Part 23 - Douglas Springs Trail.

Part 23 - Douglas Springs Trail.

A giant Saguaro guarding the slopes on the upper section of Douglas Springs Trail.

Since we had left Tucson in May of 2018, we had been craving our favorite Mom and Pop restaurant. Poco and Mom's is a great little Cantina, serving New Mexican food, and is only open for Brunch hours at the location closest to us. So we made this our first stop in the morning. I filled up on chile relleno breakfast burritos and Jenny had her usual Silver City Breakfast.

This is a very cozy building with outside seating. There is a 2nd location on Tanque Verde Road, which has more seating and is open longer hours. Look 'em up if you are in town:

Website: Poco and Mom's

Poco and Mom's original location on Kolb Rd. 

We decided that the Douglas Springs Trail would be a great place for our first hike since returning to Tucson. The trail head is located at the East end of Speedway Blvd and takes you into the Saguaro National Park. There are several trails that spiderweb through the area, as you can see from the map below. 

Map posted at the Douglas Springs Trail Head.

Saguaro National Park East is home to this network of trails, and many others. You can find more details on the NPS website:

Website: National Park Service

Most of these trails run through the flat, Bajada-style terrain at the base of the mountains. These trails would have been mostly flat, however, Douglas Springs provides access to the Rincon Highlands. As such, we were treated to a quick ascent that pushed our lungs to the limit. It felt good to be hiking in the mountains again, but it would have felt better to be hiking DOWNHILL.

It was an uphill battle...literally.

Break stop. Tanque Verde Ridge can be seen creeping out in front of a cloudy Mt Lemmon. 

The trail levels off at 1.5 miles at an intersection with Carillo Trail before descending slightly to cross Douglas Springs Canyon. The trail really begins to climb here, and some of the rocks on the trail ended up being knee-high stairs for us to climb. Bring hiking poles!

Give me a sign.

Ascending Douglas Springs. Turned around, facing West towards Tucson.  

The trail levels off again soon, and the canyon that was below you is now level with you. At this point you can walk out to the rocky canyon for a good break spot that has seasonal water to filter for drinking or cooking.  

Douglas Springs Canyon, at higher elevations, can have water present. 

The first good access to water on Douglas Springs Trail.

A sycamore tree that has made this little water hole its home.

By the time you make it up to this elevation, you can really feel the change in climate as the temps drop and the wind speed increases.  Cactus were less and less frequent and wildflowers like these were able to survive up here. 

Wildflowers on Douglas Springs Trail.

Our destination on this hike was Bridal Wreath Falls, but as we got closer, we could hear people back in the canyon. Our general reason for hiking is to get away from other humans, so we snuck off the trail and found this pool just downstream from the falls. 

A secluded pool, off-trail, and downstream of the falls.

Pool party!

After waiting for the people to leave, we made our way over to the "falls". Big disappointment. Nothing but a small trickle of water. We will have to come back again for a better experience after some rains. 

A very dry Bridal Wreath Falls.

Beetle buddy

Clouds can move in fast in the mountains. 

We found this sign right by the trail head. This, among other reasons, is why we almost always carry a firearm when hiking in the mountains. 

Thankfully, no one caught the rabies. 

 Reminds me of a song by Joe Strummer's pre-Clash project, the 101er's. Here ya go:

Website: 101ers on Youtube

That's it for now, stay tuned for our next adventure posting Tuesday, September 3rd.

Until then, here's the last entry:

Part 22 - Home Sweet Home.

Part 22 - Home Sweet Home

Part 22 - Home Sweet Home.

After what seemed like a month's worth of driving, we finally began to see the familiar sites of the Rincon Mountains. As we crossed over Davidson Canyon on Interstate 10, we knew our exit was only a few miles down the pavement.

As soon as we got the camper leveled, we went for a walk in the desert. It felt so good to be back in the sunny Sonoran climate and out of the icy Midwest. We aren't even retired yet, and we have become snowbirds.

Cholla cactus just outside the perimeter of the RV park.

An agave plant from our hike.

A tiny fish-hook barrel cactus.

It is hard to believe just how cold the mountaintops can get here in the Southwest. But as we walked through the warm desert, my friend Jered was with a group attempting to summit Rincon Mountain. They made it to Happy Valley Saddle and had to turn around due to SNOW!!!  The Rincon Mountains are the only set surrounding Tucson that we have not peaked yet. When the Summer weather breaks, we are going to give it a shot.

Rincon Mountain at 8,482 feet, as seen from our RV park.

I was invited on that trip to Rincon, but since we were late getting to Tucson, I missed the boat. After our hot hike in the desert, we decided to hit the pool and cool off.

Relaxing by the pool, I took a picture of Rincon, where I would have been hiking.

It was a long trip and we were all tired.

Luna says "It's time for bed".

As I write this article, I am sitting in our new Winnebago 5th wheel. Our personal life has been super busy and chaotic lately, so we apologize skipping last week. We hope to do a review of our new camper on here soon.

Our next article we be posting in the next couple of days to make up for lost time. 

