Day 8: Tucsan Gem Show Part 1; 40 miles round trip.

We started off at 9:35 and after a slight detour due to a Ms. D malfunction, we arrived at the 22nd Street tent.  We parked there and walked to the other venues in the area.  During the day we walked for about a half mile up one side of the freeway and down the other.

Our first stop was the tent at 22nd Street where we all found something.  The tent had vendors hawking everything from raw stones and minerals, to fossils, to fine jewelry and everythiing in between.  I highly recommend this show.

Then we crossed under the freeway and wondered through a row of motels that were taken over by the gem show. We stopped for a rest and lunch at a motel cafe and then wandered through the maze of booths up to Congress St.  There we crossed under the freeway back to the original side.

Our final stop was the Simpson Street Tent.  At this point we were very tired of looking at rocks and jewelry.  We hiked back to our parking place on 22nd where we had a Dr. Pepper.

We got in the car and headed back to Oro Valley encountering a bit of rush hour traffic.  Then we stopped at Safeway to pick up dinner provisions and headed home.

T went for a walk along the wash and R is relaxing on the patio.  It is a very pleasant evening. Beautiful sunsets here.

 We will be off sightseeing again tomorrow.

Day 7: Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum and Suguaro National Park (West) ; 65 miles round trip

We started off at 9:05 and headed southwest through Tucson and east to Gates pass where we had a great view of the rocky hills and a forest of suguaro.  We passed by the "Old Tucson Studio" where Joe Begay was making his movie and went on to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum.  It was sunny and warm.  I discovered that my legs had gotten sun burned yesterday in Tubac so I was wearing long pants  and slathered in sun tan lotion.  Noticed that they had sun tan lotion in addition to soap dispensers in the restrooms at the museum....

This is an outdoor museum (like a zoo) with Sonoran desert creaures and plants.

There were many volunteer tour guides that were very informative.  One of the highlights was the Javelina exibit where we saw a number of the wild=boar-like creatures.

We had a delicious lunch at the Ocotillo (type of cactus) Cafe including their special "prickly pear margarita."  It was bright pink, made from the flowers of the cactus and delicious.  Magaritas here are served on ice in large glasses.  I think I'll have to learn how to make "Tucson" margaritas.

After lunch we went to the hummingbird exibit.  There were lots of different species.  We saw three nests.  The birds use spider webs to keep the tiny nests together.  This was discovered at the Sonoran Museum.  They had trouble with a snake getting into the avairy at one time, so they removed everything, plugged all possible snake holes, sterilized everything and put the birds back in.  After that, they found that the nests fell apart.  Someone thought of spider webs.  They introduced spiders and the nests were fine.

After visiting the gift shop (of course) we continued on to the nearby Suguaro National Park (West).  We got there just in time to join a nature walk and learned a lot about cactus.  For example, the suguaro lives for 200 years and has very shallow roots.  It starts life in the shade and protection of other plants that do not live as long.  At some point the protection plants die of natural causes and leave the suguaro on its own.  In the meantime, the suauaro has put down so many shallow roots that other plants cannot grow beside it.

You can identify other types of cactus by whether they have many branches.  If they have branches they are cholla.  If they are saucer shaped, they are a prickly pear.   Barrel -shaped cactus with fish-hook-shaped spines are called barrel cactus.  Barrel cactus usually points towards the sun because the sun stunts the cactus on one side and the shaded side grows at a faster rate.  A barrel cactus spine can penetrate a tennis shoe (moral: don't kick a barrel cactus).

 Contrary to what we saw in John Wayne movies, saguaro and barrel cactus cannot be used for humans for water in an emerengcy.  They have water, but it is too acidic to be tollerated by humans.  (Moral: carry water in the desert.)

We took a drive on a circle route in the park and stopped to particially traverse several trails.  A sign along one path said, "No Stock."   T had to explain that to me.  It means no livestock, ie., horses, mules, or, I guess, pet cattle accompaning you along the path. Another sign of note: "Do not feed the coyotes."

Gem show tomorrow.

Day 6: Tubac -- 130 miles round trip

We had a nice Mexican meal last night at The El Charro Cafe in Oro Valley.  El Charro is advertised as the oldest continuously owned (by the same family)  Mexican restaurant in the US.  This was definitely not the original 1922 site, so they must have branched out.  It was quite busy for 8 pm. We had to wait about 30 minutes.  We had some great margaritas and asked about their speciality called El Charro carne seco.  It was described as "fluffy" beef, sort of a shredded beef jerky.  T said "no" at "fluffy," but R and I tried it.  Fluffy is a good description.  It was OK and we left quite satisfied and full.

