Pardon the pun, but rain pretty much puts a damper on our activities. The heavy rain that was forecast to hit us around noon on Monday actually arrived around 9:30am. Donna drove the rental car back to Enterprise at 11:30am and they gave her a ride back to Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. With the rain pouring down all afternoon, we stayed indoors. I spent most of my time reading after I posted to the blog.

Stormy Monday

Donna had a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker all afternoon with a maple syrup and mustard sauce. She served it with cumin-spiced roasted brussel sprouts. The aroma from the slow cooker was delightful.

Pork tenderloin with brussel sprouts

The rain continued through most of the night. Donna was up early Tuesday morning. She left at 7:30am to join the Orangewood Shadows hiking group on their trek up Siphon Draw Trail in the Superstition Mountains.

The first photo from the hike was shot by Donna, all others courtesy of Don Dunning.

Water running down Siphon Draw

Superstition Mountains from the trailhead at Lost Dutchman State Park

Orangewood Shadows hiking group

The trail gets rocky toward the top

Mountain top shrouded in low cloud cover

While they were stopped for lunch at the top, it started raining. They carefully made their way down the slippery rock section and headed back.

Meanwhile, back at the coach, we had sunshine. I took advantage of the dry conditions and refilled the hummingbird feeder. I restocked paper products from our stash in the trailer. Then I dumped and flushed our holding tanks. After that, I gave my leg a rest and read for a while. Although it was sunny out, it was also breezy with the temperature hovering around 60 degrees.

When Donna returned around 12:30pm, she told me about the rain on Superstition Mountain. I was surprised since it had been dry here all morning. Within 10 minutes, the rain returned. It rained in spurts off and on all afternoon.

The wet road coupled with a lane closure outside of Orangewood Shadows RV Resort on University Drive proved to be challenging for some drivers. Twice we heard the screech of locked-up tires sliding on the tarmac followed by a metallic crunch. Fender benders! So many inattentive drivers in these conditions kept me home without a thought of venturing out on the scooter.

Last night, Donna made pepperoni chicken. She uses pounded chicken breasts as the base for a pizza-like entree topped with pepperoni slices, homemade marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Last time, she served it with sauteed zucchini and onions. She served it over spaghetti squash this time.

Pepperoni chicken over spaghetti squash

The forecast calls for clear skies and a warming trend with the high temperature reaching 80 degrees by the end of the week. My calf injury is much improved and I plan to start gently exercising it with short walks and careful stretching.