Travel, Camping – Tincan Travels

Happy Trails at Desert Trails

We’ve moved to south Tucson to a private RV Park for an extended stay. The plan is to stay here for the next three months. We’ve been here before and have enjoyed our stays. Between the proximity to the desert and the park community we feel right at home.

We reconnected with Shelley and Brian, some folks we hung out with on our last visit to Desert Trails two years ago, .

Pat and Shelley with Brian’s reflection (Thanks for the image Brian)

Shortly after arriving Pat, Shelley and Brian drove south to Tubac, a historic town near the Mexican border. They were having their Festival of Lights which featured lots of luminaries. Shelly had to stay back to sleep and fight off a cold.

We also reconnected with another old neighbor from past visits.

The park has a group of residents that gets together and invites local bands to play at the park once a month. We arrived in time to enjoy the first concert of the season, the Heather Harding Band. Heather is a Tucson blues legend who plays violin and sings. It was a terrific show.

The proximity and easy access to the desert for biking and hiking is the real draw here. The RV Park borders Tucson Mountain Park with 62 miles of trails. The park was established in 1929 and encompasses 20,000 acres. There’s a lot to explore.

One of the many washes on the Ironwood Trail

A crested saguaro is a rare mutation that occurs in 1 in 20,000 normal saguaros. The reason for this fan like mutation are unknown but thought to be from genetics, frost, or lightning damage. This one is a short bike ride from camp.

Sunsets in Arizona can be intense. This one is from this week

A Short Pause in Phoenix

With Tucson in our rear view mirror we headed north to Phoenix or more accurately east of Phoenix in Mesa.

We landed in Usery Mountain Regional Park, one of our favorite Maricopa county parks.

The recent rain has made the desert very happy and green.

We spend our days biking and hiking the desert and it just doesn’t get old.

While riding the trails at dusk we passed a saguaro with a Harris hawk at its nest.

The Harris Hawk is an interesting bird of prey in that they hunt cooperatively in packs. They are referred to as “wolves of the sky”.

We took a break from riding and flew to Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving with our son and his family.

While visiting we got a taste of the weather we’re escaping.

It was touch and go with the weather but we did make it back to Phoenix in spite of the airport delays.

On our first day back at camp we decided to take a short hike along the Vista Trail.

After our hike we drove over to the Tonto National Forest and the Salt River where wild horses can be seen. We didn’t see any horses this trip but it’s always magical to be around water while in the desert.

Phoenix has many wonderful museums to explore. This trip we stopped at the Phoenix Museum of Art. We were drawn there by a special exhibit called “Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists From Japan”.

Tanka Yu- Bag Work, glazed Shigaraki stoneware

Yes. This is made of clay. We kept returning to this piece in awe of the skill that was required to create this sculpture.

Tanka Tomomi- Dream Flight, porcelaneous stoneware

Back at camp we filled our final days at Usery Mountain Park hiking, biking and birdwatching.

These lovebirds are not native to Phoenix but descendants of escaped pet birds. Local legend holds that the birds escaped from an overturned delivery truck bound for a pet store. Regardless of how they showed up they are thriving in Phoenix.

We’ve had a lovely stay but it’s time to head back to Tucson.

Jeykell Island-Biked It, Liked It

Jekyll Island is a barrier island on the southern coast of Georgia. The island is 7miles long and 1 1/2 miles wide with 24 miles of bicycle trails. The island was purchased by the state in 1947 and it became a state park the next year. We booked a camping spot in the only campground on the Island.

The island was given its name by James Oglethorpe, the English general who was responsible for establishing an English colony in Georgia. He named it after his friend and financial supporter Sir Joesph Jeykell.

Apparently, there’s a place for Shelly on the island

We spent most days biking the paths around the island.

One side of the island faces the Atlantic Ocean with lots of accessible beaches. While we didn’t have many “beach” days we did make time to be on the water.

Driftwood Beach is a popular destination on the island.

