SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK WEST

We're back in hiking mode (I'm still waving a tearful goodbye to "loafing around" mode), and today we did a scenic drive and a hike at Saguaro National Park West (there is an East park, too, which we will be heading to next). By far, the most interesting thing we saw along the Bajada Loop Drive were the CCC structures that graced the picnic areas. There is no denying the positive impact of a successful stimulus like the CCC during the first depression - the work done was amazing! And it lives on to benefit us all.

This is a CCC picnic structure at the top of a stone staircase, at the Ez-Kim-In-Zin picnic area

A curved grill near a picnic table at the Signal Hill picnic area

A fireplace/grill, also at the Signal Hill picnic area

Picnic table and fire pit at Signal Hill

A CCC restroom

We hiked the Signal Hill trail (some nice petroglyphs) and the Manville Trail to the Cactus Wren Trail and back to Signal Hill. There aren't as many cacti blooming here yet as in Organ Pipe, but a striking thing about this area is that, due to more moisture, the cacti are much larger specimens than what we have been seeing up to now. The Saguaro Cacti tower overhead and are everywhere! The Barrel Cacti are also much larger. One thing I saw on the trail today that I've never seen before is a person texting while riding a horse. I so wanted to take a photo, but I thought it might be rude!

This park is very nicely signed, and the trails are well marked and maintained

Petroglyph rocks with the Tucson Mountains in the distance

Close up of a spiral petroglyph

A huge barrel cactus with weird shaping near the base - Odd!

This curve-billed thresher seemed a bit peeved that we wouldn't share our lunch

Not many blooming plants here yet, but this butterfly found a nice clump of yellow blooms to land on

These cholla-type cacti have purplish branches, buds, and reddish flowers

This is another example of the cactus above - no blooms quite yet, but loaded with buds

What potential beauty lies therein!

WE FINALLY LEFT ORGAN PIPE

We finally packed up, and after a wonderful several days of drinking too much coffee, lounging about in one's pajamas far past the hour that might be considered decent, and soaking up sunrays like a sponge soaks up spills, we left Organ Pipe. On the way to Tucson, we stopped in the tiny town of Why, AZ, where we picked up a bottle of cheap red wine and a bag of ice. The bag of ice was for putting into the black tank (that's RV lingo for pouring down the toilet) to help clean off the monitor sensors (that tell you how full the tank is) as we slosh back and forth along the highways and byways. So I poured the whole bag of ice cubes down the toilet, followed by several generous sloshes of vinegar. For an instant I felt like I was making punch, and had to restrain myself from adding a bottle of Seagram's and a 2-liter jug of 7-Up. Fortunately, I stopped myself before pouring down the bottle of cheap red wine.

We're in Tucson, now, at Gilbert Ray campground in Tucson Mountain Park. We drove the jeep into town to pick up some supplies and then popped into a bakery to grab a wheel of focaccia, a loaf of ancho pepper and cheddar bread, and a huge slice of carrot cake (which we immediately ate in the car). Buon Appetito!

SHOWER THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE WITH LOVE

We moved this morning, but not as far as we'd originally planned. We decided to follow the sunshine, so we headed south - about 6 campground rows. Yep. We're still at Organ Pipe, but in a new site, in the "No Generators" section. Just a tad quieter and less populated. We'd just settled in when an elderly gentleman wandered up to our back door and said he was looking for his wife. She'd taken the dog for a walk, and the dog had returned, but without the wife. They were supposed to be leaving today. Darell offered to drive him around the campground to look for her, so off they went. Not much later I saw a Park Ranger driving slowly down the road, and I talked to him about the search. He said that the man was a bit confused, and that he (the Ranger) had told him to stay put at his campsite and that they would all look for the wife. I told him that if she turns up and now there's a missing husband, that he is riding around with my husband looking for her. When Darell returned (wife still not found), he said that the man was very confused and distressed. We took a walk around the perimeter trail to see if she had perhaps walked out there and fallen, and there were others also searching around the campground. When we got back, we went to the man's campsite and asked if the wife had turned up - she had! As we were standing talking to him, the wife came walking up , and I asked her if she was okay. She said, "He has Alzheimer's" and I said, "I'm sure you told him where you were going."  "I did, I did," she said and "I'm sorry you bothered" - and the sadness, the weariness, and the guilt weighed down her words. "It's okay," I assured her. We went back to our site and waved as they passed by in their van, heading home, or someplace else.

A life story is a fragile bubble. Enjoy the chirping of the birds, the laughter of children, a hand held tightly in your own, or a shared joke with an old friend. For everything is in a state of change, of coming into being or passing out of it. And when all is said and done, it is the moment that counts. Each and every one of them, for each and every one of us.

LAST SUNSET AT ORGAN PIPE FOR AWHILE

Sunset reflected in the Jeep's window

We're leaving tomorrow morning for Gilbert Ray County Park near Tucson. It may just be a stop-over, or we may be lured into the hiking trail system there, which is said to be wonderful. We'll miss Organ Pipe - the weather has been fantastic. I think Scout the Cat likes it here, too. Here's a photo of him when we told him we were heading out:

"We're leaving tomorrow morning, Scout."

"You're joking, right?"

REST AND RELAXATION

We're taking a few days to rest and recuperate from life on the road. The wind has settled down here, and the temperatures are hovering around 80 degrees. The camp chairs are comfortable, the birds are chirping, we are flush with cheese and other good things to eat, and we have no itinerary. So we're just taking it easy and catching up on things around and about the RV. The campsite is paid up through Thursday, so we'll decide then where we're going and when!

AN UNCOMFORTABLE PERCH, INDEED

This just doesn't look comfortable

We did the short (about 2.5 miles round trip) hike from the campground to the Visitor Center to get some cactus candy (when ya gotta have some, ya gotta have some!) today, and have otherwise just been enjoying the blooming cacti, the sunshine, and the sound of the wind in the creosote bushes.

I ask you, does he look comfortable? I think not.

SHAKING OFF THE DUST

Our beloved Organ Pipe campsite - #46

We shook off as much of the dust as possible from our camp chairs, the outdoor rug, the camp table, and everything else we own, and packed up the Chinook, hooked up the Jeep, and headed away from KofA Wildlife Refuge. There's still dust on everything. But now we are down at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (again!), with Darell's Senior Pass ($6 a night!) in hand, paved campground roads and sites, and lots of fascinating cacti to look at! The campground is a bit busier than the last time we were here, but still not crowded, and we were able to get the same site that we've enjoyed so much in the past - #46. This campground is very quiet (with very limited generator hours and only a portion of the sites where you can use generators at all) and peaceful. And there are showers. Yeehaw!

It almost looks like there are no other campers here! There are actually several RVs around us, just outside the frame of the photo.