Tour de Wickenburg

Saturday I went to the little town of Hope, AZ (the sign as you leave town says your beyond Hope) to join the group riding the 60 miles uphill to Wickenburg. I tried to keep up with these experienced road bicyclers, but alas, I just didn't have it. A stiff wind blew from the side and then front, so that didn't help. But I did find my groove after 30 miles and was cooking along until I got a flat (I don't understand why I am getting so many!). Thank goodness it was close to the sag truck so I hitched a ride 5 miles to where everyone was taking a break, who by that time had decided the wind was too much and almost everyone decided to quit! So I put in 41 miles. I will keep on biking and maybe I can train to be faster!
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Quartzsite metal detectors hunt

The hunt was on yesterday! 180 people gathered to dig up 12,000 coins with the aid of their metal detectors. Ron and I helped bury coins in the morning then we dug them up in the afternoon. There were 3 special wooden nickels buried out there and I let out a whoop when I found one! The coin taped to the nickel had a number engraved on the back which corresponded to a numbered envelope which had a key to a treasure chest. In the chest was gold and silver, I was told. So we all gathered for pizza after the hunt and the huntmaster called the three of us nickel-finders up front. He kept offering us the choice of more and more silver Morgan dollars or what was in the chest. I kept saying no, I want the chest. Eventually the other 2 guys took the silver dollars and I ended up trying my key in the chest, but it didn't work! I was out of everything! Oh well, goes to show I am not lucky. The chest ended up having $100 bag of gold fines and more silver dollars. At the very end I was given a silver dollar anyway for being a good sport. What a fun day! We both dug a lot of coins and Ron won a 1 oz silver coin with a metal detectorist engraved on it. A fun day!
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Spring in the desert?

Okay, so we’ve decided it’s going to jump from winter into summer. Going to happen next week. After another storm plows through Saturday. Since we’ve returned from Hawaii, we have alternated between somewhat nice days in the 60’s to rainy, windy and cold days. So spring has sprung somewhat, but it’s sluggish. The desert is greening up and flowers are just beginning to bloom. I love the red blooms of the ocotillo, a large bush made up of sticks that grow straight up and get little leaves on them after rain, with a big red bloom at the tips. The birds have woken up too – the quail are so cute and the hummingbirds keep hovering over my head, I think they are considering the blonde hair as something edible! I’ve included some pictures here from February. Our neighbors Bill and Donna from Hot Springs met up with us. We visited them by the Colorado River, which is a big influence around here both with weather and roads. The burros met us at our campsite in Cibola when we stayed there for a week in February. In the last few weeks, Ron and I took on a few hikes. One was near Lake Havasu City, a surprisingly beautiful area just outside the city limits which looks a lot like the colored rocks in Utah. We took on a trip up Burro Canyon which was an unusual wash for our area as it had huge, old saguaro cactus lining the canyon. I climbed up the mountain there and was rewarded with an amazing view of the whole area. I’ve been riding a lot on my new road bike, “Windy,” (because its so fast just like the song) and getting ready for “Tour de Wickenburg”, a one day 60 mile ride to Wickenburg the last Saturday of March. So today I’ll be riding 40 miles!

Spring

I am testing to see if I can blog from the blackberry. Soon I hope to have something on spring here in the rainy desert. It's been cool rainy and windy this year. I'm ready for some heat! Anyhow pictures are forthcoming.
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Hawaii

We took a week off and went on a long-awaited (and postponed) trip to the Big Island of Hawaii with John and Elizabeth. We flew out of Los Angeles to Honolulu, and then to Kona. I was really excited to glimpse the volcanoes from afar as we flew in! The condo was awesome, with the flair of a hula hut from the 1800s but appointed with all modern conveniences. Even the wooden door was skillfully carved with a volcano picture. I’d never seen a mongoose before (they were imported into Hawaii long ago) and were all over the grounds. Food was next, and we hit up the farmers market for all the island wonders, such as pineapple, papaya, guava, this weird spikey fruit that had an inside that looked like a grape with a marble-sized seed, very tart. Also picked up vegetables including a purple potato that had no flavor no matter how much butter we poured on it. John, Elizabeth and I took pictures – and these here are from all three of us. Elizabeth took the most exquisite, breathtaking flower and fauna pictures – they are so tiny and detailed! John had a camera that was waterproof so we used it snorkeling and kayaking. We stopped at the black sand beach on our way to Volcano National Park. We hoped to see red lava, but it has quit running into the ocean and now Kilaweaua has a dome and lots of little earthquakes. Unfortunately for us, rain and fog moved in at dusk just as we were waiting to see the glow from the caldera, so we never got to see hot lava, but we did hike through the caldera from the 1959 eruption. Ron got to metal detect a couple of beaches while we snorkeled – John and Elizabeth swam near the turtles! We also rented a couple of double kayaks and we all kayaked across the bay to see the monument where Captain Cook landed and was killed. Then we snorkled there in the marine sanctuary – it was pristine and amazing! The kayak back was a challenge as the sea had developed a 2-3 foot swell by then, but we made it! Hilo is a town on the rainy side of the island so we visited a botanical garden there and another farmer’s market, as well as eating other island cuisine – Ron loved the toasted coconut cappuchino! The last day we rested on a big white sand beach while Ron detected for jewelry (he found a cool toe ring) and finished our shopping. It was a beautiful area, a wonderful trip and we’re so glad we did it!