Saturday we got up early enough to eat breakfast and drive to the
other(east) side of the mountains to the trailhead of the Letman Trail, where
we found Sandy, the naturalist from the county leading the day’s 8:30 hike. She
apologized for their deficient website and said we were welcome to join her for
the hike. We waited for 12 Americorps teens, who were signed up for the hike on
their day off from grooming trails in another part of the park. We hiked for
over an hour, up the hillside to the Bowman Homestead, built in 1930 but long
since abandoned. Now the 2000 acres are part of the county park. After a short
rest we hiked back down completing a three-hour hike. We made BLTPBs (Peanut
Butter on a BLT—delicious!!) for lunch and relaxed before showering in the
trailer and I successfully washed my hair in the outdoor sink. (It’s the small
victories that really make one feel happy.) We found a sports bar where we
could have dinner and watch MSU’s home game, where they were predicted to have
an easy time with Indiana. Sadly, they had their second straight loss, partly
because of abysmal free throw shooting. We bought some groceries and headed
back to the campground. It was mild enough (63°) that for the first time we
tried sitting outside to enjoy the stars. But the reason it was so mild was
that there was a cloud cover so we gave up on that. Because there was a good
chance of rain we put away chairs and our big rug, and covered our bikes with a
large tarp.
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| Our group sets off, led by Sandy |
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| Sandy showed us some Mexican poppies that were popping out along the trail. |
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| A tiny cactus wren perched atop a saguaro |
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| The remains of the Bowman Homestead |
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| They had a great view from every window! |
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| Approaching the end of our hike |
The rain started during the night and continued off and on for most of Sunday. We got up in time to drive the 45 minutes south to Sahuarita to Church of the Good Shepherd for their 11:15 service. It is a Contemporary service with no Bulletin and a Praise Band, which isn’t our favorite (the 9:00 is more Traditional and has a choir but that was too early for us to make), but the musicians were good and the feel of the service was relaxed and comfortable, and included Communion, just like Edgewood does on the first Sunday of the month. After the service I gently chided the Pastor for not introducing himself and reminded him that, with no Bulletin, visitors like us had no way of knowing who he was. He apologized and introduced himself as Randy. When he heard that we were from Michigan he told us that he had served with our Conference Minister, Campbell Lovett (who belongs to Edgewood) and considers him his Mentor. Small World! Rebecca and Jim, the couple with whom Sarah had put us in touch because for six months of the year they live in Indianapolis and attend Saint Peter’s, took us out for lunch at MOD Pizza, where you go through a sort of cafeteria line and they put whatever you want on your pizza and salad, all at the same base price. We ate and talked for nearly 3 hours and made a plan for us to return on Wednesday to do some volunteering at the Church. We got back to the campground in time for a hike around the loop to get some pictures of the ocotillo, whose blossoms had swelled and opened with the rain, and spent the rest of the evening watching The Super Bowl where the Patriots beat the Rams, not that we really cared one way or the other.
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| Rain swelled the Ocotillo blossoms |
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Later in the spring, the rain will cause tiny green leaves to come out along
the stems. When the weather dries, the leaves whither and fall off. |
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