This is Really Cool!

We're counting you!

Have you ever hit that little button up in the corner of your screen that says 'Next Blog'? It takes you to a random blog. Makes for REALLY interesting reading!

I've noticed that a lot of these blogs have counters on them. It would be really interesting to see how many hits we get on our little section of the web. So, after some research, I found out how to add one of these counters, free! (www.sitemeter.com if you're interested.) Now, I'm not a computer guy by any means, and this might not be news (or exciting) to the more computer savvy among you. I was amazed at the number of visits in the 3 days the counters been up!

In the past 3 days, we've had over 100 visits to our blog and around 45 unique visitors! We're even going global, we have two readers in Australia! I've mapped most of the unique visitors in the map, but its starting to get crowded!

We started the blog primarily for family and friends to keep track of us as we moved around the country. We had no idea that readership would be like this! The web is an amazing place.

So, thanks to everyone for visiting and taking the time to read our ramblings (avg visit time is 3.5 minutes, now I'm turning into a computer geek!) This definitely will keep us motivated to keep the blog current, TRY to keep it interesting and include a lot of pictures. We always enjoy the comments and e-mails we receive as well, keep them coming!

Thanks again!

-Rich-

A Rough Weekend of Hiking!

It's great to have an internet connection because we can update our blog on a regular basis. On Saturday we drove up to Joshua Tree National Park. We hiked the Skull Rock Trail. There are some amazing rock formations in the park.

Here we used the self-time feature of the camera. The top of our hiking sticks come off and can act as camera stand, cool feature we found by accident!



Yesterday we finally made it to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. We had planned to go there the last time we were here, but we got sick instead. It was very warm 77 (25C) at the bottom, but it was a chilly 58 at the top, a quick 2.5 mile trip. What's cool is that the tram car floor rotates, so everyone gets a view of the valley floor, or the mountain above.



Once we got to the top we were at over 8500' above sea level. The air was crisp and chilly. There were several hiking trails to choose from, but only two could be taken without getting a wilderness permit. We chose the Desert View trail, which is 1.5 miles long. When we were half-way through, we came upon a group that had just climbed the mountain, a 5.5 mile trek up that took them 8 hours. Wow! The great thing about the trail we took was that it had many vistas from which to look down and see the valley floor.


Later that evening we hung out with Rick, Susan, and Helen. Rick had just returned from a day of watching a NASCAR race. Susan was making a vegetarian curry, which I got to try and found to be quite tasty. They made me try a naturally sweetened (fruit, not sugar) peanut butter cookie. What a rough life I lead!

Today, we will make our way down to San Diego for the next week. Looking forward to visiting the Temecula Valley wine region and the zoo! Look for updates soon!



BTW, that rock that rock over my shoulder that looks like it could squish me any minute, probably could have! It was literally perched on top of that rock, you could have pushed it over with the help of a few people!

A nice park and a great evening, but where to go next?

This sure is a beautiful park! The picture you see above is the entrance to the park.

Yesterday we spent a relaxing day around the motorhome. We spent the day getting stuff done around the motorhome. I went grocery shopping because we desperately needed it. Later that evening Rick, Sue and Sue's friend Helen took us to a wonderful seafood restaurant and street fair in downtown Palm Springs. Thom Racina was there signing books, so I bought one. Who is Thom Racina, you ask? He's a local author that lives in Palm Springs. He's also the former head writer for "General Hospital", responsible for the "Luke & Laura wedding" storyline. Rich bought a wooden kokapelli guy to hang in our bathroom, which is quickly becoming kokapelli-land.

Yesterday we also started talking about where to go next. We know that we want to stay in San Diego for a week to see the zoo and other things. (Ideas?) So, I made reservations at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve for the first week of March. Our next stop is the FMCA rally in Pamona, California, about 15 miles west of L.A. We need to be there March 18. But the question is where to go between leaving San Diego on March 7 and Pamona on the 18th. We don't want to go more than a day's drive away. Any ideas?

Snuggles Has a LOT to Learn!

Snug had the opportunity to meet another new friend!

Snug has always had an advantage over the other birds she has met. Snug has either met birds that didn't come out of their cage, weren't taken for walks around campgrounds, never went for bike rides and of course are NEVER as cute as Snug!

However, Snug met her match today!

Here is Laura and Snug with Max, the Yellow Naped Amazon, and his owner Rita!


One of the first things you'll notice is max is waving with his left foot. He does this anytime anyone points a camera at him! Some others were out taking pictures and he waved for every one of them.

Max also lets anyone touch him, pick him up and play with him. If you've met snuggles, you know strangers are NOT allowed to touch her! I think Snug was realizing what she was missing out on as Max was passed around and loved and Scrithched by everyone.

