“Today will be a rest day”. I’d had that same thought yesterday morning, but today it was more likely to happen. After breakfast, I finished my awning setup, very happy with the finished product, though I think if it becomes a regular thing, I’ll invest in a larger tarp. It was nice to sit outside in my outdoor chair whilst working away.

With the awning up, I could move on to my next project, making an outdoor table to go with my chair. I decided if I was going to have an outdoor chair, I must have the essential accessories to complement it. I knew there was a reason I’ve been hauling around loose bits of timber and square piece of five-ply. After a bit of brainstorming in my head, I had a design in mind. First, I prepared the table top, rounding off the edges to make it look like a professional job, then sanded the whole thing down to really schmick it up. After a few coats of clear sealant which perfectly finished off the spray can I had, it looked like a bit of alright.

Unfortunately the pieces of timber I had were about 100mm short of being long enough table legs so I had to improvise. After much sawing and a bit of drilling, I’d attached 100mm lengths to each leg to give me the height I needed. Last bit was hinging the legs to the table top and that worked out pretty well. It’s a bit wobbly, but definitely good enough for my purposes.

The shade under my awning had dwindled to almost nothing, so after repacking my tools and doing a clean up, I moved my new furtniture to the nearby shade of the tree, which was kind of encroaching on my neighbour’s camp, but he hadn’t surfaced all day so I didn’t think it would bother him. I only sat in my backyard office for about twenty minutes before my neighbour, Larry, emerged and filled the rest of my day. I don’t know how we passed the afternoon, but Larry sat in his comfy chair and I in mine and we talked the afternoon away. Both being solo travellers in self-contained vehicles, we had plenty in common.

While Larry was taking lunch inside his camper, a huge truck pulled into camp and a man by the name of Jim Stewart popped out and asked what the go was with this seemingly free campsite. I happily told him how it was BLM land and also put him onto freecampsites.net. A friendly Scotsman turned Canadian, he was a friendly fellow and we fit a lot of talk in during the short time he hung around. He even gave me his street address in Calgary for me to knock on the door while I’m there.

Larry came back out and we continued our afternoon hang out, him dozing in his chair inbetween reading his book and me and my laptop working on some figures. When the cool breeze started coming in around 4pm, I got the itch and decided to go riding again. The dusk ride last night had been so special, I couldn’t help but want to go again. I drove to the nearby trailhead at Mount Tucson that I’d already visited, but this time I explored the east side of the park. I met another rider in the carpark who was only in his third week of riding and I wish I could have ridden with him for a bit, but he was heading in the opposite direction. This would be a pretty hard place to learn mountain biking!

My timing was perfect. By the time I got riding at around 5pm, most of the trails were in shadow. I was happy to be back on some more technical stuff, rolling over rocks, both loose and embedded in the red dirt, still with cactus in close proximity. Because I was behind the mountains, I didn’t get the sunset glow of yesterday, which was probably a good thing because I was concentrating on not coming off the hard stuff in the fading light. Apart from the hike-a-bike climb up Hidden Canyon, the trails were golden. When there was elevation change, generally it was gradual and the downhill reward was the perfect pace with plenty of rocks to keep my eyes wide open. I was even surprised by the remains of a dwelling built in the valley in the 1930s. I met a few happy hikers here and it wasobvious everyone was in high spirits on such a beautiful evening.

I pulled my light out early this time since I was probably the only rider out and I wanted good vision for the rocky sections I was about to face. The last trail, “Explorer” tried my tired body as I climbed up and over rocks, but after I peaked and started coming down, I was in heaven. With my bright light on my helmet guiding me, the cool air made my eyes tear as I came down the side of a mountain, scaring many deer off the trail in the process.

It was just past 7pm when I got back to the car, thoroughly happy with the experience the mountains had just given me. My blog title is inspired by Harrison, who noticed that I have been lighting up the Strava time sheets on my rides, getting QOMs (Queen of the Mountain) on more than one occasion, hence he named me Queen of Tucson. I’ll take that.

Back at camp, Larry had fended off some people who had eyed at my spot and he sat by his gas-fire in his comfy chair. After showering, I intended to join him, but he had retreated inside his digs, so I did the same. Maybe tomorrow will really be a rest day?