Gilbert Ray CG
It was 45F in here at 7AM; 29F outside. We love listening to Acoustic Cafe on Friday morning, but this time we drank our tea while listening under the covers. The little furnace has been quieter of late and got it up to 70ish in about one hour.
Our predicament is that we are currently at about 2200’ elevation; while our plumbing can survive the high 20s, we don’t want to gamble on anything lower. And, the terrain only gets higher as we head southeast. El Paso is 3,740’, and the pass over the continental divide on the way there is 4580’, so it will be much colder up there. Warmer weather is forecast; we are dragging our feet to take advantage of it.
Both of us went out for bike rides this afternoon. The continuing stiff winds and the relatively higher elevation make us feel totally out of shape. Which, in fact we are, but I rode less than three miles in a little over 10 minutes with hardly any hills and I was sucking for air. Penny had the same experience at her pace. Soon we’ll be back to sea level; then we will see what kind of shape we are in.
A couple days ago we hoped to see the sunset from Gates Pass, between Tucson and our campground. But, we got there late and found the last parking space difficult to squeeze into. As a result, we missed it by a minute. Most days, the parking lot is full and the crowds are quite boisterous, as if watching fireworks. People scamper up steep rock cliffs to find a good viewing spot.
Today, we were early and had good choice of parking and viewing spots. The Avra Valley, containing Tucson Mountain Park and Saguaro NP stretches out for miles to the west to another range over which the sun sets. My thought is a good photo directly into that bright sun would be aided by clouds to reflect the light down into the shaded valley. In other words, my photos sucked. But it was an fun experience and we did come away with pre-sundown landscape shots of worth.
We are preparing for a big jump tomorrow, hoping to get to lower elevations and warmer weather. Might be sleeping in truck stops or rest areas tomorrow night. Catch ya later!
Great job PJs!