Tucson Continued

4th Mar  Geo-caching and Horse-racing

Some shopping in the morning and then one of the other residents at the camp, LeVon, took Alison out for the afternoon to demonstrate Geo-caching.  Alison said it was good fun and they found a number of the hidden ‘caches’.  Meanwhile back in the RV Paul was blowing up the inflatable kayak which had been recently delivered.  It was rather amusing with the two of us sitting in the kayak on the RV floor pretending to paddle – we now need to some water to try it out!

In the evening we went to the horse-racing evening in the rec-hall.  It was good fun and particularly successful as we finished in credit.

5th Mar Biosphere 2

 

We visited Biosphere 2 a few miles north of Tucson.  The Biosphere was an experiment created in the mid-90s when 6 people lived in it for 2 years.  They tried to create a sealed environment which would sustain humans thus gaining knowledge for living in outer-space etc.  The Biosphere is now owned and used by the Arizona University in Tucson but no-one lives in it. 

Of particular interest was how the “Lung” worked.  In order to pump air into the sealed environment a structure can be inflated – we stood inside the building and as the structure started to deflate, to push air ‘in’, we could feel no movement of air until we went to exit the building, and then found ourselves being jet-propelled out the door!

 

 

6th Mar Shooting Club
 

Our neighbours, Doreen and Charlie, invited us to join them at the Shooting Club.  Alison was not feeling too well so Paul went with them and experienced firing Charlie’s different guns.  Meanwhile Alison spent the afternoon sitting in the sun.

 

7th Mar Catalina Mountains

We joined the camp Hiking group again, for a walk up in the Catalina State Park, north of Tucson.  The trail took us up into Romero Canyon for around 4 miles.  We had a delightful lunch sat by the river where the snow melt created little pools and waterfalls where we could soak our feet.  The temperature was up in the mid-20s and we enjoyed ice-creams when we got back to the car park.  We had an enjoyable drive back over the Tucson Mountains and through the Saguaro Nat Park.

 

8th Mar Rain ….!

Dark clouds brought rain in the morning – it had been forecast.   We went out for lunch with friends Tami and Duane.  As the weather was not so good we had a quiet day and then went along to the camp-site evening entertainment of a trio playing Western music (The Moonstruck Coyotes).

9th Mar San Xavier Mission

It was a really cold day with cloudy skies and the odd shower – it was just like being back in the UK!  We visited San Xavier Mission where an Indian Pow-wow was advertised.  Unfortunately there wasn’t much to be seen of the ‘Pow-wow’; but we enjoyed looking around the 18^th Century mission with Charlie and D.  We then went around a couple of Swap Meets – which were like a Flea Market – and then had lunch together at a Mexican restaurant. 

In the evening we all went to the Square Dance in the Rec-hall.  Alison danced but Paul, Charlie and D just watched.  LeVon was there and had brought over a scorpion she had found/killed in her apartment to show everyone; we could see it glow in the dark under the black light.

10th Mar  Bocce Ball

In the rest of USA the clock went forward to Summer Time.  However Arizona doesn’t participate in this practice – so we are now the same time zone as California. We are still seven hours behind UK time. 

In the afternoon we thought we would  to go for a walk in the desert.  However we got way-laid for a couple of hours by the group playing Bocce Ball instead.  This was then followed by happy-hour with them all.  Then the two of us had a soak in the Hot Tub with LeVon.