In the late 1800’s, the island became a private hunting club for some of the wealthiest families in the world (1/6th of the world’s wealth was controlled by club members). In 1886 the Jeykell Island Club was built as the club’s clubhouse.

Some of the families built cottages near the Clubhouse when they felt that the clubhouse could not adequately provide for their families needs.

The entrance to Hollybourne Cottage-1890

The members also constructed an interfaith chapel, Faith Chapel, for members use.

The Chapel was adorned with a lovely signed Tiffany stained glass window

Sandwiched into the historic district of Jekyll Island is the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Distressed and damaged sea turtles are rescued and nursed back to health and later released. A worthy endeavor that’s worth checking out.

When Jekyll Island opened as a state park in 1948 all of Georgia’s citizens were not welcomed to the new park. Because of segregation African Americans could not visit many parts of the island, including its beaches. In 1950 African Americans from nearby Brunswick requested a portion of the island for their enjoyment. The state designated an area at the south end of the island for their use. St. Andrew’s Beach was the only beach in Georgia open to black Georgians.

Coincidentally, Saint Andrews Beach is also where “The Wanderer“ arrived off the coast of Georgia in 1858. The ship was one of the last documented ships carrying illegal African slaves to America. The trans Atlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1807.

While we’ve traveled the south many times we have never visited one of the area’s plantations. A short distance from Jekyll Island is the Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation State Historic Site.

The property was purchased and the plantation established in 1806. By 1849 the plantation was using 357 slaves to cultivate 7,300 acres of rice. It was through the blood and sweat of these enslaved people that converted this cypress swamp into a profitable rice plantation.

Former slave/sharecropper housing for two families

The last family member died in 1973 and left the property to the state of Georgia with a trust to preserve the site for posterity.

While there is plenty to explore in the area we’re feeling the need to move on. We hear Savannah calling.

South Bound- January in Florida

While Florida may not be our favorite destination we decided to begin our winter travels by visiting with our numerous relatives and friends that are scattered around the state.

We started out at one of our favorite Florida State Parks, Anastasia State Park.

This St. Augustine park puts us about 30 minutes from Shelly’s sister Andrea and brother in-law Jeff.

What we love about this park is the easy access to its undeveloped five mile shoreline. It’s a great beach for walking and at low tide bike riding.

As beautiful as this stretch of undeveloped shoreline is, it has not been safe from development. Ron DiSantis, the governor, has proposed building a lodge, high rise condos and a golf course here. So far, local residents have rallied enough support to beat back this plan.

Florida weather in January can be iffy. This January it’s been colder than we remember from past visits. Biking and walking the beach have been a chilly affair. We decided to do a side trip Palatka and checkout the Ravine Gardens State Park.

This 152 acre park contains steelhead ravines surrounding a spring fed stream. Unlike ravines that are created by surface erosion, steelhead ravines are the result of seeping underground water which undercuts the sandy slopes and causing them to collapse.

In 1933 the city of Palatka decided to turn the ravines into a formal garden. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) got to work transforming the ravines into formal gardens.

The slopes of the ravines were heavy planted with over 40,000 azalea plants and two suspension bridges were built for viewing the plantings.

The city of St. Augustine has an interesting history and is always a fun place to wander. We started our wandering in the historically black neighborhood of Lincolnville.

The Lincolnville Museum & Cultural Center

The museum focuses on the vibrant African American community that thrived in St. Augustine. Definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in St. Augustine. (They don’t allow photography in the museum.)

The centerpiece of the college is the former luxury hotel Ponce de Leon. The hotel was built in 1888 by railroad magnate Henry Flagler and is now listed as a National Historic Landmark.

Adjacent to the state park is the St. Augustine Amphitheater. The parking lot of the amphitheater hosts a popular Saturday Farmer’s Market. Whenever we are camping we check the market out. During this visit we were greeted with a large red, white and blue striped tent.

It turned out that a circus was in town. We love the circus and snagged a couple of seats for their final performance.

We enjoyed all the performers; the clown, the juggling, the Ring Master, acrobatics and feats of strength, but “Lady Beast” had a unique act that got our attention.

