Saturday, February 29, 2020

Leap Day

Waxing Crescent Moon

Hopefully, you went outside to see Venus hanging out right next to the crescent Moon this week. Awesome! No photos available here. They all came out looking like grainy blurry licorice soup or crushed Cheerios in a bowl of motor oil. Kinda kills the whole lunar romance thing. Here'a picture of Thursday's sunrise instead.


The 2020 in 2020 Challenge is on schedule and on pace at 5.5 miles per day, 160 miles in February, and 332 total miles so far. I definitely would prefer to hike somewhere new each day, but I am making do with a trip to Morgan Hill and the Coyote Creek bike path last week and to Moss Landing State Beach this week.

The beach day was completely perfect. I met my old walking pal and veteran trash picker upper Mike Carroll (aka Captain Chem) for breakfast at the Moss Landing Cafe on Highway 1. Then we set out for a couple of hours of pounding the sand in sunny t-shirt and shorts conditions.The surf was pretty good and for the most part, the beach was clean.


Mike scooped up two renegade Mylar party balloons rolling around in the foaming surf outwash, popped them, and carried them the whole way to the parking lot trash can. Enhanced Eco-Hero status kudos to Captain Chem! I took a photo of him holding the first balloon without telling him I would soon use it on the world wide web. 

This could start a whole new career for Mike in his old age as a  Senior Environmental Hand Model (Seinfeld fans might recall that episode when George Costanza had a brief stint as a hand model - hilarious!). Mike is also doing a version of the 2020 in 2020 Challenge, using a Fit Bit he got for Christmas to chart his steps each day. He  will easily meet the challenge if he keeps up his daily beach jaunts in Seacliff and his walks with the mysterious sentient being known in some circles as Nacho the Skandhas Buddhist Chihuahua.


I stayed at the beach for a while to walk some more and see what I could see, hoping to spot a whale ('tis the season, I believe, although the water temperatures may be abnormal). I had to settle for a couple of extra miles and a dead crab shadow shot. This is weird! The crab is dead, but the shadow looks alive!


There were a couple of dozen snoozing harbor seals near the marina, no pelicans (??), a few otters playing in the surf, a few other walkers, several human surfers, and a handful of fishermen, but no whales and no pelicans. Better luck next time. I'll be back. Adios, mi amante.


Peace, Love, and Happy Hiking,
Jim

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