Tucson and beyond, flying north with the birds

We left Mexico behind on March 14, looking forward to getting home to family. We had an easy time thru US customs, searched the freezer for disallowed food & asked about any meds acquired, in particular Cipro. Strange question but apparently it is the only antibiotic effective against anthrax so they keep an eye out for any large quantities entering the US.

We settled in Tucson for a week to do all the touristy things as we had never been there. Of course we took the free camping option of a casino parking lot for all but one night, when we caught up on laundry & sanitized our water tank after dumping our Mexican water. Gas prices were pretty good - $2.219/gallon!

white pelicans over Laughlin

 We toured the Asarco copper mine & got to watch the huge trucks working in the massive pit. Next was the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, a full day exploring the nature trails, listening to talks on Gila monsters & rattlesnakes, complete with live animals up close, marveling at the nesting hummingbirds in the walk-in aviary, ducking as the raptor flight show had Harris hawks swooping over our heads & enjoying many animal & bird exhibits.

 

mother hummingbird feeding her baby

Gila Monster

rattlesnake

A highlight for us was the Biosphere 2, the site of a huge dome enclosed “world” complete with an ocean & coral reef, a rain forest, a desert & living quarters. This was used for a 2 year sealed live in experiment for 8 people in 1991-3 where they grew their own food & monitored the environment, studying the feasibility of creating dome homes in the future. It is now owned by the University of Arizona & is used for climate & environmental research. 

ocean, reef below

desert

Of course we did some rock-hounding in the area, at one point ended up on a dirt “goat trail” (not the first time) traveling for miles into the mountains, up to 8000 ft, temp. down to 10C, before we found our way out & back down to Tucson where the temp was 25C.

We couldn’t miss Tombstone since we were so close, took in a re-enactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral, had beer & burgers at the old Crystal Palace Saloon & visited Boothill graveyard.

We had purchased a booklet giving us 2 for 1 entry into many attractions so we also visited the Pima Air & Space Museum. Lots of military aircraft, even a tiny moon rock on display.

We left Tucson & headed to Casa Grande where we swapped stories with Darwin & Olivia & were treated to their wonderful hospitality, a great visit. On to Phoenix area, a casino again in Mesa, close to the huge Mesa Market, 1500 shops of “stuff”. Spent 2 days there wandering in amazement at the size of it. We ran into 2 sets of folks that we met in La Penita, Mexico & we had previously run into 2 other sets of people from our Mexican travels at other spots in Tucson – small world. We tried our hand at casino bingo, a first for us. We needed lots of help from the cashier on what we needed, but figured most of it out & left poorer than when we arrived. We were surprised by the question of paper or electronic when we bought our cards – you can now use a “tablet like” device that can be loaded with dozens of bingo cards that a “machine” plays for you – you sit there & watch idly & the screen shows “Yell Bingo” if you win! Too technical for us, we played old fashioned paper cards.

We headed north east after our trusty GPS got us through Phoenix to a new rock-hounding area at Burro Creek. They have a beautiful rustic campground where we spent 3 nights, enjoying pie iron for breakfast cooked over the fire, watching migrating birds overhead & 5 Great Blue herons nesting on the cliff above the creek. The desert was in full color, lots of spring flowers & cactus in bloom. We came across our first wild rattlesnake – a Western Diamondback, about 30” long, slithering along on the road. We visited with some Americans who told us of another RVer (an American) who carries 19 firearms & 10,000 rounds of ammo in his RV - & people wonder why we prefer Mexico!

 

Great Blue heron on her nest

We are now in Laughlin, Nevada across the river from Bullhead City parked in another casino parking lot with at least 30 other RVers. It’s hot – 96-100F, hi 30’sC & feels even hotter parked on asphalt. We are enjoying walking along the river walk beside the Colorado River & popping into casinos to cool off. We have been visiting with Mary & Gary & last night we got to cruise the strip in their fancy red Mustang convertible! We took a ride on the Riverboat past all the casinos & up to Davis dam, can’t believe the number of people out on the river in March.  We will be leaving here in a day or two, to do a quick trip north, but we know it will get colder so we a reluctant to leave this heat. Hopefully winter is close to being over up there. Next blog post should be from home, sweet home.

 Still living the dream!