Southern Arizona Road Trip Report

 2/18-

Worked almost a full day but did leave an hour early so I could eat dinner before my 7 PM flight.  That went off as scheduled and after a quick connection in Dallas, I was on the ground in Tucson just before midnight local time.  I checked into my fleabag motel just before 1 AM and hit the sack.

2/19-

Surprisingly, I was up with the sun this morning and captured some palm tree and catcus pictures before I showered up and hit the road.  My early start enabled me to hit Picachu State Park about 40 minutes north on the way to Phoenix.  I did a fairly challenging hike of about 1 mile on Calloway Trail then headed back south on the Interstate.  I didn't want to spend too much or too little time because I planned to arrive in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico shortly after noon.  I followed the plan to perfection.

This was my third visit to a Mexican border town and my fourth visit to Mexico overall.  Each one has a different vibe but as soon as you step foot on Mexican soil, you know that you are in a different place.  It's been described as a portal to another world.  Juarez and Nogales are more authentic than touristy places like Tijuana or Cancun.  In border towns, most people can speak English but Spanish will be appreciated even if slow and heavily accented.  I call myself the gringo with the southern lingo and that never fails to get a chuckle in response.  I find that I can recognize most of the words in Spanish but my comprehension is limited because the speech is too fast.  The key is to learn to think in Spanish and stop translating in your head.  Not so easy.  Some people worry about me going to Mexico.  However, I never felt unsafe despite the fact that Nogales does have a high crime rate.  In general, if you stick to tourist areas and don't do anything stupid, you'll be fine.  

Many Americans cross the border for cheap meds, dental work and food but I'm there to take in the culture and interact with the people.  I had a pretty good lunch at a bargain price, roamed the main streets and browsed some of the shops.  I got some delicious ice cream and purchased a T-shirt and shot glass from one of the shops.  I probably got ripped off on the price but the shop owner also walked me to a nearby hotel and helped me with the check-in so I didn't mind.  I may have been able to bargain to save a few bucks but chose not to do so.  I attended church then went out to dinner on the store owner's recommendation.  My hotel was about on par with low end American chains such as Motel 6 or Super 8 but at half price.  I only paid the equivalent of $35 US dollars.  It was a good call to stay in Mexico for the night.  It saved money and allowed me to drink a big margarita for dinner without facing the border guard shortly thereafter.  Again, I had a nice server and enjoyed brief conversations in Spanish. 

2/20-

I simply walked into Mexico without any questioning at all.  Normally, when going back to the USA, I'm usually only asked where I am going next then sent on my way after my passport is checked.  This time, I faced more questioning.  I was asked what I did in Mexico and why I would want to fly to Tucson for the weekend without knowing anyone in the area.  He wasn't mean and did not search me but he did find it strange that I would do something like this.  The scenery is beautiful and I wanted to do some hiking.  Simple.    

My first stop of the day was Mount Lemmon at 9,000 feet elevation and at least 30 degrees colder than  Tucson.  The road reminded me a bit of a desert version of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Vegetation and landscape changes as dramatically as the temperature.  The ubiquitous cacti stop just after the 4,000 foot mark and you would think that you are in Montana or South Dakota shortly thereafter.  I didn't know until recently but yes, you will see SNOW on the ground in the winter once you hit about 7,000-7,500 feet.  In southern Arizona?  Not many people know that. 

Back at lower elevation, I spent some time at a park called Agua Caliente, which is a beautiful area with a nice green lake surrounded by palm trees and mountain views.  Too bad those were not high enough to be snow capped.  My last stop was Catalina State Park.  Unfortunately, the hike was too long and I had to bail halfway through.  It proved to be a good call as I got some epic shots of a cactus in the sunset sky.  

2/21-

Today was planned to be devoted to Saguaro National Park.  Yes, it was very nice but nothing really stood out compared to the 2 other state parks.  The hiking trail was similar to the one Picachu albeit with a bit more scenic views at the top.  With a bit of time to kill, I went to downtown Tucson for lunch.  Though the food was nothing special, my server was very nice.  Though Tucson has a large population, it has more of a small town eclectic feel.  The University of Arizona is just a few blocks away.  I ended up taking a walk down several main streets then went back to the airport with plenty of time to spare.  The flight back also went off on time but I did not get back home until after 11 PM.  I was hurting the next day.

When to Race Hawaii

 

I am now about 95 percent sure that I will NOT be racing in Hawaii in April.  I only have 9 more weeks to get in shape and I still have not run longer than 4 miles this year.  My standard issue run used to be 5-6 miles at 7:30 pace.  Now, it is 2 miles at paces that range from 8:00 all the way up to 11:00.  What will my fitness level be in 12 months?  Those prospects are not bright.  Fortunately, the time limit is 4 hours so even on my worst day, I should be able to walk/jog and come in under that.  That’s a pace per mile of almost 17 minutes.

