -- they had altered the lyrics to many of the songs to make them COVID or elder related.

On Friday we went out for a Chinese Buffet for lunch, and stopped by the mall so Carl could get his glasses adjusted. At the mall, we saw this interesting rig...

It had a web address on it: https://www.globalxvehicles.com/ -- that is the manufacturer of the RV body that can be installed on various truck chassis. It looks like there are storage boxes as well as a spare tire on the back.

We wondered about the top-heaviness of one of these. There were solar panels on top (can be seen in the first picture), and a cab air-conditioner on the roof of the cab, but not on the living space.

Dwayne and I had seen one similar to this the first winter we were out RVing (soon after we met Carl and Sue): https://trekincartwrights.blogspot.com/2015/02/thats-interesting-rig.html The couple who owned the rig we saw then had a blog and told about their travels: http://traveljoy.ch/?    Depending on your browser, it may offer you a translate option (my Chrome browser does).

I also had a COVID test this past week -- since my run in the desert a few weeks ago (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2021/01/thursday.html), my lungs were initially sore from exertion (I generally do NOT run!), and in the past week, I started feeling like it was hard to take a deep breath. I was pretty certain that it was not COVID, but, I wanted to get checked by a doctor, and I could not make an appointment if I was experiencing shortness of breath unless I had a negative COVID test. So, I got tested on Monday -- told that results should be back in 24-48 hours. I kept on checking online but results were not posted. Finally, on Thursday, I called to find out why my results had not been posted, and was able to get my result, "Not Detected" (aka negative). It turns out that my name as I registered for the test did not exactly match my name as I registered on the website (Patricia Williams versus Patricia T Williams), and, even though I used the same email address to login that I had listed on the form, in an abundance of caution, they did not post the results for me online. ARGH!

I did end up seeing a doctor (Physician's Assistant) on Thursday afternoon, and her diagnosis was that my bronchial tubes are just still inflamed from my run, and gave me a steroid treatment to try to reduce the inflammation. I also got a chest x-ray which was clear. So... I'm COVID-free and working on getting my breathing back to normal -- all good news.

Tuesday - Fruit and BBQ

When we were out in Quartzsite with the Ham Radio group, one of the couples had oranges and tangerines that they had picked from their own and their neighbor's trees (I think their neighbors are not coming to Mesa this year and so the Ham Radio couple is taking care of their yard and trees for them). We enjoyed them so much, and they had told us that we could get more once we got back to Mesa.

So, on Tuesday, Carl went over and got grapefruit, oranges, and tangerines.

Wow, are they fresh and DELICIOUS!

Miss Kitty wasn't too excited about the fruit... or anything else, other than a nap!

We had also gotten tickets for the food truck that was coming on Tuesday -- last week we pre-paid for two dinners and then on Tuesday went over to pick them up at the community center.

We were encouraged to drive over to get our meals... even though it is an easy walk or bike ride. I guess there is less contact between residents by driving in separate vehicles.

Since we were over at the community center, Carl went into the mail box area to check our mail... just once piece of boxholder mail from a local dentist.

We got one meal with chicken and one with pork and shared so we each had some of each meat. We both enjoyed the pork more, but it was all good.

It is nice that the resort is scheduling events like this. Usually there would be a cafe in the community center that would provide a place for gathering and meeting others. Bringing the food trucks in doesn't help with meeting others, but, I guess, provides a way for folks to get take-out food who don't want to leave the resort to get it. What a strange time this is!