I'll take the high road and you can take the low road

November 25, 2021

Tucson ride take 5

Gobble, gobble everyone! Happy Thanksgiving!

I was surprised to see wet pavement again when I woke up this morning. I thought this rain was supposed to have moved on yesterday. It still barely wet the surface so at least it wasn't a monsoon! But there was a cold front coming through the area bringing cooler temperatures today.

It wasn't supposed to get out of the 60's which is pretty chilly for me. But at least there was sun to make it feel warmer.

Don wasn't sure he was up for a ride today as his stomach was upset, but it settled down later in the morning so he changed his mind about taking the tandem out. However, he didn't want to do a long ride as he needed to dump our sewage tanks later which required him to hitch up the trailer and take it to the dump station in the campground.

He put together a quick route which would take us north to the Rancho Vistoso Highlands neighborhood near Sun City. Then we hopped on the bike and took off.

We had barely gone 3 miles, when I realized that I had neglected to put the support on my sprained ankle. While things have been improving, I've continued to wear this light support while biking and walking.

At least we weren't that far from the trailer so we turned around and headed back to camp. I put on the support and we started out again.

Today we rode north to Tangerine Rd after exploring the Canada del Oro trail the went up the wash a little further. At Tangerine, we turned west onto a bike trail that paralleled the busy road. This involved a little climb to an intersection with Rancho Vistoso Blvd which we took again to the north which went into the housing development.

Don had written down some streets to take, but we never did locate them. But we really weren't lost as we've ridden this area several times.

It was an enjoyable ride as we continued to climb to the north, winding our way among the nice homes. I really liked all of the equally nice desert landscaping that was planted along the sides and in the middle of the road. As we pedaled along, I practiced my cacti ID - yup, there's a senita, and there's a jumping cholla, and there's another barrel cactus........!

We did make one wrong turn and ended up near a really high end group of what had to be multi-million dollar homes at the top of a hill. I would have liked to ride through them, but we were stopped by a fancy gate. Come on guys, I just want to looky loo at your house!

The rest of the ride wound us through Sun City and then around to the south back to the Canada del Oro trail which we took to the campground. I noticed that as we passed through the shopping area near the state park they were setting up a tent and getting the Christmas trees ready for customers. Did you know that Tucson has an outdoor holiday ice rink? Yup, somehow they manage to keep the ice going even when it's near 80 degrees out!

As soon as we returned, we started moving things in camp so that Don could hitch up the trailer for our tank dump. We only have water and electric here, not sewer.

While he did that, I secured various loose items on the counters inside the trailer so that nothing would fall over on the short drive. At least we only had to go to the other end of the campground.

The dump went fine and Don was able to back the trailer into our site without running over our chairs or outdoor rug. He's getting pretty good at that job!

We got things reset up at camp, then tried to sit outside and relax in the sun under our awning. However, the light breeze became a little gusty so we had to retract the awning for the day. Hopefully that's the end of our wind and rain for this week!

Today is Thanksgiving, and even though we're camping and not with family, we put together a sort of traditional meal. Cranberry goat cheese on Triscuit crackers served as our cranberries and dressing/stuffing. Don cooked up a precooked seasoned turkey roast over a sweet potato with broccoli on the side. Fresh pecans was our "dessert" pecan pie!

There were sunbeams this morning over the mountains!

We bought this fun sign at the national parks store.

We rode the Canada del Oro trail north of Tangerine Rd to see if had been paved any further than last year. Nope, no go. This would be a nice trail addition if they would ever finish it all the way to Sun City.

This is some type of mesquite tree but the reddish beans threw me!

I've been seeing this bush with yellow flowers on several of our rides. Is it a creosote?

I've also noticed this interesting plant emerging from the ground. Must be some type of mushroom?

Today's ride: 23 miles (37 km)
Total: 109 miles (175 km)

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