Coasting Uphill

This is a picture of the rugged, dry mountains surrounding part of southern Arizona, the location of our excellent bicycling adventure with  Sojourn Adventures.  

On the day before our trip, my camera quit on me.  I could no longer hold shut the door of the battery compartment with my thumb while pressing the shutter with the pointer finger of my opposite hand--without a lot of shaking. 

It was time for a new camera but who had time. 

So, on the way to the airport I bought a disposable 35 mm--not the greenest thing I've ever done, but it was better than no camera at all.

Fortunately, on the trip I met Sara Ringler, an artist, who takes excellent photos.  Most of these are from her Picassa album. 

Thank you, Sara!

For six days of perfect weather (80 degrees, sunny, dry), in March, we biked through the dramatic countryside of southern Arizona, near Tuscon and the scary Mexican border.

The Saguaro cactus can take up to seventy-five years to grow an arm (!), and can live up to one-hundred-fifty-years.   We biked right passed thousands of them in the Sonoran Desert.  Above is fellow bike rider, Bea, e molto simpatica, who looks like she's stuck to that cactus.

Our bicycling group of 18 stayed at a beautiful hacienda outside of Tuscon.  There we were wined and dined, and margarita'd for two nights.  As a mater of fact on that first night several in our group came down with a stomach bug, including me.

But our fearless leader, Susan Rand, kept us in top form with her healthy lunches and high-energy snacks throughout the trip.

Of the six nights, my favorite place to stay was Rancho de La Osa,

a beautiful outpost in the shadow of the 670-mile-long "fence." 

Located in the high Sonoran Desert southwest of Tucson at the base of the sacred Baboquivari mountains

 and bordering the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation, the 300 year old property is "one of the last great haciendas in America."

Some in our party actually hiked to "The Fence" , as it's referred to in these parts, and were warned away by the ubiquitous border patrol.

Rancho de la Osa is a quiet retreat with a spiritual feel.  It's original architecture and award-winning food has been written up in travel magazines.  It's been used as the setting for a few movies, and is often visited by Hollywood types.  You really should go.



As one of Sojourn's planned activites, we all went horseback riding in the desert.  It took a while to get us all dressed properly and saddled-up, but we did get to see the desert "up close and personal."

But for me, the highlight of the trip was the bicycling. 

There were days, with the wind at our backs and nothing but the clear blue sky up ahead, that if felt like coasting up hill.