MONDAY - With a relatively short travel day, less than 100-miles, we didn't leave the campground until 9:30AM.
We are headed to a First-Come-First-Serve dispersed camping area out in the Sonoran Desert so arrival time could be important. We try to arrive between the time people leave in the morning and ahead of the people who are arriving for the night. We estimate that time to be right around noon.
With only one short bathroom break, we arrived right on time and only found one other camper here. They obviously had spent the night before and were not planning on leaving today, judging by the chairs, BBQ and temporary dog fences they still had set up outside.
While traveling on Interstate 10 towards Phoenix, Tricia got all excited when she spotted the Buc-ee's logo on a billboard up ahead. After she read the verbage on the rest of the sign her excitement subsided.
Buc-ee's advertising department really knows how to pull on their customer's heartstrings.
We also saw signs for a Blue Beacon Truck Wash, but decided ROVER and THE POD could wait another few weeks before getting all shined up for the holidays.
Just outside of Phoenix we transfered from Interstate 10 over to Interstate 8 (known as the Phoenix Bypass) to arrive at our campsite for the next three nights.
This dispersed BLM camping area is located in the Sonoran Desert National Monument. The camping area is called Lost Horse Tank and that's the Lost Horse Peak in the background of this photo. It's not much of a peak, rising just 309' over the desert floor to an elevation of 2175'.
Our wide open desert view with mountains for a backdrop.
Those were our closest, and only neighbors when we arrived. We did have two more show up later, just before sunset, but they parked even farther away.
WEDNESDAY - We've enjoyed some down time during our visit to the Sonoran Desert National Monument for the last three days, but now it's time to move over to our final stop in Arizona.
This will also be our last stop before making the "big push" to return to Florida just in time to celebrate the New Year.
For the last three days we've been keeping ourselves entertained by...
...watching the morning sun rise in the east...
...before traveling across the sky and setting in the west.
That's what this retirement life is all about! (that is until we head out on our next adventure!)
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TUESDAY - After taking until 2:00PM yesterday to get last weeks blogpost out we have some free time to get out and do some more exploring.
After making a camping reservation for a campsite in Washington state for 6-months from now, we departed THE POD at 8:30AM and headed south.
First up is an Atlas Obscura destination in Tucson called the Rattlesnake Bridge. You may have to use your imagination a little when looking at our photos, but I assure you, it is a rattlesnake, an Arizona Diamondback actually.
RATTLESNAKE BRIDGE
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From this angle you can see the eye and then two long fangs coming from the mouth.
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Here is a closeup of the eye, who by the way lights up at night.
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This is the body of the snake stretching over eight lanes of Tucson traffic.
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Looking straight into the mouth and the belly of the beast.
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Nothing left to do but see what's on the other side.
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We're getting close to the end now.
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Of course it wouldn't be a rattlesnake without a rattle, which also lights up at night.
Our next stop is just a few blocks down the street from the Rattlesnake Bridge and it too is an Atlas Obscura destination.
"Barrio Bread is a community supported bakery grounded in the grains and traditions of the Sonoran Desert." - Taken from their website
With room for only 2 customers at a time inside the bakery a line quickly forms outside the door. The entire bakery is filled with ovens and racks of a dozen different breads.
Barrio Bread has a very interesting story which you can read by clicking on THIS LINK.
We are here today to see just how different and fresh their breads really are.
This photo was taken when we arrived back home later in the day.
From left to right we have 3 rosemary and thyme bagels, a small slab of pesto focaccia bread, two soft pretzels, a loaf of cranberry walnut, what's left of a small demi-baguette and a Heritage Loaf, still prepared with the same ingredients and techniques from the last 100-years.
Our total bill for this visit to Barrio Bread? $45! At that price, we better enjoy every mouthful for the next few days. Remember, no preservatives means the clock is ticking. I think the Heritage Loaf will be going into the freezer and brought out for a special occaision in the near future.
Next up was a return visit, this time on the east side of Saguaro National Park.
All the photos were taken from the 8-mile long scenic drive, the Cactus Forest Loop.
SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK - EAST RINCON MOUNTAIN DISTRICT - CACTUS FOREST LOOP DRIVE
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As you can see the Cactus Loop Drive is a 1-way 8-mile long loop drive.
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Since we're exploring Saguaro National Park I'm going to take the opportunity to share some knowledge about the iconic Saguaro Cactus.
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The information won't match the photos, but you'll get the information anyway.
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It takes a surprising 1-10 years for the saguaro to grow to be 1" tall!
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When you see a saguaro that's 2' tall it could be anywhere from 20-45 years old.
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At 6' feet tall the saguaro is somewhere between 35-70 years old.
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The saguaro flowers for the first time at an average age of 55-years in the Tucson area.
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The saguaro is an average of 75-years old before it begins to grow it's first "arms".
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By the time the saguaro is 15-30' tall it's probably 100-150 years old.
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Most saguaros die from old age between 150-200 years old.
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Although a very few live to be well over 200-years old and reach 50' tall.
