Day 46-51 - A Taste of Retirement

From the start of the trip I'd planned on staying in Tucson for a week visiting and aunt & uncle from back in Ontario.  They'd been spending winters down south for a few years now, and Tucson was their sunny paradise this year.  The problem was finding an RV park that would take someone my age.  Yes, that's correct.  Who'd have thought a responsible 40 year-old would not be welcome in any RV park?  Just about every park in the city was only open to people 55 and over.

Well, I decided to do some digging.  I'm not a fan of discrimination, and this looked to be an interesting case.  Didn't take too long to find out the real story.  A few years back a group of Florida residents thought they were paying far too much in municipal taxes.  As seniors, they don't have kids to put through school, and they've spend their lives paying school tax - one of the biggest local taxes.  Municipal taxes are paid directly by RV parks.  This inevitably filters down to the residents, but it's not a direct tax on an individual, so it's a tough sell.

So, they started hammering the politicians for a solution to the problem.  Long story short, Florida passes a law that RV parks can be exempt from some taxes IF the residents are over the age of 55.  Arizona, Texas, and a few other states quickly adopted the law, and 55+ parks started springing up everywhere.

There is a catch though.  To avoid discrimination (and to abide by the "Fair Housing Act"), the parks are allowed up to 20% of its residents to be under 55.  Winner!!!

Called up the RV park they were staying in, and booked a spot for a week. They were extra happy to offer a spot once I told them I have no kids and no pets with me.  Even got a small discount for being "referred" by my aunt & uncle.

The place was HUGE - over 1100 spaces (including the "Park Model" stationary homes) and counting.  They had a pool, multiple rec rooms, theatre, banquet halls, etc, etc.  Interested residents could never be bored here, as every day was filled with events, classes, or get-togethers. I didn't get too into those things, since I was here to visit the relatives, and also get some biking in.

Within 5 minutes of setting up the RV, the aunt & uncle came knocking.  I didn't even have a chance to let them know I was there.  Stalkers!!!  ;)  Turns out they just happen to drop by the registration desk a few minutes after I had been there.  Had a quick chat and was invited over to watch the Leafs game later.  I had lots to do in the meantime.

Not 10 minutes later, a guy walks by and notices my bike.  Introduces himself and we start talking about bikes.  Says he has a brochure for off-road areas in Arizona that I had to see.  His RV was close by, so he was back in a few minutes.  We sat and chatted about bikes for a while, and I find out he's from Michigan, in a town about 30 minutes from my hometown of Sarnia.  We chatted for about 20 minutes.  Nice guy.  And that was the norm at this place.  Everyone I met was great, very friendly.

The Leafs lost that night, but had a great catch-up with my aunt & uncle.  We'd get together a few more times during my stay in Tucson.  Loved every bit of it.

I mentioned the activities at the RV park earlier and that I really didn't get into them.  But I did drop
into the weekly yoga class.  It was interesting.  No instructor, they just used video tapes.  It was OK,
but geared towards beginners.  Had a chat with a couple from Alberta there.  She was interested in more classes.  I suggested she take up the ball and start one.  Certainly there would be enough people
interested, as the current class had about 25 people. 

During the week I got some work done on the truck (got that transfer case seal fixed), did a couple of road rides, motorcycle rides, and of course some mountain biking.

The road biking around the city was nice.  Lots of bike lanes and courteous drivers.  Didn't have any issues.  One of of the rides was up Sentinel Peak (aka "A" Mountain, named for a big A placed near it's peak to represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson).  It's a steep climb, but not long one.

Great views of the city from atop Sentinel

The mountain bike rides were.....well....not inspiring.  Most of it seemed like just wandering around in the desert.  Here's the best pictures I have from those rides.  Note that most of them are of cacti.  That was the about the biggest positive I could salvage.

Some interesting biking lines.  I rode the rock face on the right.

Yes, you have to carefully thread between the cacti

Barrel cactus

  Ocotillo

 Teddybear Cholla

 Saguaro

One other story.  An item my "bucket list" is to eat a five pound burrito.  I'd been working my way up to one as I travelled.    I decided to get closer to my goal one day in Tucson by trying to eat two regular burritos - they weighted about 1.5 pounds each.

Before

After

It wasn't overly difficult, but not sure I could do three, and I needed to do almost 3.5 of them to reach five pounds.  Gotta do more training.

The last full day in Tucson  was spend looking at....well, I'll save that for another post.  Too many pictures for this one.

Day 43-45 - The Picacho

The next three nights are spent at Picacho Peak State Park.  It's not a big area, but the full-time power allows me to recharge my batteries and work on the motorcycle.  Time to fix all the broken parts from last week.

I also get in a couple of hikes, the most memorable is Picacho Peak itself.  It's billed as an extreme hike, approximately 5hrs to complete and 4 miles round trip.  The elevation gain is only 1300 feet though.  Hmm, this sounds fishy.

