First of all, let me tell you there is no free lunch. A couple of weeks ago we went to two RV dealerships just to "look", we were surprised no salesmen chased us down. I guess we weren't dressed well enough. Then the following week we heard about a free BBQ lunch at LaMesa RV so we thought "why not" no one pays attention to us. The lunch was "delish" perfectly prepared BBQ'd chicken with salads and a homemade cookie. On our way out we made the fatal decision to go way in the back to look at the used motorhomes. I guess we dressed well enough, two salesmen in a golf cart came along to give us a ride. Our Rockport friends will understand, we pulled a Bob and Sharon. At the end of the day we ended up purchasing a new 40 ft Discovery diesel, with a washer and dryer. Now I'm going to miss the camaraderie at the Laundromat. (NOT). So remember there is no free lunch.
After our little trip down to LaMesa RV we resumed our exploration of Tucson while waiting to take delivery of the new, as yet unnamed coach. We took Luci down to Michael Perry Park, bike and walking trail along the dry Pantano River, we've done a couple of other sections before, it is just a delightful walk. We picked up several geo caches along the way adding to our total of finds. On the way back to base we stopped at a small car show at a Baptist church parking. Cool cars and my fav, a '56 T Bird, when I win the lottery that will be my first purchase. We had happy hour with our neighbors, Sam and Sigi from Olympia, Wa. Luci especially likes Sigi, she gives her treats. They have two long hair orange kitties, George and Tommy, every now and then one escapes. We will miss them, they are leaving for Bisbee tomorrow.
Several miles outside of Tucson there is a mountainside cave, Colossal Cave, discovered in the 1880's. Gary took the tour while I took care of Luci, good excuse, caves are not my favorite. According to the tour guide, bank robbers hid out in the cave while the posse waited at the entrance not knowing there was another exit. The robbers made out with the loot while the posse waited outside the cave for three weeks. In 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corps enlarged the entrance and built a large rock building for tours. After, we had a picnic in a nice grove of different kinds of trees, very picturesque. On our way to the cave we passed an old cemetery, decided to turn around and check it out. We also picked up a g.c. We have new neighbors, Dana (retired AF pilot) and Candy from Colorado, a fun couple to share happy hour with. We invited them and couple beside them for champage Friday night to toast our new home.
Moving day has arrived, we emptied as much of the basement as we could to leave on our spot at the base to lighten the move. We took Luci to day camp for the day to keep her out of our hair. After a two hour "walk thru" we started moving. Whew, what a job, not only the work but deciding where to put everything was a challenge. We worked on it all day, then spent the night on the lot. I had to go clear across town to pick Luci up and be back by 6. We needed some "tweaking" in the morning. It was a little strange being on the lot after everyone had gone home and locked the gate. Our "celebration" was scheduled for Friday at 4, followed by a Valentine's party at the base.
Friday, while they were futzing with the coach we went out to Catalina State Park northwest of Tucson in the Catalina mountains. I'd like to stay here sometime, they were all booked up because of the Gem and Rock show. There are several trails, we chose one that took us up to the Romero Ruins dating back to 500 AD, it still amazes me how they know these things. We picked up the coach to take it back to base but didn't get back Valentine's Day until about 5, so we missed our own party. Dana and Candy came over but Tom and Mary had to leave. We toasted the coach then were getting ready to go to the party. It was the wrong day, the party was the 12th. So we had dinner with Dana and Candy in their Airstream trailer. I hadn't had lamb chops for years and Gary didn't remember ever eating them, they were "delish".
We had to take the coach back to the dealership for some more "tweaking", had to leave base by 8:30, thank goodness for reveille to get us up and about. After we dropped it off we went up to Sentinel Peak park, known as the "A" mountain. In 1915 an engineering student at the UofA decided to put the rocks in a large A, every year since students repaint the rocks white. We climbed to the summit, what a view of the Tucson area. We picked up a geo cache then rearranged the rocks into an "O" and painted it yellow. We can't go back there again.
Our last day in Tucson started early, we wanted to switch the satellite system. They changed out the "dome" style for our dish, it works better for multiple TV's. (We have 3, one is outside) We took Luci and went out to Kitts Peak Observatory about an hour west of Tucson. The road takes you from the desert floor to 6800 plus feet in twelve miles. The Tohono Indians leased several thousand acres to the National Optic National Observatory. There were two tours available, I took the tour into the 2.5 meter telescope and Gary took both including the 4 meter telescope. I wish I could remember how many tons they weigh. There are 24 telescopes on the mountain peak. While Gary was on his tour, Luci and I walked down to the solar telescope. There were two eyepieces, one showed sun spots and the other shows the flares, several times large than the earth, there was a poster on the wall that showed earth compared to the flares, again how do they know these things? On our way home we picked up the coach and said goodbye to LaMesa RV, it seemed like that was our second home, we'd spent so much time there.
Wednesday Feb. 19th we left Tucson for Phoenix to visit my baby sister. It's only about a two hour drive to Paradise RV Resort located in Sun (Sin) City. We were settled in by lunchtime. A very large park with mostly park models. Seems a bit cramped after being on Davis-Mothen for over a month. So far we are not impressed, there is a dog area, we assumed just for pottying, but no we walked around the park and got yelled at for having a dog out of the area. Other than that, it has a lovely pool, tennis courts, shuffleboard, woodshop, sewing room etc. There are many planned activities, we noticed they have Pegs and Jokers once a week. Lauri made an appointment for me to get a hair cut with her hairdresser, it's pretty scary walking in to a salon without a referral.
TTFN
Gary and Pam
Old graveyard outside Tucson
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