On May 1st we crossed the state line into Arizona. With this new territory came another time zone change so we had to move our clocks back one hour. Arizona does not recognize Daylight Savings Time like the rest of the country thus they are on Central Time Zone.
Our next campground was the Lazydays KOA in Tucson. This place was big, well maintained and offered lots of amenities for our stay. Our visit to this KOA fulfilled two agendas - one was leisure sightseeing and another was to get some minor warranty repairs done at the nearby La Mesa RV facility. Arriving a day early of our appointment at La Mesa RV, we checked into the KOA and settled into our site. The weather was cooperating with blue skies but the temperatures reached a scalding 104F (40C). This stayed pretty consistent during our entire stay in Arizona.
This campground had its perks, one being the fruit trees growing near most of the campsites. Orange, Meyer lemon and grapefruit trees were loaded with fruit and it was all free for the taking.
We grabbed a plastic bag and started gathering some fresh citrus. Janet picked an orange...oops, it was not an orange...turned out to be a lemon. Pucker factor!
Janet and I squeezed fresh juices - some we used during our stay and some we froze for future uses.
Using some of the fresh lemon juice that Janet and I harvested, Ralph and Janet made Chicken Picatta with snow peas. We dined outdoors watching the sun set.
The next morning we got up early and drove our coach over for service. Janet and Ralph did the same with their coach at a neighboring Lazy Days repair facility. Then the four of us hopped into our car and ventured into downtown Tucson for some breakfast. We found The Little One Cafe and gave it a try. Glad we did. Besides the food, the highlight was meeting the cafe owner, Sandra. Sandra had spunk in multitudes, a mega watt smile and wore her frayed jeans with a leather belt strapped to her waist that was complete with a knife and sheath. She was a fisher woman and had another home in a Mexican village. On holidays, and when fish were biting, Sandra would close her cafe and would head to Mexico to catch fish. She was interesting to talk to and she made sure all her customers got hugs before they left her restaurant. Sandra didn't have a phone and only took cash business. The food and ingredients were fresh, and the Mexican food she made from scratch was flavorful. We enjoyed the experience completely. Thanks, Sandra.
Remember I said our campground was big? It had over 300+ sites and was an oasis in the desert. The decor of this resort consisted of mostly succulents (cactus) and gravel with adobe-type structures for the buildings.
Bright green lawns around the perimeter of the resort made a beautiful contrast against the dry, desert landscaping.The speed limit was strictly enforced inside the campground.
This KOA was unique because it offered two solar paneled rows of shaded sites at an extra charge. The only drawback to those spots (besides the extra fee) was that it was difficult to get satellite TV (for those who have it like us). The campground also offered two swimming pools, a bar and grill on site, daily trash pickup, a game room, laundry room and showers, deluxe cabin rentals, bike rentals, fire pit rentals, a putting green, playground, horseshoe pit, Boccie ball and a fitness room. It was a really nice place to stay.
Above, palm tree fronds bristled in the warm breeze.
Our coach repairs were done in a day so we picked up our rigs separately and brought them back to our camp sites. Another gorgeous sunset followed as the air cooled (thank goodness!) to the mid-60's (18C) in the evenings.
Not sure if this coach owner was a hunter, a Texan or idealized reindeer.
What a beautiful view of a Tucson mountain range from our campsite!
I spotted this unusual shrub called the common Sotol. The inner part of the plant and the core of the flower stem are edible and can be used for an alcoholic beverage called "sotol". The native plant is protected in Arizona and can not be damaged or killed.
And then it happened...I was taken back to my youth. I have fond memories of when my grandmother and I would go to the local Baskin and Robbins Ice Cream Parlor, when I was a child, and we would order black licorice ice cream. I've had dreams about this stuff and it has been the most elusive thing I've ever craved. Janet knew this about me and had been searching the Internet during our travels trying to find anyplace that sold it. We got lucky in Tucson - she found a place. So we drove there and behold...you know I took some back to the motorhome with me and I enjoyed every lovely morsel of it.
Ever see a pink rhino or a purple cactus before? Now you have.
That "beige and gray", dusty desert landscape of Arizona needed all of the color it could get. Thank goodness for these flowers in full bloom.
As a testament to the heat we were feeling, I photographed this billboard sign publicly preaching the importance of staying hydrated and a sidewalk that buckled under the expansion from the intense sun.
As a cooler alternative to the outside air, we took a stroll through the University of Arizona Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium. An exhibit from the American Mineral Heritage and the Harvard Collection displayed unusual minerals in all shapes, colors, forms and properties. Some glowed under fluorescence.
Others were petrified and crystalized.
They came in shades of light turquoise and Egyptian Blue.
