Where We Are Now: We're home in Kayenta, a
subdivision of St. George, Utah.
Barbara walks daily 90 minutes or so, usually amidst trees that do not remind her of home in southern Utah. [July 22, 2023]
Cycling is poor in Flagstaff, our summer home. The best rides are along shoulders of highways (here 89A leading to Sedona) -- the shoulders are wide, clean, and John can just pedal away, ignoring traffic. [July 9, 2023]
A storm approaching our Kayenta home from the west, from Nevada and the nearby Indian reservation. [June 6, 2023]
When in St. George John observes from the front of the garage with his excellent 5-inch refracting telescope, and the moon is a favorite object. He got this snapshot by hand-holding his iPhone up to the telescope eyepiece. [April 28, 2023]
A consequence of the melting snow was flooding rivers. In early April the Virgin River rose and approached the bike path; a few days later it flooded and closed the path for two weeks. [April 23, 2023]
Like most places in the west we went from drought to too much rain in the spring of 2023. We've never seen so much snow in April on the mountain overlooking St. George. The last snow didn't melt on this -- the south-facing side -- until the first week of June. [April 4, 2023]
We've had a leaking roof for the longest time and finally in April and May we had a crew repair it, and that included replacing damage to walls. This is the master bath. in June it still leaked! [April 2023]
Downtown Tucson as seen from one of the many bike paths that follow rivers and drainages. [January 18, 2023]
John is loving the 131 miles of maintained wide level bike paths that are far superior to any he's encountered anywhere in the US (plus wide bike lanes on virtually all roads). Most follow along the Santa Cruz River which is on the far side of the guard rail. He's on them every day. [January 13, 2023]
Our winter 2022-2023 resort is on the southern edge of Tucson and next to Saguaro National Park. We have a one-bedroom condo. The resort's pool, which is open except on the coldest days, is a major attraction. [December 2022]
While cycling thru an intersection John spotted a 3-foot long gopher snake slowly crossing the road. He stayed with it and escorted it off the pavement. Cars were puzzled to see him stopped in the middle of the intersection but gave him a thumbs up when they saw what he was doing. Some stopped to take a photo. [November 21, 2022]
Neglecting to put sunscreen on his nose finally caught up with John, and he needed a basal cell carcinoma removed, followed by plastic surgery to fill in the hole. Live and learn. [November 10, 2022]
It's chilly in St. George in November so we fire up our little gas fireplace while Barbara watches videos on her iPad. Note
the astronomical chart on the wall and the atlatl darts at left. [November 4, 2022]
John is fond of cycling West Canyon (packed gravel) in Snow Canyon State Park, only a few miles from home, and cycles there weekly. The scenery is definitely better than average! [Sept. 22, 2022]
Our last field trip while in Flagstaff was to this well-known canyon north of town. Fourteen years ago we hiked to the bottom but now we're content to gaze at it from the rim. [September 2, 2022]
John has spent many hours looking at craters on the moon, but while in Flagstaff we got the chance to look at the best crater on earth -- and from much closer! [August 30, 2022]
John seldom passes up the chance to look thru a telescope, and this one at Flagstaff's historic Lowell Observatory was pointed at Mercury during the daytime. Percival Lowell had the 24-inch refractor built it in 1896 to study Mars. John returned that evening for a look at Saturn -- a red letter day! [August 29, 2022]
Flagstaff has seen flooding during the summer monsoon season. Sandbags are piled high along the bike path into town. [August 20, 2022]
John has learned his way around the streets of Flagstaff but enjoys the open road of the wide and smooth shoulders of highways that lead out of town. A favorite is old Route 66 before it merges into I-40; he ignores the high-speed traffic. [July 7, 2022]
We rented a house in Flagstaff (elevation 7030 ft) for the summer and look forward to cooler weather and to exploring new areas by car and by trike. [June 29, 2022]
Early on a warm morning John cycled up the dirt road in Snow Canyon State Park to watch the sunrise and the moonset over the rock formations. [June 16, 2022]
At 6 a.m. on April 30 John rolled his 5-inch refractor to the edge of the driveway to observe an especially close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus. Venus is the bright one. [April 30, 2022]
John rented a wheelchair as a test, and he quickly returned it. It's more trouble than it's worth as long as he can still hobble at all. He is confident that this was his entire wheelchair experience. [April 1, 2022]
