Steve and Judy's Travels!

Coots. I never though of them like quail before, but watching them today, I
realize they are a lot like quail. They are both rather round birds that
mutter about, clucking and nurdling. Quail would rather run than fly, and
so would coots. Coots are generally on the water, so their running is more
spectacular, flapping just enough to get up on the surface, they will run a
hundred yards across the water, splashing like crazy, before settling back
down. Water Quail.

Australian Open tennis on the television. We’ve made it to the
quarterfinals. Number eight seed Andre Agassi plays number one seed Roger
Federer. They broadcast the match live from Melbourne, which made it 1:30am
our time. We taped it. This morning, I watch Agassi play while I work. I
tend to root for the old guy to beat the young guy. I’m rooting for Agassi.
Two sets down, it’s not going well for him. I paused the tape and went out
and ran three miles to see if that would help. I ran up a mountain. I got
the machine pumping. I ran back. It didn’t help. An old guy running
didn’t seem to inspire him at all. Agassi is great, but Federer is just too
good. Straight sets. Federer played up to his ranking. I went back to
music. Taj Mahal, Blind Boy Rag was waiting for me. We got to be pirates. There is no reception at this campground. Buckskin
Mountain State Park in Arizona. No WiFi. Not even cellphone. We were
talking to our neighbors and they said they found an open WiFi signal in
town. The next time we drove to Parker, we went to the parking lot of the
seventh day Adventist church across from the library. We opened up the
laptop and tried the signal. It was there! No fee. Just a very fast
connection. Our neighbors say that often do that. They turn the computer
on and drive around until they find a signal. Sometimes the signals are
there, but you can’t get on without knowing a password. Sometimes the
signals are just open. Like this one. Of course we don’t want to do
anything illegal, or that harms someone else, but it doesn’t seem like this
infringes on someone else’s system at all, unless maybe we slowed their
internet connection down by a nanosecond while we were on it. It was fun to
do. We don’t have a directional antenna, so we never did figure out exactly
where the signal was coming from, but it’s easy to drive around in
concentric circles to locate a strong signal. We’ll probably look to do it
again some time. In fact we left the computer on when we were through to
see if we ran across another signal, and we did, about two blocks from
Susie’s house. Another open signal.

Buckskin State Park. We love this place.

Here at the campground, the river is low and quiet in the morning. We
paddle upstream then drift down past the campground and around the bend.
The campground is desert, but lush desert. It’s like Organ Pipe Cactus
National Monument, but with a river.

Moved on. A couple days in Parker. We’re getting closer to Colorado.
Judy’s sister Sue lives here on the river. Sitting on Sue and John’s deck watching the river go by. Coots, a black
phoebe flycatching insects from the dock, bufflehead, goldeneye. Color in
the west. Flocks of egrets flying home to roost. Full moon rising.