Hanging Around Tucson

 We are still hanging out around Tucson enjoying the lovely weather.  The days have been pleasant, mostly sunny, no wind - one can't expect a whole lot more!

The motorhome has been washed and cleaned up so now we can carry on with just enjoying life.  Well mostly anyway.  We did have to go into town to do some laundry.  Of course, while the machines are doing their thing, we usually go for a short walk instead of just waiting.  Right next door to the laundromat was a dog grooming place and a young gal came out with her freshly groomed pet.  I must admit that I did a bit of a double take - you can see why I am sure.

Whenever we drive somewhere, we try and take some side roads and just enjoy the local countryside.  Here, harvest seems to be pretty well winding up.  Cotton fields are being combined

as is milo (or sorghum) which is a cereal crop.

One day on our drive, we were taking some back roads and whoa - what is this in the middle of the road.  I guess we were a bit surprised to see the amount of water on the road.  But by looking at the tracks, others go through so we just forged ahead. 

Actually it ended up not being very deep.

We then cut across country to take a trip through the Cactus Forest.  In the past we have stayed here but it can be difficult getting a spot as there are not a lot of spots and very few would be big enough for us.  It still is a very pretty drive.  As we are driving past the various campers, there was a fellow standing beside his camper and go-o-olly - he had on a wide brimmed hat to protect his fact from the sun and that was it.  It was a bit shocking and what is a person to do. Should you stop to grab a photo, or just try to grab a quick photo, or hope the dashcam had a wide enough view.  Well, it was none of the above so it shall remain just a memory!!

When folks want to go out camping, they seem to be able to come up with some fairly ingenious ways to make things work.  As we with this camper, he has a very small fifth wheel and no truck.  No problem!!

Today our friends Rick and Chris from Ontario arrived - so nice to see them again.  I cooked a turkey (I know, late US Thanksgiving) and with another couple we had just met (Saskatchewanians) we enjoyed a nice turkey supper and some great conversation.

There are often different animals out in the desert that we don't often see.  We set up a game camera and here is what came around to see if there were any leftovers.  Unfortunately, no luck for him. 

We will leave it out to see if we have any more visitors.

I have sent some warm weather up north so hopefully your temperatures will moderate some this week.  Until next week. take care and stay warm!!

Leaving The Snow Behind

 Once more we are fortunate to leave the snow and cold behind and spend several months in the United States southwest.  This year, we delayed our departure  somewhat and planned to hit the road on November 19.  But Mother Nature had something else in mind and Mr. Weatherperson was forecasting some heavy snow for that day so Gerry picked up the motorhome as planned on Monday and a couple of hours later we were on the road. Not only was packing done quickly, so was unpacking.

We make a final check of the weather to decide which direction we would head and off we went.  Our border crossing was likely the easiest we have ever had.  Generally the customs officer comes in and checks, asks about what we are taking with us, etc.  This year, it was like "the weather is going to be bad so hit the road".

Day one the roads were good although we did have rain on and off throughout the day. 

We stopped for the night, and shortly after the wind blew, and there was some snow throughout the night.  With the wind and rain and snow along with -5 temps, the door was frozen shut.  Morning came early as Gerry decided that there would be no traffic at 4 a.m., and he was right.  The roads had some intermittent icy patches but on the whole was not horribly bad.  But it sure made for a long day because we decided to bypass Denver (a city that Gerry prefers not to have to drive through) so we went on a number of two lane highways and some of them were not in very good condition.  With driving slower than normal (because of possible ice and some poorer roads) we didn't seem to make very many miles considering the length of time that we drove.

On the upside, we did see some interesting things.  Driving through Nebraska, corn was being harvested and we would see huge piles of harvested corn alongside the road. 

Then in Colorado, we saw one of the biggest wind farms - it stretched for miles and miles and miles. 

And then along the way we passed a pickup truck towing a car, towing a car. 

In one of the towns, there were putting up Christmas lights.  At home they would block a portion of a street in order to do this.  Not in this town - you just drive right under the bucket truck.

We are currently just outside of Tucson.  This is an area I have always liked.  There are still some cotton crops waiting to be harvested.

We had decided to spend a week or so just north of Phoenix.  Well, that didn't happen.  Instead, we decided to go to Tucson, and spend some time at a place where we had spent some time with friends, Dave and Bonnie, several years ago.  That is likely when we are asked where we were planning to go this year, we always said "south".  

For all you folks in Saskatchewan that are being hit with a second snow storm this week, hopefully next week will bring sunshine.

Have a nice weekend and a good week ahead.  Until next week, take care.