Echo's in the air from Donna

I'll admit it... I'm a creature of habit. I'll latch on to one food or one exercise until whomever I am living with nudges me out of it, of course that was always Donna. I walk the same 5 mile route in the morning, same 3 mile route in the afternoon...both on the same time schedule.  I pretty much eat the same foods too.

My BFF told me yesterday to change things up. Walk a different route at varying speeds and times. Eat some other foods because your body stops responding if you don't push it in different ways.

It was like Donna was talking to me from the hereafter because these were the same words she often spoke to me.

So today, rather than walking on the highway for 2 1/2 miles out and then walking back... I headed for the hills.

At the beginning of a trail is this huge stack of rocks. I figured that in lieu of payment to walk here, you are supposed to add a stone onto the pile...which I did.

The skeletal remains of a Cholla cactus was of interest to me, because no one has disturbed it.

Anyone can stack rocks on the ground, few will do it on top of a Barrel cactus. (yes, I did take them down after the photo)

This the correct way to build a cairn. Cairn, is a Gaelic word meaning, "a mound of stones, built as a memorial or landmark". Donna and I done many in Mexico, but have had our wrist slapped by rangers for doing it on federal lands. They said they have to knock all of them down when time is available. Not sure what the harm is in the building of a cairn and it's my way of saying hi to someone I love and miss.

You need to be part mountain goat, to get up to the top of many of the hills, here in the desert. 

This small hill is too insignificant for a cartographer to name, so I proclaimed it "Mount Moonstruck", in memory of Donna.

From Mount Moonstruck I noticed another small hill to climb...this one will be named after my BFF, who kicked my ass out of a rut...:-)

Looking down at the wash below, and the incoming threat from storm clouds, gives me a reason to be cautious. 

A panorama photo of the valley and approaching storm.

Thanks again to my friend for pushing me out of a routine. Now I have three girls looking out for my health...two of them, I can talk to and one, who just whispers sweet nothings in my ear from a galaxy...far, far away.