John photographed this hummer on our Borrego patio with his iPhone. Click here for a 22-second video. [March 16, 2022]
John chose to have lumbar spine fusion surgery to maintain his failing stability at its present level and remove pain from a pinched nerve. The inset shows his new metal pins. It's to be a long and onerous recovery, and we'll see how it goes. [February 26, 2022]
John at Font's Point in Anza Borrego State Park. Later he did a short 30-minute "hike" (hobble) but was fearful of further damaging his already badly damaged spine, so that was his last hike -- the end of an era. [January 17, 2022]
John can no longer hike, so he cycles daily, 9,300 miles in 2021. Most roads in Borrego Springs have a proper bike lane but this highway to the Salton Sea has only a shoulder, narrow in places. There is little traffic so cars can go around and John feels safe. This road (S22) seems to go forever and it's a chance to just pedal mile after mile. The scenery isn't bad either. [January 2022]
While photographing ourselves for our upcoming annual New Year card in front of giant metal sculptures in Borrego Springs, a professional photographer became intrigued by what we were doing and took our picture for the fun of it. We think it's a keeper! [November 22, 2021]
John cycles daily in Kayenta, our Utah neighborhood, and elsewhere around St. George. Click here for a 10-second video. [October 2021]
While cycling after dark in Kayenta John encountered a sidewinder rattlesnake in the road, absorbing the last of the sun's heat. [September 2021]
Most days Barbara does an hour of water aerobics in our Idaho resort's indoor pool and John joins her on occasion. [September 2021]
Another moose! It's so rare to see a moose, especially from up close, that each sighting is an event. This one ignored John as he cycled past him on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes. [September 2021]
While John cycled on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes a juvenile moose crossed in front of him. [August 2021]
Often smoke blows in and reminds us that this century will be quite different from past ones. This is the houses section of our summer resort where John cycles daily on the smooth road. [August 2021]
We've never seen a weasel at our northern Idaho campground until this one appeared and scampered around under John's trike. Open here for a very short 14mb video. [July 21, 2021]
While "hiking" (hobbling) our Idaho resort's trails John came across fresh bear scat. It wasn't there the day before. He called "hi bear" every few minutes as he walked in case the bear was lingering nearby. [July 13, 2021]
While cycling the rail-to-trail Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in northern Idaho John came across a feeble baby deer that had lost its mom. It was so desperate that it came right up to John with pleading eyes, and he could have petted it, but sadly he could offer no help. [June 30, 2021]
While in St. George John especially enjoys cycling the Virgin River Bike Trail which follows the Virgin River for 20 miles. He shot this with his drone, and it shows a wood boardwalk over a section where the river in flood reaches the base of a cliff. [June 2021]
Barbara walks a 6-mile loop around Kayenta in 90 minutes most mornings. [June 2021]
John has no observatory when home in Utah, but he rolls out his 5-inch refractor and views in comfort from the front of the garage. The box on the ground holds eyepieces and accessories and the table holds references, while he operates the computerized telescope with his iPad. [April 2021]
John flew his drone over several of the famous Ricardo Breceda metal sculptures in Galleta Meadows in Borrego Springs. Click HERE for a 2-minute composite (15mb). [March 2021]
We were very happy to get our second Covid shot at the little clinic in Borrego Springs, San Diego County, but will continue to wear masks and socially distance. [March 4, 2021]
John intended to hike on Clark Dry Lake but a windstorm kicked up clouds of dust, sand, and grit -- so he hiked elsewhere. [Feb. 21, 2021]
John relaxing on the patio of our rental house in Borrego Springs with a book and pipe. The golf course gives an expansive view to the south. [February 2021]
While returning from a hike John spotted a fellow hopelessly stuck in sand. He backed up to him, attached a strap, and pulled him out. His fee? He asked the very grateful rescuee to make a $100 donation to Doctors Without Borders. [January 14, 2021]
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In October and November 2017 we spent a month traveling in Vietnam and Cambodia. Click here for a rather long 29 MB travel diary with over a hundred photos.
