Oro Valley

Friday morning, I spot two coyotes trotting on the road in front of my place, one with a small animal in its mouth.  Then they split so I drove along side the one without a meal.  He wasn't much disturbed by me briefly shadowing him.  

Friday evening, Amy and I attended an outdoor event at Steam Pump Ranch.  In the late 1800's, two enterprising friends bought land here.  Water was plentiful and close to the surface so they rigged a steam pump to help bring the water to the surface, hence the name.  One of the friends was George Pusch and the ridge above is named after him.  What a beautiful scene, no matter the time of day but especially when the sun sets.

The performing band was ok but I didn't care for most of the playlist.  I recognized all the songs but none were from my top 500 songs of all time.  Amy took the above impressive image. Then....

....Sunday morning we got out for a bike ride.  Part of the ride was the long grind up Twin Peaks Road to Dove Mountain.  The road name is from the above two peaks on the far right and far left, Panther and Sombrero (also known as Safford Peak).   As previously stated, I've been mostly riding although I did hike the nearby Linda Vista trail.  In the back of my mind, I've been thinking about an Ohio visit and hooking up with some of the cycling groups that I miss.  I'd like to be in decent cycling shape but I'd need to ride much more and add much more climbing, especially short steep hills found in the Catalina Foothills.  I got in 440 miles in March but would need an 800 mile month in April to really get in shape.  Oh, and drop about 6 pounds, lol.

We ventured west of Marana and gosh, what a booming buildout of residential neighborhoods.  A short 3 years ago there was little traffic but not anymore.  Above, Amy reaches the top of Rattlesnake Pass.  Using a combination of leg workouts and increased cycling, she's become quite strong.  Well, that's it for now.