The RVs Last Few Miles

1 Nov – Tucson

The RV did the last few miles down to Desert Trails RV park in Tucson where it will be staying for the next 6 months.  We had stayed at this park for a month back in March and met a few familiar faces when we checked in. 

We had been in touch with the jHavelina Hash who were organising the Hash De Tucson this weekend.  So we met up with them for some drinks Friday evening.  They were all dressed up in Halloween/Waking Dead theme costumes and makeup.

2^nd Nov – Hash De Tucson

The Hash De Tucson was to be 4 consecutive trails totalling around 16 miles.  We joined them at the half way halt and did the afternoon trails which took us through the desert for a couple of hours

before arriving at somebody’s house for the ‘Après’.

 

A very friendly bunch and we had an invite to join some of them for the All Souls Parade the following day.

3^rd Nov – All Souls Parade

Mid-afternoon we set off to join Geno and his friends for a pre-parade party and preparations.

This involved food, alcohol and face paint. 
We then walked into Downtown Tucson where thousands of people were gathering to watch the parade in honour of loved ones lost.  The majority of people were dressed up for the occasion.  Many people carried mementos of their lost ones.

We walked with the parade for about 20 mins and then stood and watched it continue down the streets.

4^th – 11^th Nov Desert Trails

We spent the rest of our time here in Tucson preparing the RV for storage including trying out its new cover.  We met several familiar faces at the resort that we had met back in March and did a bit of catching up with everyone’s adventures over the summer. 

  We played bocce ball a couple of afternoons enjoying happy hour after spending a hot 2 hours in the afternoon sun.  The day time temperature is between 25-30C but at night it drops down to 5-8C.  Every evening we listen to the coyotes howling our in the surrounding desert.
The resort had a number of musical evening entertainments that we attended and also a ‘soup & salad’ lunch one day.

On the last Saturday we visited with the jHavelina Hash again for a trail that took us around the northern outskirts of town for around 5 miles. After the hash we joined them at a local pub.

12^th Nov – Last day in Tucson

We have spent our last night in the RV.  We park the RV in the spot where it will spend the next 6 months and secure it and get the cover over it.  We say a fond farewell, and a friend gives us a lift to the hotel near the airport ready for tomorrow’s flight to Austin Texas.  We will be joined in Texas by Louise and all three of us will spend the weekend at the 2013 Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas before flying back to UK on 20^th November.
 

This marks the end of Our Big Adventure which we started nearly 16 months ago.  We return to UK

for 6 months and then will fly back out to Tucson on 29^th May 2014 to begin all over again……….

This has been our home for 16 months, it seem strange to be leaving it covered over.

To be continued…………………………………….

Still in Arizona

28^th Oct – Travel to Casa Grande

We said our goodbyes to our neighbours Bill and Shirley and set off east along I-8 to Casa Grande.  We stopped on the way at “Dateland”.  General Patton had a couple of training camps in this area in the ‘40s including an air-strip . 

 

However the construction of the runway could not cope with the B25 Bombers.   This place is now home to a Date Farm as it has ideal weather for growing dates.  So we stopped and had a Date Milkshake before continuing to Casa Grande just south of Phoenix.

29^th Oct – Casa Grande Ruins NM

We visited Casa Grande Ruins National Monument an ancient dwelling built around the 14^th Century.  The local people living here at the time had built irrigation ditches along the valleys where  the rivers flowed and it is estimated around 2000 people may have lived here in those days. Stonehenge was mentioned as there is a window in the building of this dwelling which aligns with the summer solstice sun.

We got back in time to join residents of the RV park for Happy Hour.

We had considered driving to Picacho State Park for a hike up the mountain there, but having seen the weather forecast of ‘bad air quality’ due to dust we decided to leave it until later in the week.  We were glad we had made that decision as later we heard on the evening news of a fatal accident involving a 19-vehicle pile-up on the I-10 by the State Park.  Where there is bear earth the breeze had created a cloud of dust across the interstate which was as thick as fog.

30^th Oct – Az State Fair, Phoenix

Phoenix was just over an hour’s drive so we spent the day at the Arizona State Fair.  There were the usual attractions; fair-ground rides, craft displays, farm animals.  We sat in on an Ice carving demo, a talk about wolves and some Native American Indian dancing.  The highlight for Alison was the Star  Trek Exhibition. (Paul was conned into going) It was one of the largest exhibitions featuring sets and costumes from all five TV series and 11 films.

Alison even got to sit in Captain Kirk’s chair. 

Unfortunately photography was not allowed.

31th Oct – Picacho Peak

The weather was just right for our climb up Picacho Peak – and we do mean “climb”.  The Peak is only 3374ft high; 1500ft above our starting point.  However the trail took us up to the ‘saddle’ at 2960ft, we then had to climb back down 200ft the other side of the mountain, with the aid of cables, to discover we had to climb straight back up again with the aid of more cables.  The 2 miles up took us an hour and 40mins and almost the same coming back down.  At the top we had 360 views all around the valley.  The state park was surrounded by agricultural land and one of the crops is cotton.

Picacho Peak is of historical significance in that it was the only place in Arizona to witness a battle during the American Civil War.