Finally, Max has a vocabulary of around 300 words and is quite the showman! He can do 'the bomb', bark like a dog, cat noises, sing songs just to name a few. Here is a video I found on Animal Planet, not Max, but his vocabulary and responses to his owners questions are every bit of this bird! Max could give this bird a run for his money!

Maybe Snug did learn something from this encounter. Here she is contemplating her experience with Max and the possibility of letting strangers play with her!

-Rich-

Goin' Back to Cali!

I'm not sure if it was the need to get out of Tucson, a change in scenery (need to see something green!) or just a need to drive, but we made it the 410 miles from Tucson to Desert Hot Springs in 1 day! The hour that we picked up crossing over from Mountain to Pacific time helped. I know that dosen't sound like much to our non RV'er readers, but when your driving your house, thats a lot!

We made it to Catalina Spa RV Resort (link to their home page) before post work traffic kicked in! Our full-timer friends Susan and Rick (a link to their website), who we met here on our last visit, via our blog (the web makes the world a really small place!), greeted us on arrival. We are set up next to them and are sharing their internet connection, Thanks, guys! Anyway, this is a members only park. Susan and Rick got us in for 5 days for $25 (the budget really appreciates that!) We have to listen to the membership sales pitch, but it could be a potential for us, they have parks all over the country and prices around 7-10 dollars a night. We will let you know how that goes later.

After checking in, setting up and chatting with Rich and Susan, we set off for some local mexican to refuel. On return we drove around and checked out the campground, nice place. We found the natural spring pool and hot tub, oh yeah!

We've been cooking ourselves in the tub at the park in Tucson, but between the chlorine and the extreme dryness of the area (they actually have a negative dew point, like -4 degrees, how does that happen??) it made it not so fun for your skin the next day. Here, they use their own hot spring well to fill the pool and tub. The water was around 100 degrees and completly changes over many times per day. The water was buttery smooth and no chlorine smell. I''m sure this will the perfect way to finish a day of hiking in Joshua Tree, which we will problay hit in the next day or two. It sure was the perfect way to finish a long day of driving!

-Rich-

Route Update

OK, OK, OK!

First, let me say the route posted for the next few month's does NOT have all the places in it we plan on stopping, just some of the highlights.

We usually never pass by any National Parks without stopping. At the start of the trip, we purchased the annual National Parks Pass and added the Golden Eagle option. This gives you access, besides the NP's, to any land or attractions managed by the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Services or Bureau of land Management. I originally thought the pass was overpriced. But, we have put it to good use, and we have not even hit the big stuff yet!

So, here's an updated map with a few additions. Thanks for the suggestions, keep em' coming! But, hey Karen M, lay off OK ;)


One exciting place (at least for us!) I probably should have included is the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, UT , just east of St George (click the link to check them out). I'm not really sure how Laura found this, but we are both looking forward to visiting them and doing a little volunteer work with the animals (especially the birds)!

We are here in Tucson until Tuesday morning, when we pack up and head to Desert Hot Springs. This will be a two day trip with a Wal-Mart stop in between. Look for updates on the Tramway and Joshua Tree NP once we arrive!

Again, keep the suggestions, emails, and comments coming, (but Karen M, one comment per post please !) it lets us know people are reading, and hopefully enjoying, the blog!

-Rich-

Arizona's Been Good Too Us.......

....but we are looking forward to moving on!

We made it through January and February with sun just about everyday, temps from 65 to 85 and dust, dust and more dust. We are both looking forward to seeing some green again!

We have adjusted the plan, ever so slightly. We were going to head up to the Pacific Northwest after hitting wine country. However, we want to spend some quality time in Utah(especially Moab!), but don't want to hit it in June or July when it will be too hot to enjoy the outdoors. So, after wine country we are going to cut across CA, through Nevada and over to Utah.

After Utah, we'll make our way up into the Pacific Northwest for June/July then make our way to Colorado via Montana and Wyoming, but that's for later.

So, here is an updated look at places we plan on hitting for the next couple of month's:


Here are some of the highlights:

(Disclaimer, all dates are tentative and subject to change, based on how well things are going in a particular area!)

• Leaving Tucson on Tuesday 21st and heading back over to Desert Hot Springs for a week or 2. Returning for a number of reasons. First, our full-timer friends Susan and Rick have a coupon for us to visit the park they are staying in for 5 days for $25.00! We have to listen to the 'presentation' but don't mind. We look forward to seeing Rick and Susan again as well! Second, we both had the flu on our last visit (December) and missed hiking in Joshua tree and the Tramway. Finally, my uncle Dan has some property in Joshua tree and is going to be in the area at this time, we look forward to spending some time with him as well!

