Life Master

That red thing is called a bidding box

I made it to Life Master in bridge yesterday. That means I have 500 master points with at least 75 silver and 100 gold or red. The silver, gold, and red come from tournaments, but Russ and I were focused on earning our tournament points as we went along, so I have had those for a while. Today is the day I went over 500 total points.

The American Contract Bridge League has created several designations before Life Master, six of them in fact, but these are really just milestones on the way to Life Master, which is the one that really counts. No one ever asks if you are an NABC Master yet, for example, but they ask about Life Master, and that has been a thing at least since I was a teenager learning to play, so this one is a big deal.

It took me three years and five months to get to this point, which I think has to be fairly quick, because last year I placed 27th in the ACBL in points earned for my starting category, and the year before that I placed fourth. Certainly, some people take a lot longer. Some never get there.

There are additional designations beyond Life Master, but I would say those are just the result of playing more, not necessarily something to strive for. My thinking is that every 2,500 points should be considered noteworthy, as even the first 2,500 would be quite an accomplishment. For me, just getting to that one would be a stretch goal.

Just for reference, the ultimate level is called Grand Life Master. To get there, you have to have 10,000 points, 100 of which are platinum points won at a national championship, and one first place finish at a national event. I have met several people who have the points, though I do not know how many have the win in a national competition.

Anyway, Life Master has been the goal for the last two and a half years at least. It feels good to get it done.

May 2026

Castle Valley, Utah

As long as I take another 600 steps in the next seven hours, I will reach 200,000 steps in May, the first month since July of last year with that many steps. The good month is mainly due to finding Linear Park near our house; any walk over there and back requires at least 7,000 steps. Some days, like today, we do not make it over there, but most days we do.

The main obstacle to walking consistently is the heat. After about 10:00, it is too hot to take Arlo very far, so when I have an errand to run early, like today, or morning bridge, like tomorrow, we cannot go for a long walk unless I get up really early and get going, which is definitely an obstacle.

We are somewhere near Castle Vally, Utah, 19 miles from Moab. I have sixteen months to go at the current rate.

I Finished My Puzzle!

 

I always think of my dad, at least a bit, when I do puzzles. He would have been 95 today.

I finished my latest puzzle last night and was happy to have all the pieces. Sometimes one or two come up missing. The picture is called "The Fantastic Street," and it has some magical elements to it, with a unicorn, two dragons, a gnome, and lots of other stuff magical and non-magical.

As you can perhaps guess, this was not a particularly difficult puzzle, but 5,000 pieces is 5,000 pieces, and I started this one right before Christmas, so it took five months. I only finish one of these per year, so it's something to celebrate.

Jackie gets me one 5,000-piece puzzle every year for Christmas. Why did I start it right before Christmas, you probably are not asking? Well, this is the puzzle she bought me for Christmas 2024. I did not get it done last year because at the beginning of 2025, I was working on the puzzle from Christmas 2023. Then The Move started to take over, and I could not start another puzzle until we had settled in New Mexico.

In the next couple of days, I will put this one away and start the next one.

Here is the next puzzle. My first thoughts:

The easier parts will be the green crescent and the pink crescent under it. The hard parts will be everything else. Too many gold and blue pieces. 

Kokopelli's Trail

Kokopelli

Kokopelli is a god of the southwest natives, apparently part of the culture of many tribes. From what I have seen, he is always depicted similarly to the version here: curved back, flute, and feathers going back from his head. The image is popular in art in this area, I suspect because it is distinctive and kind of cool, as well as due to the cultural significance. The one in this picture was in front of a house we looked at but chose not to rent.

Arlo and I are averaging more than 6,000 steps per day for the third month in a row. I have some bad days, but we walk anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 steps some days, so we manage a decent average. From August 2025 through February 2026, we only averaged over 6,000 steps one time - 6,007 in December - so finding a good trail near the house, but not too near, has made a big difference.

We are about 60 miles into Utah, on a 286-mile stretch of the American Discovery Trail where very little water is available, so the trail website says you need to have water drops, which I suppose means some kind person has to bring you water.

The geography of Utah is not the most hospitable. It has the third highest average elevation of any state (6100 feet), after Colorado and Wyoming and just before New Mexico, and a lot of it is rough terrain, dry with amazing rock formations. It's great to look at it and take pictures, but you can drive for miles without seeing a place to put a house, let alone a town. We almost ran out of gas one time long ago on the 107-mile stretch of I-70 between Green River and Salina, because despite I-70 being a major interstate, there is not one gas station between the two towns. When we stayed in Utah for a month a few years ago, Jackie and I got used to that trip: fill up in Salina, drive across the state, fill up in Green River before you come back. There are rest stops in between, nothing else.

Anyway, Arlo and I are in Utah, maybe south of Cisco, where highway 128 comes close to the Colorado River, walking through "desert sandstone and shale canyons" according to the ADT website. And in case you are wondering why we cannot get water from the river, it is difficult to access, and the water is very muddy, so not good to drink. Better to have your friends bring you some.

