Tales from the Trypt and Assorted Short Sorties-White Pocket AZ, Red Bluffs

Did you like how I did that, Tales From the Trypt? No? I thought it was clever...for my eighth grade mind. It's close to Halloween and a great time of year here in Phoenix. We're down to about 90º and close to sweater weather. This is a first for me and I don't feel good about it. There's no real story line this time, and then there's the difficulty in saying "Assorted Short Sorties" with a bit of a lisp. That's right, these darn partial dentures are a real pain in the ass-orted shorts. Something a guy has to deal with as age settles in I guess. We first went to a place out of the imagination that had rock formations straight from H.P. Lovecraft. It was just one night but those rocks still haunt me to this day. I can't wait to go back for a night hike. Driving in sand was...sandy. And soft. Yet there was a fine line between airing down just enough and too much. Airing down means you lose ground clearance and suddenly your dragging your pumpkin, your third member. But what's the diff? (It was a rhetorical question, thank you) Passing an old water trough I felt a kinship, as wee both can no longer hold our water. Somewhere over yonder is a place of phantasmagorical rock shapes. Phantasmagorical, now there's a word a guy could use to score big in Scrabble. Dropping down to a camp spot was easy, yet more air was let out to make the climb the next day, phew. The scenery was good enough... Though it was hard to find the right spot to level without levelers. They would have been ruined on the hard rock don't ya know. Those rocks spooked me right away, looking like something from the Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft Fame. I thought this was ol Cthulhu himself... Then I found the hell blasted skulls of the Necromongers. They call this "brain rock" though I don't know why. I can tell you there's no brains under that hat. Wait, what? The skeletal horses of the Hellacalypse. (Say what?) Anasazi Santa's reindeers! You can see them in the dark spot on the side of the cliff, barely. Ah, there they are. But which one's Rudolph? Look close, it's Frogenstein. Assorted short sorties continues after this message from Mutual Of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Dang roads, the city needs to fix this one up a little... so I don't drag my third member, again. Another facet of old age. Mud backwards is dum, and I hate dum mud. Well let's see, I love charades. Um, I'm a chicken to, naw that doesn't work. How about, I'm a rusty spring chicken? Well it was spring at the time. I'll be honest, I really don't remember what it was supposed to be. Can we let this one slide? I feel like I just laid an egg. Destination cliffside. Lake Roosevelt is in the distance. Evening on the Red Bluffs. A view of the last century... plant. The next day was the air show. It was plane annoying I can tell you, all their noise as the larger plane led the smaller plane practicing some kind of air drops. I kept looking for small packages coming down with a parachute. They circled right over our heads for hours. Props to them for finally leaving. It looks like two centuries have passed, and are waiting to fall. How to wear out your dog...whoa I'm gettin dizzy here. (I'll say this is a bitter sweet trip report in that we no longer have Odie the Shih Tzu Kid. My wife and I have never had a dog we couldn't handle, I've had 11 dogs in my life. He was a force of nature and had more energy than we could deal with. There was no "easy" button, no "relax" in him. We "re-homed" him to a fabulous family with kids, Odie needed kids more than any dog I've known and they adore him tremendously. I have never given a dog away but I have to say it was best for us all.) A Cactus Patch Kid bid us adieu. On down that dusty road we went. And I have to wonder, why are those levelers so bloody bright orange? Might we lose them? Spring green was happening. Little bird, wren are you coming home? The trip report is almost over, can you hang on a little longer? Poppies were...poppin. It looked like the Saguaro Family was out for a hike in the hills. Looking for that elusive grand camping spot, first we had to wash up. But this little bitty wussy hill stopped me cold. It was off camber two different ways at the same time, and the sound of a truck frame racking is not a sound I like to hear. At least when it's my truck. Can I tell you how much fun it wasn't to back down through that narrow wash? There she is, the Roosevelt Lake Bridge and the end. I'll hope this will bridge the trip report gap until next time as we move from Arizona to Boise Idaho. Anybody got some taters? WTWTs (Whazoo's Thoroughly Worthless Thoughts) Yes. this aging process can get a guy down at times. Dentures, new body parts, meds and that ever expanding waistline. I've refused to go up another size in pantaloons and have paid the price in back aches from britches that are too tight. That thing called stuffing a ten pound sausage into a five pound wrapper. Recently during a trip to COSTCO my wife saw something that has saved my life. I'll whisper it to you because it's a secret known only to women...STRETCH JEANS! Cheese and rice my closet is now full of my new discovery and back pain gone! If there's a sudden rush to COSTCO and the mens clothes section, you heard it here. Happy Halloween... For old friends, twin grandbabies are doing well, and we love them more than life. Are you and I any different? I think not.