Saturday, April 2
The staff is developing an
interest in the telescope goings on over by our site. Kim must have shown
one of them the pictures of the Orion Nebula that he’s taken and word has
spread. I know he has been digging the
clear skies around here and having the opportunity to use his scope. And sharing it with others just makes it more
fun for him. Makes for some late nights, but what have we got going that we
need to be up early? J
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Kim’s hair is almost to the
middle of his back and he usually has it pulled back…he really doesn’t like to
leave it down. It gets in the way and
it’s usually hot on his neck. After his shower this morning, his hair was down
because it was drying. He came into the
laundry area up at the office to help me fold the wash. An elderly gentleman who works here, maybe in
his late 70s, stood watching us for a minute or two….then he wistfully said,
“Wish I could do that.” Kim said “What, do your wash?” His reply was ‘No…grow my hair out’. J
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This trip originally was planned
as a means to extend our riding season. Then
as Kim started buying all the telescope equipment, the focus of the trip
widened for him. Arizona should have some great skies and wouldn’t it be fun to be able
to look at the heavens on a clear night without freezing my butt off? We’ll have room in the trailer for my equipment,
just have to figure the best way to pack it.
So, stargazing became part of the plan. I was concerned that he either wouldn’t be so
interested in riding or stay up so late that he would sleep away some of our
riding hours. I actually told him if he’d
stayed up too late and would possibly be too tired to ride that it wouldn’t
stop me from riding. I might not ride as
far afield, but I’d still be riding. But that hasn’t happened. At this KOA, he’s had the scope up every
night and we’ve ridden every day…well, except the day we decided to geocache
and that’s best done in a vehicle so we can follow the GPS. But he’s been equally involved in both and
for that I’m grateful. We go out for a
ride and make it a point to be back at the camp before dark so he can set
up. I spend that time recording the
events/my thoughts of the day. I also
get to look at whatever he’s found up in the heavens. J
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When discussing our route/destination
possibilities today, Kim said, “You know, I’d like to go out to a desert area,
get off the bikes and just wander around looking for snakes.” What?
Seriously? Yes, he was
serious. Next thing was to figure out
where to go and the only place we’ve come across that has free access to the
countryside (no fences) is Saguaro National Park. It’s an easy 40 mile ride…nice roads…plenty
of hiding places for snakes and such...let’s do it.
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Finally warmed up enough for me
to ride without layers. Oh, I had the
layers with me in the saddlebag, but was optimistic that I wouldn’t need them…and
I didn’t. Was able to ride in just shirt
sleeves all day….and I had those pulled up and tucked under my bra straps. Near the park I saw a temperature sign flash
96o….neither of us were too sure that it felt that high but it was
definitely warm. When we started walking
out in among the cactus, I revised that opinion….it definitely could have been 96o
today. The wind of riding takes the
temperature down a few notches, but walking lets you feel it like it is. And because of the dry heat, I really didn’t
get sweaty but walking around in the desert with long pants and riding boots
on, I definitely felt the heat. We were out there maybe an hour but didn’t
travel very far or in a straight line.
There was a walking path laid out but Kim wasn’t going to find a snake
on the walking path. So we just wandered
around but kept to a small area…looking under the trees, bushes and cactus,
making sure not to touch anything. Honestly,
though, when it come to the flora and fauna of the desert, I’m more of a flora
kind of person. I was looking for snakes
but from more of an avoidance perspective.
I did see several little lizard things.
I know they have specific names and I looked up ‘Arizona lizards’ on my
phone, but the pictures were small and they all looked the same, so I figured generically
calling it a lizard is fine. I also saw
a chipmunk looking animal…when I described it, Kim thought maybe a ground
squirrel. But looking at the picture, it
seems kind of small for a squirrel. That
was the wildlife for the day…lizards and chipmunks.
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Saw several dust devils
today. Stopped the bikes to watch one of
them. It danced across the field, with
its dust tail rising high above it. It
seemed to be growing stronger, then very quickly died down to nothing. Saw another one when we were out walking in
the park. Eye catching, for sure.
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The desert is not a quiet
place. If a person just stands still and
listens, there’s noise happening. Flies
buzzing around, birds singing and flying, lizards and chipmunks scurrying
across the stones and dirt into the brush. The noise is subtle but it’s there…just
have to listen.
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We didn’t start out today until about
11 or so. Day was heating up to where I
had to give my footwear some consideration.
Do the pros and cons of boots vs. Keen’s sandals. I can ride in either. Riding boots were going to be hot and cumbersome
walking around in the desert, but would protect my ankles and feet from any
critter and short cactus bites. My Keen’s
would certainly be cooler but my ankles and parts of my feet would have more
exposure. More coverage won out over
comfort for me. Kim, on the other hand,
hasn’t even put his boots on yet; they’re still in the truck. He’s been riding in his low cut hiking type
shoes. So it was comfort and semi-coverage
for him today.
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Got the lowdown of the park
layout from a park ranger. A lot of the
roads within the park are gravel, but the perimeter roads are all paved. She pointed out the road we had been on the
other day and said that it was paved and a fun curvy road that went through a
box canyon…very scenic. Since we’d only
gone about a mile on it before, we decided to see where it took us. Bonus! The scenic route brought us right into
the west side of Tucson, where a shopping center is located. We needed to get some groceries and Kim was
thinking that getting a step stool for outside the trailer door was getting to
be a priority. Trailer floor to the
ground is about 18” and five days of repetitively making that big of a step up
or down has made for some sore knees. I’ve
only been in and out of the trailer a few times since we got back but my knees and
ankles are already thankful! J
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Highway speed limit is 75 and
there is a fair amount of highway traffic…Picacho is between Phoenix and Tucson
and also not far from I-8, the highway to Yuma.
A lot of semis on this route. But there are also frontage roads. North side of the highway, the frontage road
goes from Tucson to Eloy….south side is a bit more broken up, but there is access
to the northern side of the highway via underpasses. If there’s another option, I’ll stay off the
highway. Cruising along at 75 mph with
semis and motorhomes going as fast as or faster than us isn’t my idea of fun riding
conditions. Since we didn’t have a big
riding agenda today, we rode the frontage roads as much as possible. Of course, we sacrificed a bit of time as the
speed limit slowed to 55. But, in my
opinion, it’s a worthwhile trade off.
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