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.
![\"First-Tucson-sunset\"](\"https://deborahbarndt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Car-and-CONAMUIP-2-1-of-1.jpgwp-content/uploads/2015/01/First-Tucson-sunset-300x199.jpg\")
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.
![\"John-heading-to-bike-canyon\"](\"https://deborahbarndt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Car-and-CONAMUIP-2-1-of-1.jpgwp-content/uploads/2015/01/John-heading-to-bike-canyon.jpg\")
![\"hiking-in-saguaros\"](\"https://deborahbarndt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Car-and-CONAMUIP-2-1-of-1.jpgwp-content/uploads/2015/01/hiking-in-saguaros.jpg\")
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…!
![\"clean-car-interior\"](\"https://deborahbarndt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Car-and-CONAMUIP-2-1-of-1.jpgwp-content/uploads/2015/01/clean-car-interior.jpg\")
![\"clean-car-exterior\"](\"https://deborahbarndt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Car-and-CONAMUIP-2-1-of-1.jpgwp-content/uploads/2015/01/clean-car-exterior.jpg\")
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…!
![\"Val-in-livingroom\"](\"https://deborahbarndt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Car-and-CONAMUIP-2-1-of-1.jpgwp-content/uploads/2015/01/Val-in-livingroom.jpg\")
[flagallery gid=6]