Tucson, Dec '03 - April '04
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| Lynn and Ken's Visit
Feb 21 - Mar 1, 2004 February was a good month - not long after Carol left, Sandy's sister, Lynn, and her husband, Ken, arrived for a 10 day stay with us in the RV. It was a whirlwind 10 days, and we were all over the place with them. We went to Nogales, Mexico for a taste of Mexican shopping, the historic cowboy town Tombstone, the caves at Kartchner State Park, Tubac for southwest shopping just north of Mexico, the Apache Trail east of Phoenix, the historic mission San Xavier del Bac, and other Tucson places of interest. There was also a healthy dose of shopping, sunset watching and visits to buffet restaurants. We enjoyed every minute they were here!
It was all a bit flat after Lynn and Ken left, but then the weather
changed dramatically and we suddenly had a heat wave and the wildflowers
started blooming. A trip on the bike to Copper Creek, near Mammoth,
was rewarded with great displays of Mexican poppies and other flowers,
plus some real ugly bugs!
We'd never been in east Arizona as it's quite mountainous and can be
snowy in the winter. With so much hot weather in March we decided
to take a trip there and rented a Honda Goldwing for the day on March 30.
Wonderful bike - 1800cc 6 cylinder engine and incredibly comfortable seats
- in fact, Sandy fell asleep on the the back heading along I-10 to Wilcox
for breakfast! In the mountains the bike was a pleasure to drive
- so much torque you hardly needed to downshift and so much smooth power
you had to watch your speed. The weather was great and even at 8000'
I was able to ride in shorts and a T-shirt, even though Sandy chose to
wear her rain suit all day!
We rode from 6:30 am until 9:30 pm, with stops at Wilcox for breakfast and the Apache Gold Casino in Globe for supper, and did 650 miles with no discomfort at all - Sandy also had another nap on the way home! I also did another 200 miles the previous evening and following morning before dropping it off - what a bike!
Final Update for a while: We leave Tucson in a few days (April 14) and plan to stop off at Albuquerque, New Mexico, for a few days to visit Sante Fe and Taos. After that we'll follow the historic Route 66 (although much of it is now Interstate) from Albuquerque to Chicago - going via Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and St. Louis. We look forward to seeing our friends and family after being on the
road for 10 months .....
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