A Great Week

This week was spent just outside of Tucson enjoying the area, the wonderful folks camped near us, and the weather.   We started the week by going out for a drive in search of other camping spots in the area.  As most of you know, we tend to  boondock which is staying in an area with no water, sewer, or electricity – often this means out in the desert.   Since we are totally self-sufficient, this gives us lots of nice quiet areas while we are still able to enjoy the amenities of water and electricity.  While we were not able to find anything new that would work for us, we did see some great scenery.

Not far from here is the Titan Missile Museum.  This is the only remaining missile that has been preserved of the 54 that were spread throughout Arizona, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  It was in  place during the Cold War years from 1963 to 1987 in the event of an attack by another country.  This missile promoted the belief of Peace by Deterrence – peace would be attained simply  by the threat of a nuclear attack.  I found it rather disconcerting by the fact that the missile could be launched by the order of only one person but fortunately that order never came.  The tour was very interesting!!

Radar to detect outside intrusion

The control room 

An antenna outside the site

The missile

Suits that had to be worn to deliver the fuel

Much of the area was built on springs like these to eliminate movement during an attack

Another day on a drive we came across the Wipple Observatory which is part of the Smithsonian Institute.  There were a number of huge telescopes as well and a large one on top of a mountain.  We were not able to go up to the one on the mountaintop as they were doing some road construction. 

A couple of telescopes

Research activities include imaging and spectroscopy of extragalactic, stellar, solar system and extra-solar bodies, as well as gamma-ray and cosmic-ray astronomy.


The weather this past week has, once again, been perfect.  As well, there is a group of folks here that have been incredibly friendly and fun to be with.  While some of them have moved on, many are still here and we enjoy their friendship daily – hopefully we will be able to meet again down the road.

Our Site

Us from up above

An Arizona Sunset

Thanks for stopping by - hope you have a great week!!