Spending time in Tuscon was such good fun we knew we would be back this year.The bike friendly roads and awesome path system was something we wanted to experience again. But first the drive there would be a comfortable two day journey.  New Mexico and Arizona were really glad to see us.

Diggity was so excited he fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up to a perfect day to ride. This year we are father east in Tuscon. This location will give us some new trail areas we have yet to discover. It is the first time we have seen any water in the washes. The sculpture is known as the Batty Biker. Hired by Pima County, Stephen Fairfield made the Batty Biker to reflect the many bats that roost under the bridges along The Loop and human users that use the Loop. The response to the sculpture is so popular the County has him creating more. He says he is working on one the “Batty Biker Family”  A papa, mama and baby bat on a tandem bike. It is to be installed this month along the Campbell Ave. bridge.

Down The Pantano Wash this area is called The Garden of the Winter Solstice.. Along the way there are the more panels describing the families along this area. At the bottom of the panel are numbered dots. They denote trees along the trail with a plaque with the persons name who donated the tree. The Winter Solstice is when our dear friends Chris Kegel (who recently passed away) and Mary were married.

Dave our neighbor, who only rides mountain bike showed us a way to get to the Julian Wash which is a portion of the Loop. A little off road on our road bikes and we get on to the Harrison Greenway.

The Julian Wash parallels the Southern Pacific railway. The spot where we standing is where the original Tucson community was established. The railway ran from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 1876 and moved on to reach Yuma Arizona in 1877. The people of Tucson were so excited when the Southern Pacific finally arrived March 20,1886. They had a silver spike made from ore in Tombstone. The spike was dedicated to the Southern Pacific.  While we were here a train came through. Jim and I pumped our arms and sure enough the engineer blew the train whistle. That was very cool!

At this point you can see the different mountain ranges that surround Tuscon. The Catalina Mountains, the Santa Rita Mountains, Sierra Mountains and the Rincon Mountains. Great ride winding through the desert

When we travel to different places I try to find a dog park for the pups to play.        Ivan’s Spot is a great place. Seems no matter what time of day there are always dogs to play with. This park was dedicated to K-9 Ivan of the Tuscon Police Department. He lived in the neighborhood with Officer Chris Fenoglio and his family. Shot in the shoulder during an apprehension sadly he did not survive. His memory lives on at this park.

Taking the Loop into the university area of town. It is amazing to navigate by the trail system. It is also entertaining as well. Above is what they call the Basket Bridge and The Snake Bridge.

Arriving in the historic 4th Street district we find these sculptures along the road with locks. Tradition around the world for hundreds of years, lovers have put locks on bridges, fences, gates and throwing away the key to insure their love. Here you can buy a lock from different stores along the street for several non profits. They will inscribe your names, initials. Then go and secure your love forever.

Lunch at Magpie’s was delicious and made for a perfect ride back home.

Tonight we decided to go out for dinner. We went to an Applebee’s. Sitting at the bar for dinner we met this gentleman from Boston who has lived in Tucson for a very long time. His father was a big fan of the Dallas Cowboys. So this guy’s name is Dallas!

Today has a 60% chance of rain. A great day to go to the Pima Air and Space Museum. Entering immediately there is a replica of The Wright Brothers Plane and around the corner the World’s Smallest Biplane. By the way we saw rain around us, but where our trailer is parked no rain at all.

Walking through I was fascinated by the art on the planes and helicopters. We bought tickets for the tram ride outside. You can walk around but the guides here have tons of information and great stories about the planes.

The nicknames and how the different planes got them are great. The one on the left is called the Flying Guppy, a research plane. The middle was used to train astronauts for zero gravity. It would climb and then drop. Padded on the inside it got it’s nick name, the Vomit Comet. The last is nicknamed the Liberty. It carried the 52 hostages freed from Iran in 1981 after  being held for 444 days ( 1 year,2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days.)

These planes look the same but the one with the light blue above the gold stripe is actually an Air Force One, the President’s plane. The other without the light blue is still an official plane.

Just some fun planes on the grounds.

When we first arrived at our RV Park. I was talking with a fellow and I notice a different plane flying overhead. He was able to tell me it was an A-8, Affectionately known as the WartHog. Designed for one purpose that it is extremely good at…killing tanks. A 30mm rotary cannon mounted on the front which can fire up to 4,200 thousand rounds per minute. Also it has a substantial amount of titanium protecting the cockpit, it is almost a tank itself. Almost scraped, it’s proven itself. The real name is A-10A Thunderbolt. Every day we ride we see them flying maneuvers overhead.

We did not take the bus tour of the “Boneyard”. When we ride we often are going right by it. There are over 4,500 planes parked out there. They seem to go forever. Many are sold for reuse and some are parted out. The guide said it is highly profitable they make $7.00 off of every $1.00 spent. The whole museum is operated by volunteers and you can tell they love their history. If you are in Tucson this is well worth the trip.

Today is March 1st and our neighbors are moving on. Fred and Chris with an Alpine trailer. They are moving on to Port Aransas. Chris needs a beach fix. They will eventually go home to Missouri.  Incidentally Dave made a hole in one playing golf last week. Fred and Chris with their Airstream. They will be working their way back to Wisconsin.

The ride today will take us down the Pantano Wash, part of the Loop. I wanted to get a photo of the summer solstice panel. Also the new Batty Bike sculpture by Stephen Fairfield. This is the tandem with Papa,Mama and Baby Bats. Just installed last month.

The Loop is still being completed in certain places. Sure enough we Road up to a construction area. When we decided to turn around. Tim came up on a cart and lead us down into the wash on a hard packed road which lead us back up on the trail. Thank you Tim!

On to the Julian Wash this archway is called Joining Hands. The row of figures is found on a bowl that was used by the Hohokam Indians in communal ceremonies about a 1000 years ago. Now the figures span the path of the park. It will be a part of the network that will encompass the City of Tucson.

We had to make it back to 4th street. We got all catty wampus the other day and missed a turn. A 40 mile ride turned into a 50miler. Yay, we made it! We stopped for lunch at Delectables. Above is the menu for pup dogs. Eventually our way back home was just shy of 40 miles again. But hey we can cover this town by bike path, nooo problem. We have a few more weeks of sunny warm days in Tucson. Then we move on to Phoenix.