The Hank Abbey Road Trip

Passing through rugged mountain towns last year, I thought it would be a great idea for the kids to plan a gig up in the mountains during the summer. I’m not sure they followed my advice or if they planned it on their own, but that’s exactly what they were able to do! Hank Abbey is the stage name, after country Musician Hank Williams and author Edward Abbey, of my son-in-law, Franz Schuck. When combined with electric bassist Travis Brox and drummer, Charlie, and my son‘s Sean and AJ on multiple instruments and vocals, they form Hank Abbie and the Pearl Snaps. So I get to be a roadie! This trip is comprised of five gigs (so far) starting on June 18 in Durango, Colorado, then proceeding to Dylan Colorado on the 19th, followed by Young, Arizona and Cornville with two gigs there. Following my rule of twos (no more than 200 miles per day, get there before 2 o’clock, stay two nights at each stop) and also working while on the road I decided to leave the day after my 66th birthday on June 7. Joyce and I got an early start on Sunday, June 8 and made it to Shush Ba Zazhe also known as Little Bear Lake and the white Mountain Apache tribe forests. It was great to be on the road again! We went through Winkleman, then Globe, Arizona before we reached the Salt River Canyon, which is like driving into the Grand Canyon! It brought back so many memories of the times we traversed that Canyon and route to the Phoenix airport when we lived in Whiteriver our first five years of marriage.

We have dear old friends there and were able to meet up on Monday night with Marc and Laura, classmates of mine from residency program. It was great catching up and sharing chicken Shawarma with lots of salad, fruit, and topped it off with homemade tiramisu! Tuesday, I took advantage of being in the area to visit the clinic in Show Low, Arizona. My job has gotten more interesting when El Rio took over operations of what was formerly N. Country community Health Center which went bankrupt. 50,000 patients spanning northern Arizona from east to west would’ve been left without care providers if El Rio had not stepped in. It is now called Elk Ridge. Very dedicated providers, including physicians, PAs and family, nurse practitioners, dentists and behavioral health specialist, provide care to a very widespread rural population. It is a a passion of mine to provide support for rural populations and the doctors and other practitioners that care for them. I’m proud of the work. We’ve done to optimize our electron record Epic and was glad to be able to travel to towns such as lake Havasu city, Kingman, williams, Flagstaff, Holbrook, Winslow, Show Low, and Springerville. Tuesday night, we had dinner, salmon, mashed potatoes, and vegetables, with another dear friend, Phil Johnson. As with Marc and Laura, we share kids who grew up together and it was great catching up on everyone’s adventures and challenges. Wednesday saw me at Springerville for work and Joyce came in and checked out all of the local thrift shops! We did some kayaking and fishing and the beautiful little Bear Lake and walked around to big Bear Lake, Shush Ba Tou. The weather was spectacular, but we called it an early night because Joyce was catching a ride early to Phoenix the next morning with Aaron Yost.

I dropped her off at 4:45 AM the next morning after an early to bed night and got a chance to catch up with Aaron‘s parents, David and Laurie Yost as well. I took advantage of an early start to do some fishing and was able to catch one rainbow trout, as well as to do some more kayaking. That afternoon I took the West Trail that heads to Mount Baldy and found a beautiful Rocky outcropping overseeing immense forests, the lungs of earth!

Friday a.m. was a workday this time from the camper. The Starlink worked perfectly and the solar panels brought the batteries up to 100%! It rained a bit and I did get a chance to go kayaking again. Mostly I straightened up the camper in preparation for tomorrow’s departure.  Then I joined Marc Traeger at his house and watched the USMNT defeat Paraguay in their opener for FIFA World Cup.  Accompanied by Marc's famous Hatch Chile Cheese Enchiladas!  

España

My first trip to Spain, we decided to extend our family visit and take a week in Spain. We left rainy Manchester and flew south to the sunny Mediterranean coastal town of Malaga, a favorite of UK Tourists I'm told. It is the low season so no crowds and we were greeted with awesome weather. We took a long walk along the beach with parakeets, seagulls, sanderlings and many other birds. People here are chill and we passed many out for a walk, cycling, or watching the sunset. We walked an hour into town and found a lovely outdoor tapas restaurant Krakan. We sampled some savory dishes and walked home. The night was just beginning for the locals but it was our bedtime!

Viaje de Enero

Also known as 'The Greg Abroad'. Joyce left Jan 7 to UK to celebrate Auntie Ruth's 90th birthday. She landed the next day in Manchester, met her brother Malcolm, and boarded the train to Settle, UK and was able to see cousins, cousins once and twice removed, brothers Malcolm and Alastair, and of course Dan and Ruth. A great reunion!

I left the following Wednesday evening for an overnight to Manchester where Malcolm met me and assisted me navigating the railways to get on a train bound for Skipton. I was met by Alastair and driven to their mother Mary's cute apartment for a bit of curry before retiring. I greeted Mary who stayed in bed. Then onto Abbey Hotel in Skipton.

We were there to celebrate Alastair's 60th birthday arranged at the downtown church in Bradford by Sharon. An amazing 7 course Chinese meal served up by Anthony, the churche's cook attended by Joyce's brother Charlie, Gilly, their fine young ladies Ana and Eliza (in nursing school) who came down from Glasgow. Also cousin Rob, niece Esther and her wife Lucy, and a number of Alastair and Sharon's good friends some of whom we met at Esther's wedding last May.

I got slaughtered by Joyce and Mary at scrabble. Fascinating the brain: Mary can't remember what we talked about 5 seconds ago but is unbeatable in scrabble!

