Arizona Times -Desert Disc Golf - Bike Rides, Desert Organic Farming visits with misun Bob and the Aluminum Turtle

 Wednesday March 9, first morning with Bob Pahl's black horse Ford F350, my Dodge Caravan Magnesium Pony, and the Airstream Classic where Bob has been living since the fall.

 
Bob, cooking inside his Airstream, Aluminum Turtle on one of the many sunny mornings.

 
Bob Pahl wearing his SKP ("es cape ee" ? :-) badge, that is his ID as a full time RV'er....worn at an angle I took this at an angle in his Airstream Classic.  

 Wednesday began with a trip into Tucson, where I found a place to change oil by the Rillito River Bike Trail, that we took west from 1st Ave and the Rillito River west to the Santa Cruz trail, down to this park, called Sweetwater, where we took a siesta, and noticed the turtles basking in the sun, as well as many ducks and even some very large frogs!   Easy does it biking a bit over 19 miles. 

 This author at Tom Weaver at the dry desert like Santa Cruz River Park Disc Golf Course, with 18 of the worlds finest baskets....Photo by Bob Pahl



 
Pad #5 on the course. 
  
 Bob putting with the Catalina Mountains in the background.

 
Here is the challenging hole #10 where we though over a baseball field to a basket from the B pad. Our second time on the course, returning after the Friday morning Sagauro NP Bike Ride  

Thursday was the day to visit local farmers and more of Cochise County.  Bob had contacted Joe Marlow of South Winds Farm and we visited on Thursday, just a few miles north east of Benson

 
Joe Marlow welcomed us to his farm around 1 PM on Thursday where he was digging up the earth and planting asparagus roots - here he is in the pump house, showing us the irrigation system.

 
View of South Winds Farm with the white fabric covered rows, and his small tractor. 

 Example of bok choy with the fabric cover and drip irrigation system.

 
Allium, onion plants with some T'O proto shallots in the foreground.  Fun to learn from Joe who has a background in farming from the mid west as well as geology and economics.
 
Bob peeling one of the proto shallots, from the Tohino O'odham Nation lineage, that we were able to sample.  Bob is planning to return to the farm this next week to work on Tuesday.

Bob with South Winds Farm founder Joe at the washing area for the produce.  The washing machine is a cost effective salad dryer.

One of the two solar panels that help to power the South Winds Farm operations, with Joe and Bob walking on our tour.

 
View of desert flora looking SW toward Benson as we left South Winds Farm. 

 After a visit with Bus, a man who Bob met in Tuscon near Dragoon, we drove up into Cochise Stronghold nearby and caught this view of the evening sun on our way out.

 

Friday, Found us ready for a new biking adventure, this time the eight mile road in the East Section of the Sagauro National Park. 

  
Bob at the beginning of the bike ride with the warning about not going downhill too fast!  :-)

 Me at the back side of the eight mile drive, with the desert behind me.