John is now officially handicapped. Ironically he went on a 3-mile hike immediately after picking up this tag, but it was needed the following July. Be prepared! [Oct. 11, 2017]
How many trees does it take to make a forest? John thinks six is enough in the high desert near St. George. [Oct. 2017]
John has been hiking amidst Joshua trees SW of St. George. The trees are interesting -- it's something different -- and the walking is easy. [Oct. 2017]
What the hell? We avoid snow like the devil, but found ourselves driving through a minor snowstorm and then camping in the horrid stuff in central Montana while on the way home from Coeur d'Alene in mid-September. [September 15, 2017]
Forest fires fill the Idaho air with dense smoke and we're advised to "stay indoors and avoid breathing." Barbara is not wearing a mask just for the photo -- she and others are wearing masks all day and even sleeping with them on. Yes, that's the sun behind her. [September 5, 2017]
On August 21 we drove south to near Boise to watch the total eclipse of the sun, and we had a great view in a clear sky of a truly spectacular event. This is Barbara's 2nd total eclipse and John's 3rd. Here Barbara is wisely using binoculars and John is wasting precious time unsuccessfully trying to take a photo with a hand-held camera. [August 21, 2017]
We spend the summers at our favorite RV resort near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and escape Utah's heat. Barbara swims a mile each day in the indoor pool. John hikes the resort's trails, swims, and cycles the dirt road that loops around while listening to podcasts. Our motorhome is at far right with a view of the meadow and a clear view of the sky for stargazing. [June 2017]
We spent the second week of June at 8800 feet in the Kaibab National Forest just north of the Grand Canyon where John hiked sections of the Arizona Trail every day and then observed under an ultra-dark sky each night. [June 17, 2017]
While in Kayenta in the late spring of 2017 John hiked most days. This neat little sandstone canyon is less than 2 miles from home. [June 7, 2017]
In May 2017 we took a three-week cruise up the Rhine and down the Danube from Amsterdam to Bucharest aboard a Viking longship. Click here for a 8mb pdf heavily-illustrated trip diary that is the compilation of emails I sent daily to friends. [May 2017]
We
"Marched for Science" in St. George on Earth Day. Advocating
reality might have been necessary in the 13th century, but
in the 21st? [April 22, 2017]
In
April 2017 we took a two-week cruise from Tahiti around
French Polynesia. Click here
for a 5mb pdf heavily-illustrated trip diary that
is the compilation of emails I sent daily to friends. That's
our small cruise ship at center. [April 2017]
Two photos above: The fields are alive with flowers and it's hard to know where to begin looking at them because they're everywhere in the greatest bloom in more than two decades. [March 2017]
This
is supposed to be the Mojave Desert, but it looks like a
meadow! Heavy rain in Southern California has made the
desert green like it hasn't been in decades. This should all
be brown sand and dried mud with only bushes here and there
sticking up. Most unusual! We expect an amazing crop of
flowers soon. [March 1, 2017]
It's
early February, and new life is appearing in the Southern
California desert. This young shoot pushes aside mud cracks
as it rises. Perhaps we'll see a wonderful display of desert
flowers next month. [Feb. 5, 2017]
After
a week of rain it'll take the desert some time to dry out.
For John the road where it crossed a corner of Clark "Dry"
Lake ended here. Accessing hiking areas will be a trick for
awhile. The sign says "Vehicles Stay on Roads". Note the
distant snow. [Jan. 2017]
No
-- we haven't been to the moon. John bought a new camera
largely to take better travel photos (Lumix DSC-FZ70) and
has been testing it. This photo of the moon shows that the
zoom seems to work just fine! [Nov. 2016]
Ten thousand or so years ago lava flowed from the mountain at right down the valley at center (Snow Canyon State Park) and into St. George. This view back to the north shows how fresh and rough the lava is. Our house is at the toe of Red Mountain 1/4 of the way in from the left. It's a panorama, so enlarge it for best effect. [Nov. 2016]
John
hikes or cycles virtually every day when we're home. On this
hot October afternoon he walked a disused road through a
Joshua Tree forest midway between St. George, Utah, and
Mesquite, Nevada. He thinks the road was a spur of the Old
Spanish Trail. [Oct. 2016]
We spent the first week of June camped in our motorhome in a meadow at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Doesn't this look like an advertisement for RVing? [June 2016]
Click HERE to read the 72-page illustrated travel-log for our May 2016 trip to Greece and the Black Sea (6 mb pdf).
John occasionally comes across wide tracks that cross terrain too rough for most 4WD vehicles and that (from erosion) were clearly made decades ago. He's pretty sure that these are tank tracks made by Patton's army which trained here in preparation for the invasion of North Africa in 1942. This set went up to a ridge that commanded a view of all approaches. He also sometimes finds spent ammunition. Of course, Sherman tanks are no longer allowed in the state park. [March 2016]
We
come to Borrego Springs each winter for the sun and warmth
-- but El Niño is making that rare this year. We're sitting
in our motorhome in the rain in a nearly deserted resort
while our telescopes languish in their "observatory" shed.
Fortunately there's a good library in town. [Jan. 6, 2016]
We
spent three weeks in New Zealand and one week in Fiji in
December, 2015, and we kept a diary with dozens of photos
which we emailed daily to friends. You can read it as a 5mb
pdf by clicking HERE.
