Riding into Tucson I couldn’t help but ask myself why societies develop huge urban sprawls in a place that has so little of the most necessary resource for life. It seems a bit counterproductive and overly wasteful, but as I learned, it is the dry air that brings people to such places. Tucson for example is a city that many older folk migrate to during the winter months, especially people with join problems. So I’ve heard.
In Tucson I Couchsufed with a great guy, Jason. During the day I was busy hopping around the flat, spread out city looking for camera repair shops. Servicing a Samsung product requires you to send it to them and no store will have parts for the camera. My experience with Samsung so far has been rather disappointing with three defective video cameras in the past that I eventually had to trash. The current predicament came to pass while attempting to take a selfie via tripod that the wind decided to cut down.
With no luck there, I decided the best way to shake the stress away is to go for a nice ride. Overlooking Tucson is Mt. Lemmon, a ski resort of the Santa Catalina Mountains. The miles of curves of the newly designated scenic byway are amazing and you get to witness the city below from over 9000 feet. I was told that while ascending you will pass through 7 different, very distinct ecosystem. I cannot attest to that although temperatures get cooler quickly and the air is definitely fresh.
The only negative about Mt. Lemon is that beauty attract many so the road was very busy. And due to very few chances for passing, and for the fact that the only thing permissible that day was to drive through and not stop due to fire danger, my suggestion would be to hit it very early in the morning otherwise you might be of similar misfortune to be stuck behind at 25 MPH down on a road that begs to be abused by speed freaks like myself.