The Big 4-0!

 Can you believe it? Sometimes it seems like yesterday, sometimes it seems like f  o  r  e  v  e  r. ago. And I mean that in a good way. Meaning Barb and I have always been together and there was no such thing as "A life before Barb". When I look at the picture below, I do not even recognize the person marrying that beautiful woman. Nor do I know why she married him. A moment of weakness that changed my life (and hers) forever. 

But it's true, 40 years ago this week, Barb and I got married! I was 23-year-old. Young by today's standards. I dare not mention Barb's age. After the leg picture from the other week, I think my one faux pau per month has already been used up. Let's just say she robbed the cradle. But if that is the case, why is all my hair grey and hers her natural color? Must have something to do with who is driving the other to their grave with their craziness. 

40 years ago, on that night we were honeymooning in an ice shack on Mille Lacs Lake while ice fishing. I know that many of you are wooing with jealousy right now but wait until you hear where we spent the night of our 40th. In the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant! Does it get any better than that? I think not! We did spend the day having fun though as we visited our good friends Red and Pam in Casa Grande. We first met them in 2014, our first year on the road. It had been several years since we've seen them and it was nice to meet up again. We also got to see Sadie and Cooper. Cooper is a chocolate lab that was very tempted to steal and call my own. 

After a few hour visit, it was off to Cracker Barrel where we had a restless night's sleep. I don't think I have ever been anywhere where the birds called all night long. Doves and some other bird were squawking literally all night long!

From Casa Grande it was off to Apache Junction for more visiting. That first night we found a nice bar to watch the super bowl, a so so game. It was after the game where the excitement started. After leaving the bar, we went to the camper to let the dogs out of the camper and put them in the truck. As I was saying in our last post, I have to give Dakota a little boost into the truck and this time was no different. Except my hand was wet after I push her up. It was dark, so I did not see anything. My next step was to smell what whatever was on my hand. (insert puking sounds...blech, gackh). That is when Barb came out and announced that Zoey had diarrhea "all over the camper". She told me to get in the truck while she assessed the situation. You don't have to tell me twice! I rolled down the windows as whatever happened in there was all over Dakota as well. 20 minutes later she returned saying it was all taken care of, but it was on the floor, walls, seat cushions. It was almost like she was an automatic sprinkler and rotated around the camper making sure not to miss a spot. The only saving grace was that she did not get any on the bed. 

Needless to say, we spent the next morning at the laundry mat. A couple hours later, things were back to normal. 

Then it was off to Silly Mountain for a hike! A shortish 2-mile loop up to a viewpoint.  The red circle is our truck. 

 We had a site that night in Lost Dutchman State Park and after getting setup, we were ready to meet up with our friends Harry and Vicki. Most of you know them as Harry the Dog Hater and his lovely wife Vicki. They were nice enough to pick us up from our site in the park. This is our first time at this park and let me tell you, it will not be our last. The views are incredible! 

After picking us up, they drove us to their place in Canyon Vista's RV Resort, about a 15-minute drive. They have a very nice house? Park Model? I really do not know what to call it. Whatever you want to call it, it is very nice. Roomy and comfortable. After hanging out a bit we walked down to the community area for margaritas and beers! They also had live music which was nice. 

The next day we were back at their park to watch Harry play softball. They have a 55 and over league with several levels. Harry plays on two teams, this particular one consisted of men mostly in their mid to upper 60's and even one guy over 80! I have to give these guys a lot of credit, they were out there hustling!

Harry has been a pitcher all his life and this has not changed now that he is in his 70's. I just hope I have half the energy and ambition as most of these guys when I am their age. 

We left them after the game and got some much-needed rest for a big hike we planned for the next morning. Flatiron. Those of you who have been to Lost Dutchman know Flat Iron. Touted as "Arizona's most challenging non-rope hike" with class 3 and class 4 scrambling we were determined to conquer the mountain! 

At just under 6 miles, it is said that this hike should take 4-5 hours. Historically we can get hikes done in the lower part of those timetables, so we planned on 2.5 hours up and 2 hours back. We set off at 8am from our campsite and started walking. The sun was hidden behind the mountain, so we were in the shade almost all the way up. 

Our destination? The little red circle below. 

It started out at a gradual slope for the first mile or so and then it became increasingly difficult. Breaks were frequent and our water supply was diminishing fast. There were parts where you were basically on your hands and knees as you climbed vertically up the rock walls. 

There were a handful of other people on the trail, almost all of them were much younger than us and of course passing us. At the two-hour mark I looked up and began to realize that I had seriously underestimated the time it was going to take us. We were about 2/3rds of the way to the top and still had the hardest section ahead of us. 

At the 2 1/2 hour mark I told Barb that I thought we needed to tap out. According to my device we had gone 2.5 miles since leaving the campsite and climbed 0ver 3,500ft and we still had at least an hour left. Plus, my left arch was giving out of me. So, at the 3/4 point, we turned tail and started back down the trail. I think this is the first trail where going back down was as hard, if not harder in spots than coming up. Remember those spots where we were crawling up the rock wall? It is much easier to up a wall than down! 

On the way down, I asked Barb "How often do you think people get hurt on this trail and need rescuing?" My guess is that it is pretty frequent as there were several times where we slide and had to catch our footing. Luckily for us, we were not the victims on this day and two hours, 5 miles, up and down over 3,500' each way, we made it back to the camper. Totally exhausted. 

This is the first time I think we have ever failed making it to the top of one of our hikes. But we did pretty good for a couple in their mid 60's! There were people half our age who turned around well before us. But then again, there were people older than us who made it all the way to the top as well. Another day Flatiron, we shall meet again. 

After resting up (and showering) we were ready for our next meet up! Fellow RVers Dale and Chloe came out to the camp ground for a visit.  We first met them in Quartszite in February of 2018 and have kept in contact since. While we were sitting at the picnic table at our campsite visiting, we noticed a helicopter approaching the Flatiron summit. Then it began lowering itself below the summit near the trail we were on earlier. 

Not good. We watched as the helicopter touched down and we are assuming someone got out before the helicopter went up again and hovered over the area. Soon enough fire trucks and an ambulance came through the campground and staged themselves at the trailhead. 15 minutes later the helicopter dropped back down, picked up the injured hiker and brought them to the ambulance. As if that was not bad enough, once they dropped them off they went back up to get another injured person! Not a good day on the mountain. 

Thursday was checkout day for us, time to move on. But, before that, it was time for one more meet up! Doug and Janell were blog readers who first visited us in South Dakota during the spring of 2019. They just so happened to be from the same area of Wisconsin as us. We had not seen them since then, but here our paths crossed again in Apache Junction Arizona! We had lunch with them after we checked out of Lost Dutchman. I forgot to take a picture, so I stole this off their Facebook page from last week.

Sore, tired and bellies full we are now off to Tucson!