Hiking the White Tank Mtns

Memorial Day weekend started at 9:00am Saturday. Heather and I decided to go hiking in the White Tanks. It was absolutely gorgeous! There was a lovely breeze to keep us comfortable as we climbed and we had wonderful conversation. We reached this point at around 11:45am... (Isn't the view spectacular? Have you ever seen a sky such a fabulous shade of blue?)

...when we began discussing how much further we wanted to go before turning back. We chose to continue on and Heather was in the lead as we were chatting away. Not even 10 minutes had passed when Heather decided rather suddenly that it was time to turn back. This is what inspired her:



Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, that IS a rattlesnake curled up on the trail about 10 feet in front of where Heather stopped short. If it weren't for zoom lenses, this story would have been told without illustration. No way on earth was I getting any closer. He didn't move an inch the entire time and we certainly gave him no incentive to interrupt his nap in the shade!!!

That was all the excitement I cared to experience for the day and I spent the remainder reading a great Harlan Coben novel.

Come Sunday morning we had a jam-packed schedule. We arrived at church early so that Heather could go through the order of service. She transferred her membership from her home church in Ohio to Trinity and was welcomed by the congregation during the service. After church, the Young Adults headed over to Jon & Gretchen's house for a pool party. Jon fired up the grill and we spent hours in the pool. The water was a perfect 82 degrees and a welcome relief from the rising temperatures. Upon leaving the pool party, Heather and I had 45 minutes to kill before heading to Lucas' farewell party. He moved to Ohio to attend Bluffton. We will miss him dearly, but I'm sure he'll visit! You can take the man out of the Valley, but you can't take the Valley out of the man! :)

Monday morning also began bright and early. I was out of the house by 8am on my way to Tempe to help Jarod and Megan load their Uhaul trailer. They are moving back to Kansas tomorrow and Megan's parents drove down to help with the move. Many hands made quick work of the task and soon we were inside enjoying pizza one last time with the Waltners. The next few hours were spent in the waiting room at Sears while I had a shredded tire replaced. Many thanks to Ben Shetler for observing its poor condition and warning me so that I didn't have a blowout on the interstate when I returned home. My car came with custom rims and low-profile tires when I purchased it and they require special treatment! I'm not to fond of them right now. They are specially designed for racing and driving at high speeds and are quite bothersome to someone who merely needs to commute to work and church. Anyone want to trade?? :)

Well, I should go now. I need to finish packing for my trip to Indy! I leave directly from work and need to be ready to load the car before I go to bed.

See photo album for more shots of the hike!