Tucson!

I thought I better start this post out with a picture of Barb drinking. I know more than one of you were concerned for our health last week when we did not have a single picture of "drunken debauchery". Rest assured my dear friends; we are healthy and doing well. 

We certainly do not have covid as our sense of smell is alive and well. Zoey reminds us of that every time we are in the truck traveling. How can something that small emit an odor that can clear a room!??! OMG, that dog is rotten sometimes. As a side note, it is nice to have a dog in the vehicle to blame once in a while. 

We had a great week. The picture above was taken while we were at El Charro's, which was, up to this week, Barb's favorite restaurant down here. 

There were a couple of restaurants that Barb wanted to hit while we were here, El Charro's was at the top of the list. We met virtual blogger friends Bill and Jodee there. We went on the road about the same time and know many of the same people but have never met in person. Well, we fixed that this week! Their story is much like ours, fulltiming for a few years before finding a homebase to parttime out of. The biggest difference is theirs is in the south, while ours is in the frozen tundra. 

If you look closely, you can see Tessa under the table

We had a great meal while getting to know each other, I am sure we will see each other again somewhere down the road. 

We also hit one other Mexican restaurant, this time it was at BOCA (Barb's new favorite). Barb certainly is getting her fill of Mexican this trip! I am learning what I like there as well and actually enjoyed both of them. In my opinion, BOCA was a little better than El Charro's so if you are only going to go to one, pick BOCA.

The salsa flight with the fresh made chips were worth the trip all by itself. 

But that is not why we went there. We went there to meet up with another couple, Joe and Gay, who are also virtual friends and fellow bloggers. We have been following each other's blogs for quite a while, so it felt like we had been friends for a long time. It was great to meet them in person as well!

But wait, we were not done there! We also met up with longtime friends Dale and Ruth who we had not seen in a couple of years. They too bought a house down here when they were done fulltiming. See a pattern here?

We had supper at their house while watching the KC/Cincinnati game. It was so great to catch up with them and it sounds like we will see them again in a couple of weeks. 

We found a variety of free places to stay while we were in town. The first one was a Harvest Host brewery. (Shocking, I know!). 

Our plan was to have a beer or two and something to eat. But the food truck they had there served only vegan, so we just stuck to the beers. They did have an interesting sign on their bathroom doors, however. 

We spent two nights at Snyder Hills. A section of BLM which was filled to the brim with boondockers. I think it was so full because the Gem show was this week. We have stayed here every time we pass through the area. This time is seemed a little cleaner and higher class than the previous times. 

We also spent one night at a Home Depot and another at a Basha's store. Both were decent and restful nights. The bonus of staying at Basha's is fresh donuts in the morning!

Our biggest adventure while in town was our drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon. Several of our friends have talked about it and this time we actually did it ourselves. The road up is really easy. What is interesting is the different ecosystems you pass through on your way to the peak.  At the lower levels it started out as desert with tons and tons of saguaros.

Then it transitioned to more of a brushy desert environment.

After that it changed to rocks and hoodoos. 

Then came the snow. Being that it was Sunday and it had recently snowed at the top, there was a ton of people up there. Every parking area, picnic area and pull off were stacked with cars. There was even one guy shoveling snow into the back of his pickup! When we got to the top where the ski area was there was a turnaround at the end of the road. Unfortunately, people were parked every which way and we could not navigate between the cars. So, we had to back out and find a place to turn around. Not a problem except there were cars behind us. I got out and talked to them and they were nice and understanding so we back up, found a place to turn around and were on our way again. 

On the way down there was a steady stream of cars heading up. I am glad we went early; I do not know where all those cars were going to park!

The next day, we were off to our next destination: Organ Pipe National Monument. Another first for us. As we were pulling into the visitor's center, who's truck should we see? Ken and Donna with the sticker laden pickup camper! They were pulling out of the park the same day we were pulling in. We chatted with them for about 20 minutes. They said site #22 in the Twin Peaks Campground was really nice to so pulled into #22 for the night! At $10 a night (w/Sr. Pass) it is a bargain. 

Barb made a statement last week that we need to take more selfies so prepare yourselves in the coming weeks to see more pictures of an old guy in desperate need of a haircut!

Organ Pipe Cactus in the background

After getting set up, Barb and I went on the Victoria Mine hike. A 4.8-mile round trip hike through desert county. 

A very easy hike, not a lot hills, just a few washes to walk in and out of. We ended up at the old mine where there were a few holes and an old mining cabin. 

We got a late start to on the hike, the shadows were getting pretty long on our way back to the camper. 

Our plan was to drive the 21-mile loop road and do the arch hike the next day. But it rained all night long. There is nothing like the sound of rain on the top of a camper (or tent, or cabin). We both slept like babies lulled by the pitter patter on the roof. When we woke up the next day it was still raining with a forecast to rain on and off all day. 

We decided to pack up and hit the road a day early. The next stop: Yuma, where we have plans to meet some more friends, visit Mexico a day or two and maybe even howl at the moon!

As I am proofing this, I see there are no fur-baby pictures, I will try to make up for that next week!