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!
