Update on our slow-motion tour of Sedona.

Hello again from Sedona. I don’t have any epic trail stories to tell. Sorry. But we are slowly making our way around the various Sedona trail areas. Learning the lay of the land. I am sticking to the intermediate trails and finding they suit me and Puck just fine. This morning’s ride was possibly our best find yet, an intermediate loop that was 100% rideable without overdoing my effort. Because I could move a little faster on this trail, Puck is extra tired. My purpose in life is to tire Puck out, I accept that.

We have seen hot air balloons out every morning, but this morning we were right in the thick of them. Puck is a little unnerved by the sounds they make but was surprisingly brave out there. I guess he realized if he ran away, he was on his own, so he stuck with me.

We generally have the trails to ourselves in the early mornings, which is a gift. It truly is a wonderland out here. If you haven’t been, put it on your list. I don’t think I would survive a summer, but this time of year is ideal. Someday when I am 100% I will have to come back to ride more of the trails. There are so many. I can see why Sedona has earned a reputation among mountain bikers. Sedona itself is no Bend, Oregon (sorry Sedona, I’m probably biased because of the beer) but it has a certain charm. And it has coffee and a health food shop and Whole Foods, so I can’t complain. I’m not really in the mood to sit and drink beer right now anyhow, so it is probably good I’m in Sedona and not Bend!

Tomorrow our plan is to venture up to Flagstaff again, there is a mountain lake that I’m holding out hope for. It looks quite small but if it is a cold mountain lake of any size, that should make Puck’s week. We have been taking daily trips down to Oak Creek, which runs right by our RV Park so that helps his mental state; but a mountain lake… would be heaven.

 

Maya continues to hang in there. Our daily afternoon ritual goes like this:

I use my body to pin Maya to the side of the bench seating, where I stick her with a needle and put 100 ml of fluids under her skin. At this point she looks like a hunchback. It clearly doesn’t feel good, she squirms but she is being pretty tolerant for Maya.

After that I let her up and fill a syringe full of bad tasting appetite stimulant (maybe it works because it tastes so bad that they will eat ANYTHING else to get the taste out of their mouths?). Then I tackle her again, pry her mouth open, trying to avoid teeth and flailing claws, and squirt it down her throat.

By then she is exhausted and I’m usually bleeding.

I worry she is not gaining weight, but she’s still eating a little bit and she is acting more like herself. We’ll see if she continues to improve. We have our weekly vet visit Wednesday. She certainly is peeing a lot. Apparently my second purpose in life is vacuuming up kitty litter.

 

Puck and I just returned from our afternoon creek stroll. I saw a Blue Heron; fortunately, Puck did not. Puck tried to impress some new friends by finding a stick longer than he is and whacking us all with it. I think they were duly impressed.

The leaves are turning here.

Happy Fall!