Leaving the canyon, we passed many amazing vistas and arrived at the home of my life-long friends Valerie and Ralph in time for a saguaro sunset.

The next day, John took a 70 km bike hike toward Oracle, while Deb and Valerie swam, and later we hiked with Ralph up the Sabino Canyon.

Then with some strong requests from Deborah and encouragement from our hosts, who declared they had never seen such a dirty car, we got the red caravan cleaned – inside and out…and it looks like new…let’s see how long it lasts…!

We had a hangout day in our friends’ luxurious home to confront and conquer some computer and camera issues – so we could send our first blog covering our U.S. road trip and the first two weeks of our four-month adventure…!

Jan. 18-20 Luxury retreat in Tucson, Arizona