Sunday evening, January 31st, we hunkered down in Quartzsite with 40-50 mph wind gusts and rain. We brought in the slides on the motorhome to minimize our exposure and settled in to watch the lightning show, complete with thunder! Sasha wasn't too keen on going outside, but she managed a quick trip just before bed. While she was nosing around, I checked the creeks on two sides of us. Oh, Boy! Wrong thing to do! We were surrounded by fast moving water just about to break over the banks of the creeks! Needless to say, sleep was a precious commodity that night!
Next morning, Sasha and I went out to explore, hoping that we could still depart the premises later that morning. Lo, and behold, the creeks were dry and the ground looked as if it hadn't rained in years! That's the desert for you.
Some 260 odds miles southeast of Quartzsite lies Tucson. We pulled in about 5 pm, set up, and collapsed. Tuesday morning dawned bright and clear with high temps in the low 50's. We immediately set about doing a complete top to bottom cleaning of the motorhome, getting ready for this years trip. Both Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed "home" and worked. Along with cleaning, there were several repairs to be made to Nessie, and we started on those. One of the most time consuming items was threading the cable for a new GPS antenna through the roof framing, down the side of the windshield, and into the dash. That job has been going on steadily for two days, and we're still not finished. Donna has cleaned and polished every bit of the interior of this rig, and will soon finish up with a good floor scrubbing, while I wash the outside. Nice!
On Friday last, we met our friends Ted and Phyllis, who winter in Tucson each year. We last saw them in the fall of '15 as we passed through, but it's good to have a bit of time to see them again. We had lunch at the Union Public House, with fish and chips being the favorite order. Yum! In the afternoon we took the long way home, passing through Tucson Mountain Park, which is just a few miles west of Tucson.
In the distance, the city is just visible through the haze.
On Saturday, Ted and Phyllis took us on a tour of the San Xavier Mission. Founded in the 1700's it is still in use today. Notice the unfinished right tower. It was, for some reason, never completed, and has been left in its original state through several renovations.
The interior is very ornate, and even though renovated, remains exactly as it was constructed 250 years or so ago. It's amazing to think that indigenous peoples along with visiting priests could fabricate such a beautiful building out of very little in the way of local materials.
We left the mission with Ted and Phyllis happy that we had an opportunity to visit.
Our last stop of the day was at Mama Louisa's Italian Restaurant! Can't go very long without eating! Great spaghetti with meatballs, and the baked Ziti was delicious!
Sunday was spent working on the GPS antenna again, as was the entire day today, Monday. I think we're making progress, though, and should wrap it up tomorrow. Sunday evening was spent with Rich and Gladys, our neighbors from Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks. Nice people, and again with the eating…..
Wednesday we're scheduled to take Nessie into the local Newmar dealer for some adjustments that are totally beyond my abilities, so by next weekend we should be able to finally enjoy our stay in Tucson!
Hope so!
Stay with us, we'll be back in a few days….
Glad you came through that desert storm with no damage!
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