My goal for the morning, as seen from my campsite

There are two trails to start the peak hike attempt.  On starts on the front side.  It's shorter, but steeper.  I chose this route.

Plenty of signage on the trail,

and chains to keep you on track in places

Within a few minutes you approach a seemingly unyielding wall.  No signs of a way around.  This is getting interesting.

The trail comes right up to the above wall, and traverses to the right and over to a col.  It's only a few feet wide in places, but doesn't feel overly exposed.

View from the col.  Visitor center is just behind the small peak in the foreground.

 Newman Peak (4488') in the background.

Zoomed in image of the parking lot.  Truck is still there.

View of the far side of the col.

The trail continues on this side.

Cresting the col is where the fun begins.  It's a very steep descent to join the backside trail.  The chains are essential for support, but most people will use them.  The less adventurous would turn back here.

View looking up at the col.  I'd have to return this way.

One of the many Saguaro cacti in Picacho Park.

The trail then winds around the backside of the mountain.  A few other small scrambles are required to continue the hike, but nothing harder than already encountered.  The trail does continue the steep trend.

Then it ramps up to 11.  Better have your game face on here, because the hiking becomes nearly vertical.  More chains and some fencing is installed to help people ascend the trail and provide some safety from the exposure.

Some of it seemed a bit over the top.

You don't see this in BC.

A couple more of these sections, then it's a 5 minute moderately steep hike to the top.

Not a bad view

View of the camping area

Backside of Picacho Peak

I stop at the peak for a few pictures and a quick drink.  One person is also on the peak - a 40something man who doesn't even acknowledge my presence.  While I'm sitting, a chipmunk approaches, looking for food.  The guy finally looks over and makes some comment.  Within a few minutes I find out he's a Tucson local, and gives me some info about the local mountains.  When I tell him where I'm from and my trip plans, the floodgates open.  "Wow, always wanted to go there",  "You've driven across Canada?  Always wanted to do that", "Live in BC? Can't wait to go there".  He's a motorcycle tourer, so I spend the next 25 minutes giving him information on all the places he's interested in that I've been to.  Time to go.

Another one of the exposed sections, from above

And another from on the descent

 

Saguaros littered the landscape

Some are borderline magestic

Turns out the hike wasn't nearly as long or hard as I had anticipated.  It was 2.7 miles round trip, not 4, and only took 1hr 55min to complete.  This included the 30 minute discussion on the peak.  But, the steepness surpassed expectations.

Profile of the hike

Great hike.  Highly recommended....if you have the stomach for it.

Day 41 & 42 - The Hohokam

Day 41No rush on this morning, since there was no specific destination.  Packed up the trailer and headed down to the highway & rest area.  There I looked at some options for the day, and nothing really stood out.  I'd have stopped in Yuma, but there wasn't any mountain biking or moto trails that appealed to me.
Lazily made my way down the mountainous highway eastward to Arizona.  Along the way were too many Federal Border Patrol vehicles to count, and a couple of check-points.  They weren't anything like the Baja stops, as I was just slowed down, then waived through each one.
Another research stop, and I had my objective for the day.  There was an interesting archaeological site about 150 miles West of Tucson that looked promising.  There was also a rest area not too far from it, so that's where I'd spend the night.
I stopped for food & gas, and finally arrived at the rest area around 8:00.  I'd be there a little longer than hoped, but it wasn't busy.  Great, not too many trucks = quiet night's sleep.  Though after a week in the deafening silence of Corral Canyon (did I mention there was only 2 nights anyone else was camped there?), even the highway noise may be too much.

Day 42Take my time getting going, only had a short drive and it was a little chilly in the morning.  Got in a good breakfast, then made the short drive to Painted Rocks State Park.  A small site within the park contains an oddly placed small hill of boulders, which are covered in petroglyphs.
Short aside for a definition clarification on the two commonly found forms of ancient rock art.
Petroglyph:  created by etching or carving into rock
Pictograph:  created by painting the rock
So, why is a site of petroglyphs called "Painted" Rocks State Park? No idea.
This site was used extensively by the Hohokam people, a group of farmers who lived in Southern Arizona between about 300 BC and 1450 AD.  Their artwork is known as the "Gila Style".  It typically includes shapes of animals, insects, people, plants, circles, and zigzags.
The site also contains some older petroglyphs in the "Western Archaic Style".  They were created by a separate group of peoples who lived in the region between 7500 BC and 1 AD.  These are typically geometric & abstract shapes such as grids, circles, and both parallel & wavy lines.

Only vehicle in the parking lot

Macro view of the boulder pile

Arizona loves their geckos

First of the petroglyphs.

You can't walk up the hill, by some like this one were right next to the path.

