Day 68 – Thursday – Laundry Day

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This morning the outside temp was 38, and inside the rig it was only 48. Off hand, I’d say that’s a bit chilly. It’s certainly not what I expected for Arizona weather. Considering that when we first arrived here, the temps were triple digits nearly every day for the first 2-3 weeks, then all the sudden it changed. I think it has something to do with day light saving time. Since that isn’t observed here, they must have decided that fiddling with the temperatures was a valid alternative.

I escorted Diane to the laundromat with all our laundry and she got started washing stuff while I made a trip to the bank for some more quarters.

In the afternoon, after the laundry was done, we took a long ride around town. The first two stops were planned.

The first was a thrift store somewhere in the foothills of NW Tucson. By the time we got there it was closed, but not a surprise. Now Diane knows where it’s at for future reference.

The second stop was Tohono Chul Botanical Park. The gates were open so we drove through to see what we could see. Mostly we saw empty parking lots scattered throughout the park. Like most botanical gardens, this is a walking venue. We may return at a later date, but it’s been moved down the list of “things to do.”

The drive took us to a much different part of the city so that was refreshing. We enjoy visiting new places and traveling different roads. After leaving the park, we headed back to the Bone Yard moving around looking for a road we recognized. It took a while, but we eventually found our way home just as the sun was setting. The rare clouds over the Catalina Mountains captured the sun setting behind us as we reached the street leading to the main gate.

The first thing I did after unlocking the bus was to leash up Max and take him for a walk. He spent the entire trip sitting in his throne. We stayed sitting the entire way, too but he earned the first trip to the areas where urinating is allowed. I had to wait until we got back but Max didn’t care. I’ve got to tell you that walking around with him just after sunset. It was really cold. Tonight, the weather people tell us it’s going to be 37 tonight.

Nifty. What a change.

When I sat down to write this post, Max jumped on the sofa and did his best to replace my hands on the keyboard with his little paws. He obviously wanted to help but I had to remind him that even though he could actually type pretty good, the post was mine, not his. He reluctantly let me finish, but I had to promise that he could write one of his own in the near future. That should be fun.

Now we will rest and wait to see what happens tomorrow.

Day 67 – Wednesday – Jerrie’s Echo Cardiogram

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1015 – My appointment was scheduled for 1100 and I was asked to be there by 1030. That meant we’d have to leave home no later than 1015 to make it on time. We knew that was true because we did a test run yesterday to make sure. As it turned out, timing on Tucson streets in the afternoon are not at all like the reality of Tucson streets in the morning. So, we were between 1-2 minutes late.

The early check in process involved registration into the Houghton Hospital system. My test was ordered by the VA Hospital, but they couldn’t get to it in a reasonable amount of time, so they sent me to a private hospital off the reservation. It was a good decision because Houghton got me an appointment within 3 days.

After checking in with the receptionist, I waited until 1111 before they finally called me into reservation room #2. The registration person told me her name, but I don’t remember it. I do remember that the tech assigned to do the testing was Vanessa. I didn’t get to see her until about 30 minutes after the registration was complete. The delay, I was told, was related some difficulty with surgery. That’s all I know.

Vanessa took me back to her testing room somewhere deep into the innards of the main floor. Once in the room she told me to strip, which I did. All the way down to my belt, as directed. All she needed access to was my chest, where my heart lives. Then I laid down on the table, on my left side with my left arm under the pillow supporting my head. That was comfortable for about 20 seconds before my left arm started making noise in my head about the pain. My left arm and shoulder aren’t my favorite body parts for that reason.

We talked throughout the test that took about 30 minutes. I was surprised I was allowed to speak but she said it was OK. So, I learned that she was an Air Force Brat who grew up in Ohio after her dad left the Air Force. She graduated from Ohio State which was evident because of the red and gray stocking hat she was wearing. Kind of odd for Tucson, I thought, but she looked good in it. She said her boyfriend also graduated from Ohio and said they went to Pittsburgh to see the Ohio vs. Pitt football game recently. It was a “hectic 3 days”, in her words. She’s not a football fan. Being from Oregon, I had to point out that I’m a fan of the Ducks who knocked Ohio out of the #1 spot on the NCAA ratings list. She was OK with that.

