Igor at dusk with a view of the lake at Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun on December 17th!

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Glad we have the bikes again

One of the reasons we don't tow the little blue car when we're traveling with the motorhome is that we like to use our bicycles. And if we had a car with us, I know that we wouldn't use the bicycles as often as we do.

Yesterday (and today) was a good example of that!

But before we could use them, I had to change the inner tubes on Ruth's bike. The other day when we were out with Janie and John, Ruth had somehow picked up a bunch of goat-head thorns in both tires. These thorns are kind of famous in the Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona areas. And bicycle riders hate them.

Kevin, playing bicycle mechanic.

As added protection against the thorns, I cut the valve off the old inner tubes and used those tubes to line the tire prior to installing the new tubes. So there's an extra 1/16" or so of protection. Should help a little. 

This morning, we have reservations at 9:30am to do the hiking tour up to the top cliff dwelling at Tonto National Monument. But it's about three and a half miles from where we're camped, so we wanted to ride our bikes over there. But we didn't know exactly how long it would take to bike there, so we figured we'd do a trial run yesterday.

Ready to go!

Riding up to the Monument Visitors Center was tough going. We had to stop every little while and rest or walk with the bikes!

The elevation from the highway to the Visitors Center rises 400 feet in one mile. Turns out that it was a 3.7 mile bike ride from our campsite, and it took us about 35 minutes.

So this morning, we'll leave here at about 8:45am. We have a 3.5 mile bike ride, followed by a 3-4 hour hike, followed by a 3.5 mile bike ride. Hey, that's almost a  triathlon!

Ruth, at the Tonto National Monument Visitors Center.

There's a nice view from up here.

Back at the highway down below.

We then rode across the highway and down below to one of the developed campgrounds. It's quite nice, and not that busy. For $6 a night, it's really not a bad deal!

Windy Hill Campground.

We like Kevin and Ruth Campground better! GPS 33.62866 -111.08162

We love our campsite here! It's nearly perfect!

The sun at dusk lights up the mountains across from us. And only three or four vehicles per day use that road!

Don't forget to order your RV holding tank treatment here...



21 comments:

  1. I have said it in our posts, and I am reminded in this post...The mountains are so gorgeous, they actually look fake.

    Two beautiful photos of Ruth!

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    1. It's true, sometimes they just don't seem real!

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  2. Arizona has everything. Mountains, lakes, deserts--people think it is just a big ant hill.

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    1. It sure does! We thought 6 weeks a lot of time to explore Arizona but it's not, looks like we will have to make a return time another year,

      We have heard people talk much the same about Saskatchewan, Canada but once you get off the main highway it is a beautiful province to see.

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  3. So much to see and do there, glad you are enjoying it.

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    1. We are really having a good time George and one thing we love here is that there aren't any bugs, at least not at this time of year.

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  4. Been riding on Slime HD Tubes for several years now and extremely happy with their performance in goat head country.

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    1. The tires weren't HD but they did have slime in them and that didn't help. Maybe next time either of us gets a flat we will look into these tires. Thanks!

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  5. You do have such a great view from that campsite. Definitely worth staying there a few days

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    1. We have a beautiful 360 degree view and we love it and the better yet, it's free!

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  6. Neat trick with the old inner tubes!
    Just wondering... How long can you go boondocking before you need a dump station?

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    1. We will see how well this old inner tube idea works.

      We can go at least two weeks if not longer without needing a dump station, and longer still if we are somewhere that has toilets and showers available.

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  7. Listen to the Old Fat Man and get you some HD tubes and add green slime and goat heads won' t bother you any more...

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    1. The Slime brand of HD tube with Slime already in them has been better for me than others HD tubes and adding slime.

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    2. Next time we will look into them but I think we are past the worst of the goatheads now, at least we hope so.

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  8. I can't wait to see your photos of the ruins. We've been to Roosevelt Lake a bazillion times but never went up there. I know, I know... Steve's never seen the Grand Canyon either. We've stayed at Windy Hill many times. The campgrounds are really nice at Roosevelt Lake. Next time, there won't be a boat behind us so I hope we can be more secluded like you two are this time around. What a perfect little spot you have!

    Roosevelt lake got extremely low may years ago and one year it filled up much higher than it's normal level. We rushed up there to see the phenomena. It was so strange to see the tree and saguaro tops all along the shore line. Only the top of the light pole at the boat ramp was visible. The GPS coordinates for our favorite fishing cove seemed like it was in the middle of the lake. It was pretty amazing to see.

    Grace (in Tucson)

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    1. Afraid we didn't take lots of pictures of the dwellings themselves but you will get the idea as one room looked much the same as another. Definitely recommend a visit to them though if you haven't been before, just make sure to make a reservation to do the Upper Cliff Dwelling tour several days ahead of time. In just a short time you will be able to explore all these places you haven't seen before. :-)

      The guide was telling us about how high it was a few years ago, we can't even imagine that because right now it is very low. I would have loved to have seen it then.

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  9. A friend recommends installing Latex Paint in his tires down there in AZ and swears you will never have a flat again.

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    1. From looking at the information on the internet, there does seem to be some homemade sealants that include a latex paint along with a mixture of other ingredients. Might be worth looking into if you live in an area where you could receive lots of flats, especially with those goathead thorns.

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