Some resembled soft colored gems while others looked like jagged iron shavings standing on end.
These reminded me of a meteorite and coral respectively.
This chunk of beautiful blue Azurite was found in Bisbee, Arizona.
We finished with the exhibits then watched a special movie called From Earth To The Universe shown inside the planetarium theater across its huge domed ceiling. It was like an IMAX experience - the stars and heavens came alive and seemed to shimmer and explode right before our eyes. It was a WOW! moment.
Since it was Cinco de Mayo (May 5th), we celebrated by visiting the local cantina for some cool, frosty Mexican beverages. Then a big steak at the Silver Saddle Steakhouse seemed like the right choice for dinner that night.
This was one of the highlights of our Arizona visit - a tour of the famous town of Tombstone.
It was one of the last American boomtowns of the old west and it was also a place of lawlessness and corruption. These are a few examples of the ordinances passed in 1881 involving opium dens, gun control and brothels, all part of the daily life in Tombstone during that time.
Ever see the 1993 movie version of the OK Corral incident called "Tombstone" starring Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp? One of my favorite films...and this Virgil looked SO much like Sam Elliott.
The quiet streets of Tombstone as the stagecoach comes through.
We had lunch at the Crystal Palace and admired the intricate woodwork behind the bar and the period costumes that all employee/actors/actresses wore. I tried my first ever Bison burger. The meat was really lean which made it sort of tasteless, but it was fun to experiment.
Boy, these guys made we want to own a pair of spurs. I called it "lazy walking" - letting their spurs drag then make a "ping" sound, like anvil against iron, along the wood floorboards as they sauntered by. So cool!
My moment with the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday.
We paid to watch the reenactment of the gunfight. It was entertaining but kind of lost its "realism" with the intrusion of telephone wires above the building backdrops and the sound of cars driving by behind the town wall. Oh well.
Janet and I shared a photo moment with the Earps and Doc.
Questions have been raised about who fired the first shot at the gunfight. Here was an actual account preserved in a drawing in Wyatt Earp's own handwriting before he died.
John Peters Ringo, otherwise known as Johnny Ringo, was a member of the "Cowboys" gang and a notorious, dangerous outlaw. Around 1879, he shot a man in the neck for refusing to drink whiskey with him. He then became a chief antagonist of Wyatt Earp. In July, 1882, Johnny Ringo was shot to death and history debated whether it was Wyatt Earp who fired that gun. For years, Wyatt denied killing Ringo but late in his life he told his wife Josephine and his biographer that he was indeed the shooter. Below is the diagram in Wyatt Earp's own hand of that day in July, 1882.
Mary Katherine-Horony Cummings, otherwise known as Big Nose Kate, was a Hungarian-born prostitute and common law wife of Doc Holliday.
Big Nose Kate's saloon (formerly known as The Grand Hotel back in the 1880's) offered a bawdy, rowdy real saloon environment (not meant for children). We stopped in for a liquid refreshment and were in awe of the décor.
There was a spiral staircase, known as The Shaft, that led Downstairs from the saloon into a gift store and to the Shaft, former home to "The Swamper". During the days of The Grand Hotel, a janitor and odd job man known as "The Swamper" lived in the dark basement of the hotel as partial payment for his pay. "Swamper" had a passion for silver and the basement was ideal for digging in secrecy. He supposedly found silver but no one knows if he spent it or hoarded it away in an unknown niche. Many saloon workers have sworn they still see the ghost of "The Swamper" wandering the halls and stairs.
Various forms of transportation in Tombstone...one more preferable than the other.
An 1880's toilet, known as an outhouse.
A visit to Tombstone wouldn't be complete without seeing Boothill Graveyard. From 1878-1884, this became the final resting place for all of Tombstone's early pioneers. The name "boothill" came from the fact that many folks buried there came to a rather "sudden" end, many with their boots still on. It was a common reference chiefly in the American West during the 1800's, thus there were many "boot hill" cemeteries scattered about in America. However, this is the original, both in location and origin.
Grave of Dutch Annie - Queen of the Red Light District and Madame to many "soiled doves" (name given to prostitutes in the early west). There were various other graves all covered in stones from the time of burial to help keep animals and buzzards away.
Some glorious color amidst stone, rock and dirt.
Curious headstone carving.
At the end of our visit to Tombstone, we "walked off into the sunset"...or at least that is how the old cowboy movies used to end. Janet, thanks so much for this great photo.
The men planned the road ahead. We tried not to prepare our destinations on this trip any more than two weeks in advance, unless a holiday forced us to make campground reservations much earlier. In all, it kept the itinerary fresh and exciting constantly.
Our last night before we left Tucson and ventured onwards to Winslow, Arizona.
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