The Giants of the Desert...

 

BigFoot in a Speedo?  Ewww - no.  Yeah, I get it: "giants" and "desert"... but: no.

Of course, I am talking about the saguaro cacti.  If you want to see these, there is no place better than Saguaro National Park.  There are east and west sections of this park, but there are more of 'em in the west section (and more diversity in the east section).  I went west.

I gave myself "an assignment" today: don't shoot any video and try to keep it to 10 photos to show the viewing today.  Yeah, that went out the window when I drove through Tucson Mountain Park on the way to Saguaro National Park... "Look at all those saguaros!  What if Tucson Mountain Park has more of 'em than the National Park?"

Spoiler Alert: they both have a LOT of saguaro cacti!

I couldn't help myself: I shot more than 10 images before I even got to the National Park, and, yeah, I pulled out the DJI Pocket 3.  I shot a BUNCH of videos yesterday on my trek (RoadTrek?) up Mt Lemon.  It took a bunch of time last night to go through all of them.  I have a video arranged, but the upload situation in this outing isn't conducive to getting it posted.  I shot WAY fewer videos today, and all with one camera, so there isn't as much time necessary to getting the footage to match up in editing.  And, I'm going to try to only post 10 still photos of today's outing.  We'll see how that works out.

On with the show: first stop along the way, Tucson Mountain Park...

Yep, they have plenty of saguaros (above), and I do like some curvy roads (below)...

Plenty of things to do around here...

 Into the National Park...

Not just saguaros...

A stop at the Visitors Center...

 Then off to a "scenic loop" (all gravel)...

 

Yeah, that's a couple Jeeps in front of me (above) - the van did just fine, but I did take it slow

 I couldn't do it: that's twelve images, and I wanted to add a bunch more.  Edited down from around 40 images (and I was trying to hold back).

Interesting outing.  Video to come.  Probably.

 

 

The Southern-most Ski Area In the US...

 

My plan for today: breakfast at Waffle House, then go check out Mt Lemon... early, before the heat of the day.

Breakfast was tasty and I plugged Mt Lemon into Apple Maps and headed out... with half of my breakfast in the fridge in the van (which will make a good supper this evening, but I digress).  Mt Lemon is 21 miles away... 43 miles by road; the van doesn't have wings, so by road it is.

You drive through a good portion of Tucson to get out of town.  I have a good sense of direction, but Tucson tends to confuse me, direction-wise.  In GPS and Apple Maps we trust.  I was rolling towards the mountain by 8:30; traffic wasn't bad, but the roads are seriously lumpy.

Once out of town, the views open up...

 This would be a great motorcycle/scooter road - it was quite entertaining in the van, as well.  I did see some motorcycles on the way to the top and back, but there were far more bicyclists.  This road raises around 8,000 feet in elevation, so it would be a real challenge on a bicycle... I got winded walking across the road at a scenic pull-out.  But, the ride down the mountain would be thrilling - there were bicycles that looked to be exceeding the 35 mph speed limit (with the help of gravity); hope they have good brakes!

And speaking of the speed limit, the van pulled up the mountain without breaking a sweat.  I have read lately about some Promaster owners (the van chassis that RoadTrek and many other Class B manufacturers use) feeling like their van is working hard to climb hills.  I had no issue driving the speed limit all the way up the mountain.  I wonder if it is a matter of the older vans having a 6 speed transmission vs the 9 speed transmission in the later models?  The transmission does a good job; I appreciate being able to downshift manually when going down long, steep declines.

Back to the photos:

 I did stop along the way to check out the scenic overlooks; and I drove through a couple of the Forest Service campgrounds (Coronado National Forest): only a few sites that looked "van friendly"... most were tent sites that you'd have to haul your tent and gear from the car/truck/van.  Only a few I saw that would work for an RV, and most of those weren't even close to level.  The roads to the campgrounds were narrow, dips (washes), and trees close to the road...

 Back to the main road, up the mountain...

 A narrow elevation band where saguaro cacti were plentiful.  (I plan to check out more saguaros tomorrow).

 I stopped to get a couple photos of the van...

 I had seen the signs for the Mt Lemon Ski Valley ski area.  I had to look it up: it is the southern-most ski area in the US.  Not sure what their season is, but there was no sign of snow today...

 

Kind of anti-climatic when you get there...

 

There are some homes that look to be near some of the runs.  This is the first I've heard of this ski area.  Down the road from that area, is the small community of Summerhaven...

 I didn't get any photos, but I did shoot some video - to be worked up at another time.  Maybe.  It was a very small community, with a hotel made up of "tiny homes" a few other homes, a restaurant, and a couple gift shops.  I can appreciate the name: it was 67º when I got there (and mid-80s in Tucson at that time of the morning)... a refreshing change from the heat of the lower desert.

Then, back down the mountain...

 And one quick slow-down when some wild turkeys decided to cross the road (presumably looking for the chicken)...

 The only wildlife I saw today, although there were signs to be "Bear Aware" and "Deer Crossing".

I didn't sleep great in the van last night... new bed (well, different bed), and just getting used to where to put things.  I didn't have Joan's great packing skills on this solo outing.

