Southwestern RV Trip – Days 42-45, Moving Up To Camp Verde

On Wednesday we secured the coach and made our one-day-early departure from Lazy Days KOA in Tucson.  While we didn’t use the amenities or participate in the activities I still really enjoyed the campground and would definitely stay there again.  It is on the SE side of town making it somewhat away from the majority of town with restaurants, etc.  Our trip north to Camp Verde took us up I-10, then I-17 around Phoenix and on to our destination.  At around noon, we breezed right through Phoenix and other than a few rough patches, found the roads to be in pretty good condition.

We pulled into Distant Drums RV Resort mid afternoon, got parked and I went comatose as I now had a head cold to go along with my other ailments.  I’ll talk more about the campground later but when we got up Thursday morning, this is what we found.

Closely followed by this.

Sure made our decision to come here a day early look brilliant.  The coach has been in the snow before but never with us camped inside.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 39–41, Titan and Coyote Pause

Sunday was just a normal day at home - cleaning, laundry, juicing lemons, peeling grapefruit, etc.  People in most areas of the country hear some about the border wall and most likely have an opinion about it, but when you are staying in Tucson, it is a very hot topic with something about it on nearly every newscast.

On Monday, I spent a lot of time researching our options for traveling north on Thursday should the predicted snow occur that morning.  

Then we headed south a few miles to visit the Titan Missile Museum and so did many others as there was a 1½ hour wait to go down into the silo.  Since Pat had already decided not to take the tour and I was concerned about the 55 step narrow staircase on a hip that was having a bad day, we decided to just look around the above ground area where they had a missile nose cone and a thermonuclear warhead shell on display.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 37–38, Tombstone Again

After yesterdays Biosphere II drive and tour, we had decided not to do much but clean up a little and fix supper but would you believe the girls just had to go back to a gem show for one last visit (their 4^th) – is closes on Sunday and I guess they couldn’t stand the possibility of missing out on a bargain (prices were marked down 30% during their last visit). 

Bev had been craving pasta with meat balls but we didn’t want to make them so I went on line to see what I could find.  On a "Taste Of Home" site, I discovered their ratings for frozen meatballs and their top choice was Natures Rancher available at Whole Foods which we just happened to pass on our way home from Biosphere II – so we picked up a couple of bags.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 35 – 36, Biosphere II

On Wednesday, I hung around the coach while it and the car got washed and waxed by a local crew and the girls made a third trip to the Kino Gem Show but this time they came home with wood tables and lamps purchased from a guy from Estes Park, CO – I had to make two trips to get all of the stuff plus the girls back home and not sure where we will put it while traveling.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 32 - 34, Mt. Lemmon

On Sunday we didn’t do much of anything but relax around the coach but we do have a temperature problem in the coach.  While I was comfortable in my shorts and T-shirt, Bev looked like this.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 30 & 31 – Shrimp & El Charro Cafe

Do you pay attention to drug ads on TV – us old people generally do and as I watch them, I can’t help but wonder “How do they come up with these names?”  Orillissa, Trelegy, Chantix, Epclusa, Taltz, Xeljanz, Jardiance, Vraylar, Stelara, Zicam, Brilnta, Dupixent, Cosentyx, Neulasta, Glucerna, Emgality  - they like to use X and Z.  Then here are a few of the largest sellers - Harvoni, Mabthera, Avastin, Herceptin, Sovaldi.  And the generic names are even worse.  This is what happens when you sit around the RV with nothing else to do.

Southwestern RV Trip – Day 29, Saguaro NP & Inca's

The temps were a little below freezing when I got up and the predicted cool temps scared us off of our planned trip to Tubac to attend the Arts Festival and the closed road due to snow cancelled my backup plan of driving up to Mt. Lemmon.  So it was on to plan C with a drive thru the Saguaro NP and late lunch at Inca’s Peruvian Restaurant.

The Saguaro NP has a west and east portion and we chose the east because it was closer and had an eight mile loop road that was paved – I love using my Senior Pass to get in.  We stopped at the Visitors Center and snapped a few shots – the Saguero with Bev is 102 years old and they had a labeled version of each of the desert plants around the center.