hike-bike-swim...

watching an old classic, "philidelphia". aids has changed a great deal over the years. this movie is from the earlier days of aids. it was a terrifying time, so many unknowns. by the time i went to nursing school, people were still dying and people were frightened and judgemental but the disease had a name, treatments were being trialed. now people live with aids. people died though, many and many more still die in other nations with less advanced medicine availability. here it's just not something we see in general in the hospital anymore. now people come in for other things and by the way they are hiv positive.
one good friend died. we were all mormon together, but we were all in a time where we were debating leaving. he bought me my first alcohol when i turned 21. we all went to the ice house in pasadena to see who was new in comedy. met brad garrett there on a few occasions when his career was new. his act was great by the way. we all cruised the rose parade route in his convertible car on new years eves. greg was hilarious as well. we all knew he was gay, but none of us ever spoke of it, to him or to each other. we were still mormon. time passed and we all kinda went our seperate ways, some stayed in the church, others left. i heard he'd died, it had been 2 years since it had happened. it was aids. was always so sad that we never discussed it all, just so he would know i had no judgement of him and the fact that he was gay. he wasn't ready at the time to bring it up and i never brought it up either. this is campbell airstrip. we used to walk it all the time, then they closed it to walkers. people still slipped past and walked there. i only had ever seen one plane land there. it was originally built back in 1942 by the military. it was transferred to the buereau of land management in the 70's and is currently considered an active runway though it's mostly a back up in the event that a major catastrophe occurs and the military base or the main international airport have to be shut down. i'm guessing that means it could handle a jumbo jet if needs be. i read that it is used in the event of fires as a base for flights. it's also used during the ceremonial start of the iditarod. so hopefully, there is no disaster that occurs on that day. apparently, they have recently decided we can walk out there again. thank you BLM! took the girls out there today. great as it's nice and wide open. not that bears aren't ever spotted here but it's a track i feel pretty good alone on. i connect to the coyote trail at the other end of the runway and then hit the viewpoint trail back to the car. great day out there. cloudy, but no raindrops fell. hoping it clears a bit tomorrow for the solar eclipse, but they are predicting clouds. may have to look and see what the weather looks like nearby and drive if needed to check out the eclipse. we shall see. back to aids. my brother jeff was telling me about another guy we attended church with, buzz. i do remember him and recall really liking him. he came out to his family and his father apparently came at him with a knife. he was one of the earlier cases of aids. jeff told me how frightening it was visiting him in the hospital and how many precautions they made him take to enter buzzy's room. they just had no idea in those days for sure how it was even transmitted. must have been a lonely death for him and all those who were diagnosed in those early days. this movie is a good one for showing some of the treatment of gays and aids patients in those earlier days. lots of water on the trail for blossom to cool off. it's tough chasing those tennis balls. of course, it's also tough understanding current so as we neared the car and the dogs went into the main campbell creek, blossom dropped the ball and off it went. the ocean must be filled with thousands of tennis balls. blossom was able to be taught gravity, i can say gravity and she now looks down the hill for the rolling ball. perhaps current is too tough because once that ball takes off you can never seem to spot it again. it's just gone. i think it will be an ibuprofen night. not that this walk was tough, but i did actually get on my bike and went to the alaska club for my swim. did 25 laps and then rode back. stopped at the gas station to put air in my tires. they were a bit flat for the ride over. it really is easier to ride when the tires are inflated. they were rideable, but much below the required psi. the bike ride just adds a few more calories burned to the outing. hungry but have a few new canker sores that are making eating a bit unpleasant. loads of green..i love green.after i heard greg died of aids, i wrote a song. that was in '97. the chorus:
so heartfelt i say goodbye,
i wish i'd known that you would die,
but death it comes as it will,
and all the precious years....death steals.
still sing it fairly regular...anytime i bring out the guitars anyway. need to play my drums a bit more this week. the neighbors are gone so i can play anytime and as loudly as i want!after the walk i headed to the museum. do enjoy a relaxing afternoon out there from time to time. they had pictures/items regarding denali climbs. as it turns out we had our first climber fatality of the year yesterday. not many details out yet except he slipped reaching for his backpack and fell over 1000 feet. they did recover his body, but hadn't contacted family yet. his family is from overseas so he was as no doubt. people come from all over to climb the big mountain. climbing season lasts til mid july about. at least the main climbing season. people summit in the winters at times. i think about half of those who attempt to climb denali in the summer are successful. there are various routes up, some more difficult than others. must be quite the site up there. i'm not too keen on heights and i was getting sick in colorado at the rocky mountain state park. i think that is like 10,000 feet. my friend michelle was joking that it was a good thing, cause otherwise she couldn't have kept up. i was just slow, weak, dizzy, sob and a bit nauseated if i remember right. hopefully i don't have any issues this summer at the cabin, don sheldon's, up off of ruth glacier. denali has it's own weather pattern and i hope we are lucky there with good weather so we can come and go without issue. the ruth glacier landing site is between 6000 and 7000 feet i think. anyway, sad to have lost a climber today. my thoughts go out to his family. i'm sure we'll hear more soon.they also had an exhibit called "true north". a bit too modern for me, but i wandered through. cruised through the imaginarium section. lots of families and kids there so i secretly watched everyone play with all the science gadgets. there are some fun ones there. i played a bit too! who can resist the big bubble makers! also liked the tsunami tank. lastly i had to bike off in another direction when this moose started freaking out on northern lights and running towards me. he eventually took off into the woods.