The End of Summer

In the USA, Labor Day is the holiday that celebrates the working man, but really, what it means to everyone is the end of summer. Usually everyone goes to some sort of picnic or party or other gathering.


We in the Desert Rat Pack chapter of the Dynamic Mini Collective usually celebrate by meeting up at a Starbucks in Mesa, going on a run to the top of the hill past Tortilla Flats in the Tonto National Forest, and then coming back to a picnic at the Boldt's house. Today was the day.



Dave and Michelle showed up to take all the food
that needed to be kept cold to their house while the rest of us went on the run. LDL RED managed to handle carrying all the food. There was a lot of interest in the chocolate cake, so Michelle held it in her hands but they were tempted to eat it on the way home! Some MINIs started out dirtier than others. After going through the remnants of flooding in a couple of washes, they were all dirty!

Here we are at the top of the hill where the pavement ends. The road goes on another 42 miles to Roosevelt Lake. It's called the Apache Trail.





The desert was lush with vegetation and flowers after a few days of rain. We even saw some standing and moving water in some of the washes. To those of you who live in places where there's lots of rain and moisture, this must seem absurd. But here in the Sonoran desert, dry rivers are the norm. We mostly don't have storm sewers because there's so little need for them. So we have flooding for a couple of days. The parched land soon sucks it up. Here's a shot of Apache Lake (so named for being at the start of the Apache Trail; it's nowhere near the Apache Indian Reservation).




Here's a photo of The Sports Fan looking out at the view. We got into the house to find the newest member of the Rat Pack, six week old, Cooper! Also, a view of one side of the fabulous backyard that was our venue for the afternoon. By hanging out for a bit when nobody else was around, I found a mermaid in the pool!