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This side of Saguaro National Park has two very harsh winters, one in the mid-1960s and another in the 1910s, where most of the older saguaros died off.
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That's why so many of the saguaros here are between 6-8' tall.
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Class is over, but I hope you were paying attention because there will be a quiz at the end.
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As you can see in this photo even the arms can grow arms.
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That fact makes this saguaro at least 100-years old.
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Rather than grow arms on arms this one appears to be starting a 2nd story of arms.
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This scene looks almost landscaped with saguaros of all different ages.
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This 1/2-mile side road is the only portion of the loop that's not paved.
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You'll need to use your imagination here, so stay with me. I see two saguaros standing back to back with their pistols up getting ready to duel by taking their ten paces forward.
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When saguaros are just getting started their survival depends on a "nursery tree" to shade them from the harsh sunshine. The nursery tree will usually die off when the saguaro gets established.
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The fruit of the barrel cactus is ripe when it turns yellow. The mildly tart flesh of the fruit can be eaten raw or cooked, and the seeds, which are a good source of protein, can be ground into a meal.
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Here you see the road is flanked on both side by leafed-out ocotillo.
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I'm not sure what the yellow flowers are, but the butterflies sure do like them.
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This is the skeleton of a mature saguaro.
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Here's a few photos of the "glowing" saguaros on the southeast side of the park loop.
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Even the cholla cactus "glow" when the sun is at the perfect angle.
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This is a "very rare" Saguaro Cactus. It's called a Crested (or Cristate) Saguaro.
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Of the estimated 2-million saguaro cactuses in the National Park, only 75 of these crested saguaros have been located.
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If my math is right, that means 1 in every 26,667 saguaros is crested, or .00375%!
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No one agrees on what causes this deformity, whether it's a genetic mutation or damage from a freeze or a lightening strike, it's all still a mystery.
THURSDAY - Today we are going out sightseeing again!
We will be leaving behind our campsite at 2700' of elevation, in the Oro Valley outside of Tucson, and heading up to the small ski town of Summerhaven, near the top of Mount Lemmon at just over 8000' elevation to enjoy lunch at the Mount Lemmon Lodge.
The ski lodge shouldn't be too busy beacause the snow has yet to arrive. Much like Key West, FL there's only one road that you can take to get there. There's a little over 27-miles of roadway from the base of the mountains to the lodge, and the elevation changes from 2850' at the bottom to over 8000' at the top.
I'm not sure today is the best day to travel up to over 8000' because this morning was the first day below freezing at our campsite and we had frost on the top of our metal picnic table, but we're going anyway!
The road has several names, the Mount Lemmon Highway, the Catalina Highway and the Sky Island Parkway, which has the destinction of being designated as a National Scenic Byway. No matter what you call it, it's 27-miles of winding, twisting, mountain scenic driving.
We drove a total of just over 100-miles today to go see this and we're so glad we did!
SKY ISLAND PARKWAY A NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAY
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Our adventure today starts 28-miles southeast of our campsite at the base of the Catalina Mountains with an elevation of 2850'.
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Just 2.7-miles later and we are already up to 3550' at the Babad Do'ag Scenic Overlook.
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Ever wonder what the top of a saguaro cactus looks like?
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Well from this scenic overlook we "got the shot" of the top of these 10' tall saguaros.
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Looking back at the pass that we drove through.
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This is the Molino Canyon and just around the next corner is the first of three campgrounds that we are going to check out today.
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This is the view from the Seven Falls Lookout of Willow Canyon.
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High up above the Lookout you'll see the Thimble Peak.
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Also from the Lookout you can see what turned out to be our favorite stop, Windy Point Vista.
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Before getting up to Windy Point we'll have to wind our way through a few canyons.
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We're getting "close" now, I can see it "up" ahead.
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Windy Point is right around this final curve in the road.
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The views are amazing from Windy Point Vista.
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Here it is! Windy Point Vista.
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From the Point we can see sections of the road we took to get up here.
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There are also restrooms here at Windy Point.
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Somewhere out there is Downtown Tucson.
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Back on the road, we've still got a long way to climb to get to the top.
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We began seeing these "Hoodoo" formations along the road.
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Looking back down we could see that final turn before Windy Point.
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This hoodoo looks more like a balanced rock formation.
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I sure hope that smaller wedged rock doesn't come loose.
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Still climbing.
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Spencer Canyon afforded us our final view of Tucson.
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What's all that white fluffy stuff on the side of the road?
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Like magic when we reached 7500' the snow appeared, probably from yesterday's weather.
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We made it to the top, enjoyed a great lunch and now we're headed back down.There's a lot of useful information here in this photo, the least of which is knowing that we enjoy listening to Channel 26 - Classic Vinyl on our satellite radio. Also we are currently at 8000' of elevation and 49-miles from home. Most importantly notice that I'm only traveling at 29MPH in a 40MPH zone, that's because there's still ice and snow on the road at this elevation.
SUNDAY -
In October of 2022, after returning from Alaska, Tricia and I decided it was time for us to "pull the trigger" and purchase our first Starlink Satellite Dish for $599 and pay $135 a month for Unlimited Roaming Data.
