Lenzen's Travels: The Week at Tucson

After a couple of cool, windy days, we decided to head out so some lower elevation in hopes of finding some warmer weather. One morning when we got up, the temperature was -2.8C – a bit cooler than we wanted. Unfortunately, it took a day or two to get some warmer weather – not because of the change in altitude, but the cold snap had to pass.

We went into Tucson – a lovely drive – and our first stop was at the county park to dump, and fill with water and propane. There was a nasty, cold wind that went right through you. On the up side, the staff at the county park were super friendly and helpful so the cold aside, the atmosphere was great.

We decided to park at a relatively new casino that allows RV’s to park for an unlimited length of time unless there was event at the conference centre – then you were asked to leave. We did give our donation so parking was definitely not free!!

It was a great sunny day so we decided to take a drive up Mount Lemmon. Mount Lemmon is in the Coronado National Forest and goes up to over 9,000 feet. We went up to the top of the ski hill which is about 8,500 feet. Because of the change in elevation, we went through various kinds of vegetation – from cactus to deciduous trees, to conifers. What a drive with some incredible views. The distance is about 25 miles, but the average speed is only 30-35 mph because of the tight turns. There were an unbelievable number of cyclists going up this road. I say unbelievable because I can’t imagine cycling up that road. Following are some of the scenery along the way.

A Mullien Plant

We think this is a black-tailed deer. It was a grey colour

Look as these strange pods

The next day we took a drive through Tucson Mountain Park where there are some historic structures at Gates Pass. Here were a group of university students on a field trip for an ecology class. They were examining the effects that a trail has on the growth and density of plants. The first thing Gerry noticed was that the tape measure they were using was metric.

Today was moving day as we drove down to Why, AZ which is a small town just 30 miles north of the Mexican border. We have stayed here before and quite like it – generally it is a nice, quiet place to stay. When we arrived just after lunch there was no one right where we parked. In fact the closest RV to us was about a quarter of a mile from us. By supper time, four more RV’s pulled in and they all parked within 200 feet of us. I guess they all recognized us as “Friendly Canadians”.