Friends old and new

Moose Henris, Pinetop, AZ

This first stop at Horseshoe Lake near Pinetop, Arizona lived up to the purposes of this journey.  I am looking for some relaxed and special time with people important to me.  Sean drove behind me and supported this start.  We set up camp in the dark but enjoyed the next day visiting with Sean and AJ's next door neighbors and friends Russ and Charlie Coons.  We met at Moose Henris for a beer and a lovely meal, toured Russ and Charlies Pinetop home nearby, and got  back for a twilight kayak in my lightweight foldable  Oru Kayak 'Inlet' with a few desperate casts for fish that went unrequited.  Sean left early Monday morning to return to his lab for his PhD in Physics, I went for a walk and Russ and Charlie joined with their inflatable 2 person kayak.  Great Blue herons, Kildeer, Spotted Sandpipers, Mallard moms with a dozen ducklings (in a row of course), Osprey calling out and fishing, Barn and Violet Green Swallows, Canada Geese, Spotted Sandpipers, and, soaring just above our boats inspiring Russ to exclaim, "It's a f***ing American Bald Eagle!" accompanied us. 

That was Monday, now a non-work day for me.  Tuesday was a work day and I had a problem to solve: we had a beautiful campsite in the thick woods with a view of water through the trees.  I was able to stay ahead and advance the charge on my batteries (albeit without using the computers much) despite the fridge/freezer running constantly at about 7 amps.  The woods meant I had o move the ground solar panels throughout the day.  Bt the biggest problem was obstruction of my starling dish even posted high on a 15 foot telescoping flagpole.  So after Charlie and Russ (dripping wet because of a mishap upon exiting the kayak) left, I took a walk and a bike ride around the campground and came upon a starlink user with a campground adjacent to the lake.  Luke Adams and his wife are from Tucson and both work remotely staying most of the summers up here at Horseshoe lake with 3 wonderful preteen kids.  They invited me to use the campsite next to them which was vacated after father's day Sunday.  though much more exposed, it offered great Starlink reception and all day solar without constant adjustment. Hoping to see if i could work through the heat of the day without breaking out the generator (Honda 2200) to run the AC.  

Tuesday, I had a 7 am meeting and then meetings throughout the day. I had some room with my Starlink cord if I needed to move the receiver, but it was not needed as Teams calls went extremely well with perhaps 4 or 5 ten second disruptions/freezes all day and coming right back to the meeting.  This was not any worse than working from my house in Tucson.

I learned quickly to preserve the evening coolness by adjusting to the sun's position.  I closed the back hatch (which has a nice screen door and was left open all night) as the sun was pouring in at sunrise. Also ensured any sun facing window has the blackout curtains drawn, but the shadow side had them open for a breeze.  That plus a damp towel around my neck was very comfortable throughout the 89 degree afternoon heat so no need for AC or generator!  Yay!  Also my battery charged to over 80% and is today 100% with all my electric needs met.  The planning that went into this worked!

I did have a mishap--during a teams meeting it was getting uncomfortable so I went back and lifted up the hatch for air as the sun wasn't pointed into the back of the rig by then.  A sudden crash and I was showered by a million pieces of tiny tempered glass shards from the open window I had forgotten to close hitting the awning I had forgotten to retract.  Darn!  I was able to find an auto glass shop in Pinetop and have an appointment for temporary (plexiglass?) solution until I can get a glass replacement.  Apparently (always learning!) a custom tempered window glass takes weeks to deliver and so I will have to call to some towns ahead of schedule to order the replacement and install when I get there.  

Tuesday evening was spent with dear old friends Joyce and I have known for decades since we were residents together.  Marc Traeger and Laura Brown, and David and Laurie Yost accepted an invitation for dinner at my place and they drove the 15 miles (of virgin forest!) between Pinetop and Horseshoe Lake for Flatbread pizza cooked on our Blackstone flat grill. It was simple, quick, delicious and fun: I'll share the 'recipe' here.

Marc, Laura, and Dave, in addition to being fellow family medicine residents at UA back in the day, also worked in Whiteriver Indian Health Service Hospital for nearly their entire career.  I worked there 5 years as my first job from 189 to 1994 when Joyce and I left for Pakistan to help start a family medicine residency (the first in the nation) at Aga Khan University in Karachi.  But the bonds of friendship never loosed through the distance and we have stayed close with each other, godfathering/godmothering each others' kids, staying at each others' houses when visiting, supporting each other through kids, grandkids, cancer, kidney transplant, retirement, adulting children, different church and faith situations as we all journeed through life.  I am so blessed to have such kind, compassionate, humans and doctors and friends in my life over these many many years.