A
new telescope! And John's 15th. This 8-inch Maksutov was
custom made in Germany with optics from Russia and should
give wonderfully sharp views of the planets and stars. It's
our new travel telescope. (But it turned out to be too heavy
and bulky for our RV.) [Nov. 12, 2015]
One of John's favorite bike rides is on the path through nearby Snow Canyon State Park. It's super-scenic with an 1100 foot climb up and a quick descent back down. John hikes or bikes most days. [Oct. 2015]
The
St. George Astronomy Group, which John founded two years
ago, turned out in force at a local public park to show a
total eclipse of the moon to several hundred eclipse
enthusiasts. Barbara took this snap just before sunset and
before the crowd gathered. We watched the eclipse between
clouds. [Sept. 27, 2015]
Multiple huge fires in Idaho fill the sky with smoke and hide the view of nearby hills as well as distant mountains, limiting our view to less than a mile, and the sun casts no shadows. This is the view from our motorhome. [August 29, 2015]
Barbara
runs/walks 4-1/2 miles and then swims one mile most day here
at our summer resort! [July 2015]
The highlight of our raft trip through the Grand Canyon: The passengers on our raft watch as our companions drift toward dreaded Lava Falls. Everyone survived. Scroll down for more pics of the week-long trip. [June 2015]
The
view from our cots was world-class -- and the sound of the
flowing river wasn't bad either. We've yet to unroll our
sleeping bags. [June 2015]
A
formal posed photo from the River -- a runner-up for our
upcoming New Year's card. [June 2015]
Bighorn
sheep watched us go by. [June 2015]
Morning.
Breakfast is done and it's time to form a line and load the
rafts for another day of adventure. [June 2015]
Our two rafts held a total of 29 passengers and three guides. The ever-changing scenery was fantastic as we drifted (motored, actually) down a river that was not lazy at times. [June 2015]
In
June 2015 we floated on a raft through the Grand Canyon for
seven days -- and had a blast. Temperatures reached 108° but
the water was cold and our guides fixed great meals. The
rapids were the best part, of course. John conducted three
hour-long star-gazing sessions to a captive audience under
very dark skies. A few highlights appear above.
In
late May we attended the annual Skeptics Conference in
Pasadena, California, hosted by Michael Shermer. The
highlight was meeting and having dinner with one of our
heroes, Richard Dawkins, at Michael Shermer's home. Richard
tripped and banged his head two days earlier and was
somewhat wounded -- but undaunted. [May 31, 2015]
In
April and May 2015 we spent one month traveling around Spain
and to Marrakech, Morocco. Click HERE
for a daily diary of the trip with several dozen photos (7
MB pdf). The photo above is the main mosque and
minaret in Marrakech, both from the 12th century.
John camped at Whitmore Wash on the rim of the Grand Canyon, hiking down to the Colorado River on a too-warm day (exhausting!) and then observing with his giant binoculars under a dark sky that evening. [April 2015]
Every few hours of hiking John comes across an aluminized Mylar balloon. It provided a few minutes of fun at some kid's birthday party in town, but now it'll decompose in the desert for the next decade or so. There must be hundreds in the desert. [March 2015]
This must be why people spend their winters in the Southern California desert. This weather report is for February 5-9, 2015.
We took a break from the desert in January 2015 to relax by the sea (quite a contrast!). We came to Maui to whale watch, and we weren't disappointed! [Jan. 2015]
Every Tuesday our resort builds a fire and passes out hot dogs and s'mores to roast, and we always attend. We don't eat a single hot dog the rest of the year! [Jan. 2015]
John is active on the local Dark Sky Coalition while in town in an effort to preserve the desert's dark skies. This table promotes our mission at the weekly Farmers Market. [Jan. 2015]
We can't think of a better use for the desert where all is dry mud than to generate energy -- wind where feasible and solar elsewhere. If we took the billions of tax dollars we hand the oil companies to keep their profits high and put it into renewable energy, it would be a different planet. Borrego Springs is just beyond the solar panels. [Jan. 2015]
John
loves hiking in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park, and one
trip took him up to the popular Fonts Point with its view of
the badlands below and the community of Borrego Springs
(green patches) in the distance below the San Ysidro
Mountains. We'll be in Borrego Springs mid-December thru
March. [Dec. 22, 2014]
We spent November 2014 in
South America. John sent emails with photos to a small list
of friends, and upon returning home compiled them into one 5
MB pdf file which you can read by clicking on SOUTH
AMERICA.
