Tucson

In our haste to get ready for Easter Pot Luck Lunch we had not checked our information properly. We had crossed into Mountain Time when we entered New Mexico, and we were not due to change to Pacific Time until we crossed into Nevada, however Arizona does not recognize day light saving time so in fact we should have put our watches back another hour when we left New Mexico. Hence we were 1 hour early for lunch! Don thought is was very funny as it was probably the only time we had been early for anything all winter.

The next day Don & Sue took us to the Mission of San Xavier del Bac, established by Spanish Jesuit Father Kino in 1732 and known locally as “White Dove of the Desert” it is noted for its beautiful blend of Moorish, Byzantine and Mexican renaissance architecture and colourful frescos adorning the interior. Outside local Tohono O’odham people were selling fry bread which we had to try; it’s a deep fried flat bread not unlike a fluffy pancake, which they served plain or with sugar and cinnamon or savoury with chilli and beans. We then drove to the Desert Diamond Casino for lunch, we had good food while the machines hummed and buzzed in the background, with the occasional bells of a winner. On the way home Don & Sue bought steaks for us all and Dave barbequed them for supper, we ate outside again as the weather is warm well into the evenings. We ate outside the following evening as well, we ordered in pizza as Don & Sue were leaving the next day and nobody wanted any washing up.

On Wednesday we took the motorbike to Tombstone with its well preserved original 1880’s buildings such as the Crystal Palace Saloon and the Bird Cage Theatre where Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, Bat Masterson and Johnny Ringo gathered. The main street is closed to traffic and a stage coach transports visitors around the dirt roads. Three times a day there is a re-enactment of the shoot out at the OK Coral and there is a self guided tour of Boot Hill. We spent some time walking around and then had a beer at the Crystal Palace Saloon which was overpriced like the rest of this over commercialised tourist trap.

Thursday we stayed on site and Friday we took the RV to La Mesa RV centre for its service and warranty work. As we thought they had to order parts so we re-booked into the campground for another week. Saturday and Sunday we stayed on site, Dave watched the Nascar race with the boys in the clubhouse.

Monday we took the motorbike out again this time to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, not so much a museum though more of a zoo set in a natural desert landscape. Out first stop was the raptor free flight, five Harris Hawks, a family group, were allowed to fly around the grounds looking for their lunch. Two turkey vultures joined them in case there were any leftovers but they were unlucky and after about half an hour they left. The Harris Hawks stooped and dived and glided around, once they all disappeared into the vegetation after some poor animal which evidently they did not catch and then they all returned to their home roost.

We followed the main trail around the park past the Javalinas and the coyotes and then through small cat canyon where there were bobcats, an ocelot and allegedly a jaguarundi which declined to show himself.

The next section contained Mexican wolves, white tailed dear, a black bear who was sound asleep and a pair of Mountain Lions who were even more beautiful close up.

The riparian corridor was a little disappointing the beavers and otters were sleeping in their dens but the coati were amusing chasing a gecko.

After the walk in aviary we visited the humming birds that seemed to ignore us and flew past at great speed, one bird was sitting on the tiniest nest I have ever seen. The gift shop had beautiful bowls of cactus, some of them in flower; the problem was trying to transport them on the motorbike!

The next day we went up into Saguaro National Park, we had lunch at the Picnic site where we were joined by ground squirrels, quail and some birds that I haven’t been able to find in the book yet. Then we drove around the cacti forest road, an eight mile one way scenic loop around the park and back to the visitors centre. The huge saguaro cactus tower above the surrounding vegetation and do not bloom until June but the smaller barrel cactus, cholla, ocotillo and prickly pear were all starting to break out into flower. It is truly amazing how colourful the desert can be at this time of the year.

The following day we spent kicking our heels at the RV centre again, however, after some persuasion they got most of the jobs done, they misdiagnosed the problem with the energy management system and ordered the wrong part, so they let us stay on their customer parking area over night while they ordered the right replacement. The next day Dave insisted they had overfilled the engine oil when they did the service and so they had to drain some out, they replaced the converter that was the source of the EMS problem, and eventually after lunch we were on the road again. Dave was determined to get some miles covered so we joined the I-10 west heading for California. We took a detour around Phoenix and rejoined the I-10 west of the city. There was very little to see along the way, the terrain was almost complete desert with only small bushes and cactus but occasionally an irrigation canal fed channels into fields where they grew pecans, wheat and what appeared to be grass, for animals presumably, although we never saw any. Another cold front coming in caused head winds and the going was slow so we only made it to Brenda for the night, about 35 miles short of the border. The next morning the weather channel said the cold front was still coming our way so we decided to leave and try to drive through it. We stopped in Blythe, just over the border in California, to check the weather again, a sign on the highway suggested trucks and campers should delay travel due to strong winds, but the radio gave a different story so we pushed on and only encountered a light shower of rain before we reached our destination, Joshua Tree National Park. The road climbed up through Cottonwood Canyon to the visitors centre, we booked in and settled into a camp site with a picnic table and fire ring, much to Dave’s delight.