Near the end of March we ended our winter hibernation at the Fountain of Youth (FOY) RV Park in Southern California and started heading east. We have always tended to travel in a very relaxed mode - only covering short distances and preferring week long or longer stays no matter where we park our home. These next one or two years will be interesting as we wander over to the east coast, visit parts of Canada, perhaps winter in Florida and take things as they come. Hopefully the weather will cooperate as that is the one thing that could make us reconsider.
When we left Yuma, AZ we headed to the Tucson, AZ area - we have been there before and absolutely love the area, but we missed a few of the sights last time and now we have friends there, which is always an attraction. We found an RV Park on the southwest side of Tucson backed up to
the Tucson Mountain State Park and right down the road was the Saguaro National Park (West) – what a beautiful back yard! On our very first walk out on the desert paths near the park we ran into an Arizona Earthworm, also known as the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. He was happy as he had just eaten one of the local rodents and was sunning himself (to aide the digestion). So he didn’t mind me taking his picture (this time!). His name was Juan. He says Hi!
During our stay at Tucson we were able to get together with Duane & Debbie and Bill & Rena who are good friends from our Spearfish, SD days and volunteer efforts. We had a number of good visits and dinners with them as well as a robust game of miniature golf on a most challenging course. (Linda won!) Bill and Duane are 2 parts (I’m the third) of the original Mountain Bike group called the “GIBS” (Geezers in Biker Shorts) the fourth and premier member of our group (our mentor Tim) is currently in Fruita, CO at one of the Mecca’s of Mountain Biking. We miss him. Anyway – the three of us went on a bike ride through the desert just south and
somewhat into the Tucson Mountain State Park. It was an incredible ride where you had to pay attention every second, every turn, because everything we were riding through wanted to hurt us or stick something into us (cactus – lots of very nasty cactus, and rocks, very sharp and large rocks) . Needless to say none of us came home without wounds, some more than others. Our DNA is now imbedded forever in the Arizona landscape!While we were in the area we decided to visit a couple of the sites that we missed the last time we
were here. The first being the Titan II Missile Site Museum just south of Tucson. Linda had never seen anything like this even though I had spent over twenty years in the Air Force and worked on systems very similar to this (one of those secret things the services do). The Titan II was the largest and the most powerful ICBM ever built by the United States. During the Cold War 54 of these things were hiding underground across the country. In 1987 the last of these Missiles were retired and dismantled with only this example and museum remaining. The tour brought us down into 
the launch control facility as well as the missile silo itself and provided reams of information that twenty years ago would have been highly classified. This is the last example of the extremes the US and Russia (that the normal person can visit) went to to obtain Nuclear dominance during the cold war. Well worth a visit.We also took a trip up to Kitt Peak National Observatory and ended up taking all three tours that they offer. The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory site located
at 6,880 ft. on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains about 55 miles southwest of Tucson. It’s located in the Sonoran desert on the Tohono O'odham Indian Nation. The agreement that was made for use of the land requires the Federal Government to return the land to its original condition once both parties agree to stop the use of the telescopes. (Which will probably cost quite a bit more than was spent to build the place) Right now there are problems with funding and the Federal Government may pull the plug fairly soon so if you get the chance it’s worth a visit before they shut it down. On top of the mountain there are 24 optical and two radio telescopes, which 
makes it the largest and most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the world.While we were there (all day!) we took all three tours they had, the docents were very knowledgeable and made the tour fun as well. We were able to go into working innards of the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope which is huge! This thing extends into the ground many hundreds of feet with huge adjustable mirrors mounted on tracks - all computer controlled. Pretty Cool! The next two telescopes we were able to go into were the 2.1 meter (6.8 ft.) and the Mayall 4 meter (13.1 ft.) optical telescopes. That doesn’t mean the telescopes are that long – that means that the main
mirror inside of these telescopes are that diameter! The entire telescopes are pretty large and contrary to what most folks think there are no eyepieces to look through anymore. Everything is done with digital imagers and the images are all brought up on computer screens. We had never been to something like this so it was definitely interesting to us but I would recommend brushing up on your astrophysics a bit before you go.Our next travel day brought us to Deming, New Mexico which is about 230 miles east of Tucson, AZ and about 110 miles west of El Paso, TX. Some of the
highlights of the area include Rock Hound State Park, City of Rocks State Park, many rock shops, our next door neighbor was even a real prospector – kinda get the drift here? Yep! Lots of rocks. Anyway we have been here before and came back to visit June, at one time Linda’s babysitter (yes a long time ago!) and close friend. We had a number of good visits and one fabulous dinner as one of June’s many professions included being an incredible professional chef for a while. That dinner and of course June’s company, made this stop worth while. We did take the time to do a bit of Geocaching in the area and to visit one incredible little 
museum in town called the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum. It was much more than what it first appeared to be, it went on and on with high quality displays. We did not expect that in a town this size. One display did not surprise me though, rocks, minerals, and gemstones. Yep! Lots of rocks. We took a day and went to visit the City of Rocks State Park, some of the reasons being that our friends, Tim and Lynn, have volunteered there the last couple of winters. Tim maintained and developed some of the bike trails there (which I was able to ride) and there were geocaches there. As you can see Linda was able to play mountain goat here and loved 
every minute of it. The formations of the rocks by a very old (some estimates are 35 million years ago) volcanic eruption and subsequent erosion left some incredible sights. It’s not a real large area but it is very unique! We have ended up staying a bit longer in the Deming area because of the high winds. Of the almost 2 weeks we have been here I think there has been one or two calm days – that is with the wind at less than 25 to 30 mph. There has been 3 major dust storms where you lose sight of the mountains and even the blue sky – there were no clouds! We have had to delay because of these winds so once the winds died down it was off to Albuquerque! It was a pretty uneventful trip up I-25 with a couple of rest stops and geocaches along the way. We had an interesting time getting settled into Kirtland Air Force Base because the instructions (and recommendations from the Park Manager) were not very good and the fact that they changed street names on us complicated matters a bit. But we made it and are settled now for a few weeks and maybe a few more adventures.
With a few suggestions I have added a link to this Blog to another one that I have started which highlight my hobby of making walking sticks. If you click on the link over on the right hand side it should bring you right to it. It’s called “Walking the Sticks” and includes a beer review as well. Hope you enjoy.
Oreo - our 17 pound Tom Cat, who has lived and traveled with us for quite a few years, decided he likes being part of the Blog and will continue to provide a few purr-fect bits of wisdom and observations for all the blog readers out there as well as a few comments about the antics of his pride members and life on the road. I told him he now has a number of fans for his part of the Blog and got his typical response of “It’s about time – I am pleased’
“My pride members are pretty strange at times. For example, this last moving day they were soooo wired and upset by the time we stopped that I thought that maybe they had forgotten to clean their cat (or in their case people) box! Nothing should be that upsetting – they need to learn to lick themselves – then they would feel much better!”
With all of that you now have an idea of what we have been up to over the last few weeks as we travel across the country and occupy ourselves with whatever comes to mind or presents itself. We will sign off with this Blog now and go in search of further adventures and leave you with a sunset from Tuscan, AZ.
Home is where we park it!
Lee & Linda
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