Hiking in the Tucson Mountains

Oddly enough, it rained last night, quite a bit.  There was also thunder and lightning off and on all night.  This morning it was very windy.  The hummingbirds are having trouble landing on the feeder.  We decided to do the hike up Hidden Trail and back via Bowen's trail.  Hidden was ok, Bowen's has too many round rocks that make your feet slide.  That one may have deteriorated too much to be fun.
It was, however, a beautiful day for it.

There is a lot of poop on the trail, and the poopers have eaten a lot of something that has a lot of seeds in it.  I need a wild life expert to identify who left this on the sidewalk, and what kind of seeds those are.

So that's it - trail conditions and poop.

Javalinas, Horses and Bicycles

Greetings Earthlings!  We are settled in to Tucson.  The heat has abated somewhat, and happy we are about that.  We purchased the fake grass rug and installed it and the rope lights and the palm tree lights.  While we were doing those chores we spotted a javalina in the park.  This is a bad thing.  They like to burrow through the skirting on park models so they can find a cool place to sleep.  This is the last of the group that was trapped inside the fence after it was completed.  I feel bad for him/her.  They live in family groups with defined territories.  His group is gone, and now he'll be on his own, alone.  The park people came out in a golf cart and tried to herd him out, but they failed.  It's amazing how fast they can run.

These are the palm tree lights.  This year I had access to the eight foot ladder, and was able to put them up higher than last year.  They look good - very cheerful.

There have been two consecutive days of riding the bike trail.  We've seen three horses so far, with no humans in evidence.  This one was in a field along the path, and we saw two in the Santa Cruz River.

This is the bed of the Rillito River.  Look at all the vegetation.  We've never seen it this green.  I think Tucson had a good monsoon this year.

Here is Jim wearing his new bike helmet.  It's very visible.  He also has shoes that color.

We've put the hummingbird feeder back up.  We're watching two hummers chasing each other away through the window.  They need to cooperate so that they can both eat.

Other than this, I have very little to report.

Return to Tucson

We're back in Tucson.  Might have been a little early, but we're here.  This October was the hottest in recorded history, and today was the hottest day of the month.

This is a note to self.  When Jim pulls forward to park the RV, this is how I know when he's in the right place.  I stand by the power pole.  I line up the trailing edge of the back tire with the leading edge of the palm tree.  I've had difficulty knowing how far to tell him to drive forward.  So now I have a visual.

As in the past, blogging will taper off a bunch now.  We've hiked it, biked it, and blogged it in past years.

Gila Bend KOA

While in Gila Bend, we stayed at the KOA.  It's a Journey park.  Journey means there is no reason to stay there very long.  It's a good overnight for a transit.
Interior roads are paved and wide.  Sites are gravel and fairly level.  Utilities are in the back of the site, the site is 90 feet long and 55 feet wide.  There is lots of room.  Power is clean, water pressure is ok.  Verizon 4G is slowish.  There are no pesky trees to interfere with satellite reception.  No data on laundry or restrooms.

We would come back here.  It's really easy on easy off.  I will add, however, that the park is very close to a busy freight train line.  It runs a lot at night, but they don't blow the horns, so it's no too awful.

Lake Havasu City to Gila Bend, AZ

Today we took AZ95 to I10 to AZ85 to Gila Bend.  Both 95 and 10 are in better shape than they have been.  Large sections of I10 have been repaved, and that's a good thing.  Coming back to Arizona this early is fraught with peril.  When we originally decided to make the plunge south, the forecast showed the heat breaking before we arrived.  Then they changed the forecast.  Tucson will reach 97 tomorrow.  It's supposed to drop November 1, so it won't be forever, unless it is.

I like the drive around Parker. This is the Bill Williams River NWR.  It's just a lovely area.

There is a lot of development along the river.  This is the far side, it may be California.

This is the AZ side, there is much golf.  They've been building houses that front right on to AZ95, so much of the old view is now blocked.  I can't believe people will live on what is essentially a freeway.

I did spot some wooly looking palm trees.

Over all, it's not a terrible drive.  Tomorrow will be very short, we're hoping to be up and out early so we can get the RV parked and hooked up before the heat of the afternoon.  It was 93 when we got to Gila Bend.  Hot!

Havasu Falls RV Resort

While in Lake Havasu, we stayed at the Havasu Falls RV Resort. The only falls I can find are the water feature at the entrance.
Interior roads are paved, sites are concrete and fairly level. Utilities are mid-site.  Power was clean, water pressure was good.  Despite the close proximity of a wi-fi repeater, we could not get it to load anything.  Verizon 4G was good.  There are picnic tables. No data on laundry and restrooms.

There is a club house with a pool and activities for the winter visitors who have extended stays.

Their county health department has mandated the use of sewer hose supports to "improve the flow."    They actually come out and inspect.  Clearly they don't have enough to do.

It's not a bad park.  Although right off of AZ95 it wasn't noisy.  I thought it was a little pricey, but hey, it's Lake Havasu!  They have the bridge.