The retired life of Greg and Dona: Another Hike and We're Still in Arizona!

25 Mar 14 -- Tuesday

Tomorrow I'll duct tape my whole foot!
Toes are painted purple to hide the ones
that are black already.

It didn't get as cold over night as predicted, only 49 at 7am. This is a very quiet campground (and that's not because we are the only ones here). At bed-time last night I heard an owl hooting but nothing else the rest of the night..... pretty eerie! We went for another hike this morning. The sky was overcast and it was a little cooler than yesterday. We both wore our long sleeve technical shirts and bike jackets. My big toe had been hurting all night and I finally checked it and found a blister under the nail bed from the hike yesterday. I popped the blister but the toe was still painful. Of course I put my hiking boots on again with 2 pair of socks (because I have blisters on both of my heels and the side of my left foot.). I used 2 walking sticks and managed to go for an hour before I bailed. The trail was steep but not as steep as we have hiked in the past. My feet just hurt so bad that I could hardly walk. The picture above is at the turn-around point where I had to take my socks off to check to see if there were more blisters. Luckily not but putting everything back on over sore feet was not pleasant. We left the RV at 11:40 for our hike and was back at 2:25. Just as we made our way to the campground it started raining.... not a downpour, just sprinkling. It was dark'ish outside and pleasantly cool.....perfect for taking a nap! By 4 the rain had stopped and the sun was trying to come out again. Greg started a fire at 5 and we sat in the lawn chairs with our coats and hats on until it started raining again. The fire had been started so that the bed of coals could be used for cooking dinner. It still worked out. We fixed salmon patties (from the last of canned salmon from home) with chopped red bell pepper and purple onion. I made gluten free macaroni with 3 cheeses (cheddar, Parmesan, and cream cheese----nothing dairy-free here) and coleslaw with mandarin oranges and celery. It was so good that we didn't have any left-overs. We turned the generator on for a little while after dinner to run the furnace on electricity to get the inside warm before bed. At 7pm it was 49. Wow... I just noticed it was the same temp at 7 this morning, too! Anyway, it's drizzling some more and it will be cooler tonight. I'm so glad we have the new King-size Down Comforter! Did I mention we are still in Arizona? Who knew we would be cold here!!!!!