New Bohemians In Search of Shangri-la

Way too big to post here, our 3,000 mile tandem bicycle ride from Chengdu, across Tibetan China, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Look for the link at the left on the Home page. http://newbohemians.net If you have enjoyed any of these posts you will love our home page covering 40,000 miles of self contained tandem bicycle touring around the world, a four month sailing adventure and more. Welcome!

New Bohemians Site

We have a new site with a collection of all of our adventure travels, with the exception of this blog, at http://newbohemians.net I think you will find of interest: Silk Road Crossing (by tandem bicycle) and In Search of Shangri-la, also by tandem bicycle, and our upcoming motorhome trip to Alaska.

Solar Cooking Time of Year

Solar Oven without double cooking bag cover, cooking a pan of granola. Solar cooker cooking a cup of bulgar. It's summer and the sun is hot, everywhere, but particularly in Tucson. Claire Rogers has been doing some of her cooking with her home-made solar oven, and solar cooker. So far she has baked granola and cookies in the oven, and bulgar, beans and salmon in the solar cooker. If she gets several comments, she will post construction instructions. She has fun with it, and saves some energy too. Bob Rogers

Elevation Vacation

We took Turtle on a short vacation from still-hot Tucson in the Santa Catalina Mountains last week. The mountain bikes came with, and hiking boots. We spent three nights, one boondocked at near 8,000 feet and two at a FS campground at around 6,000 feet. We had perfect weather, burned less than 1/4 tank of diesel and felt like we were 2,000 miles away, all because of the magic of elevation change. We cycle up the mountain from home, a 60-70 mile round trip, depending on where we go, but between 6,000 and 7,000 feet of elevation change, a great workout. But during these rides we only stop briefly for snacks, so as to not let our muscles cool too much, and know mostly the road, though we have done a few hikes on the mountain.

This time we decided to do a mountain bike ride and see something new. The Santa Catalinas are steep! Our mountain bike ride could more accurately be described as a hike-a-bike, with almost as much pushing as riding for some sections. But the scenery and the workout was worth the effort. The General Hitchcock campground was a delight with a burbling stream and lots of birds, even one lifer. We'll do it again!

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Monsoon Denouement

One of Southern Arizona's several seasons is fading away. Our Sky Island mountain ranges are now pasted against cobalt skies, with just a few puffy fair-weather clouds gathered over their summits, there to remind us of the violent thunderstorms of the past two months. The monsoon left behind something else too, a brilliant carpet of jade overlaying the red/brown hue of the spring and autumn. I never imagined I would see the heavenly blue of morning glory blossoms strung on vines woven among the prickly pear, saguaro and ocotillo, until we spent our first monsoon season and hiked through waist high grass where there had been dry stubble through the annual wildflower season. The red origami folds of saguaro fruit, ripened open and rapaciously consumed by desert flying critters, then dried into brilliant red "second blossoms" of the giant cactus through the beginning of the spectacular, and regular storms. A second cactus bloom ads a blaze of red to the pastel of the monsoon annuals.Now, the air crackles with dryness again, the nights cool and the days too. The sun rules now, clouds insubstantial waifs losing the battle; the change of prevailing winds pushing tropical moisture away. In a few months, another change will bring moisture scudding in from the Pacific, whatever small amounts not dumped on Washington, Oregon or California.

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Grand Canyon and Claire

This is for those of you who haven't been following this blog. This is SO Claire, writing in her journal on the lip of one of the wonders of the world. I love this picture. I love this woman. I am so lucky.

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We are sad for Gori, all of Georgia; we were there...

When Claire and I traveled the Silk Road, we rode our tandem bicycle the length of the Caucuses. We spent a night in Gori, the town that Russians have taken today. In another small town to the west, we were welcomed into a graduation party by a group of teens, watched them dance traditional Georgian folk dances, enjoyed the beauty of the town and surrounding countryside. The two girls and their mother (woman washing greens at the well) subsist in the countryside west of Gori; I wonder if they are safe, how terrified they must be. Our country's misguided adventure in Iraq renders us impotent against Russia. They can do what they want to tiny (a few days across by bicycle) Georgia. What will they do next?

Left: President Bush visited Georgia not long before us. Right: Monument to hometown boy Stalin outside Gori.

Have any of these people died?

  

We are sorry Georgia. You were kind to us. Now that the the oil pipeline is finished across your lands, we don't need you anymore. We hope the Russians don't destroy the pipeline. We can't stop them; we are otherwise engaged.

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On The Road Again

After surviving, and enjoying the hottest month of the year in Tucson, we decided to head for the higher elevations of Arizona for July: the Grand Canyon, Mogollon Rim and the White Mountains. We're trying to enjoy some time being not so connected, so I won't do many postings until we return to Tucson in August. I'll post a few photos on this post now and again:

Boondock on the Kaibab National Forest just outside of Grand Canyon National Park

 

Claire on the Arizona Trail

Mule deer skeleton along the trail

The Grand Canyon never gets old, just more crowded, but we have a few strategies for that. 1. Get around by bicycle or free shuttle bus. 2. Avoid the west end. 3. Just walk away from the crowds; the best views are elsewhere. 4. Camp at Desert View. 5. Stay several days. 5. Get up for sunrise, the tourists sleep in.

 

    

 

Tanner Trail in Grand Canyon: This hike was only about six miles, but around 2000 feet down and then up. Our quads noticed our lack of hiking the past few months. The hike is near Desert View and a simple, if steep, in and out to a beautiful saddle and beyond, as far as the river if you want, a 15 mile hike we weren't up to, particularly in July. It gets HOT down there!

Down, from up there, to see more down, then hike back up. Hmmm.

 

 

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After the Grand Canyon we boondocked a couple of nights on the east side of the San Francisco Peaks near Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments. There is a challenging loop of 58 miles with tons of climbing we had been wanting to ride for years. There happened to be a cancer ride the same day, so we got to interact with other riders. We were doing fine until the racing team passed and we just had to try and hang on the back; too bad the hill was a little too long...about a mile.

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   Wupatki

  Sunset Crater

Saguaro Fruit Season

What's red and black, chewy and crunchy, the sweetest natural candy outside a bees nest? The pith of saguaro fruit, split open and cooked in the sun, makes a natural fruit taffy, far more wonderful that I had imagined. Now I know how the natives survived the silly season; they knew the saguaro fruit was ripening.

We found this young arm with two split open fruits on an early morning bike ride of the loop road in Saguaro National Park East unit. As you see in the second photo, ants and one huge horsefly were already working away at the wonderful stuff, but the doves, bats, and almost every other flying thing of the desert, hadn't found this bounty. The only reason the doves and bats, in particular, don't get all the saguaro fruit, is that there is so much of it. We've been watching the early ripening fruits for two weeks on our rides, but the seeds and pith, the sweet stuff was all gone. What's left is a three or four petaled blazing red fruit shell, folded back against the spines, looking like a second blossom. The real blossom is white and begins blooming in April. The Tohono O'odham use the pith and seeds for all kinds of stuff, including a fermented drink for celebration of the arrival of the bounty of summer and the monsoon rains. We would be happy to just eat the stuff; it's better than any candy. Don't be afraid of the desert summer; ruby red rewards await!

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Oh, we shooed the fly away, but ate the ants. (double click the photo to see a larger version)