Camping at Anastasia State Park is always a pleasure but we were ready to continue south on the Florida peninsula.

We moved to Wickham Park in Melbourne Florida. This was just a place holder for us while we went to visit our friends Bill and Sandy in Vero Beach.

From Melbourne we travelled further south to Jupiter and Johnathan Dickinson State Park.

Johnathan Dickinson is Florida’s largest state park in Southeast Florida. The park offers a variety of activities from hiking, biking or paddling along the Loxahatchee River which runs through the park.

We shared the trails with some of the local residents.

One of Pat’s high school friends, Lynne, lives in Jupiter and stopped by to spend the day. In addition, Bill and Sandy brought ther camper to the park to spend a few days. We booked a boat tour of the Loxahatchee River. The weather was cold and windy so we had the boat to ourselves.

We left Jupiter and headed north toward Ormond Beach and Tomoka River State Park hoping for warmer weather.

We lucked out with the weather during a beach visit with Pat’s brother Mike and his wife Donna.

Unfortunately, that warm weather was short lived, replaced with colder temperatures and rain. In between rain showers we managed to get out on our bikes and do some hiking.

Tomoka Point was the location of the Timucua Indian village of Nocoroco. It was the first Indian Village south of St Augustine encountered by the Spanish in 1605. At the time of European contact the Timucua population in Florida was in the tens of thousands. By 1698 exposure to European diseases reduced those numbers to less than 1000. The last known Timucuan died in 1767.

While the weather wasn’t great we enjoyed our time in the park. We then headed to the Gainesville area, a place we’ve never visited. We booked a spot at a private park, Santa Fe River Palms RV Resort. Private parks aren’t our first choice but this one was conveniently located.

The weather in Gainesville did not cooperate during our stay. We needed to disconnect our water for three consecutive nights to avoid damaging our water lines. One morning we awoke to 25 degrees~not the weather we had hoped for. The cold temperatures had us searching for some interesting indoor activities.

The Florida Museum of Natural History is located on the campus of the University of Florida and has an extensive collection of mammalian fossils. The above Mammoth skeleton was uncovered in the Florida panhandle and dates back 10-12,000 years.

Interestingly no land dinosaur bones can be found in Florida. Why? During the time of Dinosaurs, 65 million years ago, Florida was under water.

Part of the museum’s Florida shell collection

Next to the Natural History Museum is the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art. The museum’s ten galleries opened in 1990.

Kehinde Wiley- Margret,Countess of Blessington 2018

Stevan Dohanos- Trailer Park Garden 1951

Even though the weather conditions were not ideal we decided to wander the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens. This 68 acre facility has 24 major collections that are visually accessible along 1 1/2 mile paved walkway. This includes the state’s largest public display of bamboos as well as the largest herb garden in the Southeast.

Once we decided to get outside and do some hiking and biking regardless of the temperature; we chose Paynes Prairie and headed out.

The prairie in Paynes Prairie is a large Floridian highlands freshwater marsh. The park’s 22,000 acres has 270 species of birds, a herd of bison and wild horses descended from horses brought to Florida by early Spanish explorers. The park also has eight trails for hiking and biking.

Pat’s mother, Betty, visited Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park and was quite taken with the experience. Her experience motivated us to visit. This old Florida homestead was MK Rawlings home in the 1930’s where she wrote her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The “Yearling”. The park consists of her home, farmyard and trails.

Relaxing on the porch of the hired hands cabin

On our last day in Gainesville we made a quick trip to Devil’s Millhopper Geological State Park. The park consists of a 120 foot deep sinkhole with 132 stairs leading to an observation platform. While sinkholes are common in Florida, Devil’s Millhopper is unique in that it exposes 100 feet of rock layers for study.

Part of the walking trail around the sinkhole

We enjoyed our stay in Gainesville in spite of the cold temperatures. There is plenty we missed and would return on our next visit to Florida.

