WEDNESDAY UPDATE 2

So, on Monday we went to the Sonora Desert and Saguaro National Park, on the west side of Tucson.  It was hot and dusty.  And beige.

 So hot.

So beige.

A strange growth on the top of a cactus.

Did I mention that it was hot and dusty and beige?

So we decided to climb to the top of that rocky hill to see the ancient petroglyphs decorating the rocks on the top.

I think they are so interesting.

Fascinating.

Does it mean anything?

Or is it ancient graffiti?

Did I mention that it was hot and dusty?  At least there were no rattlesnakes.

Weird.  I miss my trees!

WEDNESDAY UPDATE I

Okay.  The wifi connection from the trailer is not strong enough to post pictures to Blogger, so my attempts on Monday caused much stress.  I did get one update posted, but I could go no further.  Thus, Monday 2 and 3 have now become Wednesday 1 and 2, and I have a regular post from today!  Bear with me! 

 Sunday we drove up towards the Mesa area, to Queen Creek.  Ernie's brother, Neil, and his wife, Karen, have a new home there, where they spend 6 months, and then they return to Minnesota for 6 months.  Their daughter and SIL were down visiting from Minnesota for a week, so the guys and their daughter, Lori, went golfing.  Karen and I went out to lunch and did a little shopping.

Their backyard

is a large area, with an awesome view.

The inside is beautiful too.....here is the kitchen.

And just as we left, we were treated to a beautiful sunset!

MONDAY UPDATE NUMBER 1

Good afternoon from sunny Tucson where the temperature is too hot for me.  83 degrees.  Way too warm!  Now if I had some trees to sit under, or an ocean to dip my toes into, it might be okay, but this bright hot sun is too much for someone who is used to Minnesota weather!

I am sorry for my unexplained absence this past week.  I did miss you, but sitting in a site with no electricity, no water, and no sewer was not the best.  The wifi signal was intermittent,  at best, and I was lucky to get a couple of emails sent out.  So, now I have a few adventures to share with you.  I am labeling them updates 1, 2, and 3.

Number one:  On Saturday we took a trip up Mt. Lemmon, here on the north east edge of Tucson.  This road takes us to the foothills, and some beautiful homes with awesome views of the valley and the mountains to the west where the sunsets are spectacular.

 This is part way up the first hill, looking back over the Tucson valley.

The next one is a bit high up, and is looking towards the mountains in the west.

There are lots of rocks and cactus on the hills, and it is very dry.

We are on one layer of the road, looking at two higher layers.

And now, just when we're getting to the top, and some green trees, and some snow, and some lovely mountain village homes, blogger won't let me load any more pictures.  I don't know if it's this connection, or if it is actually a problem with blogger, but I'm not happy.  So, here is update number one, incomplete.  I'll try more later, but waiting an hour and fifteen minutes is long enough to try to load two more photos.

WE ARE IN TUCSON

As we left the base in Clovis, NM, I was beginning to wonder why we had bothered to drive all the way down here!  And it was cold, too!

There wasn't much traffic.  Everything shuts down when there is a little snow, as they don't have the equipment to clear the roads.  But we had no problems.

And soon, we had a bit of sun and some beautiful scenery!  It was looking better, don't you think?

As we neared Holloman AFB, near Alamogordo, the sun was setting and I liked the coloring that was appearing on the hills.

And of course the colors in the west were gorgeous!  And we had a wonderful dinner of a glass of wine and a bowl of Ramen noodles.  The was the last meal of microwaved food.  The 5 nights of eating garbage was now over, and I was looking forward to finally cooking again tomorrow night!

Yesterday morning as we headed off toward Tucson, I spied this tanker truck ahead of us!  Whoopee!  I told Ernie to speed up so we could catch it and find the spigot!

Shucks.  Just an advertisement for a gas station franchise that claims to have good coffee.

And as we hit Tucson, this is the temperature the truck was displaying.  87 degrees warmer than 6 days earlier when we left Minnesota at 11 below.

This is the view from the campground office.  We didn't get into the actual campground.  We are spending the next 5 days or so in the overflow site.  No electricity, water or sewer hookups.  But we have a generator and we've filled with water, so we should be okay.  We'll just shower up at the campground showers to preserve our water.

Today is windy, warm, and sunny.  We have that cold stuff coming for the next 3 or 4 days, but it should turn nicer again by the weekend.  At least we don't have to shovel!

OKLAHOMA, TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO!

Yesterday we traveled south through Kansas and into Oklahoma where we turned west.  We ate lunch in Enid.  (Don't even know if you still read this or not, Lisa!!!)

I was surprised at the scenery in western Oklahoma.  I don't know why, just didn't expect this, I guess.

It was pretty in it's own way.

The picture below is more of what I expected....and there are a lot of cattle and oil wells.

And for my northern friends.  That field in the middle of the picture is green.  Remember green?  We used to have it in Minnesota, too, before the days of snow and white.

And then we came to Texas.

And we passed huge cattle lots.......lots and lots of cattle lots!  With thousands of cattle.

There are also many fields full of bales.

We entered New Mexico this morning.  This is a rest stop along the highway.  The gal there told me that the other two workers couldn't make it in today because of bad roads!

All I know is that the highways are perfectly dry!  However, there is snow expected tonight again. 

WE ARE IN KANSAS

We had a short day today, and are resting comfortably in a room on the Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas.  The roads were good, the sun was shining, and the truck thermometer hit 24.  Above, folks!  24 above!  Haven't seen that since we were in Alaska a few weeks ago.

 Notice the nice clean windshield.  And notice the bare roads.  No snow.  No ice.  No problem!

The reason these fields look kind of brownish is that the grasses are showing through the snow!  There are not 60 inches of white, cold, flaky stuff piled on top of the fields!  Just a little covering of an inch or two is evident on these fields.  We must not be in Minnesota anymore!

Tomorrow we head to Amarillo, Texas.  Speaking of Texas....did you hear that El Paso, Texas is expecting a temperature of 7 degrees?  Unbelievable!  Way up in Alaska my son is enjoying 27 degrees!  Weird!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

This is our sidewalk to our front door, and underneath that snow drift is a bench and two chairs on a little patio type spot.

I had a bouquet of flowers that was dying, and we were leaving, so I planted them on top of the snow drift!

Ernie has the truck warmed up and backed out, and is getting ready to hook up to the trailer.  Wish him luck!

Gotta crank up the jacks and shovel a bit around the wheels, but soon............

here he is, out in the street already!  No problem!

Hopefully this parking spot will be melted a bit when we return!

As we were leaving town on a snow covered bumpy road, I snapped a picture of the temperature.

There were snow drifts in Iowa....

some pretty impressive ones at that.

And then we arrived in Omaha, where they had a blizzard yesterday.

Couldn't prove it by me!  Looks about like Minnesota did after the first little snow in November! 

 

We had dry roads and sunshine the whole way today.  Can't ask for more than that on our first day out!

IT'S SPRING!

Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow.  Therefore, spring is right around the corner.  It's 4 below right now.

Whoops.  It slipped to 9 below.  I'm outta here!