January 16- January 31, 2006

January 16 Mon

Shirley and Karen went to breakfast at a popular restaurant in Lowell and Garrey went to try to find propane.  It's been very cold here.  A touch of snow yesterday morning and today the water line in the RV park was frozen in the morning.  Consequently our furnace has been running more than usual so we need a refill.  No luck with that though.  The closest place for a refill is 25 miles from here.  Will wait to get that done tomorrow.  We all went to Shirley's and Karen did a load of wash and hung them outdoors to dry--smelled great.  Garrey put together Shirley's TV stand except for the doors in front as they were unusual.  Shirley then came to the RV park for Christmas pudding as Karen's birthday cake.  (It was baked by Landa Baily 2 years ago and was delicious!)   

January 17 Tues

This morning the sewer line and the water line in the RV park were frozen.  We were unable to empty our black and gray water tanks as a result so we decided to drive north to Benson.  Benson is lower in elevation than Bisbee and Garrey needed to get to a lower elevation to relieve the sinus headache he has had since we got here.  Shirley came to say good-bye and we had a great visit this past week.  It's always good to be able to see where someone lives so you can picture their surroundings when you are apart.

January 18 Wed

Drove to the Desert Trails RV Park southwest of Tucson.  We were going to stay for two days but it is a neat place that feels real comfortable so we will stay for a week.  We need an Internet connection to pay bills and get some tax return forms downloaded.  They have a hot-tub, too. 

January 19 Thurs

Took a morning walk on the desert trails just outside the RV park.  Beautiful desert country here.  Garrey was getting over the change in altitude.  His high altitude headaches from Benson to Bisbee and back are gone now.  His time in the spa here seemed to help with the sinus problems.

January 20 Fri

Lots of people had told us we HAD to see the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and it's close to our RV park so we went there today.  Now we agree.  If you're in the area you should go there.  Although its called a museum, it really is part zoo, part museum, and part botanical garden. We took lots of photos of the Pumas, Ocelots, Desert Fox, Javelinas, etc. but unfortunately most of the photos were not good enough to put in the diary.  The animals were just dots in the photo and they are pretty well camouflaged so it didn't work well but we spent three hours there and really enjoyed it.   We did get a usable photo of 8 javalinas piled up together taking a nap and a coyote posing for the tourists.

They had entertainment tonight at the park's recreation room.  It was the Tucson Accordion Band.  Karen stayed for the full show which was clapping and foot stomping good.  Garrey went out for air after about an hour and didn't find his way back in.

January 21 Sat

Today we visited the San Xavier Del Bac Mission - founded in 1692.  The buildings in these photos were built from 1793 to 1797.

January 22 Sun

In the early evening we went for a walk on the excellent trail system that is adjacent to the RV park (Desert Trails RV Resort).  Karen took lots of photos just before sunset.  Click here to see her gallery of photos from that walk.  At 7:00 p.m. Karen went to a hymn sing at the recreation center.  The songs sung were old hymns from the '60-70's dear to all of the park residence who grew up at that time.

January 23 Mon

Got some groceries, washed the truck, read, and watched the dust blow by in the street of the RV park.

January 24 Tues

We took an early walk in the desert with the binoculars to see Kitt Peak National Observatory more clearly on a far off mountain peak, as well as, to check out some of the rest of the mountains that surround the valley.  We found an old mine in one of the valleys and saw the Tucson-Sonora Desert Museum and Old Tucson off in the distance.

We did some laundry and read to finish a book needed to be returned to the library at the Park about the Amish.

January 25 Wed

Drove to Oro Valley north of Tucson.  Took I-19 then I-10 up to Miracle Mile, past downtown, then Oracle Road which goes up the center of north Tucson.  Set up camp at beautiful Catalina State Park and was great to see Jay and Kaye Hogan who came to visit us at the park where they had recommended we stay.  They are only about 7 miles from the Park.  We had a delicious dinner with them at their home in the suburb of Sun City Vistoso.  They have a spectacular desert and mountain view from the house and a very nice patio in back to watch the many different birds visiting their feeders and bird bath.  They live next to trust land so no one will build next to them on the north side. 

