Day 2 - Davis Monthan AFB Circle - PedalPushin 2024

February 8, 2024

Day 2 - Davis Monthan AFB Circle

We were greeted with sunny blue skies this morning, what a change!

The view north towards Mt. Lemmon on the Harrison Greenway

After a semi-leisurely breakfast and neighborhood walk, we met our cycling friends for a new adventure to us using part of the Loop and some local knowledge to circle around Davis Monthan AFB. Davis Monthan was a name I was somewhat familiar with as it was one of the duty stations I could have served at in the 80’s. But today, in addition, it is also the site of the Airplane Boneyard, a place where retired airplanes of all sorts go to their final resting place. From our vantage point, I saw a lot of decommission 135 airframes, 2 B-1 bomber airframes, and numerous others that I didn’t recognize. One 135 was a retired KC-135 tanker from the Alaska ANG.

The “Boneyard” … the stories these planes could tell.

As for the trails and roads … the trail sections were all quite nice but I did notice that the shoulders on the roads were full of debris and from what Lee, our local expert, told me, the shoulders are not usually a focus of cleaning here. But with his expert guidance, we were able to make our way around the AFB with a minimum of traffic issues and some new roads that we might be able to use in the future.

Lunch break … the worker had a hard time wrapping her mind around “We are from Alaska … it was -40 last week.”

After circling the base, we returned via the Julian Wash which is now becoming quite familiar and it probably going to be used quite a few more times during our stay in Tucson.

Cactus … a definite theme along the trails

Heart

Comment

Link

Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 1,110 miles (1,786 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	3
Comment on this entry	Comment	0