Travels By Trike: From Tucson, It's Back to Southern California

The time I spent in Tucson was busy. I did a lot of wonderful riding with Dave, Edna and the Tucson Recumbent Cycling group as well as taking care of big city errands.

Tucson, for me, feels much bigger than it actually is. The population is very close to Portlands but seems far bigger. The highways are wide and I found the city to be quite noisy. The noise level is tiring. Davis-Monthan Air Force base has very loud planes taking off and landing all day long. While I was there everyone was talking about how cold it was. Mid-morning temps were in the upper 50's which, for January, didn't seem unreasonable. Most days temps rose to the low 60's. Nice winter riding.

Lovely saguaros

Saguaro National Park

The real draw of Tucson is the Tucson cycling loop. This is 130+ miles of protected cycling paths. I didn't ride all of it but did put in a good amount of miles. My favorite ride was in the Saguaro National Park. I enjoyed it so much that I made reservations to stay in a park campground in April. There were some things I didn't get to do and people I couldn't visit because of Covid. Tucson seemed to be a virus hotbed while I was there. Hopefully, this will calm down by April.

Beautiful Saguaros

I said goodbye to Dave and Edna to head back to California. I had planned to boondock my way and made sure my fresh water tank was full and the black and grey tanks were empty. I had reservations in California at a park close to where friend's Paula and Leslie were staying and had many days to get there. My 1st stop was the Painted Rock Petroglyph campground I had stayed at with Dave and Edna. This time I didn't get my trike out. For $4, this campground is a great deal in a safe and beautiful location.

Painted rock campsite

Painted Rock sunrise

Petroglyph sunrise

The next morning I got up early. This would be a busy day. 1st stop would be Yuma to gas up before crossing the border back into California where gas prices are much higher. The next stop would be Mexico. I had bought a year's worth of medication just a few weeks earlier but it occurred me that I might not be back within a year and decided to stop and pick up a few months more. On my last visit, I learned that the medications I take don't require a doctor's prescription. I only needed to stop into a pharmacy and then go back over the border again.

Blue dot is where I ended up

Herons in the fields

From here, I turned to a boondocking app to find a place to camp for the night. This became a very interesting adventure. The site I put into Google maps was on BLM public lands beside an irrigation canal just a couple of miles off I-8. Google maps took me to the wrong side of the canal which is all agricultural lands. Turning around was precarious on the very poor dirt roads. I got out to where the road was paved and put the coordinates in again. This time Google took me far off-course and I ended up camping at an abandoned air force base. Perhaps Google would have, eventually, taken me to the site I entered but after traveling down dirt roads in, what felt like the middle of nowhere for miles and miles, I decided an old runway would be a fine place to spend the night. Aside from a runway and concrete building foundations there was nothing but sand dunes and scrub as far as the eye could see. The most surprising thing was I had strong phone service. I posted a few pictures of my location to Facebook and someone responded with a link to a page about abandoned military bases that showed this Holtville base hadn't been used since the 1950's. The next super surprising thing was having a car full of woman stop to ask if I had seen a red jeep go by. They said they were out looking for recycling and they often found very interesting things in the desert. Oh boy! I flew the drone and got some nice shots of the desolate landscape.

Abandoned air field sunset

Airstrip sunset

I slept well and took my time getting ready in the morning before driving back down the dusty dirt road through the small agricultural town of Holtville. I again turned to a boondocking app but, this time, found a bonafide primitive campground between the Salton Sea and Julian. There are actually a few campgrounds here but the Yaqui Wash primitive campground is on BLM public lands and doesn't cost anything. The road in was rough and there were some bushes that left minor scratches on my trailer. I'm hoping they will buff out. I pulled into a site that seemed big enough for my trailer before I saw the no camping sign. I should have backed out but, instead, decided to turn the rig around in a circle that was too tight. Today I learned what jack-knifing is and that it is possible for the back of the truck to hit the trailer. A small corner of the trailer tray left a good scratch on the tailgate and another piece of the trailer triangle left a small gouge next to one of the truck bumper sensors. All the damage is cosmetic and it certainly could have been much worse. This was a good lesson and one I hadn't understood before. I continued on down the dirt road and found a very nice site for the night. Again, I had phone service which always makes me feel safer.

Yaqui Wash primitive campsite

Bumper gouge next to sensor

Jack-knife scratch

Leaving the next morning, I did something I've wanted to do for a long time. I used my Skydio 2 drone and had it follow the truck and trailer using just the GPS beacon. This drone doesn't require a screen to fly and I can keep my attention fully on the road. The drone follows a beacon I kept in the truck and it flies autonomously. I only have rough control over the direction and distance the drone flies. It seemed to do well and I felt safe driving while flying - very cool! Of course, I would never do this on a road with other cars.

Drone flying autonomously

Drone photo

Yaqui location

Yaqui camping

I learned that the campground where I'll be staying in San Juan Capistrano, Casper's Wilderness park, doesn't have any water. It uses a well for water and the well has run dry. I decided to stop at a KOA near Temecula to top-off my fresh water tank and empty my black and grey tanks. I was going to be camping at Caspers for 8 nights which would be a good test for how long my fresh water will last while boondocking. I also have 2 5 gallon plastic bags that I filled with water, just in case. Caspers has electricity and a sewer dump but no water.

Vale Lake near Temecula

The KOA in Temecula is gorgeous. They put me in a pull through site that had a view of a valley and Vale Lake. The spot was $39 which I though was a great deal. The site was big, spread out with lots of trees and grass. There were also lots of scrub jays and red headed wood peckers. I don't know much about birds but I really like seeing them. This campground was fantastic and I would certainly stay here again.

KOA camping

The next day I didn't have far to go to reach my next big destination. I would be at Caspers Wilderness park for 8 nights to do lots of cycling with triking friends Leslie and Paula. They know the area well and love to play tour guide. We have been scheming about doing an RV trip across country this summer. I was eager to spend more time with them to make sure we would get along. This is a great area for cycling and the weather was going to be spectacular. We would do rides together, with the Trike Squadron, the Elliptigo cycling group out of San Clemente and more rides with triking friends.