Diane, by the way, dropped me at the front door of the hospital then parked in a spot nearby. I knew that because she texted me. She could have come inside but was OK sitting in the car, waiting for me.

When I was done with the test, I was released into the wild without having to gather any papers regarding the service provided. So, I walked out and reconnected with Diane. She was glad to see me even though I had been gone long enough that she didn’t recognize me right away.

She gave me a choice. Home, or Lunch. I voted for lunch. She picked two places near each other about 30 minutes away. Oddly enough, they were close to the VA Hospital. We drove to the first one, parked, and entered expecting a good lunch. But we were totally ignored at the order window, so we left and found #2 about 3 blocks up the street. It was Rollie’s Mexican Food.

At Rollie’s were greeted with open arms and it smelled great. Diane had an order of rolled tacos and I had my routine burrito. Diane loved hers and mine was OK, and it was really big.

We ate it all, then went back to free Max from his jail. He needed a walk.

When we got home, Max was actually up, walking around. That’s rare. He’s usually laying in the driver’s seat so he can look us in the eye without raising his head letting us know he wasn’t happy about being left alone. This time he was showing his happiness about our return. He came all the way down the stairs but didn’t leave the bus. He came back up the stairs with me and stayed really close until I adorned him with his harness and attached the leash. Then he was happy.

We took the promised long walk then returned home so I could rest. It’s been a busy day.

Day 66 – Tuesday – Mt. Lemmon

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Yes, that’s a real mountain. I looked it up and know it’s true. To prove it, we packed a couple of sandwiches and took a drive in that direction. It’s only about 20 miles away and we can see it from our home in space 261.

That’s it. the one with the snow on it. The news told us that during the rainstorm we had a couple days ago the mountain got 5-8″ of snow. Yup. Right here in Tucson. Well, not in, but nearby.

Diane had the mountain on our list of places to go and today seemed like the one, so we went. On our way out of the back gate, we saw a meeting of the minds warming their tiny little feet on the powerlines.

Since today is Get Out and Vote Day, we thought perhaps they were discussing what life might be like with a new president. Then I saw the lone bird below the others and thought maybe this was choir practice and the loner was the leader. Perhaps he was tutoring the alto/tenor section when we drove by. We didn’t have time to stop and listen because we had a destination.

On the way up the very curvy road, we were fascinated by the rock formations.

As we neared the top, around the 8,000′ level, we encountered snow. We got out to investigate and to see what Max thought about it.

He wasn’t sure about it at first, then he did some zoomies as far as his leash would allow. He had fun and seemed to be fascinated with the white stuff but got over it quickly.

Diane was attempting to get Max still for his photo op.

Just below this area is a village of many cabins and a cabin hotel. The cabins were quite impressive as was the hotel that lined the street.

This next photo is looking out into the valley to where all the Tucsonians live.

Here’s a snap of the information provided for one of the stops. It came out pretty good, showing the very crooked road we took today.

On the way down we ran into a little bit of snow, and I asked Max if he’d like to stop and take a walk. This is what he gave us …

I took that as a “nope”.

When we got back to the saguaro cactus fields, we were amazed at how these guys can grow in such desolate conditions. Pretty amazing.

As soon as we got back to the RV, I took Max for his walk, because he was such a good little guy, and took another photo of the airplanes that live on the other side of the fence from the RV park.

Now it’s time for Max’s evening walk. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 65 – Monday – It’s Cold in Tucson!

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When I got up this morning, (0600) it was 46 degrees. It’s not the first time that’s happened since we’ve been here. That puts a different spin on my understanding of what “snowbird” means. The weather people even had long talks about 6-8″ of snow on Mt. Lemmon yesterday. That caused me to do a little research that revealed Mt. Lemmon is only 20 miles from us. It’s even on Diane’s hit list of places to visit. I think she changed her mind yesterday.