• From Palm Springs, we'll head over to San Diego. Mostly to see the zoo. I have always wanted to visit the San Diego zoo, but never had the opportunity.
• Then over to Pamona Ca for the FMCA Rally. This rally is huge, thousands of RV's. All the manufacturers reps are there, seminars, meetings, happy hour and potlucks. It should be fun!
• A quick stop in Santa Barbara/Santa Ynez to say hi Laura's parents and aunt in the area.
• Paso Robles, wine country! For obvious reasons!
• Monterey, CA for the Sea Otter Classic Mountain bike Festival. One of the largest festivals of its kind. I pretty sure I am actually going to race it this year!
  
• Through San Francisco to say hi to our step sister Leah and Laura's friend Athena.
• Sonoma, more wine country!
• Cut across California, through Nevada, maybe a quick stop in Reno. Over to Salt Lake City. Visit with our friends Karen and Rich.
• Down to St George, Utah. There is an animal sanctuary down there we are going to visit. Will get the name of it later.
• Back up and over to Moab for mountain bikers heaven!

That should put us somewhere around middle to end of May. We'll then begin to make our way up to the Pacific Northwest.

Looking forward to it!

-Rich-

Mountain biking and a hike

Pictures coming next time I have internet....forgot the camera card for uploading. Oops!

Yesterday we got back to Tucson, only this time we're staying at Catalina State park, which is in Oro Valley, about 8 miles north of Tucson. There's a mountain bike trail and several hiking trails here, plus we can't beat the price of only $20 per night. As soon we got all set up in our campsite, we changed into our bike clothes and headed off to do the 50 year trail. The name comes from the fact that the trail is on state land that on lease from the govt. for 50 years, or until 2039. The trail started at the horse campground, and immediately goes up. The first part wasn't too bad because it leveled off after a bit of up. Rich took off so he could do a boy ride, leaving me to continue at my lesurely, slow girl pace. Pretty soon the trail went up again...and up and up and up. I started walking, figuring I could keep walking up for awhile, since it was all down on the way back. The sun was sooo strong that day! I felt like I was baking...and I was because silly me forgot to put on suntan lotion. The temp. was only 77, but it felt a lot hotter. After awhile, I'd had enough up, so I flew back down the hill to the campground. Whew! What a fun ride!

Today we went on a 1.5 hr. hike in the Catalina mountains. I don't know how high we climbed, but we got up pretty high and went about 2.5-3 miles. We'd stop and take in the sites occasionally. At one point, we got to a location where there were supposed to be pools, but since there hasn't been rain here since Oct. 17, the pools were dry. After about 45 minutes of climbing up, I tripped and fell on some rocks, bloodying myself up a bit. Since I was getting pretty tired anyway, we went back down. Whew! My knees were feeling it on the downhill.

Tomorrow we're taking the moho in for a bit of service work, then later in the week, we're getting a recall part installed. The plan is to head over to Palm Springs by Tuesday.

-Laura

Chocolate Train!

Verde Valley Railroad

You know those kiosk you usually find in the lobby of hotels that have brochures of local area attractions? They're usually filled with cheesy tourist things such as 'the biggest ball of string in the world' or things to keep children occupied while on vacation. We usually pass these up. Our campground, here in Tempe, had one these kiosk. While checking in we were glancing through the offerings.

We came across the Verde Valley Railroad. Now anyone that knows us, knows that we could end the Bag-It-Tour right now in Sedona, AZ. IF, it was not for the horribly expensive housing and the nonexistent job offerings! There's something about the Red Rock's and the mountain bike riding that just keep drawing us to the area. Well, the Verde River Valley is located between Cottonwood and Sedona, a train tour through the Red Rocks!

After parking and setting up, we went to their website(you can check it out by clicking the title link above). Since this weekend is Valentines weekend, they were having a special 'Chocolate Lovers' train ride. Can't pass that up! We immediately call their number to make a reservation. To our disappointment, sold out! The operator did suggest we call back later to see if they had any cancellations. That was Monday, so we spent the next few days calling to see if we could get in. On Thursday, SCORE, they had 2 cancellations, and we were in!

Saturday morning we made the 2 hour hike from Phoenix up to Cottonwood. This is considered their 'up north' and I think most of Phoenix heads up for the weekend, traffic was terrible.

The train itself is beautifully restored both inside and out, in a Southwest theme of course!

They had these great outdoor observation cars placed between each coach car. It was windy, so it made the 55 degrees feel a lot cooler then that.

Here we are waiting for the 'tour' to start. We knew it would be chilly up here so dressed appropriatly.

Here is the chocolate plate each couple was presented with at the start of the train. This was a four hour tour, so we had plenty of time to pace ourselves. They also stared you out with a glass of champagne. They also had a full bar aboard and a small buffet of fruit, vegatable, dips, wings and egg rolls to snack on.

