Vegging out!

Coco seems to be mellowing out...

MOST people that have known me for a very long time, know I am not the guy that sits around knitting for very long.  Call it cabin fever or whatever you wish but as I age, I am still interested in the world around me. Even though my primary mission on this trip south was to retrieve Coco, the cat I found living under my Honda last fall, and return her to our home in Canada I certainly was going to do some riding and exploring.

I'VE been coming down south for years, I love the SW with it's deserts and mountains and clear air, cacti, dry riverbeds and exploring opportunities.  Since moving to eastern Canada it's not as easy as hopping into the Blazer with motorbike on the rear rack and heading south on I 15.  I've long since purchased a scooter and dual purpose bike for my use while here and I have made good use of them both.  Even the Honda Ascot I bought on impulse a couple of years back, I've ridden although sporadically.

Coco a week after I found her under my Honda.

I'VE  published several stories including riding the Superstitions, the Mogollon rim, Painted Rock and of course, conquering the Crown KING Trail.  To say nothing of scootering around Glendale all the way from the White Tank Mountains across the city to Apache Junction one year to visit with gal pal Diane.

OVER the years I've been to amazing places, seen rattlesnakes up close, free range burros, scorpions and tarantulas as big as my palm.  I've ridden dark narrow canyons, boulder fields, ascended and descended mountains, fallen down and when I got back up, I did it again and again and again. ( the riding not the falling)

I'VE met incredible, interesting people the latest being Dwayne and Ruth, a couple from Washington State.  Dwayne's father was born in 1893 and passed away in 1993.  For those of you challenged with math, that is a hundred years, a century and what a century it was!

Watching T.V.

IT'S Monday morning, the beginning of my first full week here.  I have spent all but one night in the Hotel Marriott, with Coco as company. Just before arrival I found out that my home had flooded.  Within hours I had a crew working on repairs.  Of course first thing is assessing the damages, then clearing everything out and beginning the restoration phase. I had a very brief window to get a bag together with a couple of t shirts, shorts (it's warm here) and some toothpaste.  I caught a ride with Judy's son, cat in carrier and been here since.  Yesterday, the first time I have been back hoping to grab a few pieces of clothing I find my door taped off and warning signs pasted on.  Turns out I have asbestos in the place, not unusual at all I am told and this requires a far more invasive cleaning technique that I was not prepared for.  Flooding the place would have been a difficult job to tackle but my problems have been compounded by their find.

I do miss little Boo though!

AT this stage I really have no idea what the remainder of my trip holds but it is unlikely that I will close off that Old Stage Coach road loop I had gotten lost on last fall.  In fact I will be very fortunate to spend the final week at my own digs and Lord knows what I will find.  It almost seems like I've stepped into a time machine and am going back to when I first saw the place.

Very Nice digs at the Marriott and they take pets!

IN the meanwhile, back at the ranch so to speak, Coco and I are hunkered down sharing a couch and a bed and watching COP and Travel shows and Judge Judy doling out justice to people that are certainly in some cases, 98 cents short of a buck! I admit I haven't done this for a really long time.  On the plus side, I am in a good place, a room with a kitchenette, a swimming pool, and a laundry mat for my few clothes.  The staff are very pleasant taking an honest interest in the people coming through the lobby door. So far the people at CONTACT and Allstate have been very efficient and helpful, something I have gotten used to down here in AZ over the years.  Yes... I have met the rude American like that woman and her husband (he was okay, she was a hurricane of insults and rudeness) in the south of France who was loudly complaining at the hotel restaurant that her waitress didn't speak English.

I mean, it was the south of France after all...

I'M not sure how the month will unfold but even though I may not be riding the rim of a washed out canyon with my reliable XT 350...this in itself,

THIS is why I love riding down here.

is quite the adventure!