Week 136 - Green Vally & Tucson AZ - 03-22-2009

Green Valley Greetings,

We spent this week with Pete's sister Donnalee and her friend Don, who live in Green Valley, Arizona, for the winter. It was a great time of fine food, fellowship and fun. We visited Don's very serene ranchette, ate fine BBQ, enjoyed the beautiful evening weather and rode our bikes around Green Valley.

The highlight of the trip was a hike down Sabino Canyon. Sabino Canyon is just outside of Tucson in the Northeast corner. The canyon can be accessed by foot, bicycle (on selected days and times) and a tram. We took the tram up the canyon for five miles and hiked back along the southern ridge. While the canyon has an abundance of wildlife, most are nocturnal and we only had a chance to view the plant life.

Don, Donnalee and Ellen waiting for the $8 tram ride up the canyon.

Some walked up and down the canyon. We enjoyed the ride up with a well-informed tour guide.

1) The large "paddle" cacti are the Prickly Pear. 2) We thought this was the Cholla cactus but we could not verify this photo on the web.

1) The Saguaro cacti is the most easily recognized. The typical Saguaro has five arms, but you will see from none to ten. 2) These tiny flowers lined the pathways along our 5 mile hike.

This pool on the Sabino Creek is a favorite for cooling off. We could only wish, as our trail was hundreds of feet above it.

1) The stalk of this dead Saguaro was still very beautiful. 2) The fuzzy cactus in the middle is the Cholla.

1) This goofy, but happy Saguaro greets you along the southern ridge path. 2) The Ocotillo has pretty red blooms.

The Sabino Creek is fed from the runoff of the surrounding mountains. A decent flow of water for an arid area in March.

This week we stayed at three RV Parks. You can see more pictures on www.BigRigBible.com.

Beaudry's RV Park in Tucson, right next to Beaudry's RV service center where we had a small repair.

Green Valley RV Park. Last time we stayed here, we really didn't give a hoot about the park. This time it gave a hoot to us!

Rincon Country West RV park in Tucson, AZ. A nice park with lots of park models and many RV sites as well. It has a pool, an indoor and outdoor spas, 10 shuffleboard courts, meeting halls, pickleball, horseshoes, tennis, bocce ball, basketball, putting green, library, laundry, card rooms, fitness center. A nice park for a reasonable fee.

1) A normal site at Rincon. 2) There are six "quad sites". Four RVs surround a grass plaza, each with tables and BBQ's. Neat for traveling friends to have their own little place.

Our projected route for the next three weeks or so. This will change based on the weather as we dodge the cold areas. We need to get to Rocklin, CA for a little body repair.

Love, Pete and Ellen

Photos from Mar 2009