It was a brutal day. We left Yuma about 1000 after successfully finding a couple of good horses in one of Don’s neighbor’s yards. Max wasn’t happy about the horses, because he’s never been close to one before, but he got used to them about halfway.

I took him on a few walks around Don and Judy’s neighborhood and many homes have metal sculptures in their yards that kind of freaked him out a little. His apprehension actually started the first time he went into Don’s & Judy’s home. There was a bear rug on the floor, and he was very concerned about it. He was very cautious the first time he approached it and was growling a little with every little step he took. Once he got close enough to touch it with his nose it became non-threatening, and he was just fine taking a nap with it.

OK. Now on to what really happened.

Leaving at 1000 was true but the rest, except for the bear rug, was gibberish. The bear rug is real, as you can see.

Knowing the fragile nature of our RV, regarding it’s overheating issue, we decided to not tow the car. We knew there were more hills ahead of us so overheating was a forgone conclusion. So, Diane was OK taking the stress off the RV and driving the car for 5 hours to Tucson. Leaving me and Max all alone, on the heat.

Let me tell you about the heat. We learned from Ray, one of our neighbors at Fiddler’s Cove, that when the engine heats up putting the heater on all the way will help cool it down. It’s true, that works. That’s nice, but when it’s like 110 degrees outside, having the heater on in the RV isn’t much fun. Matter of fact, I think it burned at least one layer of skin off my right leg. Having he heater on just wasn’t fun at all. It turned the day into an incredible ordeal. With each mile we travelled down the freeway, the scenery became more and more bland to the point where I felt that this was going to be this way for the rest of my life.

Then we would whiz by a bit of greenery so fast that it seemed to be an illusion. Then another would go by giving us hope and it was more noticeable because we were looking for it.

Eventually, the landscape changed with the addition of more and more green, mostly trees, then grass would show up, then orchards would appear. It was obvious that civilization was creeping into our view giving us hope for a better future.

Then the freeway wound its way quickly from the desert into the middle of an actual city. There were tall buildings, and everything looked promising. Signs appeared giving us directions to validate the GPS instructions, pointing us in the proper direction until, finally, we arrived at our next home. The Family Camp on Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson.

This is one of the views from the Family Camp area. We’re well protected.

Initially we were concerned about getting a site because this is Snowbird season and we’re new to it. But, the weather has been unseasonably hot, so folks who normally do this aren’t showing up as early as they normally do. That’s good for us. We got a site with no problem. It only took us about 30 minutes to find it. Most of the signs indicating which sites are in each row were there, but the one for our row was facing away from us so we drove by it a few times. Diane finally found it by driving down each row and reading each pedestal. I watched from afar and when I saw her turn into a spot, I made my way to her and got parked.

It’s now 2114 and we’re tied up in #261 for the next three months. With us not usually camping for more than a week or two, considering a long term stay like this seems odd. Then I recall the 30 days we just spent at Coronado. It’s becoming a normal thing. How about that?

All the sudden we’re Snowbirds!