Walking Tucson's Loop trail from Swan Road to Fort Lowell Park

My morning chores are building up. I started with a mile loop with Sahne and Sweetie and then a shorter loop with Gretel (who twice had diarrhea) and Hansel. I took Minnie out of the truck where she slept for the night. She soiled the cushion I had in the back seat cab with both urine and feces.

 I started at 7am and walked an hour before I took a 20-minute coffee break with the thermos Lesley left me. What a sweet neighbor she is.

I still had a lot to do, though. I loaded up the truck bed with recyclables and had to leave quite a bit for the next run in a few weeks. I've had recyclables in the front yard for too long and it didn't even look like I put a dent in the stuff still there. 

The hardest part was getting Minnie her medication. She took the smaller pills well, but I had to shove the large Vetmedin ⁸ her throat. She fought me on that.

I didn't even leave the house till 10am as the hourly news came on. I got to Steve's place at 10:40, to the recycling drop-off at noon, and the Swan Road trailhead parking at 1:45pm because we stopped at BK Tacos off 1st Avenue for lunch. The food was tasty, but expensive.

There are so many good taquerias in Tucson, I wonder how long it would take to review them all, I mused to Steve.

It was warmer than forecasted. The cool, cloudy weather didn't quite turn out. I could tell by looking at Sahne that she was warm. We walked on the horse trail so that the black asphalt wouldn't be too warm for the paws. There was water for the dogs at the Craycroft parking lot, where Sahne got a bit testy with Trace but did calm down. 

Sahne needs more socialization. Another dog walker with a fat red heeler made a wide berth around Sahne, who barked and lunged at her dog. The woman gave me a dirty look. Sahne did get better during the walk so that she relaxed around Trace in the end 

This section on both sides of the wash went past a mix of neighborhoods, from low income to high income and even some apartments. I felt like we were on the edge of town walking a rural beat. We were in the shade of mesquite when we crossed the wash to walk on the west side of what now is the Pantano wash. It was 2.4 miles one way. It was too warm to go farther and I wanted to have a beer somewhere while still daylight.

We made the Fort Lowell park our turn-around. At one point this location was the site of a Hobokam village, but there's nothing left besides historical plaques to indicate that. It's now a city park with picnic areas, restrooms, canopies and a large parking area.  The old Fort Lowell is on the other side of the park and there are a few ruins still standing from the old hospital.  Fort Lowell will be where I'll continue this path the next time I'm in Tucson.

We walked back going on the southern bank of the Rillito River. Traffic today was busy with cyclists and joggers. Both dogs were tired, and they rested well in the cab as we enjoyed some beer at the Dillinger taproom off 4th Avenue. One of the customers was a man from Hammond, IN celebrating his 70th birthday. He looked very good for his age. His dog Iba, a 10 year old chocolate lab, less so.

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