Weather or not

TUCSON, AZ - - The second day of our month long house sit in Tucson is providing us with information in how to re arrange our normal schedule.  Whatever we want to do we do it early.  And the rest of the day we watch the in-house weather station.  The photo above was taken at 3pm.  (The temperature pick up is in a shady area with plenty of air flow.)  It's now 8pm and a comfortable?? 96 degrees. 
     The house has good air conditioning and a nice wide screen TV with cable so we're not roughing it.  Our companions are a morose dog and an aloof cat who sleeps all day.  It will take a few days for the gang to get over being left behind by  their 'family.'  Until then, we can do aloof and morose real well.

Only 97 degrees, gee whiz.

TUCSON, AZ.  The TV weather talk isn't about today's 97 degrees.  Or about the 7-8 degrees of humidity.  No, it's about when the benchmark 100 degree level will be reached.  The TV talking heads say tomorrow or surely the day after.  And how long will it stay above the 100 degree range.  At least 5 straight days.  This time.
     Wander around outside for long in temperatures/humidity like this and you can feel Mother Nature sucking the moisture from your body.  So suck it up, bro.  Water, that is.  Hydrate your body.  Or turn the air conditioning up.

Gun fights and Indian nights

The feed and seed OK Corral was never famous until the shooting started

Take a stagecoach trip if you don't fancy gun play

The Inn At Castle Rock

Hummmmm

BISBEE, AZ - - From the blah area of Safford we headed off into the wilderness...which you can do in any direction.  Our first destination was Tombstone.  There might have been a famous gun fight here at the OK Corral.  Sure enough. You couldn't wander the historic section without hearing about when a re-enactment of the shoot out would take place and where you could buy your tickets to see it.  Actors wandered the streets in 'period' clothes.  "Hey, was that Wyatt Earp?"
     Down the road in the old mining town of Bisbee we wandered the streets until a hotel with the right amount of class got us to check in.  The Inn At Castle Rock is over 100 years old and started life at a workers hostel.  It has rooms decorated in 'period'  motif.  We stayed in the Geronimo room.  There were a lot of  decorations which, in an area with a stream of tourists, would probably be decorating some man-cave or garage.
     We also had hummingbirds for occasional company.

We're doing BIG out in nowhere

We're listening...to noises made millions of years ago.

The units are transferred to different locations by special rail engines.

I bet you need a map to get around

SAFFORD, NM - - Sometimes we find things, very big things, when we're not looking for them.  Yesterday, Lydia was driving and I was catching up on a few zzzzz.  She stopped and suggested we ought to go back to see these radio antenna stretched out to the area east of us.  Wow!  Unlike Area 51 or the facilities around Roswell, NM, the folks with the huge antenna welcome visitors.
     In short, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array of astronomic radio antenna spreads out over a dry lake bed in western NM.  The 27 units form a vast "Y" pattern to listen to the sounds of space.  Check Google for more info.
     Today, after a nearly 100 mile serpentine drive on AZ191 through the White Mountains we came to a large hole in the ground.  Photos can't do it justice.  The Morenci (copper) Mine even has a company town listed on the Arizona map.  The mine does not show up even though it is the largest pit mine in North America.  Again, Google for more info.

Slush or mush, this is our e-z up covering the fire pit

 

SPRINGERVILLE, AZ - - On our last day in Santa Fe, the weather began to look grim as we headed the 2,000' up to our campsite at 8,500'.  On parking, we looked at our e-z-up.  The edges had a white looking slush covering the area - - like cottonwood fluff.  All you had to do was scoop the goop up and realize that our area had been hit with sleet.  Not much, but enough.

WHOOSH!!  New Mexico's Rail Runner Express

SANTA FE, NM - - Park the van. Take a little trip.  Santa Fe to Alburqurqe. 1.5 hours through the countryside.  Get off in downtown.  Quickly realize downtown is not where we want to be.  All bars and street people.  Historic Alb. is a two mile walk through the non-historic downtown.  Find a coffe shop one mile into walk.  Seems like a good place to turn around.  Get back on train.  Round trip fare for two seniors = $14.  The scenery was nice.