Joyce and I took walks in famed Saltaire along the canals that to this day carry canal boats through a system of locks all across England. In our May visit, AJ bought a cheap bike at a thrift store and road the bike paths along the canals 50+ miles to Manchester Airport, sleeping in a park one night and at an Airbnb another and gifted the bike to an Airport worker before departure. Cafe's, birds, Englishmen with their dogs, light rain and often sunshine accompanied us. It was good to reconnect with family and to discuss the uncertain future as Mary stays longer in bed each day.

She didn't attend the feast at the church but really enjoyed herself especially with her grandchildren at Alastair's afterward for cake, tea and some fun party games!

Sock was new to us but really fun: 2 long socks are filled with about 20 trinkets (golf tee, dice, wooden cubes of different colors, a monopoly house, a small lens, a lens shaped piece of stone, thin wooden pieces shaped as a pig, a foot, a clover, a marble, and a plectrum. What's that you ask? A guitar pick—a new word to me! This and a few other such bits and bobs. We divide into 2 teams, a spinner to select what the target is and sometimes to select the non-dominant hand, and the race is on the stuff the hand into the sock of goodies and be the first to emerge with the correct item. Greg's team beat Joyce's but we were all winners in the fun being had!

Another new word: hob! I was surprised that after 35 years of marriage to a Scot I didn't recall ever hearing the word, 'hon' until this visit. It means stove or stovetop. Mary's has ben turned off to avoid accidents and she gets a daily meal from the clubhouse. She can make tea and otherwise doesn't eat much.

Hob was heard a second time when I was given a tour of Esther's cool new camper van (which has a sink and a one burner hob!) as well as a pop up top, a fridge, turn around front seats etc. Hoping for many fun adventures for her!

We took the train to Manchester, dinner at the hotel joined by Malcolm, and prepared for our flight to Malaga, Spain the next morning. We leave with some uncertainties not knowing when we'll be back, nor whether we will see Mary again.
Greg

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Steinbeck’s California



Up next, a long beautiful drive to the coast.  AJ and I listened to and discussed the music assembled on the play list and enjoyed one another's company.  A stop at a farm market to pick up the locale's delicious fruitYo and some street tacos we proceeded past Salinas and Monterey en route to Pfeiffer Bi Sur State Park Campground.

The iconic high cliffs overlooking the blue Pacific Ocean such a draw!  

We stayed in a nice, wooded campsite.  Got a chance to use the bikes on a beautiful ride down the coast. Going up and down the cliffs was a challenge for the old man of the group with several false summits to negotiate.  After cresting we flew down to sea level and had a snack at Partington Cove, watching magic happen as waves spouted through holes and channels in the rock. 

The trip back was made possible (for me) by switching with AJ to Joyce's too small but electric bike.  It was still work!  It was made just possible with some battery juice which conveniently ran out just before cresting.  A brief break at the Henry Miller library (Steinbeck only one of a band of area authors) where we picked up Miller's 'Tropic of Cancer' and Steinbecks 'To an Unknown God'. We stopped for lunch at Nepenthe and coasted back to our campground.  Later we went into Monterey and saw Cannery Row, a public statue commemorating that work, Sea Otters in the Bay, and had a celebratory seafood dinner on the coast.  

Greg

Sent from my iPhone

AJ and Yosemite

AJ flew into Reno to stay with a high school friend and we arranged to meet up outside Carson City for the next (and among the most fantastic) legs of the journey—Yosemite and Big Sur coast. Yosemite was a late add to the docket and I didn't have reservations. We stopped en route at stark Mono Lake which concentrates salts and has unique insect and bird like that tolerate the geologic oddity.

AJ and Yosemite

AJ flew into Reno to stay with a high school friend and we arranged to meet up outside Carson City for the next (and among the most fantastic) legs of the journey—Yosemite and Big Sur coast. Yosemite was a late add to the docket and I didn't have reservations. We stopped en route at stark Mono Lake which concentrates salts and has unique insect and bird like that tolerate the geologic oddity.


We proceeded to just outside the east entrance to Yosemite and checked out Ellery Lake campground. Greeted by Fred, an amiable and stone deaf camp host, he suggested site 11 walking us to it. It was THE BEST site in one of the loveliest campgrounds backed by Ellery lake and stunning sheer glacier-carved cliffs. JACKPOT!

It's been awhile!

 I'm on a plane headed to UK for my brother-in-law's 60th birthday in Bradford, England.  I will be joining Joyce who left a week ago to attned her Aunt Ruth's 90th birthday party which I was unable to attend.  I arranged a trip following the celebrations to visit Spain and our good friend Mike Kelley now living in Madrid.  We'll start at Malaga on the Mediterranean coast, make our way north via Granada and the al Hambra, and then onto Madrid.  I'm currently reading for the first time Don Quixote, so am looking forward to tilting swords at some windmills!

People have asked me to finish my blog, so I will use this time to catch you all up.

It looks like I left you all in California, with my good friend Omar and his wonderful family.  He and his oldest daughter, Rania, met me again at the Del Valle park and we did a bit of touring, packed up and headed to Omar's home in Tracy, CA.  He had generously allowed me to park Humsafar in front of his house so I could head out on my only departure from the journey.  After breakfast the next morning, I headed to SFO to get on a flight to Detroit to see mom and dad, and to attend the wedding of my nephew David Birchall to his lovely fiancé, Alex outside of Toledo, Ohio. 

Roasting Marshmallows with Omar and the girls!