Desert Trails- Final Dispatch

Unforeseen circumstances required us to stay put in Tucson for an extra month. The extra month allowed us to continue our desert explorations and enjoy the friendships we’ve made during our stay. We were happy to get more time to bike the nearby desert trails.

Tim, Brian and Sue entering the quirky Fred’s Arena for dinner.

When we travel it’s always fun to meet people from around the country. Two years ago we met fellow Airstreamers Noelle and Andy. While they were in Tucson we hooked up for a hike in the Saguaro National Monument.

We chose the Sendero Esperanza trail.

Tucson is home to a number of museums. While we’ve visited many of them over the years we’ve not made it to The Mini Time Museum of Miniatures. The museum features lots of doll houses, old and new, but we visited to see a special exhibit; The Pencil is Mightier: Art on the Tip of a Pencil by Salavat Fidai.

The extra month also gave us an opportunity to hike the desert under a full moon, no flashlight needed. It was as a unique experience. These photos were taken at around 8:00 pm.

Shelly had another unique experience during our stay, a visit to the mobile barber (El Royo) that was set up next to our local Speedway gas station. The proprietor says he is one of three mobile barbers operating in Tucson.

The Sonoran Desert always draws us back to Tucson. The appeal of Desert Trails RV Park, besides the friends we’ve made, is the easy desert access. We’ll be heading East but we’re sure the call of the desert will have us back in Tucson before long.

Desert Trails- Dispatch 3

Part of our motivation for staying in Tucson was to attend the Tucson Jazz Festival and the city’s Gem and Mineral Show. Our extended stay also gave us a chance to wander downtown Tucson and checkout its many murals.

Most of the shows we attended for the Jazz Festival took place in the Century Room, a relatively new, two year old club in the Congress Hotel.

This is a world class jazz venue that offers music almost nightly. We enjoyed everything we saw at the club and the Old Fashions were tasty.

On of the great things about jazz festivals (besides the music) is meeting and connecting with fellow fans. This trip we met a terrific couple from Los Angeles, Rob and Fumiko. We hung out, went to dinner and enjoyed their company.

We also attended some terrific shows in some of Tucson’s larger music venues.

The Emmitt Cohen Trio at the Rialto Theatre

We enjoyed two shows at the restored Fox Tucson Theatre.

Blue Note Quintet featuring Gerald Clayton, Joel Ross, Matt Brewer, Immanuel Wilkins, and Kendrick Scott

It was a phenomenal week of music. The festival got us downtown almost daily which gave us an opportunity to checkout downtown’s many murals.

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show is an annual event that draws thousands of visitors from around the world. The event is billed as the world’s largest gem and mineral show and we believe it. It’s been on our “to do” list for a while and this year we made it happen.

An African Village was set up in tents on a large parking lot. This is where vendors from Africa set up shop.

It’s an overwhelming experience to wander through the exhibits. After about four hours our eyes glazed over and knew it was time to move on. Meanwhile, back at camp the the Sunday music program continued full speed ahead.

In between all the music we continue to enjoy the stunning Arizona sunsets.

Desert Trails- Dispatch 2

We decided to try something different during this visit to Tucson. Instead of moving around we’ve put down roots at the RV park for an extended stay. Being in the same place for an extended time has allowed us to do more socializing and more completely explore this section of Tucson. We were even able to have the Tincan washed and waxed during our stay.

Pat has decided to take up painting with watercolors as a way to channel her creativity and create a record of our desert stay.

It has become apparent to us during this trip that Arizonans of a certain age enjoy going out to hear live music and dance. Always on the lookout for local music venues we have found a few we enjoy.

Jimmy Carr and the Awkward Moments @ The Congress Hotel

Kevin Pakulis Band @ Borderlands Brewing

All the bands have been different, good and playing danceable music. While it’s been fun to go out on the town it’s the desert that keeps calling us.

We’ve also continued to take our Wednesday morning 1 1/2 mile walk up Tumamoc Hill.