A new toy! John is testing in the driveway his giant binoculars from Germany on their custom tripod, and he looks forward to many wonderful views of the Milky Way. [Oct. 19, 2014]
These are the goblins of Goblin Valley State Park. John did two ranger training sessions and two public night sky programs at this overlook under a very dark sky. [Sept. 2014]
Mostly we've been "camping" in RV resorts, but at Goblin Valley State Park in central Utah we were in a more primitive setting where we had to rely on our solar panels for electricity. The Park Service invited John to provide a week's ranger training in night sky interpretation. [Sept. 2014]
While floating down the Snake River thru Hells Canyon Barbara rowed the raft briefly -- very briefly, as it's a LOT of work -- while our guide fished from the back. We both tried the kayak which was great fun. [Sept. 2014]
John is back to hiking in a forest about 4 days a week (most of the year he's in desert) and he enjoys the novelty of shade. Barbara runs 4 miles most mornings and swims a mile in the afternoon. Resort life is pretty good. [July 2014]
Once again we spent the summer at our favorite RV resort near Coeur d'Alene. On the way home we rafted the Snake River thru Hells Canyon and spent a week at Goblin Valley in central Utah where John conducted ranger training in sky interpretation.
We did get to see reindeer at North Cape on an excursion to the northernmost point in Europe. We learned that there are no wild reindeer -- the herds do migrate seasonally but they're all owned by somebody.
Crossing the Arctic Circle (marked by the monument in the right distance) southbound back to civilization and warmth.
The Norwegian fjords are as spectacular as they say they are. This is north of the Arctic Circle.
We didn't get enough of looking out the window as the scenery floated by. (And the food was superb!)
The highlight of our month-long vacation was a 12-day cruise from Bergen to the northernmost point in Europe, in the Arctic Ocean, and return. Our cabin on the return was a deluxe suite with bay window (marked with arrow) -- we came to enjoy the new and novel experience of traveling first class.
It was hot back home in southern Utah but freezing up here on the Hardangervidda Plateau. No hiking here! We got glimpses of glaciers in the distance but saw no reindeer.
An open-air museum featured storage sheds and houses built out of massive pieces of wood in the Middle Ages.
The Viking Ship Museum in Oslo has two complete ships from a little more than a thousand years ago. Amazing!
We took a short foray onto a glacier in Iceland. The ice is black because of the volcanic ash that periodically covers it.
The top attraction in Iceland is the site of the first parliament 1000+ years ago and also where the mid-Atlantic ridge crosses land. We're standing on new volcanic rock between North America and Europe.
We vacationed in Iceland and Norway in June 2014. Above are a very few highlights - there were many.
There's not much green in Anza Borrego Desert State Park, so when you come upon a cluster of palm trees in an ocean of mud you appreciate them. And the sound of the wind rustling the fronds sounds cool! [March 2014]
Whaat? I can hardly wait to
see how beautiful it is when restoration is complete! Anza
Borrego Desert State Park. [March 2014]
John drives to where the
washes end, usually where the canyon becomes too narrow for
a road, and then hikes on from there. The road up this wash
ended in a 7-foot culvert that passed under the highway, so
John crossed under the road and continued hiking up the
canyon. [March 2014]
Our faithful feline friend
Bailey died 19 years after Barbara rescued and adopted her.
The three of us spent most of the last eight years in one
room -- our motorhome -- and she was never more than a few
feet away or out of sight. It's hard to celebrate her long
and wonderful life when you miss her as much as we do.
(Sorry for the Moire pattern of our motorhome windshield
sunscreen; she's on the dashboard surveying the campground.)
[Feb. 16, 2014]
Several times during our stay
in Borrego Springs John set up his 5-inch telescope with a
solar filter to show sunspots to the campers. It was an
intelligent group with a lot of interest and some good
questions. [Jan. 2014]
Barbara got a new bike for her birthday, and here she's ridden it out to one of the many fantastic metal sculptures that are scattered about the desert. [Jan. 2014]
Ground squirrels (aka prairie dogs) dig burrows by the millions, and some areas -- like this low ridge between washes -- are treacherous because a foot can abruptly break through and drop as much as 10 inches, heel first. John walks cautiously with both trekking poles out, ready to catch himself, and he appreciates the little signs the park service places in the worst areas. [Jan. 3, 2014]
John rarely goes where he
absolutely needs 4-Wheel-Drive, but even that didn't help
him when he got off the trail and into deep, soft sand. He
carries two folding shovels and two 4-ft long carpet strips,
and that and 40 minutes of digging got him backed out of
this spot. He now has a real aversion to sand. [Dec. 2013]