Everything was working great until a few months ago when we started having connection issues. So when we arrived here we once again "pulled the trigger" and purchased a new Starlink Mini Satellite Dish for $229 at Home Depot. It was a Black Friday Promotional Sale which saved us $70 off the regular price of $299.
Within minutes of getting the new equipment back to THE POD we were up and running with no issues for the first time in months. Tricia of course wanted me to immediately put the old dish in the trash dumpster, but I wanted to take one last try to make it work.
I purchased a new 150' long cable ($58.99) and a new modem ($86.99) through Amazon. When the items arrived at the Whole Foods Market (owned by Amazon) located 6-miles down the road I immediately went to pick them up and get started troubleshooting the problem.
Lo and behold, when I plugged in the new cable into the old satellite dish with the original 120VAC modem it worked. It's not the ideal setup because I have to run the cable out the door while leaving the modem inside plugged into the wall. This is the way we used Starlink for the first year we had it.
The problem is with the cable going out the door we can't close the door without damaging the cable. That's what eventually led to the cable failure. Everytime the door was opened and closed the cable would get crushed. If we just used the screen door it wasn't a problem, but shutting down the modem every night and disconnecting the cable to be placed completely outside was a PIA.
Additionally if we wanted to use Starlink when we weren't plugged into electricity we would have to turn on our 3000-watt inverter, which uses 100-watts even when it's not powering anything. To run the 120VAC modem which uses a mere 25-watts when turned on, it seemed like a waste of our precious battery power.
The thing is the Starlink satellite dish only needs 48VDC to operate, it's the original modem that requires the 120VAC. By taking the original modem out of the loop and replacing it with a 12VDC modem we were able to purchase a transformer that would bump the 12VDC up to 48VDC to operate the satellite dish. By modifying the cable TV jack (which we never use), which already goes out the side of the trailer, we no longer need to have the door open to run the cable through.
This setup worked flawlessly for two years, until it didn't, two months ago. Long story short, purchasing the new cable to replace the damaged one solved our 120VAC set up issues. At least we have Satelitte internet again!
The 12VDC setup was a little more complicated to resolve. I always suspected the problem was with the 12VDC modem settings and that's why I purchased a new one to help with the troubleshooting. Luckily, before I opened the box when the new modem came in, I decided to do a factory reset on the old modem. I was going to have to go through the whole setup process anyway with the new modem.
Again lo and behold, by basically starting over with resetting the old modem, it now works too. And yes, I've already returned the new modem to Amazon for a full refund.
What does all this mean? It means we now have satellite internet again! It also means we have two separate systems at our disposal with the addition of the new Starlink Mini.
Starlink offers 3-levels of service to non-residential roaming customers. There is an "Unlimited Data" option for $165 a month, that's the option we've been using for the last 3 years. Note, it was only $130 a month when we first signed up 3-years ago, then went to $150 and now it's $165 a month.
The next level down is 50GB of data for $50 a month, with the option to purchase additional data for $1 for each gigabyte used over 50.
The lowest level is Unlimited Low Speed Data, comparable to dial up speed from 20-years ago, for just $5 a month. It's high enough speed to send a text message and make a phone call, but try to access the internet and you're going to find yourself crawling along at the maximum .5 Mbps speed this option offers.
So what are we going to do with our two Starlink subscriptions?
For December were going to try using both dishes and max out each one using 50GB of data and then pay the $1 per GB overage fees. If we keep our total data usage below 165GB we will be saving money over what we used to pay.
If we find ourselves going over the 165GB threshold we will change our original dish back to the Unlimited offer for $165 a month and put the new Mini dish in standby mode with the low speed data for the $5 a month fee.
We will then carry the mini dish inside ROVER at all times. Most of the time when we are out exloring in the backwoods, away from civilization, there is no cell phone signal if an emergency situation were to arise. That's not a very smart situation to put yourself in. In that case the $5 a month fee is a cheap insurance policy to be able to call for help.
For our very last meal out here in Tuscon, we are going to a restaurant that came highly recommended to us by our most recent addition to the TWO PEAS AND THE POD Facebbok Group. That would be you Maudie!
In the comments from our previous post, Maudie recommended that we "check out the goodies and breads at Beyond Bread!!" I'm so glad you suggested we go there because we had a delicious lunch and even brought home two more loaves of bread. Our $45 worth of bread we purchased back on Tuesday from Bario Bread is all but gone already.
Tricia ordered the "Three's A Crowd" Salad which included Hummus, Artichoke Hearts and Roasted Red Peppers in addition to all the regular salad toppings. I ordered the Daily Soup Special of Creamy Chicken & Dumplings in a Bread Bowl and selected a loaf of Marble Rye Bread to take home and devour later.
After eating Tricia got back in line to purchase a loaf of their Pumpkin Cranberry Bread. The loaf was huge, but it still might not make it through the night.
Looking for our Visited States Map and Data? How about our State by State Bucket Lists or Visited Campgrounds List? If so, click on the sign below to be taken to our other website.
