Day Five: Tucson to Ridgecrest

Day 5 – June 14, 2013

Miles: approx 500
Temp: 90s
Time: 10 hours 15 min 

Picacho Peak

My favorite hike of ALL TIME!!!  I’ve been excited to take the boys to hike  as it is no ordinary hike.  It gets so steep in some areas the climbers are to use cables available to pull up.  But, once again the AZ gov’t is butting in and not allowing the Gleason’s to have fun.  The Peak is closed in the summer months as it is a strenuous hike with no shade.

 

Casa Grande Nat’l Park

(Admission $10, Nat’l Parks total $42)  Just an hour north of Tucson is a stone ruin built in the 1400s.  We watched a video about how people living 600 years ago used sticks to build a canal system and thrived in a very  harsh environment.  In the late 1800s travelers came to Casa Grande and carved their name in the stone aka: defamation.  We weren’t able to go in the House, but we were able to look in. 

 

Joshua Tree Nat’l Park

Off I-10 is this Nat’l park.  I need to use the facilities badly so we decided to go to the visitor center.  We entered the park but the visitor center was WAY on the other side – 47 miles a 2 hour drive away.  For reasons we won’t go into we have renamed it Joshua Pee Nat’l Park.  We did see the trees on the way up 385. Our one pic of a Tree.

 

 

 

 

 

Ridgecrest

The last 90 minutes of the five day trip were getting a little trying. Batteries were running out –the human and technological kind.   We got in at 6:15 Friday.  The apartment is nicely appointed.  We have a small living area 12x12, smaller kitchen 10x10 and two bedrooms about 8x10. All our living needs such as plates, cook ware, bedding, towels…is provided.  We just need to bring our clothes and creature comforts.  We walked to the Parks and Rec Center just across the parking lot.  We can play racquetball, b-ball and use the weight room. The pool for us is a community pool about 200 yards from the apartment.  Fee: $1-$2/visit.

 

Final mileage from O’Fallon to Ridgecrest is 2300 miles.

 

Best Part of the Day

Brian: Finally pulling into Ridgecrest.
Sarah: Getting into the apartment – ahhhhh.
Seth: The apartment because I have a tv in my room.
Sullivan:  Nothing was good about yesterday.

 

Worst Part of the Day

Brian: The expectation of having a pool within our compound, but it wasn’t there.
Sarah:  The last 90 min of the drive.
Seth: The drive was long.
Sullivan: Not being able to play racquetball.