the wading trails of Reach 11
Posted by Zonie on September 27, 2025 at 01:36:04
I found another announcement for a heat-treatment position. This was more recent. It still required the same protocol of creating an account complete with username and password just to apply for the job. They did have a strange way of handling skeletons in the closet. I passed the more obvious one. They asked about felonies in the past seven years. Mine were 20 years ago, so I could honestly answer no. Then they asked whether I had ever been fired or asked to resign and to give details. No time limit was given, so I dutifully reported: four times for possession of a firearm on company property, twice for insubordination, once for resisting arrest on a jobsite, once declared psychologically unfit for duty, once for attitudinal defficiencies and once for saying things that disturbed people. At least if they're interested they'll know I'm not a pushover for corporate nonsense. Maybe for the bourgeoisie felonies are less important if they're extracurricular activity.
Yesterday the temperature in Phoenix got up to 107°F. Today thunderstorms were expected. After a line of thunderstorms moved through around noon, I figured it would be cool enough for hiking and I could go mudding at Reach 11. What I didn't count on was that there would be a second thunderstorm and then a third. All in all we got 1.67" of rain, and the temperature range was 67°F to 90°F.
I was able to stomp around in the mud a bit after I got there but then a downpour drenched me and turned the trails into rivers. I continued hiking and waded along and across the trails. It was cool and refreshing, and I didn't have to swim for it, nor did I come close to running out of drinking water.
After I got tired and turned back a third thunderstorm hit and drenched me again. The water level on some trails rose, but again I didn't have to swim for it. It was still pouring down when I got to the trailhead parking lot. I had not seen a single person while hiking/wading, but to my surprise seven vehicles were parked there, and four of them were running with lights on as if they were waiting for someone or something. Most peculiar was the behavior of one pickup truck driver. He backed out of his parking space and then parked in another space. He then backed out and parked in another space. He repeated this once more, seemingly unable to find a suitable parking space in the storm. I told someone else about this, and she speculated that he may have been playing Pokemon Go and didn't want to get out of the truck because of the storm.
This mudding was a washout (albeit quite a nice washout), but I expect I'll get to go mudding in coming days as the water level goes down.