Awake 6:00 am Temp outside 52 Rain...heavy @ times Overnight Tucson, AZ
It's not looking so good for our 9:00 am trip to the Sonora desert outdoor
museum tour today but then....shortly after breakfast in our coach @ 8:15,
the sky cleared, the sun popped out & it's a beautiful day. Amazing how
fast some weather fronts can move through.
Our Newell group of over 70 people are bused(2 buses) 40 mins West. On
passing Old Town, A Western town originally built as the set for the 1939
movie Arizona. Some 350 movies were filmed in this area & it's still being
used as a movie set. Many John Wayne movies; a Clint Eastwood "The Outlaw
Josey Wales"; Kirk Douglas's "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral."; Paul Newman's
"Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean" etc., were filmed here. We didn't stop
at this attraction but this is what we were told. Also, we did visit this
attraction in 1973 with Kathy's parents when we stopped to visit them on
our way east, moving from Vancouver to Memphis to begin work with FedEx.
As we are riding along, it is obvious that this Sonora desert area is
heavily filled with the famous cacti of Arizona: the Saguaro. It grows
tall(25 to 50 ft), bears an editable fruit & it takes some 50 years for an
arm to grow out. They live to be over 300 yrs old.
Arriving @ the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, we are informed that it's a
self-guided tour & to just follow the map we are given. The trails were
well marked & it truly was a natural kind of desert area. Little
creatures, lots of different birds: majestic raptors, i.e. jays, parrots,
road runners, owls, etc. In fact, we were highly encouraged to rendezvous
@ 10:30 for the free flight demo in a certain area. Sure enough, the crowd
gathered & the park rangers were right; we saw a trained barn owl up close
& witnessed his low & slow flying skills to catch his prey. Another bird
on the demo flight was the Ferruginous Hawk. This impressive guy had at
least a 5 foot wingspan & very quiet flight characteristics. We walked on
the trails for several hrs & saw a few javelina resting in the shade; road
runners, running; and birds flying; But basically, one would have to hang
out in this environment for days & nights to witness the many animals,
small creatures etc that really are nocturnal & don't expose themselves
during the day.
Aside from the trails & creatures, we also witnessed the boulder making
process. They look so real but...they are hollow inside. And, we walked
thru the reptiles and invertebrates house and watched and learned a lot
about a "lovely" tarrantula from one of the volunteers. Back to our
campground @ 12:35 pm.
Kathy makes a fresh salad to go with mixed nuts, reindeer sausage, some
Triscuits & canalope bites for lunch. Then I spend some time trying to get
on-line here @ our site. I did manage to get an outside line working for
calling card & 800# calls so I'm confident I'll be able to get a computer
connection soon.
Mid afternoon, we visit Gregg & Davida to see their new 40 ft Newell. We
are both curious to see what they gave up, space wise, to shrink their
coach by 5 ft. One thing, they have a combination washer/dryer in lieu of
a stackable. The stackable is preferred by far. In order to have 2 slides
in front, they had to change from a mid to a front entrance, which they
don't like as well. They also gave up storage space but then they are not
full-timers. The real advantage of having a 40 ft coach is the flexibility
of getting into state & city parks & smaller campgrounds. Both Gregg &
Davida are over 80 yrs of age but don't look or act it.
@4:45 pm we depart for a social hour & dinner @ the Stillwell House in
downtown Tucson. This Mexican house, now a restaurant, is a landmark, very
old but renovated. The margaritas were too good & now I don't remember the
age of the house. Naturally the dinner was Mexican & very, very good...if
one can remember that too. Back to our campground about 9:30 pm.
Today's high temp=77 Lights out: 10:45 pm
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