We got up this morning and left for Tubac about 8:30.  It is about an hour drive and we got there about 20 minutes before the opening time.  We got a great parking place in the shade and close to the craft booths and downtown (about three square blocks).
They had some wonderful craftspeople there and we had a great time browsing, buying, and appreciating art.  We had a nice lunch at a local bistro and a later when it was getting quite warm, stopped for ice cream.  We left about 2:00 and headed south towards Tucsan.  We had to go through border patrol again, but the dogs didn't give us a second sniff and the guard sent us on our way.

We stopped just south of Tucson at the Mission San Xavier Del Bac.  This is a beautiful mission that you can see for miles.  The mission was founded by father Kino who founded many missions in southern Arizona and northern New Mexico.  You see his name everywhere in the Tuscon area -- it is sort of like when we were living in Boston and saw "George Washington slept here" signs everywhere.

Just off the parking lot is a cultural center for the Tohono O'odham Tribe.  There we met Joe Begay, a Navajo by birth who has had a long career as an actor, singer, and silversmith.  His speciality is O'odham jewelry with the "man in the maze" symbol that is unique to the tribe.  He had many fine wares and more stories about movies and a thick photo alblum of him with various stars he has worked with.  (Look him up on google.)  He was a delight to talk to and T and I both now have O'odham jewlery.

Man in the Maze

We made it home in time for a hike through the wash looking for birds and javalina.  We only spotted two quail -- tomorrow is another day.  It is off to the Tuscon Gem Show tomorrow.

Day 5: Yuma to Oro Valley: about 200 miles; about 5 hours.

We discovered a possible reason that the hotels were filling up in Yuma.  There was a rodeo in town.  All the local newscasters were wearing their rodeo wear.  We started of at about 8:50 driving in partly cloudy skys into the Sonoran Desert towards the Gila Mountains.  The desert has a beauty all its own.

We discovered by reading our pamplet for Joshua Tree National Park that T's  "wispy trees" are actually called Palo Verde which roughly translates as "green stick."
The young trees have very distinct green branches.  We entered Dom Valley.  I think "dom" must refer to a smaller hill or mountain formation.  The dom's are very rocky and sparcely vegitated.

We saw a sign warning of an inspection station.  I was worried about our lemons -- I wasn't going to chug them like we did the oranges.  R and T told me to relax -- it wasn't that type of inspection.  This was the border patrol and they weren't looking for fruit.  We made it through with no problems.

Speed limit was 75 (Jim, take note) so we were moving right along.  We saw signs advertising RV lots for $27,000 and another RV City.  Near Welton the aroma from the feedlots hit us.  Hope those RV lot buyers take that into consideration.

We passed a solar energy collection station, then some green fields and more feedlots.  We started to see farms about 14 miles east of Gila Bend.  We stopped for gas at Gila Bend and thought we were in Mexico -- for all the Mexican wares that were for sale there.

The place was packed.  Perhaps rodeo fans looking for souveniers.  Seems that dinasaurs, ants, and turtles are popular now.

After Gila Bend the Saguaro started.  We saw more and more of them as we went along.

We got to the Oro Valley exit (about 10 miles north of Tucson) and proceeded east on Tangerine Rd. to the city of Oro Valley where we are staying.  On the road, R said that she really wanted to see a coyote.  On cue, one appeared at the side of the road.

We are in a fairly new development surrounded by parks and the desert and close to many attractions that we will be exploring.  We went on a walk along the wash behind the complex where they told us we might see javelina -- but not to feed them!

Battery is low -- off to Tubac tomorrow.

Day 4: Indio to Yuma via Quartzsite: 8.5 hours; 216 miles.

We got up and found ourselves in a beautiful setting, right on a golf course with a lagoon in back and mountains in the background.  And it was warm (60's).  I think we have finally left the Artic Blast behind us.

We loaded up and started out at 9:15 and headed east on I-10.  We passed a sign that warned us to "aviod overheating" by turning off our air conditioners for the next 100 miles.  We must be in the desert, and I'm glad it is January.

In about 22 miles we came to the exit for Joshua Tree National Park, turned off, and proceeded down a deserted road into the desert.  We soon came to some interesting rock formations and stopped at the Cottonwood Springs Information Center about 7 miles up the road.  We took a short nature trail near the Center and saw many interesting plants.  There was a display showing the desert turtle in the Center, but we were told that the turtles are hibernating now because it is too cold.

 R got a booklet identifying desert wildflowers. We took a short hike along a wash between some beautiful rock formations and found many of the wildflowers on her chart.

Although we were in Joshua Tree Park, we did not see any Joshua Trees.  The park includes parts of two deserts and the Joshua Tree prefers the "cooler" Mojave Desert to the north, we were in the Colorado Desert which is part of the Sonoran Desert.  We did get to see the Joshua trees last trip when we took a route to the north.  We saw another distinctive tree which T dubbed "Wispy Trees."  And some very pretty red barrel cactus.

