Never give up, except when it's time to give up.

The Kadizzlites set off on another exploration hike to find a new Southwest Passage. There must be a way to get to the top of the mountain from the back, so off we went up a stream bed. As we climbed over rock after rock, and scratched skin from various parts of our bodies, the creek bed would not yield a path to the mountain top. The Commander could not give up, so Kadizzle and Rodger blocked the trail from behind and patiently awaited the return of The Commander.

Bird Brains in abundance

The camp host, and the birders are ver protective of the Eagles. The biggest threat to the eagles are low flying planes and helicopters. On a couple of occasions the local bird police have taken photos of aircraft violating the eagles protective space and reported the planes to the FAA. Besides their own body guards these eagles have a wonderful welfare program any welfare cheat would love. Last year when a single mother eagle was trying to raise the chicks the bird brains thought food may be a problem, so they placed a child's swimming pool with trout in it at the bottom of the nest tree.

Gold Mine off to very slow start.

Today may be another day of hiking and exploring. The crew may take a trail we have used before. A short distance down the trail is a brand new pick, shovel, a rock bar, and a bucket. Who would take that stuff a short distance into the desert and leave it. Why? Perhaps they were looking for gold. Our other theory is they murdered someone and the body has been buried near by.

Bud the camp host here says he would take the tools if we bring them back. So today we may bring Bud a set of gold mining tools, or a hit man's handy kit.

LIving in a war zone.

The Earth Module is in it's comfortable spot on the Salt River. However, no place is perfect. Two sound pollution items are annoying. The gun range is not far enough away, and some days the machine gun fire is annoying. A second problem is helicopters. The company that manufactures military helicopters is about a mile away as the crow flies. Almost every day Black Hawk Helicopters are flying over. Up at Usery a helicopter just sat in one place bout five hundred feet up and apparently was just waiting to run out of fuel, or some other silly experiment. A little higher are the jets. The Goldfield Recreation area is on the approach to the airport. Most of the jest are up just high enough not to be to bad. Around six and early in the day it is like a rush hour for the jets. About every five minutes a jest goes over. After dark it is fun to see them appear off in the distance, and then come down the Salt River for the final turn to the airport. You know it is six every morning when the first jet goes over. At any rate we have ground troops and air support if the Mexicans attack.

Down, and down, and down a little more.

The Grand Canyon is very deceptive. It is actually a canyon within a canyon. Looking from the top it appears as though there is a big ditch out in a field. As you hike into or out of the canyon you continually are deceived that you are near the end of the hike, but always another set of switch backs appears and your hopes are dashed.

The standard measurement for a story, in a ten story building, is ten feet. The Grand Canyon is 5,000ft deep. That means you go down 500 stories, and Up five hundred stories. Now, strap an extra 12 lbs on your back to make it more fun. Of course when the young whooper snapper with a 35 lb pack passes you, you don't feel so good.

It is amazing how fast the mules make it up and down. The mules will go down and back in the time it takes most people to go down. When the mule train passes, you cannot help but think of the young people, often lumpers, on those mules that should be walking. Some of the lumpers that do walk are amazing. One woman we all were concerned about because she had a bit of lumpadiglitis, made it down and back. She said her son would be disappointed if she did not make it. On the way out you see very few human bones, so most lumpers make it including Kadizzle. The employees have to walk to and from work about every nine days. That would do us all good. We are a nation of lumpers because we always want a piston under our ass pushing us where we want to go. Europeans are in better shape than we are because they have embraced mass transit. They have to walk to the bus or subway. Kadizzle was amazed by the New Yorkers that walked a lot. One benefit to mass transit so many of us overlook is that it does force you to move your lump.

Kadizzle said to Rodger, "Moving this cannon ball up and down the canyon is a job", Rodger replied "It looks more like a watermelon". All Kadizzle knows is that watermelon weighs at least 27lbs. and should not get a free ride up and down mountains.

On the Beach at the Grand Canyon

Although it was not a roomy resort, the Indians did have an eight room lodging in a very nice spot by the beach pictured above. If they had a decent supply of food it would not have been a bad life. Yesterday our little group of four hiked out of the Grand Canyon after a two day stay. The hike made it clear you would not go out of your way to pester anyone who lived at the bottom, so when the Indians lived there they must have felt very safe. From one side or the other a person would have a very treacherous difficult hike to attack them. They must have live a happy tranquil life there. Growing a little food, and having a supply of game and fish were their only problems. The climate is very nice most of the year, although it can get very hot during the summer. Temperatures up to 120 are not unheard of according to the cook Archimedes.

Lord Kadizzle has met the two people with the strangest names this year. Archimedes, and Duries. Duries was in our pheasant hunting party. Well, the adventure is over and the little party of Kadizzlites is recovering from a long hike down and a long hike up. Rodger has crossed the Canyon off his bucket list, and Kadizzle thinks his next trip will be by raft.

Young Cheech returns to NYC Today.

After her fist experience in the desert young Cheech will hop about the big bird later to day and head back to fashion headquarters in New York. Rumors abound that there could be a desert theme in her next collection. Cheech may come out with a special line of clothing for fat guys that hike. This collection will feature a lot of elastic and light weight clothes treated with sweat proof chemicals.