  To their credit, Hawaii reversed the booster requirement to bypass the 5-day quarantine but what’s the point of any requirement in that case?  A 12-month-old vackseen is basically USELESS against Omicron!  I may have natural immunity too.  More on that later.  In order to participate in the race, I need either a vackseen OR a negative test WITH permission from an official.  The latter is not guaranteed.  If there are other options available, I would certainly prefer NOT to support an event with such stringent restrictions.  I did meet a woman named Robin at my Maine race, who is finishing her 50^th state at the race in Maui that I initially planned to run.  It sure would be nice to finish together but all things considered, it’s not looking like it will happen. 

There are 2 races in Honolulu over Holiday weekends.  One is Memorial Day, and the other is Veteran’s Day.  I’d prefer not to race on the Big Island because I’ve already been there.  Whether it’s Maui, Oahu or Kauai, I can’t lose.  I’d probably lean towards Honolulu (Oahu) because I think I can see pretty much all I want in 3 days instead of the 5-7 that I would need in Maui or Kauai.  I’d want to see Diamond Head, Pearl Harbor, Waikiki Beach and the North Shore.  According to the website for the Memorial Day race, there is no mention of any vackseen or testing requirement.  That said, I will certainly verify that with the RD before I sign up.  If true, I would almost certainly choose that one over Maui. 

As far as lifting restrictions, recent news is mostly good.  Several blue states have lifted mask mandates.  Word on the street is that although the city of Los Angeles still has a vackseen requirement for indoor dining, it is rarely enforced.  While restrictions may not be fully lifted in Hawaii within 3 months, I do think that there is a realistic chance of normalcy within 9 months especially if COVID deaths continue to fall.  A talk show host brought up the Vietnam War.  Even among people who supported it at the time, very few people admitted it after it turned out the way it did.  Same with Iraq.  It took about 5 years for the country to form a consensus that it was a mistake.  Come 2025, very few people will admit that the lockdowns, masking and vackseen requirements were good ideas.  Sadly, I’m afraid that it really will take that long but if current trends continue, most restrictions will be lifted before the 2024 election.

What will I do that weekend instead?  Florida beach hopping from Bradenton to Fort Lauderdale.  My parents have expressed interest in joining me.  Who knows how many chances I will have to spend time with them?  If my parents are able to make the trip with me, Hawaii is OUT for sure.   

As far as my training, my results in early February have been no better.  The adrenal spike is not fading like I hoped it would.  I need mega doses of Thym-Adren to run at all.  This need has triggered demand for more Vitamin C because of the Copper content.  I had bad reaction to Whole Food C and Adenosyl B-12.  I think both are related to Copper and I know for sure that Whole Food C is related.  At least there is an explanation this time.  Instead of that, I need Methyl B12 and the Ascorbic Acid form of Vitamin C. 

Any hope of improvement on the horizon:

I’ve got blood donation scheduled for Sunday afternoon.  That might lower the Iron and thus slow down the adrenals.  Also, I could try again to reduce my Lactoferrin, which related to Iron metabolism.  My last resort is another liver flush, which I last did in 2016.  It dumped copper out of my organs and Taurine and Glutathione were effective in cleaning it out of my tissues.  However, I would have hoped that TRS would accomplish that without the harsh side effects.   The blood donation should reveal whether or not I have COVID antibodies as I still suspect that I had the virus over New Years.  If I do, MAYBE I can get around a vackseen mandate for a Hawaii race.        

Rant: Autism

UPDATE:  I've since learned that my extreme sensitivity to pills is most probably related to elevated Cytokines.  Cytokine dysregulation is related to autism.  So too is candida overgrowth and gut dysbiosis.  That makes me VERY ANGRY! 

Back in the 1980s, children were diagnosed with autism at a rate of about 1 in 5,000.   Hell, I never even heard of autism until the early 1990s.  Now, it’s more like 1 in 50 with boys more likely than girls to be affected.  There is a school of thought that it really hasn’t become much more common.  It was simply not diagnosed in the past.  I believe the truth to be somewhere in between.  Autism cases have not really increased 100-fold in the last 40 years, but the rate is indeed increasing at an alarming rate.  I would say that it could be up to a 10 or 20-fold increase.

Let’s take a look at my childhood and some of the traits that I had:

I taught myself how to multiply and divide when I was in kindergarten but when it came to reading, I was merely average and was even assigned to track 2 in that subject.  That gap did close in later years.  Though I wasn’t on the same level as the valedictorian in Math, I could usually count on getting an A in Advanced Algebra.  My best subject in undergrad was Statistics and Probability and I nearly made it through an entire semester without missing a point.  I could manage an A in Regular English and earned solid Bs in those AP classes. 

One of my superpowers is a legendary long-term memory.  If you were to ask me what subject I had for 2^nd period in 6^th grade, I could tell you not only that but the room number and who sat next to me.  One of my old track teammates looked at me in disbelief when I told a high school story and asked: “How the f--- do you remember that shit?”

I usually had a terrible time getting up in the morning and didn’t feel fully awake until maybe 9:00 AM but was always wound up at night.  That problem is completely gone as I had no trouble getting up for 6 AM runs when I was competitive.