The tour starts

The even had a caboose, you just don't see those anymore!

Here is the Verde River

They were not kidding when they said to keep your hands inside the cars. Here we pass through a 680' tunnel carved into the rock. The walls came within 4" of the train at some points!

Here we are deep in the valley

OK, I had to borrow this picture from their website. My digital did not have the lens power to capture the nest, which we did see, unoccupied. Nor was I able to capture the 3 eagles we saw in flight over the Verde River. Truly amazing birds, just awesome seeing them in flight!

View such as this went on and on, for the entire 40 miles of the trip!

-Rich-

Bike Heaven

Titus Cycles Factory Tour!

Most bikes are built and assembled overseas, as most things are now. There a quite a few smaller producers of bikes here in the US. However, only a few of them are willing to take the time to do custom sizing, individual design and handcraft their frames. Titus Cycles in Tempe Arizona is one of them. I've read a number of great things about this companies products and once I test rode one, I knew I had to have one! Mike, the owner of the bike shop I race for, Trails-Edge Cyclery (www.trails-edge.com) is also a big fan of the company and their products. He has always had positive things to say about the customer service they provide. If you can provide great products and back them up with great customer service too, I'm sold!

I was impressed from the start with my bike order. I had the opportunity to talk with the designers and owner about my riding style, what I was looking for performance wise and the design and geometry. They kept us updated, via the bike shop, on the progress and the frame was delivered as promised. The folks over at Titus claims to have an open door policy regarding stopping in for a tour of their facility. Since Laura and I are currently camping 3 miles from them, here in Tempe, we decided to put them to the test!

The building is very nondescript on the outside. Not sure what I expected, maybe a parking lot full of cars with racks of shiny new Titus' on them? People test riding rigs around the building? Oh, but what wonder and amazement await inside!






Walk into lobby and you get what you expect, bikes, frames and offices! However, big disappointment as I look around, people are (gasp) actually working?! The phones are ringing, vendors are waiting, welding, building up, packing and shipping! So much for the dream of working in the bike business and just riding bikes all day ;)



First stop, the machine shop where the raw tubing is prepared for fabrication.















Here we have raw aluminum and ti tubes waiting to be formed into swingarms, head tubes, down tubes chain stays etc....

Each and every tube gets deburred, polished, shaped and welded by hand. Very impressive!



Once the tubes are sized and preped for assembly, its off to the welding room. They didn't have any bikes actually being assembled during our visit. They were doing finishing work, cable guides and bottle mounts. Here is a pic of the swing arm room (rear end of the bike for our non biking readers).







New for 2006, upper portion of the rear swing arm is carbon fiber. I could not convince them to upgrade my bike!! They claim all of this stock is spoken for......sure!





Once all the pieces come together as a frame, its time for quality inspection and decals!







All of these ti hardtails (drool!) are waiting in line for their decals!








Here are moto-Lite front triangles waiting for rear ends!










Here is a recently completed Moto-Lite. If I had the cash, this would probably be the ultimate trail bike out here in the west!








Here is an exogrid frame welded together for display without the carbon fiber inserts. They remove up to 1/3 of ti tube and replace it with carbon fiber. This frame was extremely flexible around the laser cut out areas. Really amazing technology!







Finally, the finished product! Here is my 2005 Exogrid Racer X all tuned and shined up ready to roll.









Here I am on the trails in Phoenix! If your in the area, stop by Titus and get the tour. They are a great group, willing to show you around, even if you don't own a Titus.......yet!!

-Rich-

Mount Lemmon

It's been over a hundred days since Tucson has had any type of rain! Everything here is dead, brown and dusty. We needed to see some trees and something green! We decided to make the drive up Mount Lemmon for change of scenery.


Here is Tucson at the base of 2000' we passed through this awesome forest of cacti that went up the hill as far as you could see. I'm not sure how they held their position as the hill was pure granite! You can see the temp at the base was a very comfortable 69 degrees. (Thanks to Scott, www.donkeyadventure.blogspot.com, for the idea of taking a pic of the car temp!)

Its a 20 mile winding drive up the mountain. Some of the roads went right along the edge. Here is a pic of road and some of the cool rock formations as we made our way up.

We're always keeping an eye out for wildlife. On the way up we stopped at roadside park and caught this roadrunner. The pic is slightly blurry 'cause those things are darn fast!

Here is the view overlooking Tucson from around the 6000' mark.



We finally made our way to the top. It was full of Evergreen, the air smelled wonderful and it was green! The peak is actually at 9,100' but you can only drive as far as the 8,000' mark. It was a little chilly at 42 degrees, but still pretty comfortable with the intensity of the sun! It would have been nice to see a little snow on the ground, but anyway, still a great way to spend the day!

-Rich-