American Discovery Trail: Utah!

A place in Utah that I have not visited

If I were walking from Washington to Miami again, I would be somewhere in Florida, probably past Auburndale, with only 135 miles left, However, as I have noted before, the American Discovery Trail does not take the quickest route across the country, so I am still left with 1,500 miles to go. Those miles traverse only three states, broken down roughly as 600 miles in Utah, 500 in Nevada, and 400 in California. Google Maps says that Point Reyes is less than 1,000 miles away, but going by that route would be cheating.

We cross into Utah at a place where there are no towns nearby, but on the Kokopelli Trail somewhere between Interstate 70 and the Colorado River, 30 miles north of Moab, where we are going. This section of the trail is 111 miles long and has virtually no access to water, so if you are actually walking the trail, someone would have to deliver water to you. Sounds like fun.

There are five national parks in Utah, and Jackie and I visited all five when we stayed in Utah in 2022. The American Discovery Trail will take us near Arches National Park, then through Canyonlands and Capitol Reef, but we will not go to Zion or Bryce Canyon.

There are several pictures on the Internet of people biking on the Kokopelli Trail, not so many of people walking. Maybe that is because walking it is too crazy.

A Linear Park

 

Arlo and I found a new place to walk near our house, and it's my new favorite destination.

The place is called Linear Park Trail, and it is a very well-maintained trail - two trails actually, east and west - along a concrete waterway. Until this last week, Arlo and I have walked about 90% of the time on sidewalks, through the local neighborhoods and along one busy street. The Linear Park Trail, however, takes us away from the roads, and takes us away from many people.

The trail is not too close to my house - maybe 25 minutes away by foot - which is why it took me so long to think about walking to it. Also, we have to walk a decent distance to find a place where we can cross the concrete canal in order to avoid walking back exactly the way we came. As a result, I have walked over 9,000 steps four times in the last week, which I only did once last month, and going forward I expect to walk more than I have been.

The miles go by noticeably quicker at 9,000 steps per day versus 6,000, which is encouraging, but I am not committing to that many steps every day yet, although I expect my pace will increase. Right now, I am 16 miles from the Utah state line, close to Loma, Colorado.

I access the trail via Chianti Road. South of Chianti looks like the picture above, with nice neighborhoods that have password-protected gates to keep people like me out, more plants and a nicer look. Heading North feels more like you are walking on a desert trail, nice enough but with minimal vegetation. This is a picture of one place north of Chianti with a bench and shade, a little break from the sun.

I made my way down these plastic steps/handles, but I probably will not again. There was no great danger, but I am too old for this type of adventure.

When I was younger, I would have walked or run down the channel and then up the other side, but the sides are just steep enough that I am afraid my foot could slip, and who knows how much damage I would do.

There was a vehicle ramp on the other side of the channel, so going back up was easy.

The north end of the trail on the east side of the waterway. With a walk this long, I stop a couple of times and give Arlo water, more for him than for me. He can definitely outwalk me if the weather is cool, but he gets hot easier than I do.

The bridge at Cabezon Boulevard, one of the places I can cross. The trail continues south of Cabezon, but I have not tested that side yet, as it takes me farther from my house.

These concrete spillways (I think the locals call them arroyos) are common around here. I have not seen any water in this one yet, but we can get intense thunderstorms here, especially in the summer, and the ground won't absorb much water, so they build channels to direct the water and avoid flooding.

South of Chianti, where the trail is a bit nicer.

Piedras Marcadas

 

Last Friday, Arlo and I took a walk at Piedras Marcadas Canyon, which is a little corner of Petroglyph National Monument, a few miles away from the main monument area and barely connected by a thin strip of land, but with a good number of petroglyphs. I tried to take a photograph of every petroglyph I could find, and I took about 60 pictures. The website for Piedras Marcadas (marked rocks, in case you had not guessed) says there are about 400 petroglyphs in the area, but as you can see, sometimes there are several in one photo, so maybe I got most of them. The website also says they are 400 to 700 years old.

There were five marked viewing areas where the drawings are most abundant; however, looking for petroglyphs is a little like looking for mushrooms. Some are easy to spot, but you have to be patient and keep looking. and when you see one, there are likely to be more.

It was a short, easy walk - less than two miles - and dogs are welcome as long as you pick up after them.

Some of the pictures are faint now. Some are to the point that it's hard to be sure you are looking at a petroglyph and not just lichen or erosion. There are several that look similar to this bird. It looks to me like it could be a roadrunner.

This guy took a long look at Arlo and me, but when he moved, he moved away from us.

An early emoji.

The hand is a well-known landmark in the canyon. Most of the petroglyphs are at least a few yards from the trails, but this one is just a few feet.

I like this one, because the man on the right is upside down and appears to be falling. This picture supports my (very unscholarly) theory that the pictures are just graffiti. Signs are unclear about whether the petroglyphs have any particular meaning.

This is the only one I saw where they just drew around a corner.