{"id":183,"date":"2016-05-25T20:11:22","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T04:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/?p=183"},"modified":"2016-07-17T06:46:36","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T14:46:36","slug":"day-9-tucson-az","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/?p=183","title":{"rendered":"Day 9 – Tucson, AZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Never been to the Organ Pipe National Monument and wanted to see what it’s all about. \u00a0The road there was actually very interesting in places. \u00a0Most roads through the desert are straight and flat – this road had several areas that were fun to ride – this is one of those.<\/a><\/p>\n

The desert is really pretty cool if you can get past the heat. \u00a0It was a good day for riding; a little warm just standing around but perfect when you’re on the bike. \u00a0My friend the wind was back but I’m getting used to it I guess. \u00a0Another view from the side of the road.<\/a><\/p>\n

There are a couple towns along this road, and one of them is Why. \u00a0I don’t think it’s an actual town or city – I really think it’s just a few houses that belong to the employees of the large Border Patrol Station located there. \u00a0Then I found out that Why has a sister city located an equal distance south of the border called Por qu\u00e9. \u00a0Guess that’s Why.<\/a><\/p>\n

You’ve all seen roadside memorials here and there. \u00a0Someone dies in a car crash and next thing you know there’s a cross and some flowers and a candle or two. \u00a0Well – down in this area, they take their roadside memorials to a whole new level. \u00a0One of them that I didn’t get a picture of was made of brick and was at least as big as a good sized built in BBQ. These things are all over the place – I must have seen 40 of them between Why & Tucson.\"Shrines\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After passing Why, it’s a short run to Organ Pipe National Monument. \u00a0At 517 square miles, I would have thought this would be a national park not a “monument”. \u00a0Monuments are statues & stuff right? \u00a0So, I asked the ranger at the visitors center. \u00a0National parks are established by an act of Congress, national monuments\u00a0can be created from any land owned or controlled by the federal government by proclamation of the President of the United States. \u00a0Organ Pipe National Monument was created in 1937 by FDR. \u00a0It protects the largest naturally occurring population of organ pipe cactus found in the United States. Common in Mexico, the northern range of the organ pipe cactus is limited by freezing temperatures. \u00a0If you’re in the area, it’s certainly worth checking out – Not<\/strong> in the summer!!<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>There was lots of border patrol activity in this area. \u00a0I don’t know how porous the border is down here but it certainly looks like they are making an effort. \u00a0I even met Pat Chavez’s younger brother at one of the two check points I had to go through on my way to Tucson.<\/a><\/p>\n

This is Picacho Peak. \u00a0It’s a familiar landmark to anyone that has driven Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson. \u00a0The unique shape of the 1,500-foot peak has been used as a landmark by travelers for centuries. \u00a0It’s not a volcanic cone, but whats left of a partially eroded volcanic flow. \u00a0On April 15, 1862 the westernmost battle of the Civil War<\/a>\u00a0was fought here.\u00a0There is a reenactment held here every year.<\/a><\/p>\n

Okay, In for the night at the Economy Inn in Tucson. \u00a0Not the best accommodations in town but it’s clean, the bed is comfy cozy, and the shower flows hot and strong. Oh yea, \u00a0even more important than all that – they have the absolute BEST motorcycle parking.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Never been to the Organ Pipe National Monument and wanted to see what it’s all about. \u00a0The road there was actually very interesting in places. \u00a0Most roads through the desert are straight and flat – this road had several areas … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7qntY-2X","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":567,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions\/567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lennysride.com\/2016\/whiskeypapa\/here\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}