Until then, here is the link to our previous entry:

Part 21 - On the Road Again.

Part 21 - On the Road Again.

Part 21 - On the Road Again.

Sometime in October, when we made the decision to leave Saint Louis, we began planning our Winter destination. We had fallen in love with the South West when we spent last winter in Tucson, and we wanted to go back for more winter hikes in the desert mountains.

Somewhere in New Mexico on I-10 heading West towards Arizona.

I had found an ad for a part-time MLT at Tucson Medical Center, so I applied. After no response, I tried a trick that worked for me in the past...I called the lab and asked to speak to the manager. After a short conversation with the manager, we arranged an interview time for a later date. Interview complete. I got the job offer and was set to start a few days after Christmas.


ARKANSAS


We left Saint Louis on Saturday, November 24th 2018, taking Interstate 55 South. It was beginning to rain/snow and the winds were picking up.  Our first stop was a Love's Truck-stop in Blythesville, Arkansas. We spent a sleepless night parked between two semi trucks while the high winds shook our camper all night. This is what we woke up to in the morning.

Don't turn your back on me. 

Mecca is that way.

The winds were so bad that we didn't want to be on the interstate swaying into semi trucks and off the shoulder. So, we found an RV Park right down the road from our current spot at the truck stop. Shearin's RV park was nothing special, but it kept us off the roads in bad conditions.

Our spot at Shearin's RV Park

No website for us to list. No showers. No bathrooms. No nothing. Shearin's RV park served our purposes for having an electric and water hookups and that was IT. We packed up the next morning and headed for the Interstate 40 interchange that would take us to Texas.


Arkansas was pretty miserable, so much so, that the highlight of our trip was the White River Rest Area. This place was bigger and nicer than most city parks in my hometown. The dogs enjoyed a walk in the shaded groves of trees that lined the roads, and we hung out at a picnic table to rest before climbing back in the truck.

White River Rest Area in Arkansas

Somewhere in Arkadelphia, we pulled into a station to gas up, and heard a scraping noise from the back. Did I hit something? Turns out, there was a large dip from the road to the gas station parking lot. We drug our back stabilizer jacks (that were already about useless) and ruined those and we drug our spare tire holder so much that it bent out away from the vehicle. While we were inspecting our damage, we noticed a lady in the car next to us just texting away on her cellphone oblivious to our presence. She proceeds to pull away from the pump with the nozzle still in her car, it made a loud noise as it ripped out of her car and hit the ground. Luckily there were no explosions, except for the flames we left behind us trying to race TF out of Arkansas.


TEXAS


The trip from Blythesville, Arkansas had taken us down I-40 to I-30, and now we were on I-20 in Weatherford, Texas.  I believe that I drove this all in one trip, and it was one of the longest stretches of the journey.We stayed at a QT right off I-10 in Weatherford, Texas before heading to a KOA in Abilene where we had a site reserved.

Nice, shaded pull-thru site at the Abilene KOA.

We arrived just before dark and the office was still open. The office, like most KOA's, had a nice little store that sold all the camping necessities as well as minimal food and drink (no alcohol).  They had a nice dog run up front by the office, so we let dogs stretch their legs, then we enjoyed some dinner and some much needed sleep.  It was a decent park. Nothing too spectacular for a KOA though, but we did appreciate the shady spots. Website below.


Website: Abilene KOA


Our next destination was the Van Horn RV Park in Van Horn, Texas. We made it in well after dark, but the park was large enough that getting to my site was not a problem. This place looked great on paper. They had a lake, a dog run, a cafe/store, the sites were large with mountain views on all sides. Apparently, they have a sense of humor too.

The Weather Station. Notice the rock, I mean measuring device, on the bottom right.

Willow trees provide some shade. Watch out for the sand-burs tho (goat-heads) they are everywhere.

The lake actually had a small island that you cant see in this pic.

Dogs hanging out on the island. Luna has her usual picnic table perch. 

This was a GREAT park, and we would have loved to stay longer, but we were ready to get to Tucson. We absolutely recommend this place if you need a spot for the night or if you are looking for a longterm stay.

Website: Van Horn RV Park

NEW MEXICO

Texas really was like driving across country, and since I was under the weather for most of the trip, I think it took us about 4 days in total. Finally, we had made it through El Paso, into New Mexico, and were back at the familiar Border Patrol Checkpoint in Las Cruces. Heading West from here, the skies start to open up and the jagged mountains begin to rise from the desert floor. 

A roadside mountain range typical of the New Mexico and the South West.

It was a short drive through New Mexico once we had made it through the Border Patrol Checkpoint. Before long, we could see the familiar sun-rays of the Arizona flag on the Welcome sign ahead.  We were SO excited to be getting close to our goal. 

ARIZONA

It was great to be back in Arizona. The desert scrub, the surrounding mountains, and the wide open skies looked like home already. I was especially relieved to cross the border because if we had any issues now, we could just call a tow truck to get us to our campground.

The Dragoon Rest Area off I-10 in Arizona.