Being retired means you have time to feed the fish. This school absolutely loves stale bread. [Dec. 2013]
Since the 1990s Barbara has
put out solstice lights on the shortest day of the year, and
she continues the tradition on our small patio at our RV
resort in California. This is the extent of our holiday
decorations, and it's enough. [Dec. 21, 2013]
Borrego Springs is an official "dark-sky community" and the resort has an Astronomy Park behind the golf course, so John brought his 18-inch telescope -- the first time it's left St. George. The resort assembled a shed he had sent ahead, so John is ready for a winter of observing. Roll out the 'scope -- and go! [Dec. 2103]
Our home from December 2012 through March 2013 is parked in "The Springs at Borrego RV Resort" in the tiny community of Borrego Springs, California, west of the Salton Sea. It was shorts weather when we arrived on December 1 -- a good sign. [Dec. 2013]
We ended our autumn '13 stay in St. George with Thanksgiving dinner at the Zion Lodge. Zion NP is only 49 miles door-to-door and it's always a fine place to visit. [Nov. 2013]
While in St. George John hikes or bikes almost every day. Here he's paused at an overlook with a view of Snow Canyon State Park below and in the background. He's just cycled up the road you can see if you look hard. He peddles as hard as he can, and the motor on his e-bike makes the ascent possible. [Nov. 2013]
John mostly hikes off-trail as you don't really need a path or a map. This is a typical scene on a typical hike atop a mesa. The base is slickrock sandstone with lava on top in many places, and the broken lava can make for tricky footing. [Oct. 2013]
Rainbows aren't that rare in Kayenta, but this double-rainbow was especially nice. This scene covers about 120 degrees and is processed to bring out the rainbows. [Oct. 2013]
In October John was interviewed at home by a crew from the History Channel in Los Angeles for a documentary on the Star of Bethlehem. John did many such interviews when he lived in Los Angeles but they've become rare since moving to the hinterlands of Utah. [Oct. 2013]
Joanna (left) and Barbara
celebrated Joanna's birthday at Adventure Dynamics,
challenging their aging bodies on the obstacle course before
screaming down the zip line [Sept. 2013]
John cycled the Route of the Hiawatha -- where the old Milwaukee Road crossed the Rocky Mountains a century ago. The rail-to-trail has tunnels and trestles and forests and is a to-die-for bike ride. Click on the picture above for a 93-second helmet-cam 13-meg video highlight of a ride across a trestle followed by a very short tunnel with quick glances down to trestles in the valley below. [Aug. 2013]
Barbara is on a fitness jag --
she runs 5 miles most mornings and then swims one mile in
the indoor heated pool before working out with the water
weights! [July 2013]
While hiking, John came across
what looked exactly like a full-grown TIGER sitting on a
log! An escaped exotic pet? John snatched a quick photo (sorry
for the poor quality -- this was taken with an iPhone with
no zoom from perhaps 300 feet) and backed out of
sight, and waited for him to leave. He didn't, so John
retreated back down the trail and reported it to
authorities. The next day Idaho Fish & Game retrieved a
stuffed tiger. Good joke. [July 23, 2013]
Two moose wandered through the
meadow across from our campsite, and fortunately Barbara had
our real camera ready with its zoom lens instead of her
iPhone. [July 20, 2013]
Barbara runs each morning and
John hikes in a state park near our resort about four times
a week. It's in the triple digits back home in southern Utah
-- which is why we're here in northern Idaho. [July 2013]
Lewis and Clarke turned back
when they came to The River of No Return north of Salmon,
Idaho, but John cycled it -- or at least the road adjacent
to it. No shoulder but no traffic either. What a wonderful,
scenic bike ride! [June 2013]
Bighorn sheep by the Salmon River let us photograph them. [June 2013]
This campsite on the Salmon
River is so nice we can't resist including a second photo of
it. Life is good! [June 2013]
This campsite at a resort in
Idaho is right on the Salmon River -- very peaceful. We hope
the parking brake holds. [June 2013]
We don't usually bother about waterfalls, but the 212-foot-high Shoshone Falls on the Snake River near Twin Falls, Idaho, were worth a detour. They're in a wonderfully deep and rugged canyon. [June 2013]
Barbara gets a lot of enjoyment at watching quail, chipmunks, and rabbits chew on the quail block and sip at the water dish outside our kitchen window, and she follows them with binoculars. Here the parents keep watch as 17 baby quail tank up. [May 2013]
To see if she's still in shape, Barbara hiked to Observation Point in Zion National Park and took this photo. The ascent was 2900 feet in 8.4 miles round trip -- and she did it in 3 hours 9 minutes! That would be an achievement for someone a third her age; the park service says to allow 6 hours. Way to go! [April 2013]
We spent April and May 2013 in our home-without-wheels in St. George.
