The Tucson Adventure continues despite cool weather and government shutdown

   A very busy week ended with an afternoon of football watching today (Sunday, January 13) as the New England Patriots dismantled the Chargers and the New Orleans Saints got by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Joan and her MMM wine

    This past week was a pretty typical week for us here in the desert. On Monday I went on the “easy” hike which was a pretty boring trek along the Pantano Wash, but it was 5 miles so got a little exercise out of it. On Monday night (Jan. 7) Joan and I did our first Meet Me at Maynard’s for the season.

   It was our 40^th time and we are just 10 short of getting our 50 pin. We have already earned our t-shirts and our ball caps. We probably won’t make it this year, but next year for sure we’ll get our pin. The next award is a Century t-shirt, but at the rate we are here I may not live long enough to earn that one.

  Joan loves sitting on the Maynard’s patio sipping wine as they do the drawing for restaurant gift certificates at the end of the evening.

Madera Canyon hike

    On Tuesday, I went on the Madera Canyon hike which was a relatively simple hike of 6.5 miles and a total elevation of about 1,000 feet. I did get close to Mt. Wrightson which is where I hiked my brother’s ashes to a number of years ago. While I was sweating my way up the mountain Joan was sweating in the pool in her class.

    Since last year I have been one of the hike coordinators here at the resort which means I either help lead the hikes or bring up the rear and make sure we don't lose anyone. I was the last in line (we call it the "Sweep") for the Madera hike. I will be leading the hikes in February.

     For the first time this season we attended the Tuesday potluck. Joan made up her famous coleslaw and we reconnected with a number of friends there.

Bridal Wreath Falls

    Wednesday brought the first Market Daze, but the man who brings the delicious bags of oranges for $4 did not show so Joan was pretty disappointed. As part of the table and chair set up crew we were busy this week setting up Market Daze, tearing it down and then setting up for the Wednesday night show.

    After my table and chair duties Joan and I went off the reservation so she could get her allergy shot at our local Tucson doctor. While she waited for her shot she sent me on an errand to pick up some groceries at the nearby Trader Joe’s.

   After dinner Wednesday we attended the show which was a John Denver Tribute show done by Jim Curry. He did an incredible job of looking and sounding like John Denver and the show was very well received.

   On Thursday, I attended my second Men’s Bible Study and several more of my friends attended after arriving at the resort this weekend. Some of them are getting older, glad that I’m not.

    That evening I led the first mixed Bible study along with Rev. Ray Burgess who asked me to take the lead on the study of the Gospel of Mark this year. We had a wonderful group of 10 people with several more expected to show up this coming Thursday.

My squirrel buddy at the falls

    Try as I might I couldn’t find anyone available to hike with me on Friday so I went alone to the Garwood-Carillo Trail in the Saguaro National Park. The 6-mile in and out hike ends at Bridal Wreath Falls and I found them in full flow, which is unusual. The current water is a result of the recent rain and mountain snow we have had here in Tucson.

   This is part of the same trail I did last week with my friend Alan, but he couldn’t finish the climb so I went back and completed the hike.

Unfortunately, the government shutdown continues and there is a sign posted at the entrance of the trail warning hikers that they will be hiking at their own risk because all the government personnel are off and not patrolling. The fact is I’ve never seen a ranger on any of those trails, shutdown or not, so it is a pretty well traveled trail and hikers look out for each other. No worries.

   Joan attended her Women’s Bible study Friday morning and then her polymer clay class in the afternoon, but she has finished the projects from Friday so I have no pictures yet for that.

Trail shutdown warning

    We went to a DJ dance in the ballroom Friday night and met some friends there. We were tired and left a little early. Saturday brought some time to do chores around the trailer and I finished a really good book I’ve been reading called “The Great Halifax Explosion,” which is the story of a devastating collision between two ships in the Halifax Harbor during World War I. One of the ships was carrying millions of pounds of war explosives and the resulting explosion leveled much of the City of Halifax and killed about 2,000 people. It was a story I was unaware of but the book was a real page turner.

    Joan did our laundry Saturday and then we went to the “Two’s Company” dance in the ballroom Saturday night. It’s kind of funny that we don’t dance all year at home and then dance nearly every week while we are here during the winter.

  On Sunday (Jan. 13) we went to church and then due to the chilly temperatures hibernated in our trailer and watched the football games I mentioned at the beginning of this post. We’re hoping for better weather this week, but even bad weather here isn’t too bad.