Some boulders resembled modern graffiti

Petroglyphs appear on just about every boulder

Can you spot the two different styles?

It's a small site, so only took about 20 minutes for pictures and reading the sign boards.  Time to roll.
Stopped again at Gila Bend, a small town a few miles down the road.  Still had a few grocery items to grab that I didn't find the previous day.  Also wanted to refill one of the propane tanks on the trailer.
The only grocery store in town told the story of recent times.  It was a decent sized store, that could easily support a town of a few thousand.  Lots of long, tall shelves, and, what appeared to be a a distance, a deli and bakery.  As I stepped into the store, I couldn't find one of those small plastic shopping baskets, that I noticed two other gentlemen carrying.  I asked the sole cashier, and the response was "We only have two, looks like they're both being used."  Really?  Ok.  I grab one of the handful of shopping carts, and head to the produce area.  It's fairly large, but the selection is sparse.  Of the items they do have, most look only a few days away from rotting.  I decide to pass on that, and move onto the first aisle.
More oddity.  I traverse this aisle, and the next, and the next.  Each tells the same story.  Every aisle is about 50 feet long, and is about two percent full (if that).  The selection is reasonable, but there is only a couple of each item.  Entire five foot sections are completely empty.  I also see that both the deli and bakery areas are bare.  There is only one employee, and three customers - one with a ridiculously large cart for only two items.
This town must have been doing well not too long ago.  Now it's days looked to be numbered. 

It's another quick drive from here to my destination for the next couple of nights - Picacho State Park.  I was planning on spending a week in Tucson, but still needed to work out the accommodations.  More on that later.
Checked into the park, filled up the water tank in the trailer, then set it up.  It would be nice to have full-time power for a few days.  Time to recharge everything.  Also had decent mobile phone coverage, at my site, so the next couple of days looked promising. 

Day 39&40 - Back at the OK Corral

With a fresh tank of gas, I was ready to tackle more of Corral Canyon.  Most days would consist of a morning ride, lunch, afternoon ride, then dinner.  The morning of day 39 was spend exploring the various 4x4 roads.  In the afternoon it was more bike trails and a repeat of the two long out & back moto trails.

Forgot to mention the previous evening.  I had settled down to a nice dinner (and a beer of course) & a movie.  About 30 minutes into the movie, the TV cut out.  Not great, but I could at least watch movies on the laptop.  I had researched a fix when I was in town, and the likely problem was a $5 part that would be about $50 to repair.  Hate to have to buy a new one.  We'll see.

Back to the evening of day 39.  Fired up the generator.  TV still didn't work, and now neither did most of the 120v electrics.  Hmm.  Went outside and noticed the generator wasn't running at full tilt.  Fiddled with carburetor, but nothing worked.  Eventually, it just gave up completely.  No generator doesn't just mean no TV.  It means no more laptop, GPS, mobile phone, trailer furnace - anything that runs on batteries that need to be charged.  This had to be fixed soon.

Day 40: I tried fixing the generator, but with no positive results.  Oh well, might as well go for a ride.  Heat or no heat, I was going to spend at least one more night here.
While riding one of the blue moto trails, I come across a guy with his bike down and embankment, off the trail.  He's trying to move it, but no chance of that.  Way too steep & loose.  I park my bike across the trail just ahead after a blind corner.  This would stop anyone from racing into us.  We pushed and pulled, and got it most of the way up.  Then, one of his buddies returned to help us the rest of the way.  He then just walked off.  I stayed to make sure his bike started - took a while, even with an electric starter - but it eventually went.

I decided to ride with them for a while, but they were just too slow in the end.  Off I went On my own.  Note that this was the first group of riders I saw on the trails in 4 days of riding.
Rode just about every trail in the area that day. Some twice.  Near end of the day now, and I meet the same guy above on another trail coming in the opposite direction.  It was a tight trail, so I was going slow anyway, but stopped to let him pass.  He promptly hammers no the front brake and crashes right in front of me.  He gets up and says "and I was just getting my confidence back!"  Just not his day.

With the day over, I fire up the laptop and notice about 20 minutes of battery life left.  The trailer batteries also read low.  Not only would I not have heat, but no light either.  I weigh my options and reluctantly decide hook up the truck and charge the trailer & laptop from it.  This wouldn't likely give me enough power for the furnace, but at least I'd have light and entertainment.  Staying another day just wasn't going to happen.  That's OK though, I really enjoyed the time I spent here.

Here are the GPS tracks (coloured lines) from my rides at Corral Canyon.

Next to the official trail map, you can see I hit just about everything.

For those of you with young rippers, you'll appreciate the kids area next to the campsite.  It didn't get too much action during my stay, but looked like a great little play area.  There are two separate tracks, and a gate to stop larger bikes from entering.

Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area with your moto.