Tucson, AZ
Well, the weather turned a little cool and windy in Laughlin, so we decided to cut our visit short by a day and left Sunday morning to head to Tucson. Originally, we had planned on heading over to Phoenix to meet up with Dave and Wanda, but their plans changed also. So we cancelled our reservations at Luke AFB and made a reservation at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson.
Drove south out of Laughlin and into Arizona and made our way down south along the Colorado River. Who knew they grew cotton as well as alfalfa along the river. Made a brief crossing into California at Needles and then took I-40 for a few miles until we could get back on AZ 95 heading south to Lake Havazu. It was an interesting drive as we drove through retirement areas, RV parks, and farm areas, as well as a lot of desert and rocky mountains. Fun seeing the green water of the Colorado when we could spot it contrasted to the desolate countryside. The cotton looked like it was about ready to be picked and made for some colorful fields.
Lake Havazu is an intriguing area. Settled in 1964 and it's mostly a retirement/snowbird area. The noteworthy thing about the area is that they bought the London Bridge and transported it in pieces to Lake Havazu and rebuilt it. The lake itself is such an emerald green - especially when compared to the brown desert and mountains surrounding it. On the way down, we saw a lot of RV's parked out in the desert area dry-camping. Some had ATV trailers and used them to good advantage in the rugged countryside. I guess other's just like to relax out in the desert without all the hub-bub of the RV Resorts.
Talk about a small world, stopped at a little general store along the river to get a cup of coffee and talked with the manager (who had a decidedly New Jersey) accent. Turned out he was from Jersey City, lived in Red Bank and then moved out to Arizona in 1999. Drove to Tucson by taking a lot of backroads and kind of going in a diagonal cross-country route to get to I-8. We try to avoid the interstate as much as we can, but in some areas around here, it's just too rugged to make any time.
Between AZ 95 and I-8, we passed some huge commercial buildings which were used for egg ranches and chicken farms. One town we passed through on our way to I-8 was Hope, AZ. The sign at the edge of town read: "You have just passed beyond Hope. Adios". Kind of cute! We took I-8 over to I-10 and then into Tucson. Been a while since we've been here, so we made a few mis-steps trying to find Davis-Monthan AFB. You would think we could hardly miss a huge installation, but we did. When we finally found it (flashing runway lights are a dead giveaway), we were able to check in and get settled. We were lucky enough to get some excellent quarters and are enjoying the beautiful suite. Went out for dinner at a little family Italian restaurant which was thoroughly enjoyable.
Today we explored around town, did some shopping, gassed up at Costco and then decided to check out a local golf course. The Davis-Monthan AFB Blanchard Golf Course closed last Spring because of a combination of little use and high maintenance costs. They are going to convert it into a area which is more useful for family parties and recreation. A real shame, but I guess they just didn't have the interest to sustain it.
We played at a municipal course on the southeast side of town and had a good time - it played well and the pace of play was good. No one pushing and the people ahead were out of the way most of the time. Just played nine holes and then came back home to relax. On the way to the golf course, we passed by the local boneyard where they store all the old aircraft no longer used by the military. Row after row of aircraft all sealed up.
Looked up a local brewery - Barrio Brewery, and went there for dinner. Neat place - downtown, in an old commercial warehouse type building near the railroad tracks. They did a great job of decorating the place and the beer/food was excellent.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we're heading east toward either Las Cruces, NM or El Paso, TX. A lot will depend on the weather which doesn't look too good - cold and possibility of rain. At least that's better than the tornado warnings for Pensacola :-).
Drove south out of Laughlin and into Arizona and made our way down south along the Colorado River. Who knew they grew cotton as well as alfalfa along the river. Made a brief crossing into California at Needles and then took I-40 for a few miles until we could get back on AZ 95 heading south to Lake Havazu. It was an interesting drive as we drove through retirement areas, RV parks, and farm areas, as well as a lot of desert and rocky mountains. Fun seeing the green water of the Colorado when we could spot it contrasted to the desolate countryside. The cotton looked like it was about ready to be picked and made for some colorful fields.
Lake Havazu is an intriguing area. Settled in 1964 and it's mostly a retirement/snowbird area. The noteworthy thing about the area is that they bought the London Bridge and transported it in pieces to Lake Havazu and rebuilt it. The lake itself is such an emerald green - especially when compared to the brown desert and mountains surrounding it. On the way down, we saw a lot of RV's parked out in the desert area dry-camping. Some had ATV trailers and used them to good advantage in the rugged countryside. I guess other's just like to relax out in the desert without all the hub-bub of the RV Resorts.
Talk about a small world, stopped at a little general store along the river to get a cup of coffee and talked with the manager (who had a decidedly New Jersey) accent. Turned out he was from Jersey City, lived in Red Bank and then moved out to Arizona in 1999. Drove to Tucson by taking a lot of backroads and kind of going in a diagonal cross-country route to get to I-8. We try to avoid the interstate as much as we can, but in some areas around here, it's just too rugged to make any time.
Between AZ 95 and I-8, we passed some huge commercial buildings which were used for egg ranches and chicken farms. One town we passed through on our way to I-8 was Hope, AZ. The sign at the edge of town read: "You have just passed beyond Hope. Adios". Kind of cute! We took I-8 over to I-10 and then into Tucson. Been a while since we've been here, so we made a few mis-steps trying to find Davis-Monthan AFB. You would think we could hardly miss a huge installation, but we did. When we finally found it (flashing runway lights are a dead giveaway), we were able to check in and get settled. We were lucky enough to get some excellent quarters and are enjoying the beautiful suite. Went out for dinner at a little family Italian restaurant which was thoroughly enjoyable.
Today we explored around town, did some shopping, gassed up at Costco and then decided to check out a local golf course. The Davis-Monthan AFB Blanchard Golf Course closed last Spring because of a combination of little use and high maintenance costs. They are going to convert it into a area which is more useful for family parties and recreation. A real shame, but I guess they just didn't have the interest to sustain it.
We played at a municipal course on the southeast side of town and had a good time - it played well and the pace of play was good. No one pushing and the people ahead were out of the way most of the time. Just played nine holes and then came back home to relax. On the way to the golf course, we passed by the local boneyard where they store all the old aircraft no longer used by the military. Row after row of aircraft all sealed up.
Looked up a local brewery - Barrio Brewery, and went there for dinner. Neat place - downtown, in an old commercial warehouse type building near the railroad tracks. They did a great job of decorating the place and the beer/food was excellent.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we're heading east toward either Las Cruces, NM or El Paso, TX. A lot will depend on the weather which doesn't look too good - cold and possibility of rain. At least that's better than the tornado warnings for Pensacola :-).
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