Day 82 - 4/8/14 4th Avenue Historic Shopping District

I had picked up this brochure about 4th Avene in downtown Tucson that I was interested in seeing before I leave this week Thursday or Friday.

Before going today I was at McDonalds again when they offered free food to children again like yesterday.  Yes the line at times was out the door.

I drove to the 4th Avenue area and parked on a side street as the camper will extend over a parallel parking spot length on a city street because of the bike rack on the back.

I had no problem finding a side street to park on and walk the short distance to the shopping area.  It was about 9:30 am.

The area is just north of the commercial downtown area and proceeds a few blocks.  The area consists of single story commercial buildings and houses that now house bars, restaurants, speciality shops.  

Some places were common shops like book stores and eclectic like a hookah lounge.

Hotel on downtown size.

Brightly painted building next to a fire apparatus repair shop.

Buildings of all different size and shapes.

Odd paintings on buildings.

I stopped at this little cafe.

I had a cappuccino and blueberry scone.

I would say the place I go in Little Italy in San Diego was just a little bit better nut was still good.

Here is a traditional restaurant in the mix.

More wall paintings.

Talk about strange,  this Tiki place really stands out.

They recently installed an electric trolley linking the commercial district to the south but they are still testing the trains with a sign on them saying they will be operational in 2014.  Soon I guess.

City workers were getting a ride.

Bike Ride:

The city has an extensive bike trail system built around sides of highways and river beds.  

http://webcms.pima.gov/UserFiles/Servers/Server_6/File/Government/The%20Loop/1403%20MARCH/140228%20Cover%20The%20Loop%2018%20x%2024%20lo%20res%20011514.pdf

I went to a park and left my camper there and rode about an hour.  Not all the trail connections are done or marked and without the map on the link above it would be hard to know where you are going.  

I went on one connecting trail which is a city access road and I came across a dead dog right in the middle of the road.  I spared you all with not sharing what it looked like.

I couldn't believe that either no one called it on or they didn't come get it.  Now with heat and low humidity it's mummified with the skin/fur sucked in against the skeleton.  Yes, not very appealing.  If I go again I will pick a park tied to a larger netemwork of trails.  I biked for an hour mid-day.  It was a hot day with temperatures in the 90's.

Trip numbers:

While at a city park this pm I took time to tally the fuel numbers through March.

Total Milage for March - 3600 miles even

Total trip Milage - 8777 miles.

Fuel costs for March - $1072.16

Total trip fuel costs - $2432.91

Average fuel costs per gallon for March - $3.37

Moving on:

I plan to move on Thursday am or Friday am.  It probably be Friday am.  I want to stop on the way to San Diego to see the petroglyphs off of I8 on way to Yuma, AZ.

I think I will do this on Friday during the day.  Then on Saturday I plan to go to the Taco Festival in Yuma.  

From there it is a short ride to San Diego to go back to son Clayton's house with daughter in-law Dana, granddaughters Madison & Taylor.  I will stay there to be with them expecting Clayton to return next week from his deployment on the USS Boxer.  Denise will join us too.  The following week I start my trip back across the US to home in Massachusetts.

My number of travel days are getting short. I should have 10 days to make it home which gives me time to stop to see things along the way and share with all of you.