Started out about 10am into the teeth of an oncoming storm. Reached Lordsburg NM about 2.30. It was so dark at that point that it was like night. So I stopped at the Flying J, along with many many others. Spent the night there, rained all night, left about 9am. It was still raining but I was driving away from most of it and it lightened considerably along the way. Still overcast and spitting.
Reached Tucson about 1pm and went straight to the Barnes & Noble on Ina Rd. (to indulge in a little fuel). Had talked to my brother who was on his way and would call when he was about 10 miles out. So we arrived at the land at the same time (gated). Now you remember the rain? Well, the mile-long dirt road leading to the land was not only muddy but heavily washboarded. So Ghibli and I got tossed up and down and sideways. And the potholes the front tires missed would get caught by the duallies -- that's how many actual holes there were; no missing them entirely.
Now, the thing about washboarded roads is that you can either (1) drive very fast so it kinds of smoothes itself out, or (2) drive very slowly so it kind of undulates under you. Unfortunately, RVs don't lend themselves to #1 and their configuration is such that even #2 doesn't work out so well. So -- bounce bounce jolt jolt sway sway ad infinitum ad nauseaum.
Tinnee and Craig, owners of the land, didn't arrive until 2am Sunday morning. So we were boondocking for three nights. Of course, H & Deb's rig (a Class A) had a generator so they had heat and lights etc. I didn't but my new fluorescent lights were usable as they draw so little power from the house battery. No heat, though I was warm enough in my flannel pjs and sleeping bag (about 30 at night)
Because we were 20 miles north of downtown and Tucson's traffic is horrendous, it made the most sense to drive my rig. So I got to drive the nasty road out, then 20 miles to town, 20 miles back, and the nasty road back. We went into downtown Tucson on Friday so they could prowl a small part of the Tucson Gem/Mineral/Fossil Show (biggest in the world). I sat in the rig and read.
Saturday we drove the nasty road (now mostly dry but still bumpy) 30 miles to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum out in Oro Valley west of downtown. We took the steep road over Gates Pass and came back up Oro Valley into Avra Valley through the Saguaro Natl. Park. This is a pic of Deborah and Harland in Gates Pass, showing Old Tucson Movie Studio in the valley -- it was really windy.
At the Desert Museum, we split up as they wanted to see everything. I puttered around a while, took a nice pic of some heron statutes in the Riparian Corridor.
The live animals don't cooperate nearly as well. They were finally done about 4.30. Return trip.If you ever go to Tucson, do go to the Desert Museum; it's really great. Here's a pic of H & D at Gates Pass with the Old Tucson Movie Studio in the background (you've seen this western town in nine million westerns). And here's the herons.
Sunday, I left at 9am. Stopped downtown and got gas (at $2.22/gal!) and headed out on I-10. Reached Alamogordo and was hooked up about 6.30pm. Long damn day (it's 370 miles from here to Marana AZ).
It was great to see my brother and Deb, and I would have liked to stay a few more days and get ferried around by Tinnee (who has a photo exhibit in the Gem Show -- she's a professional jewelry photographer). I just hadn't planned on doing so much driving while there.
Let's not talk about my right knee.
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