This isn’t the Arizona we heard about while shivering next to the fireplace in Oregon at this time of year. Instead, here we sit in the middle of a valley where the sun shines 300 days of the year shivering in our booties. There’s hope for a change in the weather, though, because looking out the window I see that all the clouds are gone, and the sun is shining brightly. When Max wakes up, we’re going to go stand in it.

IN all fairness, Mr. Lemmon is 9,159 feet high, and they have a ski resort up there. So, I suspect they expect the snow. I just wish they’d let me know so I could have packed a few parkas.

It’s 0707 now and I’ve managed to make enough noise to wake Diane which was a good thing. She knows where the electric heaters are. I looked but didn’t want to make too much noise which turns out to be a waste of time. She knew what I was doing. Now we have a little electric fireplace up and running and it’s getting warm inside. I may survive.

I had to drag Max off the bed, away from his cozy spot. The heaters were under the bed so it was necessary that he get up. Now he’s making his alternate cozy spot on his fuzzy pillow in the driver’s chair while he waits for me to finish breakfast. I envy his ability to go for many hours without having to urinate. I think 2 hours is my limit. He can last for 8.

Here’s something you may like. It’s a 46+ minute video taken by someone who took the Bus Tour Through the Bone Yard in 2016. Sadly, they don’t do this any more.

After the day warmed up, we cleaned our house. All the windows were opened, we vacuumed, and scrubbed carpets. The results are very satisfying. We figure we should probably do this at least once a month. We’ll see how that works out.

I have no photos taken today so I’ll share an old one with you as I depart.

Good Night

Day 64 – Sunday – Day of Rest

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Today we didn’t do nothing. Nope, we just sat around resting our bones. So, technically, we did do something, just not much.

I took Max out early for a long walk which was a good thing because of the rain later in the day. The sky was overcast and there was significant cloud coverage on the surrounding mountains, so it was obvious that something was going to happen.

On this walk, I let Max take the lead to see where he would take me. He took us quite a way from our normal route and we wound up near the fence that encompasses the airplane bone yard. It’s an impressive site and I haven’t been able to get a decent photo that shows how amazing it is. So, I took some more photos and decided to do a little editing to see if it would help. Here’s what I got.

Understand, this is a very small portion of the planes that are stored at this facility. I would like to see the area where the old fighter planes are stored but I’m not sure that we have access to that area from the active part of the base. So, just let your imagination run wild. You can also Google Davis-Monthan Boneyard or just use the link and be amazed.

We almost made it back to the rig before the rain started so we both got a little bit wet. Max didn’t mind. He loves to get the water toweled off.

Then it rained. It rained really hard, and there was a lot of thunder. Max could hear it before we could and barked, but when it got into our hearing range, he was quiet. He doesn’t mind that getting wet plays havoc with his hair. He doesn’t care about that either. We got outside a few other times between the heavy rain showers during the day, but they were short walks. It rained pretty must all day. In Oregon it would be a drizzle between the rainstorms.

Here’s a photo from yesterday that I couldn’t include with that post because I was having problems transferring it to the laptop.

I stood behind our rig to take this. A pretty magnificent sunset, right?

Now I must stop. Today is my shower day.

Day 63 – Saturday – Couch Potato vs. Thrift Stores

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You all have one guess as to who did what. Tic tock tic tock tic tock.

OK, time’s up. You’re all wrong. Diane was the couch potato today. I went thrift storing.

Diane stayed home and watched all the football games I was interested in while I went shopping and made an honest attempt to purchase things I know she would like. For instance, in one store I spent a couple of hours sitting on a couch going through a large box of Christmas cards, picking out the really cute ones I knew she’d like. I also found a couple of really nice shirts for her, and a really handy little cooler. I didn’t get anything for myself.

Diane’s main goal was to watch the Oregon vs. Michigan game so she could fill me in on what happened. Unfortunately, she fell asleep before half time so missed a pretty good game. Thankfully, it was set to record so I was able to watch it after I got home.

She didn’t even wake up when I returned and that was OK. She’s having difficulty sleeping about every other night. Usually, it’s because Max sleeps crossways on the bed. That never bothers me because I generally don’t sleep well anyway. That’s why I crave naps in the daylight hours but rarely get one.