We got back onto I-10 and passed another interesting sign that said, "State Prison-Do not pick up hitchhikers."  As we got to the Arizona border we started to see sagauro cacti for the first time along with more whispy trees.  We soon got to Quartzsite.  My mom always told a joke about her town of Olathe.  She would say "Olathe" -- an old Indian name meaning duplex -- because that was what you noticed about the area.  I have a new saying, "Quartzsite -- old Indian name meaning RV."  They are everywhere.  It is hard to describe.  The population of Quartzsite is about 3,600 during the summer, but swells to over a million in January and Feburary -- most in RV's.  They are everywhere in the desert in rustic camps named "Long-term Visitor Areas."

We stopped at a large area of RV's and booths which was part of the local gem show.  We saw a variety of minerals, rocks, fossils, gems, and beads. We all found something we could't live without and then went looking for lunch.

None of the food booths were open (it was about 3pm) so we headed gown highway 95 to Yuma.  We passed by an interesting mesa-like formation called "Castle Dom."  It really did look like a castle.

Then we entered a U.S. Army Proving Ground.  There was a mysterious, large, blimp-like object hanging in the sky.  Something interesting they are testing? We passed a sign warning of "test vehicles crossing."

We made it to Yuma about 5:45 (Mountain Time Zone.)  First hotel was full, but we got the last couple of rooms at the Fairfield Inn.   And just down the road, we found a Penny's Diner (see previous blog).  Enjoyed milk shakes, malts, and BLT's.  Got back just in time for the Olympics.

Tomorrow we get to Tucson!

Day 3: Benicia to Indio CA: 12 hours, too many miles

It was a long day in the rain, fog, and trafffic.  Headed out at 9:22 hoping to miss rushhour traffic.  It was rainy and foggy and we were slowed to a crawl for one accident and two disabled vehicles. Mt. Diablo was schrouded in gray (Pacific Northwest style.)

It rained all the way from Benicia to Ontario, sometimes heavy, sometimes light.  Californians are thrilled to have some rain and T and I are just happy it isn't snow.

We had a reststop at Pea Soup Andersens and a nice birthday lunch at Harris Ranch.

 Made tt through the "grapevine" to Santa Clarita and onto Highway 210.  Made a wrong turn and ended up lost in Passadena for an hour and a half in the rain and the dark.  R and Ms. D (T's GPS) got off to a rocky start, but Ms. D finally redeemed herself and got us onto I-10.

Pulled into Indio Worldmark about 9pm.  Long day.

Tomorrow we are going to Quartzsite.

Day 2: Redding to Benicia: 190 miles, 3 hours

Went out to dinner last night with everyone and discovered that the Redding name for "artic blast" is "Alberta Express."  So far we are keeping ahead of it.  Last look at Bend temperature was 5 degrees.  Burrrr.

This morning as we were looking out at the view of the river, J pointed out several hospitals and told me the story of when her daughter was born in one of them.  Her husband was out of work because his union was on strike when she went into labor.  They went to the hospital and she had the baby, but couldn't pay the bill.  The hospital told her that she couldn't take the baby home until the bill was paid!  The union had to take up a collection so they could get their baby home.  This must have been in the early 50's.  I hope times have changed. Would Obama Care cover this??

T and I decided to take a walk along the river to the Sundial Bridge.  On the way we saw an eagle nest with a pair of eagles busily working.  We passed a photographer with a very long lense (about 2 feet) pointed at the nest.  She told us that the pair were preparing for eggs that would be laid in a couple of weeks.  Futher on the trail we passed a stand with a telescope pointed at the nest from the back.  They were still there busy at work.

We made it to the Sundail Bridge named because of the tall white support sticking well into the sky that supports the bridge as well as tells the correct time (on June 21) with its shadow.

On the way back we noticed a fire on a nearby mountain.  T said it looked like a "controlled fire" that escaped.  By the time we got back it was growing in size and spewing a blanket of smoke over the mountain top.

We left at 11:51 and got back on I-5, but did not escape fires.  We ran into multiple grass fires along the freeway (looked like controlled field burning) that grayed the sky.  We smelled smoke all the way to the junction with I-505.  The fields were brown and mostly barren all the way.  More drought evidence.

The first green we saw was the reststop right before the junction.  The grass was green and trees in full bloom. Then a little green along the highway, then brown again by the time we got to Vacaville.

We got to R's house around 3pm.  It was cloudy, but warm.  All the trees in the neighborhood were in full bloom.  R said this was another result of the drought. Her lemon tree was full of wonderful Mayer lemons and it was 60 degrees. 

We are busy plotting the rest of our trip.  Tomorrow we have a long drive to southern California.