Desert Roses

Ahhh, to be out of southern California, there is nothing quite like it... After leaving Hollywood, we headed for Joshua tree Natl park and camped out for the night. We set up camp just as the full moon rose over the desert monoliths, coyotes sung us to sleep. The next day we headed out on a hike around the park and then on to Phoenix. Next stop: Aurora's dad's place, a house on the edge of town on a property shared with a motorcycle shop and a palm tree business run by her older brother. There are many mechanics here, many roosters, an alligator, a dog with enormous testicles, a dude named Red. We stay here for three days, getting the car worked on, getting things together. Durring this time Claudia realizes that she must return to San Francisco, so sadly we say good bye. On to Tuscon, our last stop where we will stay with people who aren't total strangers and who speak our language. Our hosts, Kevin and Amber graciously share their house and yard with us. We are having a blast exploring the desert and the city of Tuscon. Yesterday we hiked up Bear Canyon and caught the sunset on the way down. Kevin works on trail crews locally and is very knowledgable about desert ecology, so its awesome to have him around to explain everything we see. Today I am biking all around Tuscon on Amber's ride. Its about 75 degrees, I feel like I'm on the edge of too much sun for the day, so I'll head back to homebase soon.