After a brief respite upon returning home, I cooked dinner. Diane suggested hamburgers, our go to meal when in doubt. They were pretty good. We even had good fries using our handy dandy little air fryer.

After dinner I took Max for his evening walk, and he got to visit with Ally for a bit. They’re great friends.

Ally belongs to Dawn, the legs on the left below. The legs on the right belong to Linda.

We whiled away the evening watching fun things on TV. Then, all the sudden, it was bedtime again.

Day 62 – Friday – Retraced Our Steps a Little

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After breakfast Diane drove us back to the Last Outpost in Old Tucson to swap the shirt I mentioned yesterday. While she bartered with the store manager, Max and I wandered around the parking lot. The last time we were here I found a crisp $5 bill just lying there on the ground. That’s almost as good as finding a heads-up penny. We didn’t find any more during our walk. We were about halfway across the parking lot when Diane came out of the store. Since we were the only ones in the parking lot, I turned Max loose and told him to go get Mom.

He took off like the wind and got to her just in time for Diane to open the car door. He didn’t hesitate about jumping in. There was no way he was going to be left behind. That, and he loves to ride in the car.

Next, we drove to Mission San Xavier to get a refrigerator magnet, something we forgot to do during our last visit. I walked around the mountain adjacent to the mission while Diane bought me a tiny saguaro cactus. We hope it grows from its tiny state to a magnificent remembrance of this area.

Max and I climbed the hill adjacent to the Mission proper. It’s not very tall but gives one a nice view of the valley in all directions. This was the best view. The mission is like a massive jewel in the wilderness.

Looking the other way, you can see the “mountain” Max and I climbed.

Diane needs to print the AAA Trip Tiks she’s working on for our return trip to civilization, so we decided to get a small printer so she can study the routes. The first likely place to get one was the Base Exchange (BX). So, that’s where we went first. They had slim pickings and didn’t have the one I thought would be best. So, we drove to Costco and found just the right one.

I’m so happy Diane likes doing that because I’m much better at traveling as a silent observer instead of all that front end stuff necessary to make the trip pleasant. She’s a stellar planner and makes the trip easy on me since I’m the bus driver. We no longer feel the need to get from Point A to Point B the quickest way possible. Now we go from Point A to Point Z and visit all the places in between. It’s much more relaxing.

After Costco, we drove home in time for supper. Max didn’t care that he’d been home alone after lunch. He spied on our neighbors and ran to them and was rewarded with treats. Those are way better than supper. Our neighbors are Patricia and Laurie, Mother and Daughter. They dressed up for Halloween.

Awesome neighbors and they love Max, too.

We watched a little Dish TV then streamed “White Collar” on Netflix, but it wasn’t buffering well. Lots of pauses at night so we discussed, again, getting our own hotspot. I know I can get one from Verizon, but I’d like to do it through AT&T since we already have service with them. Should get a break because of that. Perhaps you remember I tried doing that in California, but it didn’t work out. I’m going to try again. I’m sure you will be holding your breath waiting for the results so I’ll report back as quickly as I can.

Now, my pillow is calling to me.

Day 61 – Thursday – Saguaro National Park West

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Guess what! As you may have guessed, Saguaro NP West looks a lot like Saguaro NP East. So, they are essentially the same but different. The West version seems to have way more saguaro cacti sprouting on it’s portion of the Sonoran Desert. I think that’s true. Yeah, pretty sure. If someone determines that I’m wrong, I’ll deny it. I can do that because I’ve decided to be a politician in the near future, and it seems to be OK if they are not completely accurate when they speak.

We drove through entire forests of incredible saguaros on the way to our destination, but we stopped by Old Tucson first, which is a few miles before the park. Turns out that Old Tucson was closed, except for the Last Outpost. So, while I walked Max around the enormous, empty, parking lot, Diane bought us each T-shirts to commemorate the event. Later, when we got home, Diane discovered that she got an XL for me. She meant to get an M, but the XL was on the hangar. So, we need to go back tomorrow to trade the XL for an M.