John's hikes near Quartzsite take him past some old mine diggings, none very ambitious. This one is still being worked (!), but John declined descending the ladder at right to see what's so interesting at the bottom. [March 2013]
While at Quartzsite John hiked
5 to 7 miles in the desert most days, sometimes on old jeep
roads but often cross-country. He gave a good scare to this
rattlesnake who was so well camouflaged that John would have
stepped on it if it hadn't been for the snake's thoughtful
buzzing, warning "don't tread on me." [Mar. 20, 2013]
Our RV doesn't have a
fireplace, but we do have a catalytic heater and Bailey
knows where it is. She snuggles so close that we're
surprised she doesn't burst into flames. She thinks it's a
CAT-alytic heater. [Feb. 21, 2013]
There is a small
privately-owned observatory in our Borrego Springs resort,
and the owner let John use it while he's away. We've decided
to spend all next winter back in Borrego Springs, and John
plans to bring his 18-inch telescope and store it in a shed
for use under the dark desert sky.
A local artist created dozens of huge metal sculptures that he scattered across the desert around Borrego Springs. This creature apparently doesn't like cyclists. [Feb. 14, 2013]
We bought close-up binoculars (Pentax Papilio 8.5X) that were great for examining tiny and amazing pupfish in a pond at the Anza Borrego State Park Visitor Center. [Feb. 2, 2013]
John visited his 87-year old
Dad in Florida while Barbara visited her sister in Phoenix.
Dad now lives with his daughter near Tampa. [Jan. 2013]
Barbara and Mary are sisters,
and some think they're twins. We're in Phoenix to visit Mary
who is briefly escaping the Minnesota chill. But even in
Phoenix it can be a little cool in January. [Jan. 6, 2013]
The hiking is harsh near Palm
Springs. Most trails lead to a palm oasis, but outside the
oases the terrain is rocky and as lifeless as any place in
North America. [Dec. 2012]
Barbara helped her friend "Mother Nature" host a butterfly pavilion at a Girl Scout Expo in Palm Springs. The butterflies arrived via FedEx from Florida the day before and they delighted hundreds of young girls as they flew around the tent. The Scouts went home at the end of the day while the butterflies headed to Mexico. [Dec. 15, 2012]
John discovered a wonderful
9-mile bike trail that runs through forest and lava flows in
southern Oregon and he enjoyed feeling young again as he
tore down the path on his electric bike. [Sept. 20, 2012]
John has special affection for
the Pacific Crest Trail, and he was able to hike a section
of it at Crater Lake. [Sept. 2012]
On the way home we spent a
week at Crater Lake where John hiked 43 miles in 5 days.
It's hard to believe how blue the lake is. Many of the
photos from now on will be taken with our new Sony
point-and-shoot camera. [Sept. 2012]
Our short flight took us over
Coeur d'Alene. We could have bombed the pier if it was in
enemy hands. John was the only one who didn't pretend to
fire the 50 cal machine guns at the yachts below.
The B-17's waist is just about
tall enough to stand up in and man the machine guns. They
asked us to turn our caps backwards so we could see the
ceiling obstructions. It's a no-frills space. We all
declined ear plugs to get the full experience.
John is a long-time WWII buff,
so the opportunity to fly in a 1944 B-17 Flying Fortress was
not to be missed. The two photos above were taken during the
short flight. [Aug 19, 2012]
Probably the
premiere rail-to-trail in the USA is the Route of the
Hiawatha in the mountains of northern Idaho. The bike trail
goes through tunnels (one almost two miles long) and over
high trestles like this one we're crossing on a beautiful
August day. (Aug. 14, 2012)
A seldom-used
railroad runs through the state park next to our Idaho
resort and John hits the hiking trails there several times a
week. By including the rails he can extend the trail system
and create new hiking loops. There are no No Trespassing
signs so it's a great chance to hike the railroad tracks
through a forest. (Aug. 2012)
There are
several famous rails-to-trails near Coeur d'Alene and John
plans to ride them all, a section at a time, before Labor
Day. [July 2012]
We spent
several weeks in Oregon forests, almost all of it in rain.
(Note to self: don't go to Oregon in June.) We visited Mt.
Hood only briefly, but this photo is too good to pass up.
The snowline is still quite low in early July. [July 2,
2012]
We camped for a
week near the Arizona Trail in the Kaibab Forest just north
of the Grand Canyon's North Rim, and John hiked every day
through meadows and woods under a deep blue sky. [June 8,
2012].
We were in our home-without-wheels in St. George during April and May, 2012.
On
our winter trip's last day we took a charter flight over the
west end of the Grand Canyon. The Canyon is impressive from
any angle. [Apr. 2012]
John is anticipating enjoying
a fancy drink while waiting for dinner on the Grand Canal in
the Venetian in Las Vegas. [Apr. 2012]
It's great to camp in the
desert, but we also enjoy the luxury of hot tubs and
swimming pools at a big resort in Phoenix. (Mar. 27, 2012)
John bought an electric bike
and now -- after years out of the saddle -- can ride again.