We’ve run into a spate of windy, cold and wet weather. This was not what we came to Arizona for. However, Pat found a spot 22 miles southeast of Tucson where it’s always dry and 70 degrees. Colossal Cave Mountain Park has an ancient karst cave that is classified as a dry cave. What this means is that the cave formations are dry and do not grow. The cave was discovered in 1876 and has had its stalactites and stalagmites, broken off and carted away. In 1933 the CCC came to the cave and built outbuildings, stairs, and laid out park roads. Today the cave is part of a Pima County park.

After a short hike we entered the cave.

During our last visit to Tucson we saw flyers announcing the arrival of the Zoppe Family Circus. Who doesn’t love a one ring circus in a tent? We had to leave Tucson and didn’t attend. This year we made it happen.

This was done about 30ft above the floor, no net

Twenty five miles south of Tucson is the Titan Missile Museum. It is the site of a former intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silo which was operational from 1963 to 1984. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in1994. The inert missile is the only one you can still see in its original silo.

The missile carried one W53 warhead with a yield of 9 megatons. For comparison, the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of 15 kilotons.

Most of the tour took place underground and culminated in the control room with a simulated missile launch.

Perhaps a rainbow is in order after contemplating the Titan missile and the mutually assured destruction, that it guaranteed.

I’m not sure why, but winter sunsets in the desert are beautiful and we never get tired of them.

Desert Trails- Dispatch 1

We’ve moved out of one of our favorite state parks and into a private RV park where we can stay for awhile. While our new site is not as scenic as the one in the state park it does have its charms.

About those charms. We are a short walk to a nice private shower and a laundry room. Very convenient. Our site comes with water, electric and a sewer hookup. In addition, our monthly fee works out to be less per day than the state park. The other residents (?!) are friendly and many enjoy organizing activities in the park. The music committee brings in a band twice a month. The first band this month was the Hot Club of Tucson and they were terrific.

The real charm of the park comes from its proximity to Tucson Mountain Park. This Pima county park is 20,000 acres and has 62 miles of non-motorized shared use trails. A short walk or bike ride will put you on the trails.

What causes this rare mutation remains a mystery. Speculation points to freezing as a trigger which may initiate the process. Regardless of the cause they are a treat to behold.

Whenever we find ourselves in Tucson we make a point to visit the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) located on the campus of the University of Arizona.

The CCP was established in 1975 and houses the full archives of some of our favorite photographers, W. Eugene Smith, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Harry Callahan, and Gerry Winogrand. The current exhibits featured the work of W. Eugene Smith.

A Walk to Paradise Garden, 1946 by W. Eugene Smith

White Rose Sign, 1957-1958 by W. Eugene Smith

There was also a large exhibit of work by contemporary Korean photographers.

The Pink Project- Jeeyoo and Her Pink Things, Seoul, South Korea, 2007 by Yoon JeongMee

The Blue Project 1-Kihun and His Blue Things, Seoul, South Korea, 2007 by Yoon JeongMee

We joined a group of fellow RVers that hikes Tumamoc Hill every Wednesday morning and then eats lunch together. The 1 1/2 mile hike up the hill is a steep and grueling walk to the top.

But in the final analysis being here is all about the desert.

In For the Long Haul

We left Phoenix and headed to Tucson where we plan on spending the majority of our winter. Our first stop is Catalina State Park in the Oro Valley, north of downtown Tucson. The park is in the shadow of the Santa Catalina Mountains and encompasses 5,500 acres of foothills, canyons and riverbeds with more then 150 bird species making the park home. While the park is surrounded by development, you wouldn’t know it once your settled into the park.

It didn’t take long for the clouds and rain to follow us down from Phoenix.

The park offers ample opportunities for hiking and biking.

A view of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the Nature Trail

After an early dinner we grabbed our headlamps and headed up to the Nature Trail for a sunset walk.

With the Thanksgiving holiday approaching we flew out to spend it with our son’s family. We always enjoy spending time with them.

After a thankfully uneventful flight we returned to Catalina State Park. The next morning we hiked up an unnamed trail that takes you to Rams Canyon.