From the trinket store we drove straight to the park without mishap. The park visitor’s center is surrounded by millions of saguaros, so it was a good place to put this national park. The variety of shapes is amazing, and they are all unique.

Even Max was interested.

There are many hiking trails throughout the park but those are not for us. We limit our walking from the car to a bathroom and perhaps a gift shop. The exception on this trip was our stop at the Desert Museum.

Museums interest us and we try to visit them when we can, so we stopped at this one. Diane didn’t want to go in so she found a parking spot in the shade, which was amazing, where she and Max could wait for my return.

I went to the entry to see what it was all about and found these brass figures of javelinas.

They stand mostly in the sun all day long so that pink piece of paper you can see on the big one is a warning that says “HOT”. I wanted to make sure that was true, so I touched it. It was.

Then I got to the entrance and saw this sign:

That’s when I turned and went back to the car. Diane and Max were surprised to see me so soon but understood when I explained that there’s no way I was paying $29.95 to enter a museum that was going to close in about 30 minutes. I wouldn’t pay it even if it was going to be open for the next 30 hours. They were on my side. So, we left.

As Diane was pulling out of the parking lot I spied this beauty and convinced her to stop and let me out for a few seconds. We had seen pictures of this kind of saguaro but could not see any in all the fields we viewed. Then there was this one right in plain view.

You have to admit that this is a very stunning cactus. Now one I talked with could explain to me what causes some of them to grow like this. That’s OK. I can live with the mystery. Our stop here was amazing even though neither of us went into the museum.

Then we went home. That’s part of Tucson in the distance.

Now I must shower and go to bed.

Day 60 – Thrift Storing

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It was chilly this morning. Like 48 degrees! That is legitimately chilly. Actually, it was cold. So, I got to wear long socks, long pants, and two hoodies when I took Max for his morning walk. That was at 0730. Couldn’t quite see my breath so I was bummed.

Ok, it was 48.7 degrees. Picky, picky.

Walking briskly warmed us up a little, but it was still cold.

I did my normal morning routine to get my breakfast which is mainly to be quiet like a mouse, but that never works out. Something always makes a racket which Diane can easily hear. Thankfully, she doesn’t complain about it. Honestly, I think she’s OK that I make a little noise because by doing so she is reassured that I’m alive and moving. Even then I think in the back of her mind she’s prepared to hear the heavy thud I’ll make when I land on the floor for any reason. So far, that hasn’t happened. I practice that move when Max and I are home alone. Yes, I practice falling in the RV as quietly as possible. That’s kind of lame, I know, but what the heck. Gives me something to do. What will most likely happen is I’ll fall off the stairs leaving the rig and I’ll land on the gravel. I doubt if she would hear that so now I need to train Max to start barking when I fall to get attention. I tried to teach him to run back in the RV to the bedroom to bark, but he wanted to stay with me. Teaching him to bark is a challenge because when he does it voluntarily, he gets scolded a little. So, the best bet is for me to just lay where I land and wait for someone to show up.

You know, I’ve fallen a few times walking Max and I’ve never been concerned about getting back up but after writing it out like that, it’s suddenly something that kind of bothers me. Like, how long would I have to lay there until someone shows up and rolls me over to get my face out of the rocks.

OK. Enough of that.

The 1st thrift store Diane found was really nice. Max got to in and look around too. He loves to shop, and he gets lots of attention.

While Diane was visiting the 2nd store Max, and I stayed in the car and did some research about lunch. The one I found, Frank’s, was right up our alley. Here’s his reader board out front:

Here’re the t-shirts worn by the waiters and cooks:

I totally understand the T-shirt because it’s a pretty small place so they don’t want folks hanging around too long after they’re done eating.

Here’s what we ate. Diane had taquitos and I had a chicken fried steak:

After lunch we travelled to the 3rd stop on Diane’s list, but it wasn’t there. We took that as a hint that we’d apparently hit our thrift store limit for the day. So, we went back home. On the way, we stopped for this photo op that we’d seen on the way to lunch.

