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).