“It was dark and silent late last night.
I think I might have heard the highway call…”
~James Taylor
Good Morning All,
After being at my Bloody Basin site, I knew I was running low on fresh water, and although I had enough food to probably last me two weeks if I got really creative and didn’t mind some strange combos, I was running low on healthy foods, and I didn’t want to sabotage my new exercise/eating plan by not having enough fruits and vegetables on hand. I had thought I’d go into “town” on Sunday, but put it off until Monday. I drove just 3 exits down I-17. It took about a half hour, 15 minutes of which was just getting out of Bloody Basin on the rutted dirt roads. I stopped first at Pilot Truck stop for water and propane. The guy behind the counter said they couldn’t pump propane because someone had stolen some part necessary for filling my tank. They did have potable water, so I filled my tank and drove down the road one more exit to Love’s Travel Stop and got propane and filled my gas tank. I headed further down the road to the local market, just a half a step above a convenience store. They had quite a bit, but everything was triple the prices I was used to paying. I bought a small container of Folger’s coffee for $8.99. I passed on a box of mac and cheese for $4.99. They did have a few fresh items, so I got a bunch of bananas, a beautiful, large red bell pepper, an onion, a sweet potato, and a lemon. I had wanted some Pillsbury Poppin’ Fresh biscuits to use in my tiny new Easy Bake Oven. I bit the bullet and paid nearly $6 for a large tube of buttermilk biscuits. When I got home, I made one with cinnamon sugar (which I ate as an afternoon snack with coffee) and coated one with “Everything but the Bagel” sprinkles. They were both delicious.
When I left the store, on the way back to the freeway I stopped at a dollar store where I found a bag of avocados—3 for $4.50 and picked up a couple frozen items and some eggs. In hindsight, I should have stopped there first, because coffee was $3 cheaper, and I saw some of the other items I purchased for a much better price. I’ll know in case there is a need to go back there again.
I came home and made lunch. The sky clouded up and we had a pretty spectacular thunderstorm, interspersed with hail.
It rained intermittently all afternoon, and was very windy, so we made the best of an “inside day” by watching YouTube and taking a nap.
It was surprising, but very nice to be able to get our “regular” spot again upon returning from town. I stopped along Bloody Basin road at several open spots, but none were nearly as big, or level or as nice as our previous spot, so I kept driving and sure enough, no one had taken it in our absence. It felt like home to get settled in again. Cosmo likes it because we play every ball every morning (and many afternoons.) I feel comfortable with him off-leash because the road is above us and not really accessible to him due to many cactus plants. Below us is a steep ravine. So I can throw the ball and he can run like the wind to fetch it and bring it back without fear of him running toward cars or cows.
Otherwise, the week was quite easy and uneventful. I worked out on an empty stomach each morning, after a 12 to 15 hour fast. When I finish, Cosmo and I go for a short walk around our large campsite. It is too dangerous to try to walk on the narrow road where cars could easily come over a hill or around a curve going way to fast. We go back to the van and I make a protein drink with whatever fruit I have on hand. This week I was limited to bananas because the small store where I picked up groceries had no other fruit available.
Oh! And speaking of fruit, I experienced my first prickly pear this week. A while ago, Kitty had told me that the Mexican women in her dad’s neighborhood would come and ask to pick the fruit off his cacti and he gladly obliged. The way she described it made me think that the cacti surrounding me, many with tiny barrel-shaped appendages growing off their tops just might be prickly pears. I sent her a photo and she confirmed by phone that indeed they were prickly pears.
At just about the time I shouted “ouch” she said “Oh yeah. Watch out for those little hairs. They are a mess to pull out of your fingers.” Indeed they were. I’ve been picking them out with tweezers for days now. I went onto YouTube (where you can learn to do absolutely anything) and found several videos on how to pick them safely, how to clean off the prickles, and how to cut and eat one. I did just that. The fruit was deliciously sweet and tart at the same time. I was surprised at the number of seeds inside. It was not chewable because of the seeds, but I managed to somehow get most of the fruit swallowed and was left with a mouthful of seeds that I spit out onto the ground in the hopes of propagating more cacti. I think the fruit could be nice in a drink (I found a recipe for prickly pear margaritas) or maybe as a jelly or jam. The amount of work to try to pick one, clean off all the spiny hairs, cut it open and try to remove all the seeds just seemed too much work. If I get bored enough, I may give it another go, but I think for now I’ll settle for being satisfied that I finally harvested and ate one.
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On Saturday, I got to see the eclipse. I was not in the direct path to be able to see annularity, but I was close enough to experience most of it. I made a pinhole camera out of a protein bar box. It sort of worked, but I remembered that I had a couple mylar emergency blankets. I cut a strip and folded it so I could easily view the event through three plies of mylar. It was just staggeringly beautiful. I did some research. The sun is 400 times the size of the moon and it is 400 times as far away as the moon. That ratio makes an annular eclipse possible. We are the only planet in our solar system that has such a relationship with our moon(s) and sun, so no other planet can experience this. Pretty cool, huh?
Lessons From The Road: “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching.” That’s so easy to do where I am. An occasional vehicle passes on the ridge above me, but for the most part I’m totally isolated. The same spot that affords me the opportunity to shower outside naked also allows me to sing at the top of my lungs and dance like a Wildman, without worrying that I may traumatize someone. (Although I’m fairly certain I’ve caught Cosmo rolling his eyes at me several times.) I’ve continued working out 6 mornings a week and the ability to listen to my favorite songs and sing (screech off-key) along without a care in the world has helped me go a bit harder, a bit longer each day. “Dancing” in between sets keeps my cardio up and always brings a smile to my face. I don’t think I ever realized the concept of dancing like nobody’s watching before because there was always a chance that someone would walk in on me. I truly believe that this is the first time I truly DID dance like nobody was watching. If you get the opportunity, I highly recommend it. It is life changing.