IS ANYBODY HOME?

Hello?  Is anybody home?  Did the last person out of the state of Minnesota turn out the lights?  Wow!  By the looks of the RV park, the highways, and any parking lot you enter, most of the state of Minnesota must be in the Mesa area!  Two sites away from us in this RV park is a couple from our home town.  No, we don't know them, but they know Ernie's brother.  We went to church in Mesa yesterday, and as we left the sidewalk to go to our truck, we passed by 6 vehicles.  Five sported Minnesota plates!  The other folks seem to be from Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Michigan, or British Columbia and Alberta.

Last night after supper, and as the sky was turning a beautiful orange, I went for a walk with the camera.  I left the RV park and walked down the road, trying to get a shot of the mountains and sunset without the annoying poles and wires that bug me so!  I finally found a spot and took some great pictures, which I tried posting last night, and the signal wasn't strong enough.  I'll try again.  But I found out something really funny today regarding my walk.  Apparently, they close the gate to the RV park at 8:00 and you have to have a code number to punch in to get back into the park.  Guess what?  I didn't know that!  Had I stayed out much longer, I would have found closed gates when I returned, and I wouldn't have had a clue as to the code!  And Ernie didn't know where I had gone, so he wouldn't have gone looking for me.  It could have been interesting!

We have plans to take a boat ride through a canyon lake.  It sounds like fun, and I've heard there is wildlife on them there hills.....as in rams up on the mountainside.  Ernie and his brother have golf planned for Wednesday.  I know.  Ash Wednesday, and church is 30 miles away, and they won't be done until too late to make the service.  I'm not happy about that.  There are many things in the area that I think sound interesting, so we have lots of plans to make.

But first I'd like to post a photo for your enjoyment.  Isn't it lovely?

WE'VE MOVED

Am I the most pathetic blogger ever or what?  I shouldn't even make excuses for the many days between each post, but I will.  I'm all about excuses.  You see, I just haven't felt like talking.  We've done some fun things, we've seen some nice sights, and I have enjoyed some of our time down here.  But I also have been kind of bummed, kind of disillusioned, and not really into this whole adventure.  I had the big flareup, I had a cold, I haven't been sleeping well at all, and I'm lonesome for kids and grandkids.  I am tired of beige.  Beige ground, beige roads, beige mountains, beige homes, beige landscape......I miss green.

Okay.  Did I get enough excuses in that paragraph?  Let's see if I can move on.  Heaven knows Ernie would appreciate a change in attitude.

Yesterday morning we packed up, hitched up, and moved our house about two hours north of where we were in Tucson.  We are now within 8 miles of Ernie's brother and SIL and within 30 miles of my sister and BIL.  We are in a nice RV park, I think.  I haven't explored yet, but Ernie went for his morning walk and reported back that things are nice.  Thanks Neil for locating this park for us!  Our original destination turned out to be a real dump.  I didn't even get out of the truck.  Ernie wisely decided to look further and called his brother who had already located this alternative spot.  And it's a 100% improvement!

So yesterday afternoon we got set up here, I vacuumed and arranged things for our stay here in the Mesa area.  And then we were invited to Neil and Karen's for a nice steak dinner on their patio, with the mountain sunset view to accompany our wine and conversation.  Thanks you two!  I needed that!  Love you guys.

Now it's time to get ready for church.  We are meeting Ruth and Ike, my sister and BIL, up by their resort for church and probably lunch after church.  The Garmin, nicknamed Ole, tells us it's about 30 miles from here, so we should leave a bit early to adjust for unfamiliar roads and unknown traffic.  It sure will be good to see them!  I miss my family!

But I promise I am going to do better.  We'll air for more posts and hopefully pictures, as the wifi signal seems good  and strong here.  And I'm working on the attitude.

TWO MORE DAYS

We have two more days here after today, and then we are moving about two hours north of here, to the Mesa area.  I am looking forward to moving, not only because I will have people around there that I know and will get together with, but also because I think we've stayed here about a week too long.  It's time to go!  We've seen what we wanted to see and it's time for new adventures.  I'm lonesome, I'm bored, and I'm bitchy.  Ask Ernie.

We woke up on Sunday morning to snow in the truck, ground, and on the mountains in the distance.  The truck and ground cover was melted by the time we left church, but the snow remained on the mountains all day and into Monday.  It's gone now.  The temperature here in the Tucson valley will hit 80 this afternoon.  Ernie is out on the golf course (for the third day in a row, I might add) enjoying the sun.  I did notice the temperature back home this morning was below zero.  I'm sorry.

