A good first sleep in the States and on the road around 8.30am….
The plan is to do some hiking whilst making my way towards California and my first hike was at Kent Springs in Coronado National Forest…about an hours drive….
I must say it was a shock to my old bones to go outside and feel how cold it was!!
I started out hiking in my fleecy jacket but after around 15 minutes going up hill I jettisoned my jacket and T shirt……
Snow…..not had my feet in snow for years!!!
It was a good hike highlighted by seeing the deer….
A little story about deer…..
After my Mum passed away in 1995 my Dad would come and visit me in Smoke Lake which I wrote about yesterday…..I often write about my Mum but I cannot forget the impact my Dad had on my life, he was small in stature but huge on morals and standing up for himself and he was an avid supporter at all my soccer games encouraging me to get stuck in from the side lines…..
I must admit my brother Malc was a way better soccer player than I was he was a finesse player with silky skills and footwork….I was not…I would describe myself as a hard nosed defender who got stuck in and was not afraid to dish out some punishment on opposing forwards…Dad was always at our games with words of encouragement.
I digress……on one trip he made to visit me on Vancouver Island I left him in my apartment as I went to work an afternoon shift at the restaurant……my apartment was lovely and in the woods with a deck that overlooked the forest.
One evening I came home from work and Dad was in a particularly good mood and he told me about his afternoon……he said he was on the lounger on the deck when a deer came up to the fence right below him no more than six feet away….the deer laid down and proceeded to give himself a bath and washed every part of his body except behind his neck …he said this went on for over 90 minutes and my Dad said he had never seen anything quite like it and since then deer have been a part of my life at interesting times.
A few years later I was in another downstairs apartment with windows that looked out into the yard…around 4 am my phone rang and I knew right away it was not good news, Malc telling me that our Dad had passed away in his sleep at the grand age of 87!!!
I got up and starting making plans to get over to England and when I opened the curtains right outside the window looking in was a deer!!!
Flash forward to one evening I was driving my motor home somewhere in Utah and is was getting dark and I was getting tired and I knew I should pull over and find somewhere to spend the evening….I went a couple more miles I was not driving fast and my eyes started to close and suddenly right in front of me ran this huge buck deer and he turned and looked at me…my Dad telling me to get off the road!!!
Another time after I was driving again somewhere in the southern States and going slowly up this back roads hill surrounded by forest when I saw this amazing specimen of a deer just off the road in the bushes…I pulled over got out with my camera and the deer just stood there looking at me actually staring at me and it was not till later that night when I received a call from Malc telling the that the money that he and I had received from my Dad’s estate was deposited in to my bank account!!
So when ever I see deer I smile and thank my lucky stars for my Dad!!
Tonight I am in the small town of Globe in a lovely tiny house..the bathroom and shower is in the main house which is not a problem to me…
Got a recorded soccer game to watch tonight!!
Stay safe and healthy!!
Yashi Kochi!!
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