Even in Kyoto

As the subject line says, I'm at about a 50% batting average right now when it comes to getting up early to exercise. Yesterday morning, I failed, but this morning I succeeded. Today I took Princess TinyBike out in the opposite direction on Highway 83, just to see what was out there.

It's hard to see, but in this photo there's some sort of small blimp hanging out above the Huachuca Mountains, in the center of the image. My guess is that it's associated with Fort Huachuca. It was there the entire time I was out riding.



This was the coolest wildflower I saw this time, although I'm not sure what it is. The leaves look like they're the wrong shape for this to be Arizona summer poppy.




I'm so glad the temperatures are cool here in the mornings.


After a certain point, I became curious about how close or far away I was from reaching Parker Canyon Lake. A check of the GPS suggested it wasn't too far away, so it seemed like a worthwhile destination.

It wound up being *mostly* worthwhile.



There was a low crossing shortly before a final climb to the lake. At the nadir, a dog burst out and gave chase, and I heard multiple other dogs barking as well. It did eventually respond and turn away when I yelled at it, but still. It was there again on the return. The loose dogs in Arizona aren't as bad as in Texas, but I don't really feel like I need to ride that last mile out to the lake again if it's going to involve a risky dog chase.

The rest of the ride was fantastic. I saw a couple of wild turkeys, and there were deer, ducks, and a heron at the lake.

The lake is too small to be much fun for rowing, but the perfect size for tootling about and swimming and fishing.


The outbound leg also involved some elevation gain, so it was also fun to descend and enjoy the views on the ride back. There isn't exactly the same "top of the world" feeling here that I sometimes get in places in the Midwest and New York, but in parts of Arizona you definitely get a sense of the vastness of the Central Valley (or other things) from certain vista points.



Other pretty wildflowers:




I also figured out that maybe part of why exercise is seeming unusually tiring is because the elevation here is around 5000 feet. I've been acclimated to sea level.

And now, to work.