January 26 Thurs

Had breakfast with Jay and Kaye at the Sun City Golf Course restaurant with a magnificent 180-degree view of the valley and the Catalina Mountains.  Then we visited some storage places to see about storing our rig and truck till next fall.   In the afternoon we met Shirley at Pier 1 Imports across from the Tucson Mall to get some papers that had been mailed to her house in Bisbee and hadn't arrived before we left there.  Wandered through one floor of the American Home Furniture Store with her as she was looking for a few pieces of furniture for her Bisbee home.  We stopped at Albertson's for a few foods on the way back to Catalina.

January 27 Fri

Jay and Kaye came to the campground for a picnic with us.  T'was a beautiful afternoon with fine friends, delicious food, and stimulating conversation.

January 28 Sat

We went to Jay and Kaye's at 11:00 and watched the morning birds from their back deck aviary.  We saw Gambel's quail (m&f), cactus wrens, Gila woodpeckers, lesser gold finch, curve-billed thrasher, red head & chest house finch, red cardinal, cardinal with yellow bill, a humming bird, and heard a whippoorwill.  Also, we enjoyed the road runners at our camp site.

We were going in to Tucson for breakfast but it was suggested that we stop at Pier 1 Imports closer to Oro Valley to make an imprint on our minds.  Then we went to the Westward Look Resort which was in beautiful desert and cacti setting.  The Resort was built around a 1912 homestead estate with the lobby off the old family living room.  The room was very impressive with the original fire place and some of the original furniture.  It had large wagon wheel light fixtures in the logs in the ceiling spread at about 36 inches apart.   Dried ocotillo plants were spread across the logs as the roof of the room.  We ate a fine meal at the Gold Room restaurant and had red prickly pear cactus margaritas with our meal--tasty.  

The back porch overlooked the pool.  Of course, we had to stop at the Gift Shop and I bought some mesquite bean syrup for our French toast some morning.

Later we went to La Encantada Shopping Center where there were many different shops including the Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Cart & Barrel,  AJ's Purveyors, etc.  AJ's was a real "trip" as they had a wide variety of new and different products, great looking meat in their cases, vegetables that were stacked in an exceptional manner, a variety of liquors, delicious looking pastries, etc.  The shopping center is located on Ina which turns into Skyline and after the  shopping center to Sunrise.  (Streets in AZ always turn into some other street as you go down them.)   In an art gallery across the street from the center Bob Grogan from AK has some of his one of a kind paintings.

It was another fun day!

January 29 Sun

It was time to pack up and leave lovely, spacious Catalina State Park.  We happened upon a Tom Mix Memorial as we drove along.  Found out later on the internet that he was killed in an automobile accident when a suitcase from the back hit him in the head at that particular spot. We continued north to Florence where a lot of prisoners from Alaska reside.  From Florence Junction a ways up the road to Phoenix and then Mesa it seems there was nothing but RV park after RV park!!  We had no trouble finding Tower Point RV Resort in the afternoon.  We tried calling Sue & Gene Gerard who we are here to see on and off but they must have been on their computer. 

January 30 Mon

Laundry time again and hot tub for Garrey.  Stopped at the library on site to find some books and joined a fellow for a while who was building a puzzle.  Joined shuffle boarders for lunch of bratwurst with sauerkraut and potato chips.  In the afternoon we went down the road about a half mile to visit Sue & Gene at Greenfield Village RV Park.  They are renting a place there.  After a nice visit we came home as they were going to play tennis.  Garrey cooked a great dinner of onion-mushroom chicken, baked potato, and spinach.  

January 31 Tues

Karen and Sue went to a gift shop in the morning, lunch, and bible study in the afternoon.  Garrey got a haircut then shot a few racks of pool in the pool room.  He had the room alone and that was fine because his game is so rusty he was embarrassed even though no one else was there.

Garrey talked with John Lucas, our old friend from Juneau who is here in the Phoenix area for the month.  We will visit with him before going back to Tucson.

Gene and Sue picked us up to go out for a salad dinner.

This has been a superb adventure and we will look forward to being on the road again in the fall.  Now though, it's time to wrap up the diary as we get ready to go back to Tucson where we will store the truck and trailer.  When we leave the RV Resort in Mesa we will probably go to a state park where there is no wireless internet connection so we won't start a new page for the on-line diary since we won't be able to post updates.