After a week on the road I arrived in Tucson, AZ for a reunion with my old university friends Dave and Julie. While it had been nearly three years since I had seen them at their wedding and there was much catching up to do, Dave wasn’t about to let that stand in the way of replacing the new rear tire the camel was in need of. With fancier tools than I and a few delicious Mexican beers to lubricate the process, we had the new tire on in less than an hour.

Dave hard at work

With new shoes on the camel there was nothing stopping us from a beautiful mountain ride. After countless exhilarating switchbacks climbing from Tucson we reached the summit of Mt. Lemmon at over 9,000 ft, where it was over 40 degrees cooler than it had been on the desert floor.

On the summit of Mt. Lemmon

Once home we began what was to be a week long tradition of spending the evening in the kitchen cooking up feast after feast over delicious bottles of wine. That along with Julie’s to-die-for keish after sunrise morning runs made quite a contrast to ramen noodle dinners and pop-tart breakfasts while camped along the highway.

Mmmmmmmmmmmm

Famous flaming oranges from the Chico Hot Spring cookbook - Pre-ignition

Liftoff - and some lunatic in the background

Meanwhile there was still a lot of exploring to be done. One 300+ mile day saw me through the Coronado National Forest, the mining town of Bisbee, Saguaro National Park, and some strange furniture arrangements on the interstate.

Riding south in the Huachuca Mountains

Sounds exciting!

Lunch looking south over Mexico

The town of Bisbee with the Lavender Pit in the distance

Main Street, Bisbee, AZ - HDR

The Lavender Pit - The source of over 600,000 tons of copper between 1950 and 1974 - HDR

Taking a moment to relax with a good map to answer the question "Where the $@#& are we?!"

Where's Waldo? Not sure, but I'm on top of those rocks if you look closely.

Saguaro cacti at sunset

Saguaro cacti at sunset

Next up was a road trip north with Dave and Julie. Arizona is fast becoming known for its wine, in large part thanks to the genius of Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of TOOL and A Perfect Circle. Already a god in Dave and my eyes for his music, his foray into adult beverages was too much to resist. Thus we spent a blissful weekend hopping from winery to tasting room in the Sedona area.

Page Springs Winery

Dave, Julie and I at Page Springs

These will be delicious some day soon

Picnic in the vinyard

Not quite as camouflaged as he (she?) thought

Ruins in Jerome, AZ

Musicians at the Jerome art walk

Whimsical statue in Sedona, AZ

After a week and a half enjoying friendship and the luxuries of a real roof over my head, Dave, ever the thoughtful one, helped me get back in shape for more miles roughin’ it on the road through an extensive equine training program:

Ruffians acting out their motorcycle passions on helpless playground horses - Composite Image