I spent quite a bit of time stacking soup cans in the kitchen and watched the same movies over and over again.  I still did the latter through college but not so much anymore.  However, there are several YouTube videos that I’m sure I’ve watched at least 10 times.

Poor eye contact, social skills and difficulty making friends.  My mother told me never to be a criminal because it always appeared that I was lying though she never actually thought I was.  I also had a tendency to "space out" at times. I could not read social cues either.  I recall a time when I was horrified after my mother told me to "knock 'em dead" referring to a couple of tests that day at school.  Sometimes I thought I was being bullied but it really just harmless teasing and I should have let it go.  Other times, I thought some people were being friendly to me, but I now realize that they were actually mocking me and my behaviors perpetuated it.   This aspect has improved but I’d still like it to be better. 

Bad handwriting, poor coordination, and messy bedroom.  Sadly, this is still a problem today.  I remember several school assignments that I simply could not do.  One involved making geometric figures out of paper or drawing 3 dimensional figures in art class.  My Shop teacher would have given me an F if my Dad didn’t protest that I had pneumonia.  That was true but I never could have figured it out even if I was healthy.  I would fare no better if put in the same situation today.  I would recommend teachers in non-academic subjects such as Shop, Music or Art to never give grades less than a C unless the student misbehaves. 

Unusual speech- I used to talk much slower and softer than other kids and was called a "retard" even though it was no secret that I was an A-student.  My final class rank was 18th in a class of 215.  It was not uncommon for other kids to laugh at me after I answered a question correctly in class.  Many times, I was told to shut up with a 4 letter word in between if I tried to join a conversation.  One such person admitted that he didn't even listen to what I said.  WTF!   A so-called friend of mine told me that if I made the top 7 in my high school class, I should decline the opportunity to speak at graduation to save myself embarrassment.  Today, my speech is almost normal for Alabama and it’s pretty much a non-issue.  If I didn’t live in the South, it could be a problem. 

If I was in Generation-Z instead of being a late Gen-Xer, I almost certainly would have been diagnosed with mild autism.  My Mom agrees that I did have mild autism symptoms as a child but for the most part, I have outgrown it.  Key word is for the most part.  As for my sharp decline in athletic performance, it is certainly possible that the toxic metals were lurking beneath the surface long before the symptoms appeared.  Even in elementary school, I had a sneaking suspicion that something was a little bit off about me.  Part of me is glad that I didn’t know.  Perhaps kids would have been nicer to me, but I know that I would have played the victim card and settled for average.  Clearly, I was capable of much better. 

Not every autism case looks the same.  Some children never smile.  It sure would be a shame if that was one of my traits.  Thankfully, it is not.  Some are extremely talented in art and music.  I am not.  Others are afraid of change, prefer the same routine every day and do not like traveling to unfamiliar places.  The latter is CERTAINLY not a problem for me and never was an issue.  I always enjoyed family vacations to new destinations.  That said, I will get anxious if you give me several tasks all at once especially if they are unexpected.  Also, I do often eat at the same restaurants on the same days of the week and order the same items from the menu. 

If autism cases are on the rise as I believe they are, what could be driving it?  Proponents of the school of thought that it simply diagnosed more often will say that it is all about your genetics.  You are either born with it or you are not.  There is nobody who develops autism as a toddler or child due to environmental factors.  I would mostly disagree.  Genetic mutations may make you more susceptible, but are not the cause.  I do believe that alcoholism does run in families but I guarantee that it will never happen to you if you don't take that first drink.  Some people, myself included, are poor eliminators of toxic metals due to genetic factors.  If they were never exposed to the toxins, they cannot suffer any ill-effects.      

Yes, I am going to go here.  The vackseen schedule is WAY too aggressive.  I would have no issue taking a shot to prevent a disease as deadly as smallpox or as crippling as polio.  However, the number of shots should be reduced and spaced out over a longer period of time.  That’s hardly an extreme view.     Nowadays, children receive up to 40 vackseens before they enter school.  Many are laced with toxic metals such as mercury as well as plenty of other not so friendly ingredients.  Nordic children receive fewer vackseens and also see much less autism diagnoses.  Most people can manage to detox but some cannot.  Indeed, I’ve heard and watched documentaries which detailed horror stories of children shrieking in pain hours after a shot then becoming severely disabled.  Granted, most cases are usually not that dramatic.  It is usually a slow fade over time that cannot easily be traced to a particular event.  No, I do not believe that vackseens are the ONLY reason for the increase.  Dr. Mercola believes that plastics and environmental pollution are factors as well.  I would agree.  Exposure to toxins is NOT good for anyone and to suggest that it cannot cause health problems is IDIOTIC!  If I was harmed by childhood vackseens, can you imagine how badly off I would be if I had to take today's schedule?

Actress Jenny McCarthy shared that her son experienced a sharp decline within a day or two of getting a vackseen.  Thankfully, with treatment he is doing better.  Though I normally do not care about Hollywood celebrities, if I could pick one to meet, it would be her.  Like many men my age, I had a bit of a crush on her as teenager and at least based on interviews that I have seen, she seems to have a good heart full of compassion and is respectful to those who disagree with her.