Big Bend Morning

So lovely and tumultuous! Each image has such a different mood because of the crazy weather, but each is beautiful too. It's nice to wander back through your pictures to see these wonderful gems I hadn't seen yet.

TY for your visit to my Vine Maple picture from a long time back! Gosh, it's kind of embarrassing that I didn't even title the majority of those pictures. Thanks for the ID, I really appreciate it and learned about a new kind of maple!

Sorry to hear that the trip wasn't as complete as hoped, it is so disappointing when things like that happen but you did get some time with him, nonetheless, and so it could have been worse! And who knows, Ron? Maybe the experience and disappointment will spur him to get into better shape if another trip is planned down the road so he can make himself proud.

Reminds me of a bike trip Steve went on with an ex friend. They went to John Day Fossil Beds for a planned trip around the area which would take days...some of which included grueling, many hour relentless climbs in unshaded heat. The weather was supposed to be cooler but turned out to be blazingly hot AND the day they rode up that hill--the hardest part of the ride--it rained cats and dogs for hours and hours. The guy he rode with never paid attention to Steve's adamant warnings that this ride would be challenging and needed to be trained for. He didn't train. Steve did. At the end of the first night he said he was going home next morning. And since Steve rode with him to John Day, he had to leave too. It was unbelievable. As to why I wasn't there...when I learned how tough it would be I told Steve I didn't want to. At this point, I would really love to go there in a cooler time of year, in our RV, and ride some or most of that ride...but man, I'm not into torture rides and I'm just so sorry that it turned out so badly for Steve. :( (Oh, and by the way, Steve axed the friendship the moment this guy gave up and then forced Steve to abandon the ride instead of at least hanging out at the campsites along the ride so Steve could complete the ride. The crazy thing is, the jerk actually wanted to keep the friendship going--not even recognizing the disrespect he had for Steve and his own overblown ego. Grrrr, it still makes me mad.

Yes, you'd told me about your home-made backpacking food and they sound so good! How awesome that they aren't upsetting your digestion, isn't that awesome! There are few things as bad as being out on a trail when you realize the eminent issue with very little time to do anything but run for cover and hope there is enough TP or er vegetation around...

Your upcoming trip to Michigan and then Iceland (with your backpack meals!) sounds so wonderful! I am crossing my fingers that things go smoothly!

Steve says hello and chuckled at the nickname you gave him! :D

Ok back at it! Hope your day continues to be wonderful!