When I got back to the RV park, instead of sitting and working up photos from the bed area in the van, I moved the Lagun table to the front of the van and rotate the passenger seat...

 Easy to do, and the front seats of the van are comfortable; it made for a good work area while getting the photos from this post worked up.  I swing the TV out so I could see it from the front seat, and settled in...

 I will probably visit the hot tub again later today (it was decent for a "public" hot tub... but I do like ours way better... you can't take it all... in fact, in this van, you have to be very selective on what you take).

 

 

Testing the Insta360 Go 3s on a short road trip...

 

 

Insta360 promotes this camera as their "easiest to use, world's smallest 4k camera"... does it live up to the hype?  I gave it a try while out in the van today.

It is easy to set up and use right out of the box.  Auto everything works fine with this camera.  The 4k video is better than the 2.7k video of the Go 3.  Short-comings?  Thanks for asking.  Using it in the van today showed me the biggest issue for my usage: the audio is just OK, and there is no provision for being able to connect an external mic (wired or wireless) to it.  When the van wasn't moving, the audio was OK; introduce some road noise of the moving vehicle, and I had to increase the volume to the max the software could give... which means it also increases the background noise.

Will I still use it?  Probably.  Do I have better alternatives?  Definitely.  The DJI Action 4 and Pocket 3 both have better imaging and work with external microphones.  But, if I ever feel the need to clip a very small camera to a cap or the front of my shirt, this one is hard to beat.  It's a niche.

Here's the video...

 

The feet are itchy...

 

"Have you considered washing your feet once in a while, Jim?"

That might be a consideration - I'll consider that for next month's shower.

Of course, I am talking about my need to go somewhere - not my footal hygiene.  We have topped 100º the last three days here in the Valley of the Sun.  I got the van out this morning, with the consideration of going someplace north, where is would be cooler.  Apparently, the rest of the desert dwellers were ahead of me on this thought... checking several locations in Sedona and other high country: no RV sites to be had.

Before going to get the van, on our morning outing, Murphy and Dicha got to have over 20 minutes together...

 Yes, Murph's paw was going up, as a potential defense move.  No claws out, nor any hissing.  Dicha seems fascinated by this huge creature.  So far, both are doing better than I expected with this inter-species friendship.

After cleaning up, Joan and I went to get the van...

 First order of business: get the pick RV antifreeze out of the lines and holding tank.  That takes a while, and several flushes of the fresh water tank.  In the meantime, the water looks a bit foamy...

 With the gray and black tanks getting full, it was time to try out the sewer connection at the house...

 While not designed for RV use, having a macerator pump on the RoadTrek means we can create pressure to make the waste from those tanks run uphill.  The only thing in the tanks is the now very diluted pink stuff; nothing "sewer-ish."

I put some bleach in the fresh water tank, but the system is going to need some use and more flushing.  I was hoping to get out today, but it was hot - and not finding a place to land in the higher elevations, I decided an early start tomorrow would be better.

But, where to go?  This will be a solo outing for me: first time in months that I've had 3 or 4 days without something on the schedule that would require me to be somewhere at a specific time.  Joan suggested going to Tucson instead of heading north... while it will still be in the 90s the next few days in Tucson, there is a great RV park there we like, and opportunities for some interesting day-trips out of that location.

Reservations made, stuff gathered, photo/video gear loaded.  It's been a long time since I've done a solo outing.  And 90s for daytime highs will be better than 100s.

 

The Full Moon...

 

April's full moon is known as the "Pink Moon."

Why?  Thanks for asking.  The April full moon is called the "Pink Moon" not because of its color, but because it coincides with the blooming of the pink moss phlox (also known as creeping phlox) in early spring, a flower native to eastern North America. 

Hey, I don't make up these names, I just report 'em.

A thin layer of clouds as the moon came up this evening...

 It made for a hazy look.  Catching it a few minutes later...

 As crisp as I could get it this evening; the clouds make for a bit of diffusion.

This full moon is a "micromoon;" while it won't appear pink, this month's full moon will look slightly smaller and dimmer in the night sky because the moon will be farthest from Earth, also known as apogee.  According to experts (not me), this moon will appear "6% smaller due to it being further from the Earth in its orbit."

The Pitter-Patter of Little Feet...

 

Steph and Dan get to have their new Guide Dog puppy for the weekend - it is being initially raised by another member of their group (the couple who had Rubina before she was transferred to Steph and Dan).  This other couple likes to have puppies to train, and it is better that they do the housebreak training, since eventually this new girl will go to work with them.

On with the photos: our first view, when Steph brought her around to our yard...

 Yes, Murphy is bigger than Dicha (the new girl).  She is barely 9 weeks old, so she will be growing quickly.  She is a little cutie!

Murph was curious and not a bit aggressive (like he has been with the bigger dogs) - I think will be good for both of them...

 

Nose to nose, no hissing or yipping; good start.  Dicha will grow fast from this point.  It will probably be a month or so that Steph and Dan will have her weekends.  During the week, they have Elsie, who they have puppy sat before (and the one Murphy chased all around the yard - she is a lot bigger now).  I won't be surprised if Dicha is as big or even bigger than Murph when she comes back next weekend.  For now, they will do the "weekend exchange" for a few weeks; it is good for the dogs to have different social experiences.