The Big Blow

We had planned to leave Denton on January 29, but by the time we had everything ready to go the wind was howling. We decided to stay put for a day and we are glad we did. There was lots of damage in the Dallas area and it would have been no fun at all driving in it. That afternoon Dianna received a call from her Dr. asking her to come in to discus lab results. They made it sound like it might be important so we arranged to stop the next day on our way out.

The Dr.'s appointment was no big deal. I think they just wanted to charge for an office visit. There was nothing in her results that could not have been communicated by letter or a phone call.

After the appointment we headed west into a still very strong headwind. We stopped at a free campground in Abilene, TX for the night and the next day we continued to fight the wind as far as Pecos, TX. We decided to spend a couple nights there and the winds died down the next day. It was actually pleasant.

The next day, Feb. 2nd, we continued west as far as Deming, NM. Again, we fought headwinds.

On the third we drove into Tucson and found a place in the desert to spend the night. A big winter storm blew in and it was rainy and cold during the night. We awoke to snow on the Catalinas and Rincons and it continued to rain most of the day as I visited the Pima Air Museum. I grew up looking through the fence at planes in the DM boneyard. It was nice to see some of them up close. The museum is the third largest in the country (world) and I spent the entire day there. Dianna spent the day in the truck, reading and working on needle work.

That evening we drove south from Tucson toward Nogales and spent the night in the desert off the Duval Mine Road. Yesterday we went to the Titan Missile Museum and toured the last remaining Titan Missile silo. It was very interesting, especially since our tour guide was a retired Air Force officer who had served as a silo commander at one of the silos near Oracle. It was fascinating to hear about the place from someone who really knew what she was talking about.

After the museum, we drove up the back side of the Tucson Mountains to Avra Valley, and then back to I-10 in Marana. We decided not to come all the way to Mesa since we would arrive during rush hour traffic and late in the day, so we spent the night at an RV park in Picacho. It was the first day of the trip that we have not fought headwinds.

This morning we stopped at the Flying J truck stop for fuel, and then drove to our campsite for the next week or so. We are at the Phon D Sutton Recreation Area, which is located about 8 miles north of the 202 on Power Road. It is just a large parking lot that is used during the summer by people playing on the Salt River. The river is right next to us. There are no hookups, but we have everything we need, and the cost is only $6 per day.

We plan to visit Mom tomorrow. She should have some mail for us. We look forward to visiting with the rest of our relatives in the area during the next week or so, but have not really made any definite plans on when we are leaving.