Packing for a road trip--any length of road trip--takes me two days. Fill the water bowls, clean out the kitty box, clean out the Honda, water the plants, replenish the doggie pool, pack the recycables, wash clothes, pack clothes, pack dog food and treats and try not to lose my keys or wallet at the same time.
Weather in Phoenix is projected to hit 80F today, so I decided to do the Usery park trail on Wednesday and then drive home from there. It will be cloudy and in the low 70s by then.
I'm also taking Hansel and Gretchen. Susan had agreed to watch Gretchen for the three days I was gone., but then her dog got ill a few days and she's stressed out over that. Allie is a senior dog and they can get sick fast.
I will meet Eric and Margaret for dinner tonight in Tempe. They suggested The Thirsty Lion at the Tempe Marketplace. It's a brewpub chain out of Portland, OR. Tomorrow I may just do the Hidden Valley loop from the Buena Vista trailhead.
I was up early again. At sunrise I took four dogs out for a two-mile jaunt off the maintenance road. It's cool and overcast here. At least all the dogs got walked before I take off. I'm sure if I could walk all six pups everyday for two miles, they wouldn't be so destructive in the backyard.
By 1133 am I was finally on the road. Instead of Gretchen I had Gretel. I got to Tempe at 4pm. The drive took me longer than expected, so I forfeited s hike in South Mountain park and parked in the Tempe Beach Park lot instead. This was much closer to my destination and a wise decision.
An Ironman competition was finishing in the park, but I still found a spot in the lot. I paid my $4 parking fee and got both dogs leashed up for the walk around the lake. This lake is actually a dammed section of the Salt River (Rio Salado). Allttails said this was a 7.4- mile path.
Hansel is still quite the leash puller. At times his pulling took away from the walk. Gretel did fine, but she did pull toward other dogs.
The path is both paved and dirt, with plenty of river access for boaters. Hansel insisted on diving into the water and I let the dogs enjoy themselves. It was 5pm now, the sky was clouding up, but not much of a sunset. Allttails reviews had mentioned that this made a nice sunset walk and what I discovered is that it was a great place to see planes take off from Sky Harbor airport. The water also smelled suspiciously of effluent
The plan was to meet Eric and Margaret for dinner at 7pm. I added a quick jaunt up Tempe Butte (A Mountain) for a view of Tempe and the ASU campus to bide the time until Eric was done with his workout.
The path is mostly paved except for the last tenth of a mile. My sneakers were no good on the slick rock, but luckily there were guard rails to balance me. There were people on the summit despite a sign saying not to summit the rock mound. I did so anyway.
We walked back to the Honda from the summit, walking through Tempe Beach Park again. Hansel barked at a statue in honor of first responders, perhaps thinking that the German shepherd was a real dog. We had walked just over give miles now.
Eric was at the gym and I picked him up on the ASU campus behind Coor Hall. It was now 7pm and I was hungry.
Together we drove to the Thirsty Lion gastropub where we had a tasty and filling meal and I got a bill for $90.
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