Kind of difficult to fathom that one, isn’t it? Makes one wonder a little about the history of Jerrie Blvd, right?

As soon as we got home, I immediately took Max for a well-earned walk. On the way back we saw a new neighbor pull in.

That’s the biggest Class C rig I’ve ever seen. It’s a Newmar from Alaska. He was parking the trailer that he apparently carries his car on. I’ll be curious to see what it is.

Now I’m going to rest before watching game 5 of the World Series.

Day 59 – Tuesday – Saguaro National Park, East & West

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The calendar today suggests we visit Saguaro National Park. Seeing the entire park requires that visitors travel to two locations, on either side of Tucson, to accomplish that goal. So, that’s what we plan to do. Max is going with us, but we haven’t told him the magnitude of the ride he must endure. I’m sure he won’t mind. He has yet to decline a ride.

It’s 0907 and we just finished breakfast so as soon as Diane gets the dishes all cleaned up (her chosen task), we’ll be on our way.

It got cold last night. When I got up the first time, around 0100-ish, it was 63 degrees, and the wind was blowing pretty hard. What woke us was the awning flapping around so I put it away so we can use it again someday.

About the park with two locations . . . I did a little research about that and came up with the understanding that when it was originally established in 1933 it was a Monument. Then, in 1961 the west section was added. Not until 1994 were both sections declared to be a National Park. So, this place is pretty new in that regard. Still, it’s been around long enough for most of the shiny parts to be dulled just a little. Even so, the magnificent Saguaro Cactus is the draw, and they are magnificent. Check the link and you, too, can be astounded.

Now I will stop and resume this when we return from our journey.

You may nap while we’re gone, if you wish.

It’s 1423 and I’m back, obviously. We’ve actually been back for a little while, long enough for Diane to fill up 5 washers in the laundry room which is a world record for her. She normally only uses 2 or 3.

The trip to Saguaro wasn’t a long one because we wound up at the section near the Rincon Mountains which is only about 9-10 miles away. The hard part, once we got through the gate, was the grueling 8-mile trip around a very small portion of the park. What makes it grueling is that only bicycles are allowed in the park. Fortunately, they have them for rent at the entrance, so I got each of us a bike and away we went.

I kept Max with me so he wouldn’t get all tangled up in Diane’s spokes, causing her to tumble. The added benefit for me by doing that was Max is a strong little guy, and he helped pull me up the hills. I could hear Diane huffing and puffing behind me so knew she was having difficulty. When I stopped at one of the turnouts, it took her about 15 minutes to catch up. Since Max was such a help to me, and he didn’t get tangled up, I decided to take a chance and hooked him up to Diane’s bike. I let her lead so I could be prepared to run to her rescue if he went nuts on her. But he didn’t. He was good as gold and led her the remaining way around that 8-mile loop without mishap. There were times when I thought they were going to outrun me. I kept up, but it wasn’t easy.

Here are some photos I took on that trip.

I should quit trying to get selfies because with these sunglasses I can’t see what I’m taking a picture of. It’s a crapshoot and sometimes OK.

The bike trail was entirely paved and easy on the buttocks for which we were both thankful. Max didn’t care.

I don’t know when we’ll get to visit the other half of this national park. Tomorrow, I see three thrift stores on the calendar, so we won’t be headed west. I must take Max to the dog wash, also. There will be a day free that we can pencil in Saguaro. Hopefully we’ll be able to drive through the other half, of maybe just perch ourselves on a high spot and just look around.

Tonight, we watched game 4 of the World Series. It started off nicely when Freddie hit his 4th homerun in 4 games for the Dodgers. Then the Yankees got busy. At the end of the 8th, the Yankees led 11-4. To get there they hit two (2) grand slam home runs. Quite impressive. I didn’t watch the 9th inning. Call me a fair-weather fan if you wish. I don’t mind.

Oh, ya. All that baloney about Max pulling Diane around the park was pure fiction. Some of you may have figured that out already, but I had to come clean. Max was ensconced in his throne, next to me, while Diane drove us around the park. That’s true.

See you tomorrow.