It's been a bit so I'll try to remember as much as I can from the past week or so. My friend Brendan lives in Tucson on the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, so I stopped in for a bit and got a nice shower and some good company. They have a one year old baby and Brendan is in training at the Air Force base. After a good rest and the blowout Super Bowl, I took off to a little town called Patagonia that's not too far from the border of Mexico. Bella and I did a day hike in, then a full day back out, and met a few amigos along the way. From there I took a night off then headed north of Tucson to the Biosphere 2 (whereas Biosphere 1 would be earth). A while back I heard an interview with one of the ladies that lived in this giant greenhouse for a University of Arizona mega science project. It was a good time and I would definitely suggest it to anyone that is ever in the area. There is a rainforest, ocean, and indoor desert (even though there's a desert right outside that looks exactly the same). I guess it was kind of an experiment for Mars colonization.
After a good time and a good nights rest, Bella and I took off north on the Arizona Trail from the town of Oracle. All in all, the 5 days I was on the trail we met a hiker couple, free and easy, a few cows that she chased, and also a few bunny rabbits. The cacti were everywhere. There were some that I thought were prickly pears but I guess they have some other name, but either way they jump out at you and stick pretty well. Every once in a while Bella would get one on her and get frustrated trying to get it off, so I'd pin her down and pluck it out while she squealed. As the days went on, she got tougher, to the point where on the last day she had one on her lip and just left it for about an hour. She knew not to get close to me or I'd rip it out. Then I whipped out the can of tuna for me. She gets a little too, and she knew it had to come out. My iPod battery was long dead by that point so I couldn't get a picture, but I got a mental photo that's going to my deathbed of her walking around with a pear size cactus hanging from her lip, happy as could be, too. We hiked about 130 miles, in all, with a few 35 mile days, and she was ready for more. So I put her to the test and she came out much better than I did. Man I was sore.
From there I went back to Brendan's for some more rest, and right when we got there Bella knew her spot and was lights out, besides for food time of course. I caught Brendan on his week off for paternity leave, so I stayed an extra day and we went to the base " Bone Yard" and museum. Lots of cool planes and WWII info. And they had some not so conventional planes (look at the Bumblebee picture).
The time to drive out to Georgia and start the AT is coming up fast. 2 weeks around eastern AZ and some New Mexico, then I'm off.
What's so superstitious about the Superstition Mountains? That's next.
And, thanks Thompson's for the R&R&Beer. It was great!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i9wQGidG2M Bone Yard
http://b2science.org/
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