January 2, 2023
The Branham ride
Most of yesterday’s winter storm has passed on but there are still some intermittent showers this morning. And it’s chilly - it’s in the low forties when we get up and won’t break fifty until after noon. There’s a ride planned for the day but none of the interested parties thinks it should begin until the day warms up and dries out. We schedule it hopefully to begin at one, which leaves a lot of free hours this morning. I fill one of them by going out for a short exploration of our new neighborhood as soon as I down my first cup of coffee, hoping I might find a bird or two to add to the list.
I do find two, but neither of them provides a memorable shot in weak light. I consider including the best shot of the first sighting of a mundane English sparrow because there’s a Gila woodpecker on the scene to add color, but even with that it’s not interesting enough. I’ll just take note in the register and move on. The Albert’s towhee gets included though even though he never does come out from under his shrub for a clear view because I don’t spot one of these all that often. Who knows when I’ll get a better shot?
So, not too much action or excitement to start off the day on the bird hunt front. Fortunately the somewhat ramshackle Barrio Anita takes up the slack and tosses in some interesting color, reminding me of another reason why I enjoy our stays in Tucson so much. A slow walk through any of Tucson’s historic inner neighborhoods never fails to turn up something worth a second look.
A half hour later a light shower commences and sends me back home for breakfast and my second cup, and then Rachael and I sit and wait for improvements in the weather. I fill the time by doodling up ideas for how we might fill a year in Europe and reading up on long-stay visa requirements and application procedures. Rachael fills hers on the phone for an hour or more, still trying to unlock the puzzle of getting her forgotten meds refilled. She finally finds the key - Keiser agrees to allow her thyroid prescription to be refilled (it had been on hold because she’s due for a new blood test for her thyroid level) and she finds a pharmacy that takes on the project of obtaining the two needed prescriptions and filling them. So that’s a worry that looks near a resolution.
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The plan is to meet up with Janice up on the Rillito Wash at one. It’s a five mile bike ride to get there for us, so we plan on leaving at 12:30. It doesn’t look promising when Rachael looks out the window at 12:15 and sees that it’s showering again; but not five minutes later it passes, a patch of blue shows up, and the ride is on. A half hour later we come to the north end of Mountain Avenue, cross Rillito Wash, and look down in astonishment at the volume of water rushing through. Two days ago when we were out here it was bone dry.
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I knew instantly what the game was when a few days ago I opened up the email from Janice Branham proposing that they stop off in Tucson on their long drive home from visiting their daughter in Burbank. So obvious, Janice - you’re angling to get your photo in here as our first CycleBlaze meetup of the year. OK, if you’re going to go to all that effort we’ll play along.
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Barry’s unfortunately not coming along for the ride. He’s back in their AirBnB that they’ve booked for two nights, nursing the tail-end of his cold and hoping their host will manage to get the nonfunctional heating restored quickly. It’s a shame for us because we’d have enjoyed his company, and it’s a shame for him because the ride is amazing as we bike along the rushing Rillito, giving us a look none of us have ever seen here before.
We enjoy a relaxed but cool ride for a few miles, enjoying the scene and the fact that it’s so quiet on the trail today that it’s easy to visit as we bike. This is the only time we’ve seen Janice other than for those few improbable moments when we met in front of our hotel in Sarlat a few months ago, and there’s plenty to talk about as we start to get acquainted.
We’re brought to a stop though when we come to the river crossing at Camino de la Tierra, which the Garmin is telling me we should use to cross over to the other bank of the wash. It’s not the crossing I’d mapped out for us, but in our visiting I overlooked and biked right past the overpass at La Cholla that I normally take on this ride. I’d been looking forward to that crossing as a good spot to look down on the raging river and to shed our coats because it’s warmed up enough to not need them.
On any other day this had happened this would probably be fine - but not today because Camino de la Tierra is well under water. We watch several cars make the crossing, throwing up large wakes as they go while we decide what to do - it’s obvious that we’re not biking across that wide, deep expanse. We’d be washed downriver.
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The womenfolk chatter away while I study the map for alternatives, and finally we’re on the move again. It’s not the most attractive route, but we follow the arterials for the next mile, riding sidewalks until we come to a viable crossing on Orange Grove Road and get back on the marked track. We’ll do better on the ride home.
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The destination for the day is that viewpoint out the end of the spur along the Santa Cruz, the spot Rachael and I biked out to on the day we arrived. Janice wants to see that lake again before it dries up. We follow the improbably rushing Santa Cruz for the next eight miles, pushing into a modest but chilling headwind and trying to keep a good pace so we make it back before sundown.
I’m not really watching out for birds on this ride - it’s enough just trying to keep pace with the two flying down the path ahead of me - but when a red-tailed hawk swoops in and lands on the wall not far from the trail I have to stop.
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I catch up to them where they’re stopped at the viewpoint, chattering away and looking out over the water. It’s even fuller today than it was a few days ago, unsurprisingly. We’re there for about fifteen minutes, eating our snacks, using the facilities and taking in the scene, and then it’s time to head back before it gets any later in the day.
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Video sound track: Getting to Know You, by Wayne Shorter
The ride back to Janice’s car goes much faster than the ride out went. The wind’s with us now and we fly down the path, not held back by any navigational errors this time. And it’s a good thing we’re flying, because it’s after four-thirty by the time we get back to the car and Rachael and I still have another five miles ahead of us.
Because we’re pressed for time I only stop once, to take a shot at the new snow on the mountains. Rachael groans and chides me for it when I do, but I have to stop; and a half mile later I’m back with the group again so there’s no harm done.
And then, maybe a mile from the car I screech to a halt when I see a crested grayish bird with reddish highlights fly into a mesquite tree next to the trail. An unusual sighting, and obviously either a female cardinal or pyrrhuloxia. It could be either - they’re really quite similar - but it never gives me a good enough look to tell or to fire off more than a very blurry shot before flying off again. A disappointing near miss.
And then, a few hundred yards from the car there’s a real gift when a Cooper’s hawk swoops in and alights just ahead of me and stays put long enough for a really good look, its breast feathers fluttering in the wind. It’s as good a sighting as I’ve ever had of this species.
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When I catch up again at the car, Janice is on the phone talking to Barry to see how he’s doing. Better, and well enough to join us for dinner. Rachael and I rush home, and Janice agrees to call Bacio to reserve a table for us. She gets one at six and Rachael and I do well to make it home, shower, mop up a lake on the bathroom floor again because we still haven’t mastered the trick of how to use this shower/tub without making a mess of it, and getting to Bacio at 6:01.
We’re the first to the party, and five minutes later I’m wondering if we’ve been stood up when the Branhams enter the room. Janice immediately raises both arms triumphantly, gleefully announcing that they have heat at their AirBnB!
Dinner’s a big success, with the next two hours spent getting further aquainted, discussing plans for the coming year, and wondering where and when we might meet up next. Thoughts are on the table, so we’ll see. Life’s full of surprises.
Ride stats today: 42 miles, 800’; for the tour: 563 miles, 21,900’
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2023 Bird List
11. House sparrow
12. Albert’s towhee
13. Red-tailed hawk
14. Cooper’s hawk
Today's ride: 42 miles (68 km)
Total: 563 miles (906 km)
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