Monday, March 23, 2020

Back in Phoenix for an overnight stay.

Sunday, March 22

Didn't do any riding, just relaxed and enjoyed the warm weather.

I did go for an hour long hike into the sand dunes, 30 minutes out and 30 back to the URRV.

Figured you all are saturated with pictures of sand dunes, so none taken.

Sunset pics on the other hand, will continue to be inflicted:




Monday, March 23

Left the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area and by 10 AM had dumped the gray and black tanks at the same gas station where I got the Dune Permit in the first place.

Then it was steady driving to my father-in-law's place in Sun City, part of the Phoenix Metro area.

Got a replacement M8 x 25 1.0 pitch bolt to replace the missing one for Fiona's headlight and replaced the remaining one so they match.  Will keep the old remaining one as a spare of course.

Spent the afternoon with my FIL and we ordered carryout dinner from Domino's.  Their pasta dishes are pretty good, considering.

One of the reasons I detoured to Phoenix was to pick up an Amazon delivery of my Garmin InReach Mini Personal Locator Beacon or PLB.  Recent mishaps on Yagi in rough terrain where no cell signal was present and no one around had reminded me that I should probably have something like this with me.

Pricey at $325 from Amazon but I guess it beats lying injured, unable to call for help.  Especially since I don't see me acquiring a riding partner any time soon and my penchant for exploring.

I went with the Freedom plan which allows me to start/stop plan service from Garmin on 30 day increments.  There's a $25 annual charge and I'm using the SOS plan when the device is active.  We'll see how that goes.


I plan to use it, besides life-threatening emergencies, to do a check-in with my loving wife when I pick a campsite where I don't have cell coverage using one of the three pre-defined messages which are unlimited under the SOS plan.

Sunset tonight was pretty mild, I was in the midst of activating the PLB so didn't really make an effort to get a good picture.


Tomorrow, I head south, either back to the Barry Goldwater Range boondocking spot or further south back to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

6 comments:

SonjaM said...

Dom, do yourself a favour and keep away from other peeps if you can, things are getting ugly. We have been notified that friends of ours were together with Corona infected folks. I am waiting for symptoms to show up any day now...

RichardM said...

Do all of the plans offer two-way text messages or is that only with more expensive plans. BTW, I wasn’t getting tired of the dune photos.

redlegsrides said...

Doing what I can SonjaM, my FIL and I didn’t even exchange usual goodbye hugs this morning when I left. Hopefully your foolish friends weren’t infected.

redlegsrides said...

I believe, RichardM, that all allow two way texts but the cheapest plan (which I’m on) permits only 10 free ones per billing period then it costs.

Oz said...

Very jealous of your current living and riding situation. I love the idea of being in a remote area, especially right now. Enjoy your time and keep away from populated places. And - keep posting the awesome photos.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks Oz, am indeed fortunate in my present circumstances....