The Dragoon Mountains were the last hurdle the truck would have to leap before making it to Tucson. We were Home-free!!!  We thought.


The wind had been pretty bad most of the trip on I-10, but it was getting worse, and the rest of the trip to Tucson was a nail biter. We made it to our Winter home at Cactus Country RV Park just before dark though, and after taking quite a bit of time to try to get the camper level, we were finally able to settle in.


My friend Jered snapped this picture while driving by Cactus Country, we were still setting up and they couldn't stop in.  He was on his way to what would be a snowy backpacking trip on Rincon Mountain. The credit for this last picture goes to him. Looking forward to getting to see my Tucson friends for the first time since last Spring. Time to shake this flu-bug and get in some hikes.

Home Sweet Home - Photo courtesy of Jered Kopulos.

Stay tuned for our adventures in the mountains of Tucson. We have a lot of places to visit that are still new to us, and I'm sure we will visit some old favorites.

Next article should post on Sunday, August 19th.

Until then, here is a link to the previous entry.

Part 20 - Leaving St Louis.

Part 20 - Leaving Saint Louis

Part 20 - Leaving Saint Louis

Saint Louis had been good to us, we both loved our jobs, but my contract was up at the beginning of November.   

Graffitti right down the street from our RV Park. 

We really had grown to love the city, warts and all. Coming from Peoria, Saint Louis wasn't much of a change for us. Sure it is a dirty, dangerous town, but it is also a vibrant city full of culture and art. We chose to focus on the latter.

We loved taking drives or walks around Forest Park, and we got to see the Summer blossoms and Fall leaves changing color during our time here.

A steamy Summer morning at Forest Park.

Lots of green-space to get away from the city.

Fall colors at Forest Park.

Saint Louis was divided into communities that all had interesting names. Soulard was the old French inspired part of town to the South, just along the Mississippi River. The neighborhood is known for their Mardi Gras parades and celebrations, their love of blues music, and of course the Anheiser-Busch Brewery. The Hill was the Italian neighborhood. We learned that Provel cheese was created here, allegedly to create a pizza cheese that was not stringy like mozzarella. Look it up. We didn't like it, it had a really watery consistency.  The Dogtown area seemed to be predominantly Irish, and we found several Irish bars as we drove around the neighborhood.

Outside our favorite Irish Bar, the Pat Connolly Tavern, just across from the Zoo.

Website: Pat Connolly Tavern


Our favorite local brewery in Midtown by our RV Park was Urban Chestnut Brewery. They had a nice courtyard with bags outside of the brewery where they hosted Octoberfest and other events. But the best thing about them as a company, was that they supported local stray animals and rescue efforts.

Good beer and a good cause. 

You don't know what a wide-mouth can is until you have an Urban Chestnut. 

"Who wants Grandma's Nuts?" was the sales pitch for this old lady at the farmers market we had once a week at work. 

Grandma's nuts tasted old. LOL

There was also a woman who sold home-made dog cookies at the farmers market. The theme changed weekly, I was a regular customer, and the dogs loved them. 

2019 Stanley Cup Champions.

One of my work friends lived very close to us, she would give me rides home occasionally, and we became good friends. As it turns out, she had married into Chuck Berry's family, and still had the last name. They had been separated for some time, she was getting ready to re-marry, and invited us to the celebration. 

Love my STL peeps.

Jenny, Jennifer, and Scott.

Scott and Jenny at Lisa's Wedding reception.

The weather was unseasonably cold in the Fall of 2018, based on that, we had to decline the offer to renew our contract at the hospital. 

The lab group I worked with threw a Friends-giving party in November for current and former employees. They were nice enough to move the date forward to accommodate me leaving in the middle of the month. Kissel, my comrade from the temp agency, was leaving about a month after I was. We were made the guests of honor and got to decide where the winnings from the evenings gaming events would go.

Since animals dont have the ability to take care of themselves, and because Kissel and I both like animals more than most people, we suggested Stray Rescue of Saint Louis.  Jenny and I would see volunteers from Stray Rescue walking dogs daily on our way to work, so we knew the money would be well spent.  It is really sad when you realize how many neglected animals there are in the city, so we added a little of our own money to get the donation total up to $100.00.  If you are reading this, and care to donate, here is a link to their webpage:

Website: Stray Rescue of Saint Louis

We made it through the first cold snap OK, but temps dipped into the single digits for a couple of nights in October. Our tanks were frozen solid. For about 10 days, we had to take the cold walk to the showers...and even had to walk over there to use the bathroom. It was time to fly South for the Winter.

Unreal. I still can't believe that we lived in a camper through this storm. 

We had both really grown to like the people that we worked with, and even the places we worked for...and that was going to be the hardest part about leaving. 

Truckie all packed up with our kayaks and ready to hook up to the camper.

I still miss my STL peeps, but luckily, we stay caught up through Facebook.  

You can keep up with us right here by checking back next Monday for our new article. 

For now, here is a link to our previous entry:

Part 19 - Cache River Kayak Trip