Leaving Tucson

The last two weeks before leaving Tucson have been a whirlwind of activity.  Believe it or not it rained--hard--one night and my new overhead fan started to leak onto the upper bunk where all my important papers were stored.  Ugh!  That required a day at the RV place while they resealed everything.

Then there were trips to the family doctor to have something suspicious removed from my leg.  I am waiting for a report on that but this is a reminder to USE YOUR SUNSCREEN! Then a trip to the cardiologist to find out Babe is doing her piggy valve best to keep my heart ticking. (What is it with us old folks that we feel compelled to share all our physical maladies?)  

There were chores (fill the propane tank, fill the water tank, dump the holding tanks, fix a latch on a cabinet, etc), say goodbye to friends for a while, then 5 miserable trips to T-Mobile to find out why I could not get on-line.  All of this took me from one end of Tucson to the other, almost daily.   A call to son Ron finally fixed the computer problem.  (Did I ever mention how smart I think my kids are?) 

I spent most nights at Cracker Barrel then drove each morning 1/2 mile to park in the movie theatre parking lot  because it butted up to the desert.  No one was around at 7AM and I could watch the hot air balloons while I ate breakfast.  Then one morning company moved in and my idyllic view changed...

...radically.

It was all interesting but a bit noisy so I went looking for a little patch of BLM land that is right at the  southern tip of the city limits where I could stay for up to two weeks for free.

I drove up the side of the hill and parked under these cliffs ....

and looked south toward Mexico out my window in the morning.

I finally had a chance to open the awning on the RV, then took out my rocking chair, and 

....just enjoyed the quiet while still only 15 minutes from the center of town.  I even walked a few trails around this mountain and discovered some small caves.  Hidden in some brush I found a midden complete with two rocks with deep holes, worn probably by the T' Odom Indians, from grinding corn.  Of course, I did not have my camera with me. 

While sitting there I experimented with two projects.  Firstly, I don't have an oven.  (My Nuwave that Ron gave me is buried somewhere in that storage unit.) I decided to test out my crockpot and see if it would suffice. I lined it with aluminum foil, 

mixed up a batch of biscuit mix, placed the biscuits on the greased foil, covered them with paper towels to absorb any moisture,

and produced these little rocks.  I may try something else later but this doesn't look too promising.

Project two:  The clothes in my locker all slide to one end when I am driving.  (I probably should stop hitting the brakes so hard.)  I thought of wrapping the clothes rod with some kind of rubber then this idea hit me.  I bought a package of rubber bands,

and put them on the rod in 2 inch intervals.  Voila! The clothes no longer slide to one end on the rod.  

So, finally, projects done, friends kissed and hugged and I am back on the road and headed to Ft. Worth.

Not all views are perfect--which leads me to my pet peeve with the state of Arizona.

Due to severe cost-cutting measures, the state of Az has decided to save money by closing most of its rest stops.  Each trip I make through the state I find more of them closed and mostly blocked off so you can't even park.   

As I was leaving the state I found this gem and it proved an adequate spot to stop for lunch and a quick nap.

So you can see, not all views are perfect. 

And finally,  I am heading to Aunt Louise's and will be there for her 'Estate Sale' the last weekend of this month.  Following is the website belonging to the company that will handle the sale and some photos of the beginning process of clearing, cleaning, pricing and displaying.  I will take some pictures when I get there as well, so stay tuned.

 http://www.millchell.com/upcoming-sales/