The electric motor assists on hills and with headwinds, but
John doesn't cheat and peddles all the time. This ride took
him 16 miles on an old dirt-gravel-rock road to a mining
area in the Arizona desert. Great fun! [Feb. 2012]
John is having a wonderful
time hiking near Quartzsite. Generally he avoids the ATV
roads and makes his way across country where occasionally he
runs into an abandoned faint trail and follows it.
This one led to a defunct spring and it surely is an ancient
Indian trail that was probably later used by miners. [Feb.
2012]
Quartzsite is in the middle of
nowhere and the skies are dark, so John sets up his
Takahashi telescope and stargazes every clear moonless
night. Neighbors are few and widely scattered. Yes, it's
shorts-weather in February in the Arizona desert. [Feb.
2012]
Winds clocked at 90 mph tore
through camp one afternoon in Borrego Springs, sandblasting
the front of our beautiful motorhome and ruining our huge
windshield and paint job. That's a reason to have
insurance. [Jan. 2012]
Gen. George Patton was here in
the Anza Borrego State Park -- when he trained his army for
the invasion of North Africa in 1942. Remains of practice
battles are scattered about. This 45 cal machine-gun bullet
has lain for 70 years in essentially the same spot where it
landed in 1942. [Jan. 2012]
You run into some strange
things in the desert, and this is one of the strangest -- a
shipping container home in the middle of nowhere. The inside
is finished but uninhabited. There's a story here but I have
no idea what it is. [Jan. 2012]
18-year old Bailey has had
more than her share of medical issues this past year, but
several medicines keep her going. Here she's submitting to a
dose of antibiotics. Down the hatch! [Jan. 5, 2012]
The land around Palm Springs
is as harsh as Death Valley. On the Winter Solstice John
hiked to a palm oasis in the middle of nowhere. Water seeps
out of the hills at right and gives life to these palms.
[Dec. 2011]
John
took in the Palm Springs museum devoted to WWII aircraft.
Outside is one of the German FLAK 88 "kanone" that shot down
hundreds of our bombers over
the Third Reich. [Dec. 2011]
The Palm Springs area is famous for the many wind farms. Yeah for renewable energy! But the blades were hardly turning on this warm windless December day. [Dec. 2011]
We spent December 2011 and January 2012 in Palm Springs and Borrego Springs (80 miles south of Palm Springs) exploring a huge chunk of California's Sonoran desert by foot and 4WD. Then February and most of March in Quartzsite, Arizona, a popular winter RV destination with its huge flea markets and shows -- and endless desert hiking opportunities. We finished our winter travels with a short visit to Las Vegas and a flyover of the Grand Canyon on the way home.
What John misses most when we
end one of our interludes in St. George is observing with
his big scope which obviously won't fit in our motorhome and
sadly gets left behind [late November 2011].
We love hiking the
sandstone "slickrock" in Utah's Canyonlands, but
occasionally the way becomes too steep. John had to turn
around shortly after making it up this stretch in the
Needles area. The aluminum trekking pole was no help. [Oct.
1, 2011]
Moab is the center of four-wheel-driving and mountain
cycling, especially on slickrock. We drove the infamous
90-mile White Rim Trail around Canyonlands (above) and
watched cyclists on the slickrock (higher above). They go up
and down crazy-steep slopes on very expensive bikes, and it
looks like fun -- for younger folk. Note the true sky color.
[Sept. 2011]
Beavers dig their lodges in the banks of the Colorado
River. Here they've dammed Mill Creek just outside Moab.
[Sept. 2011]
Moab has some of the most spectacular scenery on earth,
here from Dead Horse Point. The canyons seem to extend
forever. Barbara is looking down on the jeep road we later
drove in our Xterra. [Sept. 2011]
The sky is dark in northern
Idaho, so John sets up his little 4-inch refractor on clear
nights and stargazes next to our RV. John replaced this
trusty telescope with a larger one as we left Idaho. [Aug.
2011]
There was nobody by the pool on this chilly July evening at our resort near Coeur d'Alene, and chilly summer days are not rare this far north. People were enjoying the indoor heated pool, game room, library, gym, etc. Note the attractive RV in the distance. The view out our main windows is of the meadow and trees to the right -- very peaceful.
John found a 2-mile section of the famous Pacific Crest Trail west of Sisters Oregon that was free of snow and enjoyed a short hike along it. [July 11, 2011]
We don't often build a campfire, but wood is so plentiful here that it seemed a shame not to. We're both lost in contemplation. [July 2011]
