I Digress

This post isn't about my current journey and there are no photos. It also isn't about politics as promised but more of a social observation.

As background, I'm in Tucson with an afternoon to kill before having dinner with a friend. I headed over to the University of Arizona to visit the Center for Contemporary Photography. Among other collections, it includes most of the work of Ansel Adams, a personal favorite. It was worth the visit. Afterwards, I visited the art museum and wandered around campus ending up in the Student Union where I now sit.

I went to a small college in the 70's so comparing my expetience to attending a major university like UA today would be unfair. But when I read about how many of today's college students have no focus or ambition, and I look at the facilities and opportunities available today, I am somewhat bewildered. My age certainly has something to do with it.

At the UA student center, they probably have 20 restaurants representing every ethnic food imaginable, in addition to the offering of every fast food restaurant. The bookstore sells PC and Mac equipment that rivals a Best Buy. The book selection rivals any big box store and there is a Kaplan University office on site for test prep. Their athletic center has virtually ever piece of equipment imaginable. I can only imagine that their classroom and lab facilities are all state of the art.

Is it all so overwhelming that "analysis paralysis" sets in? If you can't find something to inspire you here, follow the advice of Judge Smelz in Caddyshack; "the world can always use more ditch diggers".

Cheers

SoCal To Tucson

I arrived in Tucson last night after several great days of exploring and dry camping. I have decent internet access here at the RV Park the next ACA ride starts from so I am doing a bit of a picture dump. The weather here has been pretty windy and cool and the natives are claiming its the coldest and wettest in 25 years. The desert is carpeted in green and it is only a matter of days until the flowers explode.

One of the riders enjoying the route east of San Diego.

The route east of San Diego goes through some very beautiful country. In a few months, this will be hot, dry and brown.

I was able to ride sweep one day south of Borrego Springs. It was extremely windy but still great to ride.

Views from camp in Borrego Springs.

The route back towards San Diego took us over Mt. Laguna where there is still snow on the ground. Locals like to drive up and either load snow into their trunks or have impromptu snow ball fights by the side of the road.

Once the ride ended, I spent the weekend in Palm Springs and then headed back towards Borrego Springs to explore the southern end of Anza Borrego State Park.

These sculptures are set up in the desert around Borrego Springs.

Views from the southern end of the park.

From there, I headed east on I-8 towards Yuma. From Yuma, I drove north to Kofa National Wildlife Refuge to explore the park and camp. The refuge adjoins the Yuma Proving Ground and these signs were everywhere. Camping is a bit tenuous.

Scenes from the wilderness.

A pretty nice back door.

From the park, I headed back through Yuma towards Tucson and opted for more back roads. About 50 miles west of Tucson is Kitt Peak Observatory, the largest collection of telescopes in one place on Earth. The road up climbs to almost 7000 feet in 12 miles offering spectacular views of the desert floor. The temperature and the wind at the top were literally breathtaking and as I arrived at closing, will go back after the missus arrives in a week or so.

The ride starts Saturday so internet access will be sporadic for the next week. I will take and post more pictures and text then. Until then, I leave you with this. It applies to some of my readers and you know who you are.

Cheers

Off The Beaten Path

Since leaving the comfort of friends house in Palm Springs, I have been roaming the land south and east exploring and trying out the new Camper mod.

The first night was spent camping near the Mexican border far back in what is called Indian Canyon. It was just me and the coyotes breaking silence that engulfed you. The night sky was stars from horizon to horizon.





From there I drove thru Yuma in a sandstorm to the Kofa Wildlife Refuge. It was quite windy and cold as I set up camp but the camper offered a snug shelter from the elements.




The camper conversion is a genius of design and works flawlessly. Even with the big basket and bike on top, road noise has not increased much at all. Wind was always an issue with the Boxy Element but it's no worse now.

On to Tucson with a stop hopefully at Kitts Peak Observatory.

Cheers

ECamper

I picked up the Element yesterday with the freshly installed camper top. I haven't had time to test it but will this week, I can say that it doesn't affect the handling and highway noise seems no different.

I'll be using it this week and will post pics of my camping adventures.




Cheers

Damp Days In The Desert

I arrived in Palm Springs yesterday to visit with some friends who have a house here. Reportedly, they have something like 350 days of sun here so, of course, it rained today.

None the less, my friend Dave and I did about a 20 mile ride, much of it walking thru open houses. The market here, once hot, has cooled significantly so there is much desperation in the air. Many of the houses were decorated or staged like a Ramada Hotel or "McDesert" as my friend likes to say. Stucco gone wild.

I love modern and mid-century modern architecture so one house was quite appealing. It's currently on the market for $1.6 million but I suspect any reasonable offer over $1 million would be entertained. At the peak, it was probably $2 + million.









I loved the huge sliding door.























A very cool house but way too big and expensive for the street it on. If I won the lottery, I'd have it reduced by half the footprint and moved to an isolated location.

I have a dinner riding on it selling for under 1.3.

Tomorrow, I am off to explore the desert south of here. Warm temps and sun should cause the desert to explode with flowers. I will post pics and commentary once I have Internet access again.

Cheers

Shitter's Full

Nothing but the best for our riders.

Along SR22 west of Salton City.



Cheers

The Office

Here's my office the past few days. This is an overlook looking east over Borrego Springs towards the Salton Sea.



Cheers