February 12, 2025
Errands / Starr Pass Trail
After yesterday’s longish ride t feels like the right time to take a day off, work away at the task list of errands I maintain, and just generally take it easy. Here’s the plan for the day going in:
- 9:00 call the rheumatology department and confirm that they’ve received the two sets of test results that were hopefully faxed up yesterday.
- 9:30 Escort Rachael to the bus stop on Speedway
- 10:00 bike over to Fair Wheel Bikes for a set of errands: buy a new water bottle cage for my broken one; ask them to adjust my gears, which are starting to slip from cable stretch; and ask them to replace the worn cleats on Rachael’s shoes, which I can’t manage to remove.
- Bike over to Reid Park for some casual bird watching.
- 11:30 call Perche Non to make a dinner reservation for tonight.
- Around 1:00: second breakfast at the Cub Cafe
- 2:30 haircut appointment
- Hang out at home for the rest of the afternoon.
- 7:00 Dinner at Perche Non.
It doesn’t play out quite as I planned though, starting with the call to rheumatology. No, they regret to inform me, they haven’t received either result. So there’s an unplanned task to fit into the list. I’ll have to follow up with both facilities to see what went wrong.
While I’m on the phone with them it’s time for Rachael to leave for her bus ride, so that task gets scratched from the list.
I call Tucson Hospital first, and they don’t have an explanation for why my results didn’t make it out the door - but they’re happy to try again, and promise they’ll notify me when the fax goes through successfully. Simple enough.
Labcorps is a different story though. You access them through an automated menu, and this is I think my fifth time through it, hoping to finally find the path that gets me to a living human voice. None exists though, so there’s really no choice but to bike out there again.
The trip to Fair Wheel Bikes at least is an unqualified success. All three items get checked off and before long I’m biking east through the UofA campus, enjoying my smoothly shifting gears and heading for the Labcorps facility on Craycroft Road.
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A half hour later I’m at the desk of the Labcorps facility, learning that they have no idea if the results got faxed northward. They’re just a blood collection facility, and the sample and the order get shipped on to the lab that executes the test and dispenses results. This place does have a phone number though, so I’ll give them a call when I’m home again.
Another half hour and I’m back at Reid Park, behind schedule of course and wondering if I’ll be back in town in time for breakfast and a haircut. Something’s got to give, including birdwatching. I give the park a quick pass and then head back to town.
While I’m biking north up Treat Street the phone calls. It’s Rachael, reminding me to call Perche Non about a dinner reservation for tonight. It’s a good thing she called because I’d forgotten this was even on my list. Since I’m behind schedule she offers to call them herself. A few minutes later she calls back to let me know that they’re fully booked tonight, as they are for the entire week because the Gem Show is on.
By now it’s getting in toward two and it’s clear that there’s not time for both breakfast and a haircut. I’ve got to make a choice, but the choice gets made for me while I’m waiting for a red light and realize how desperately I need to get to a bathroom. So a stop by the apartment gets shoved to the top of the list, and I’m relieved to arrive in the nick of time so we don’t have to waste that recent trip to the laundromat.
Once that item gets checked off I call the barber to cancel my appointment and then sit down at the table with the door open and the warm sun streaming in on my back. And it occurs to me that this is a pretty terrific spot for second breakfast also. It’s warm and comfortable here, I’ve got plenty of food on hand, there’s cold coffee in the fridge and a microwave next to it. So I call Labcorps and request them to resubmit my test results and then settle in for a relaxing afternoon. Not quite the day I’d imagined, but just fine nevertheless.
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Starr Pass Trail
Finally getting to and from my hike by bus and the actual hike itself goes exactly as planned. In addition, there’s a great portapotty in the perfect spot! And most importantly, it’s a fabulous hike! The trail is great and the scenery is amazing. I even see a deer along the way! I definitely want to come back up here and take a different trail. Thanks Scott for a great route! If a picture is worth a thousand words than a video must be worth ten thousand words!
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6 days ago
6 days ago
Sound track: Aeolian Tale, by Oregon
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6 days ago
Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 826 miles (1,329 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 7 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |