So what is this ?  A bike ride in the high desert. Altitude here in the Phoenix area about 1400 ft. Plants don’t seem to grow above six feet, except for cactus.

As I said in last blog, cooler days are coming, well, they seem to be here now. High temp in the last few days high 70’s. But last week went on a bike ride, it was about 9:00 am, the temps was 84 deg.

Rode out of town into the desert. The road getting out of town was horrible for cycling, no bike lane, photo on the left, and cars come close to the bike. Once out of town, great cycling though the road was a bit rough, photo on the right. Nice wide bike lane. A typical high desert, no big trees. However, Not far, an hour an a half later, 10:30 am, the temp was 90 deg. I decided better head back home. It was a good idea, got home 11:45 am, the temp was 96 deg. Ouch, 12 deg up in 2.5 hours. Just the right amount of riding.

Of course then it was pool time.  That is only half of the pool. I got a cool iPhone photo app, you snap a photo, move the camera, hold for a second, and if the scene overlaps, it automatically snaps another photo and then merges it to the last photo. The photo above are three overlapping merged photos. 

Have done a few adventure walks. The small desert plants are mean, I brushed against one, it burned, a few minutes later had rash blister like spots on my leg, good thing I didn't rub it and spread it. apparently it is an oil with high acid content. It hurt till I took a shower.  Other plants have mean looking long spikes. In the desert don’t touch plants.

Since I have stopped working on my genealogy software, I now have lots of time for biking and hiking. It feels good and the weather is getting nice. More later.