Back in Fayetteville, Arkansas...

... at Ellen's, where we'll stay about 2 weeks before heading back to Wauconda. It was a wonderful 6 week tour of the southwest, but it's always good to get home again, and really nice to see all the greenery! I think we both have had enough of the high desert sand for a while!

Speaking of which, today I tackled the cleaning/reorganizing of the hiking, camping, cooking, biking, and paddling gear, hosing the sand out of as much as I could, though I'm sure we'll be finding sand in stuff for some time to come. When I get home, I'll have to deal with the tent's 2 messed up zippers, which the REI lady in Santa Fe assured me that REI would fix or replace.



Meanwhile, Ellen went after her somewhat jungle-like backyard foliage, cutting, wetting, and pulling over-growth the lawn guys didn't tackle.



As we went through all the clothes and gear and stuff, we "found" several items that had managed to hide themselves from us in the cavernous van, so apparently the only thing I lost during our excursion was 5 pounds!

We already dealt with grocery shopping and many loads of wash, but still have to hit the books -- financial that is -- and get all the bills, banking, and receipts taken care of.

And some time this weekend, we'll partake of Fayetteville's annual charity drive -- Bikes, Blues, and BBQ Motorcycle Rally. Tens of thousands of bikers have descended on this otherwise quiet community to benefit local charities. More on this later this week.