Winter in the Desert and Lovin’ it
The cactus are beginning to bloom |
I haven’t written much and my only excuse is I am so enjoying it in Arizona I just haven’t taken the time. The month in Tucson was great. We hiked, we biked, we caught up with some friends, visited several microbreweries and just in general enjoyed ourselves. So I’ll catch you up a little.
On a hike at Sabino Canyon |
Most of our hiking was just out the back of our RV park. The county land and Tucson Mountain Park offer wonderful trails and by the end we actually had a sense of where things were. That’s pretty good for someone who is directionally challenged. I did use my Map My Run app just to make sure we were on track but our last couple of hikes I think we would have done just fine without it. The desert here is beautiful, just filled with such a variety of cactus and brush. Some began to bloom from the recent rains and that was fun to see. I particularly love the Teddy Bear (Jumping) cholla. They look all fuzzy from a distance but they are certainly not a bear that needs to be hugged. :)
A-10 |
Watching all those planes |
Kevin & Ruth |
About mid-month fellow bloggers Kevin and Ruth were passing thru and decided to dry camp at Justin’s. We have followed their blog almost from the beginning of our travels. They are such fun and are such adventurers that there is never a dull minute. We decided to go for a bike ride on our day together and take advantage of the Tucson bike trails. We chose a route that would take us near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and the large boneyard there. It was a great choice and we got to see a sky always busy with planes taking off and landing. We also got to the fence along the boneyard where there are rows and rows of planes in various stages of storage and recycling. John and I did the bus tour through it back in 2011. Kevin and Ruth are Canadians and were told they couldn’t go on the tour so Kevin was excited to get to see it on our ride. About half way through the ride Ruth had a very flat tire. Darn those thorns! So the two of us stayed at a gas station where we were and the guys had to ride back and get the truck. It gave us a long time to sit and visit which I thoroughly enjoyed. The guys ended up with about a 20 mile ride while we only had to do 10. We finished the night by taking them to Tiny’s for ribs. This is a little dive saloon near the park that has great food and is a local favorite. The ribs are fall off the bone goodness. Yum!
John and Shron |
On our last day at Justin’s John and Sharon pulled in. We spent time with them last year in Florida and then again at Betty’s in Louisiana. We share a passion for good craft brews so of course we had to take in a brewery together before we left. We decided to go to the one that became our favorite in Tucson, Thunder Canyon. Since they have a car we went to the one downtown. There are two locations for this brewery and we had been to the one in the Foothills Mall near Catalina. It was fun to check this location out but were glad we didn’t have the truck, it was hard to find a parking place and we didn’t see anywhere the truck would have fit. We had a great time catching up and enjoying a good craft beer. I think the thing we enjoy the most about this lifestyle are the people we meet and the friends we make. Our visit was short but I know we will see them again down the road.
On March 1st we made the move to Buckeye AZ and the Leaf Verde RV Resort. Our friends Kevin and Evelyn are also here for the month. When she mentioned this is where they would be we realized it would be a good fit for March and we could join them in taking in a few spring baseball games. They are from Wisconsin and big Brewers fans. The other thing I want to do here is to go to a NHL hockey game. The Coyotes are not having the best year but no matter. I have always wanted to see a NHL game so this is my chance and the tickets are pretty reasonable. I’m sure we will also check out a couple local microbreweries. We like Tucson better than the Phoenix area as this city is huge, spread out and busy. Staying in Buckeye just west of the city is ok, it’s just a long ways from everything and will require some driving.
A wonderful sunset at Leaf Verde RV Resort. |
I know much of the county is covered in snow, ice and cold so we hope you all stay safe and if you want a break from all that, Arizona is the place to be.
Happy Trails!!!!!!!
Looking forward to those games and a few microbrewery visits :)
ReplyDeleteWhen you are having fun, it is hard to sit down and spend time writing:)
ReplyDeleteas always it is great to hook up with the two of you... enjoy the hockey game!
ReplyDeleteWe are enjoying the CA sun, but we also love Tucson too. I'm anxious to return there someday. Great that you could hook up with RVers there!
ReplyDeleteYep, we agree that the RVing lifestyle is such a great way to meet up with people and find new friends. We had such a great time with you both and thank you so much for coming on a wonderful bike ride, to bad about that flat tire. You may call Tiny's a dive but they really did have fall off the bone meat that just melted in your mouth, thank once again. Sure hope we can meet up again somewhere down the road.
ReplyDeleteHave fun at the spring training games as well as the NHL game.
www.travelwithkevinandruth.com
I see that one of the blogs you're following is Big Dawg and Freeway. We met them last summer at Monck Provincial Park in BC and will be starting our very first work camping job with them there next month. Small world!
ReplyDeleteSafe travels!
Looking forward to wintering in AZ next year, two years of a cold TX Gulf Coast is enough.
ReplyDelete