We have picked out an RV park that we are aiming for.  Hopefully they still have room for us when we get there.  They advertise wifi.  Hoping it's better than the system here!  We have a booster antenna right across the street in front of the RV, but with about 200 trailers parked in this area, I think they need a few more because the signal strength does not handle pictures.  And you know I like to post pictures.   I have many that I haven't shared with you because I don't have the patience to wait 20 minutes for one to load!  So let's hope that situation improves.

We will be having a small steak and grilled asparagus for supper.  Serving at six.  Gluten free.  And we will have a glass of wine out on the little patio area at five.  Gluten free.  You are all invited!

TUCSON WILDLIFE MUSEUM

I have been to a lot of museums in my life, but this is one of the best.  Just look at this display of some exotic feathered friends.  Outstanding!

 Isn't this bird awesome?  Almost unreal!

The room with our antlered friends was breathtaking. 

Every imaginable deer, elk, moose, caribou etc was there.  And a couple of bear, too. 

This elephant was huge, and I don't see how they could hang it on the wall like that!

Beautiful cats, especially this tiger.

Most of three sides are shown here.

And then the dioramas were out of this world.  They were clean, perfectly displayed, and very beautiful.

Love musk ox!

This otter looks like he lives in Seldovia where our son lives!

This was one outstanding museum!  Go if you ever get the chance!

THURSDAY CATCHUP

First of all, thank you for your comments and emails after my last post.  I am feeling much better, thank you!  I kind of made the turn around on Monday, and have done well since then.  Thanks for your concerns!  But, I sure did get behind in posting.  I'll just plug away at it and try to catch you up with our activities here in Tucson.

  Can you imagine being a Native American, an Apache, and living in the area of southern Arizona over 200 years ago, and seeing strange people come in and build something like this our in the middle of the desert? 

The San Xavier del Bac mission is absolutely beautiful.  Because of the ornate painting on the inside, especially on the domed ceiling, it has been called the Sistine Chapel of North America.

 

It has recently been cleaned and the paint restored, and it is very nice.

A tile picture on the outside wall of an adjacent building shows St. Francis of Assisi, as does this 

 

statue in the side chapel of the mission.  I love visiting missions.  They are so quiet and peaceful, although there were several tour groups here this morning, and it was a bit crowded.   

SMACKED DOWN, CHEWED UP AND SPIT OUT

The long drive down here has finally caught up with me!  This past week was a rough one for my FMS (fibromyalgia)  body, and I am feeling pretty beat up.  I haven't been sleeping more than two hours at a time since we left home. Then I wake  up with severe foot cramps, and I'm unable to go back to sleep.  I finally am so exhausted that just daily functioning is a painful chore. 

We were planning to go up to the Scottsdale area to visit an old high school friend this weekend, but we had to call them and cancel.  There was no way I could ride in a car for 2 1/2 hours and then enjoy any kind of a weekend with them. We felt so bad, but that is life with FMS.  Sometimes it takes over your life and makes your decisions for you.

But wonder of wonders!  I slept pretty well last night, one stretch of four hours, and I woke up this morning a bit more refreshed.  I think Ernie was getting tired of my constant hopping in and out of bed to try to work the cramps out of my feet, so I think he slept better last night too.

Stomach issues can also be a part of FMS,  and I have been experiencing some of them the last several months.  When I started baking bread every day, and then of course, eating bread every day, I finally determined what the problem probably was.  So since leaving home almost three weeks ago, I have been eating gluten free.  I am feeling much better and have not had the stomach issues flare up in this whole time.  Ernie was really enjoying home made bread every day, and I've not made any since we left home.  I will, however, start working on this technique of bread making with gluten free flours and see if I can find something that works for us.  Meat, fruit and veggies are gluten free, and Trader Joe's has a good selection of pastas, crackers, and dressings and sauces that are gluten free, so I haven't really had a problem with things other than finding decent bread.  That's why I can't wait to bake my own as soon as we get back home.

Our daughter, Kari,  and her family have made this same decision, but going a step further and also going dairy free.  They are hoping this change will help the two youngest special needs kids with some of their issues.  She has started another blog to record this journey.

WEDNESDAY NUMBER 3

Today we drove about 45 miles north into the desert to visit Biosphere 2.  No, there was no Biosphere 1.  The earth is the original biosphere!  Do you remember this domed community?  Eight people lived inside and raised their own food and ran the whole place for two years.  No going out and coming back in.  Two years inside.  It was quite an undertaking.  The University of Arizona now runs it, and there is extensive research going on under those glass panels.

 The building is huge, built by a man from Texas.

 There are many different areas inside: jungle

ocean shore

desert

and a couple others that I neglected to get a shot of.

And on a pole, just outside the community, we saw two hawks sharing the top.  I've not seen that before and thought it was beautiful!

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!