New toy

Snow?? At 9,500' in New Mexico it's still easy to find the white stuff

SANTA FE, NM - - For years, maps and a road atlas have been Lydia's favorite toys while we roll down the highway.  No more.  Now we have a GPS.  The GPS still isn't smarter than Lydia, but it's getting closer.  LH knows or finds all the back road detours and short cuts.  "Recalculating" has become a favorite function of the GPS. 
     GPS RULES:  Find the mute function.  Listening to robotic chatter isn't fun and we're sure somewhere in the vocabulary is a phrase like "Quit trying to mess things up, stupid." 
     You can update the memory ONLY if you have a new (4 years old) computer.  Wpe're lucky, both of our computers are 5+ years old and still work.
     It's actually fun listening to the map person growling at the GPS.  It's also interesting when you are in a city where the GPS does a good job and the growler admits it.
     My favorite function is  elevation.  Climbing mountains in the West becomes fascinating.  Maybe more fun than texting while driving or carrying on long distance phone calls.  FYI we do neither.

The Santa Fe way

SANTA FE, NM - - We're here in the enclave of artists and those who wish they were artists.  The McDonald's we are at right now offers free parking.  Free Parking in Santa Fe is a rare option.  The weather has been interesting:  sunny when we arrived and booked our campsite at Black Canyon, a Forest Service campground.  For our $5 charge we got more water than we planned on; nearly 9/10 inch on the water gauge of the campground host.  But, hey, there was a great lightning show along with it.
     We're spending most of today driving around to get an idea of the area and the cheap parking lots.  Photo options should pick up if I can sneak pictures of the interestingly dressed tourists.  Or maybe they are locals. 
     We're getting our first glimpses of snow-topped mountains.  Santa Fe is mostly ringed by 10-14,000' peaks.  Our campsite is at 8,500' so we're at a slight oxygen deficit.  I almost fee like I'm 25 again.  Don't I wish.

Storm running

DENTON, TX - - Those of you with an eye on the news may have noticed nasty rain storms and tornado activity in the central portion of the U.S.  Guess where we are?  Last year on our trip home we spent about a week out-running snow storms.  This time it's tornado activity.  Luckily, we haven't run into any "storm chasers" who appear  on The Weather Channel.  It should stay that way as we are now (hopefully) on the western edge of the nasty weather.  Did I mention the flooding?

How steep was the trail?

DICKSON, TN - - We're inching our way westward. Wednesday and Thursday were Smoky Mountain National Park days.  Lots of green...trees, valleys, ravines, mountains.  We drove up Clingman's Dome.  The road would be "twisty" for most people but after our job in Glacier NP, most roads aren't.  The parking area near the top leads to a half-mile paved trail to the top and an observation tower.  It is as steep as the sign advises.  The view from the top was green and hazy.  The view from inside the "Magic Bus" driving along I-40 is neither real green or real hazy.
     Mark your trip maps and get off the ribbon of concrete at Dixon, TN.  Drive a couple of miles into downtown and visit the House Blend coffee shop.  Good beans, good buns.

A photo or two

Selfie...with friends

At the top

Corny attraction.  The road really did curve like a snake.

BBQ, Brew and the Weather Channel

BLOWING ROCK, NC - - So how did we get to Blowing Rock when we were supposed to be on the Outer Banks?  That rainbow in the last post was an omen.  The weather forecast for Ocracoke Island and the rest of the Outer Banks was on its way from a bit bad to full on nasty.  So we headed up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. 
     On the way to a connection with the BRP we checked out Farm Boys BBQ - - with a name like that you got to try it.  They had a massive lunch buffet and massive dessert area...no dinner that night.  Did I mention I'm sort-of-hobbling around from a broken little toe incurred the night before we left.  Luckily it's the left side and I'm right-handed.
     We've driven up Mt. Mitchell; gimped thru a hike to a falls near Pisgah campgrounds; spent Mothers Day lunch in a brew pub surrounded by people who never heard of ZPG (zero population growth); and are now in a coffee house named Bald Guys Brew.  And no, if you have lost a good portion of your top covering you don't get the first cup free.
     A small technical glitch, there are no photos with this blog.

On the road...again

Rainbow takes on a stray cloudin mi

BRUNSWICK, GA - - For the past nine summers we have left our home in Ormond Beach, FL in mid-May and headed out.  Our travels in years past have found us on the road to Denali, Alaska; The North Rim of the Grand Canyon; Yosemite National Park (CA); Glacier National Park (MT) and a lot of stops in between.  This year won't be much different with a new stop in Tucson, AZ.  More details as we wander on for five months.
     The area we are in tonight is called "Brunswick and the Golden Isles."  Add rainbows to that.  A light rain created a double rainbow with bright colors which lasted for quite a while...until darker clouds chased the show away.