A Warmup Ride

December 19, 2020

Even the birds here at Kartchner are different. This morning we were entertained by this raven sauntering around our campsite.

At our turn around point at the Whetstone Ranch development, they had landscaped the street with these large boulders. We're thinking the blue coloration is due to copper? Which makes sense since copper was mined in this region.

These beautiful Western Bluebirds loved having access to fresh water courtesy of a constant drip at our water filling faucet. They came in droves every morning.

It was 22 degrees at 6 am when we got up this morning. Yikes, that was COLD! One of our propane tanks had run out during the night, and Don had to get up and turn the switch to the other tank. There is an auto switch on them, but he usually doesn't bother with it. We had also disconnected our water hookup line last night which was a good thing as we had been concerned about freezing.

So we stayed in our cozy trailer, watching a bold raven strutting around our site. There were also lots of cactus wrens pecking around under the picnic table.

We had placed a small plastic basin under a leak on our water hookup faucet and the Western Bluebirds were enjoying having access to water.

Since it was so cold out we decided to spend the morning in Benson doing some needed shopping. We first stopped at Walmart and got groceries. As it was still early, there were few customers.

Then we went to ACE Hardware and bought a special heated RV water hose. Who would have thought we needed one of those in Arizona?! After that we stopped at a propane place to refill our propane tank before returning to camp.

While I put away the groceries, Don worked on installing our new water hookup line. That should eliminate any worries about a freezing line or constantly disconnecting it overnight.

By then it was lunchtime so we took a break and then decided to do a short ride along nearby Highway 90. The temperature was in the 50's and pretty chilly out with a slight wind. I was bundled up but Don insisted that he was fine in shorts, short sleeve top and sandals!

There was easy access from the campground to Highway 90 but it's not great for riding. There was a lot of traffic and while it had a wide shoulder, there was a lot of debris in it.

We decided to head north to the Whetstone Ranch development where we rode around a few streets looking at the nice homes before retracing our route back to camp.

There were nice views of the Dragoon Mountains to the east and of course plenty of desert. However, we've now moved out of saguaro country into more ocotillo, yucca, century plants, prickly pear, mesquite and juniper bushes. It's different, but I miss my saguaro!

Back at camp we warmed up in the trailer, had dinner, then watched a movie before turning in for the night.

Today's ride: 16 miles (26 km)
Total: 151 miles (243 km)

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