Monday, February 13, 2012 (Travel to Catalina State Park, Tucson, AZ)

We were up and at it early this morning...after showering and a quick breakfast, Steve headed outside to get started on his pack-up while I started on the inside.  It was close to 10:00 by the time we were all hooked up and ready to go.  After big hugs, we said our goodbyes to Dennis, Suzanne and Dunkin and were on our way.  My concerns about getting out of our site were unfounded as Steve (with direction from Dennis) manoeuvred out onto the street and around the corner...it was tight but he had no issues.

One more corner to manoeuvre around and it was straight-going out the gate...no problems...we were on our way to highway 60 west where we then caught Interstate 10 east towards Tucson.  It was a beautiful sunny day...a great travel day....bye-bye Phoenix...

We passed this being transported (you see a lot of military vehicles being transported on the US highways)....it's called an MRAPS (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) Armored Vehicle...

This is Picacho Peak...there is also a State Park here that we may have to check out sometime...

We pulled into Catalina State Park shortly before 12:30.  We stopped at the gate where a friendly fellow asked if we had reservations...yes we do; thank goodness...the campground was completely booked.  We were only able to get a site for 4 nights, so if we want to stay longer, we will have to go to the overflow area if a site does not become available on Friday.  It’s a nice area with lots of hiking trails and other things to see in the area...so we just may want to stay longer...we’ll have to see.

Site A43 is a nice long (95’) site and was very easy to back into.  We got levelled off and unhitched and after a bite to eat for lunch, I gave the inside a good vacuuming and then set everything up while Steve got all set up outside.  I was all finished before Steve...who was dusting the truck and trailer.  There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow so he figured it would be a good idea to get the fine dust off...otherwise it would be a big mess. 

After he was all finished that, we unloaded the bikes.  We thought that the bikes looked like they were leaning on quite  an angle...that’s when we noticed (as we took off the cover) that the main support pole is breaking...great!  Wouldn’t that have been wonderful if it had snapped as we were travelling down the Interstate??!!  I guess we will either have to find someplace to have it welded or buy a whole new bike rack.

We went for a bike ride around the campground next door...this is a picture of our rig from campground B (we're in campground A)...

The mountains are just beautiful...

...and then down to the equestrian staging area (this is a huge area with stables for people to bring their own horses).  I thought this was the place where we would take horse ride tours from...but apparently that is back by the main entrance to the park. 

After riding back down to the main road and then back to campground A (where we are), it was time to relax in the late afternoon sunshine with a cocktail before heading in.

A fellow that we had met earlier stopped by...Don is from Sacramento, California and gave us a couple of suggestions for places to see in the area.  By the time he left it had cooled off considerably, so we headed inside.

We are looking forward to exploring this area...