Passion for Flight

  View of Grand Canyon from South Rim Visiting the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, AZ used to be easy. One would fly to the Grand Canyon airport (GCN) and pick up a rental car to get around.  One could stay at any of a number of hotels in Tusayan, which is right next to the airport, or at one of the campgrounds. Then one would drive to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park every day.  As an alternative, one could take a shuttle from the airport to Tusayan, then continue daily with a bus from Tusayan to the South Rim and back. T hat bus service was discontinued in 2021. For a number of years, rental cars have not been available at the Grand Canyon airport, except for an offer with an exorbitant daily rate. The nearest car rental with reasonable rates is at the Flagstaff, AZ airport, about 70 miles away. How can you then fly there and visit with minimal fuss?  Three Options There are two ways where you fly into the Grand Canyon airport and take a reasonably priced taxi into the

View toward Mimbres, NM   In ea rly summer 2021 we visited friends Lynn and Philip in Mimbres, NM. A hike up the nearby mountain once more demonstrated the stark beauty of southern New Mexico as well as the harshness of life for some of the animals.  Here are some pictures. Beauty reaching toward the sky... 10 ft tall Yucca ... and close to the ground. Thistles On the return hike we descended in an arroyo. Suddenly we came upon a demonstration that life is harsh for many of the animals. Remains of a small deer The deer probably was overcome by a mountain lion. Just 200 ft further down, we were surprised by the remains of another small deer. Bones of another small deer Both cases are a reminder that the safety we have created for our existence doesn't extend to the world of animals. Many of them live in constant danger. It was a sobering reality check. Then another thought popped up. On the trip from Dallas to Deming, NM for the visit, we flew under a 1,500 ft ceiling at 1,000 ft, a