At one end of the Bridle trail is the trail head for the Montrose Pools just off the Canyon Loop. We combined the two hikes for a 3.5 mile jaunt through the desert.

Needless to say the pools were dry. On previous visits in the spring we have seen water here.

We enjoyed our time scrambling on the boulders before heading out to walk the Canyon Loop.

At the opposite end of the Bridle Trail is the trail head for the 50 Year Trail. This is a rugged mountain biking trail that begins with a steep accent. Over the years we’ve attempted to ride up without success. Regardless, we try to do it on every visit. This year Shelly successfully made it to the top. He attributed the success to a new bike with a more accommodating gear ratio, not to being two years older since his last attempt.

We always enjoy our visits to the park, but they only let you stay for two weeks. We’ll be moving to a private RV park on the south side of the city where we can stay as long as we want.

Megalopolis

We left the Sedona area and headed toward Phoenix. It was with some trepidation that we headed to the valley that is the city of Phoenix where approximately 1.6 million people reside. The valley is surrounded by mountains where you can find some of the nicest county parks we’ve had the pleasure to stay in. We reserved eleven days in Usery Mountain Regional Park in Mesa, Arizona. It’s a great park for hiking and biking in the Sonoran Desert.

Mesa is located in the East Valley and has had double digit growth since 2010 giving the city a population of just under 500,000. If it’s growth continues at its current rate of 13.3%, in a few years it will surpass Tucson as Arizona’s second largest city.

The Mesa Arts Center is an impressive complex of galleries, performance spaces and art studios. On Thursday they present a lunch time concert series.

William Clipman (percussion) and R. Carlos Nakai (Native American flute)

The galleries featured three exhibitions; Just Cause: The power of contemporary art in social engagement, Facing the Giant: 3 Decades of Dissent- Shepard Fairey and Gift In The Rapture- Caledonia Curry (Swoon).

Hero from the Spiritual Security series 2016 by Alexi Torres

Thalassa, 2022 by SWOON /Caledonia Curry

We’ve long admired the work of Shepard Fairey but have not seen his originals. We weren’t disappointed.

Usery Mountain Regional Park encompasses 3,600 acres with elevation ranges from 1,700 to 2,750 feet and contains a large variety of plants and animals with great birding opportunities. The park features miles of bike trails for every skill level and we spend most of our time in the park exploring those trails. There are two trails that are geared to hikers, the Pass Mountain Trail and the Wind Cave Trail.

Taking a break from biking we laced up our hiking boots and headed to the Pass Mountain Trail and it’s Vista Point, about 4.5 miles round trip.

In between biking and hiking, we found time to visit the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. The Garden features a wide assortment of cacti as well as a gallery for rotating art exhibitions.

The Garden was presenting a large exhibition of the work of Columbian artist Fernando Botero.

One hot afternoon we decided to drive to the Salt River in the Tonto National Forest to see if we could find the wild horses that live along the river.

One of three horses we saw crossing the river

Phoenix is the home of the Heard Museum. The museum features the work of Native American artists, both traditional and modern. The featured exhibition was “Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael”. It was ironic that we came to Phoenix to see work from a gallery in Ontario, Canada. The exhibit featured both historical and contemporary work from throughout Canada.

Hamat’sa Crooked Beak Mask, 2005 by Henry Speck Jr.

Whale and Pook-UbS Transformation Mask, 2002 by Art Thompson

Taksam (left) by Beau Dick and Eagle Spirit (right), 1995 by Simon Dick

While getting around Phoenix can be problematic, it’s an area that has a lot to offer. From great art museums, botanical gardens, restaurants, and local breweries, we’ve enjoyed our stay. We haven’t even mentioned the great regional and state parks that offer outstanding hiking and biking opportunities in addition to the sunsets.

At the end of our stay we experienced a meteorological phenomenon that we had not experienced in Phoenix before. Heavy cloud cover all day. A touch of Buffalo in the desert.