We pulled off the interstate.

Two nights at the idyllic Dreamcatcher Inn in Pearce, AZ. Yesterday my beautiful wife brought me to Chiricahua Monument Park. She’s shown me so many breathtaking sights on this journey. I am privileged, I am grateful.

Distance: 1.5 miles

Duration: 15:20 
Pace: 10:13

I asked our innkeeper, Ramon, about running on these desert roads and he assured me they would be safe. “One car every fifteen minutes.” I imagine it would be fewer on a Saturday morning. Is it Saturday? Is it Saturday already? 

Route: Sunrise Drive

Temperature: 61
Climate: cool & dry

Mood: good

Running at 4,400 feet. The road was uneven, and rocky, but entirely untraveled but for another visitor takings morning walk and one dog protecting his master’s home. That’s when I turned around.

The going was hard, the road, the elevation, and also the path itself was an incline. I felt my chest heaving, not normal. I was going to turn around at a half miles, but stopping to watch the sunrise a moment pushed me further (until I heard the dog.)

 

Stretches: yes

Water: yes

Breakfast: coffee w/cream, ham quiche, fresh fruit, probiotic yogurt

Wine tasting: charcuterie, wine

Treat: DQ soft serve

Dinner: old fashioned, chips w/salsa & guac, beef quesadilla, greens, sushido peppers

Alcohol? Yes

Reading: yes

Writing: yes

What’s That Lyric?

Bandits - Josh Ritter

I see my reflection as I slowly pass.

The fewer people, the fewer interruptions. The boy sleeps until noon, if I do not wake him to go fishing, as happened yesterday. The wife has her own business, writing, reading, meditating.

I have time to read as much as I like. We are under self-imposed quaratine, we are not (supposed) to visit other cabins, to go into the market (they deliver, which is very nice) let alone venture to other towns. Just as well, Camden, I hear is busy with shoppers, and the sidealks are so narrow. Ridiculous.

The wife gifted me with The Mirror and the Light back in March, and I have been an unresponsible reader with it. It is over 750 pages, a hefty tome. Authors tend to go long when they are trying to tie things up, but I have poor reading habits working days, even in quarantine, taking in a page or two a night before becoming drowsy. I have read perhaps a hundred or more since the week began.

The smell of the cove enfolds me this morning, sitting out on the new porch. There is no odor like it anywhere else in the world, not that I have enountered. Sea and tree and cut wood. I am privileged to be here, and I believe I am only now embracing my gift. Before it was not my choice.

Distance: 3 miles
Duration: 29:07
Pace: 9:42
Route: Martin Point Run
Temperature: 72°
Climate: overcast & breezy
Mood: all right

The Martin Point route is pleasurable, with its many rises and falls. As long as it is not too sunny (today it is not) and the breeze is mild it's downright idylic. See the chart for the elevation -- it is not a perfect mirror because I decided to stop at 3 miles, not for any particular reason except I was satisfied and wanted to walk a little bit.

What's That Lyric?
I WIll Possess Your Heart - Death Cab For Cutie