Still in Tucson town

27-Jan-2019

Tucson Az

We remain lodged  up on the northwest side of the city.

Spending our time  wandering around the environs of Metropolitan, suburban, and rural Tucson.

Hiking a few trails.

Eating tacos and searching for the ideal Sonoran Dogs.

All in all not much to report.

Barrio Nuevo.... Where’s the Concertina Wire???

22-Jan-2018

Tucson

We moved from 5 points to Riverside Terrace.

You know,  above Roller Coaster Heights near the WhatABurger.

We’ve got an efficiency casita complete with solar energy and a multi-stage recycling plan.

Miss Sciency is in heaven.

Anyway its fine for me as  the ice stays frozen and the beer is cold.

Life continues good.

We managed a hike up the Linda Vista Trail yesterday. Rocky but not a hard incline.

Plenty of cactus (all varieties) pretty much everywhere but on the trail

Then we went downton and caught a few bits and pieces of the free concert at the Tucson Jazz Festival.

Then we had lunch.

Then we bought cocktail fixings.

Then we commenced to get laid back.

El Barrio - Part Deux

20-Jan-2019

Barrio Viejo Tucson

5 Points

A few more days in the barrio and we’re starting to get el sabor de la ciudad.

And we find things easier.

To the south of us lies a real Latino barrio. Spanish is the language.

Good food is also to be had at a number of eateries serving mostly Mexican style food.

Our friend Mary visited yesterday. After a nice lunch we found the Safeway and bought bourbon, oj and some garlic bread.

Came back to the Casita  made whiskey sours with some fresh lemons from Mary’s home.

We had to make anothe trip to the liquor store later but that was for others stuff.

We probably should have bought some more bourbon as the one we purchased yesterday seems to missing most of the liquid.

It’s our last day in this neighborhood. We’re staying in Tucson for another week or two. We’re just moving uptown to a new base of operations near the foothills. We found an new Casita on Craigslist.  

View of the Casita with the Gunship behind the wall.

Note the Concertina wire

I really dig the shadow patterns from the awning on the back of the gunship.

Wonder if I can find some decals like that

One last photo to add. 

We had an interesting walk  to the barrio liquor store after an early afternoon/evening of margaritas and whiskey sours.

The Barrio - Part 1

18-Jan-2018

Barrio Viejo Tucson AZ

Five points

Hanging out near downtown Tucson in an “up and coming” neighborhood.

Gentrification is noticeable but not overwhelming.

Between the recently completed $500k lofts are plenty of beater homes, eccentric folks and a touch of concertina wire.

Definitely in transition.

We did an Airbnb and got us kind of a beater. 

Odd, it wasn’t what I would call cheap either

But, it is clean and the gunship is contained behind a solid concrete wall.

No steel slats here.

Admittedly the wooden doors could be kicked in by an 8 year old.

Image is everything.

Anyway, we’ve been around town walking and seeing some sights.

Nothing big to report.

Here’s some photos

On the trail

14-Jan-2019

Madera Canyon Az

We enjoyed our  morning coffee with the octogenarian crowd at the local Starbucks/Safeway in Green Valley.

Then  we rolled down to the National Forest for a little hike.

Fortunately the partial government shutdown did not affect us.

It seems like significant sprawl southward from Tucson is happening along the Route 19 Corridor.  Lots of planned communities popping up in the Pecan fields. I guess people really do hate the cold weather. It is pretty nice out here on the valley floor. A bit colder in the mountains.

Anyway, the canyon is an interesting place with over a dozen species of hummingbirds and even a trogon species that inhabits the area.

We didn’t see any of that, a couple of your basic “little brown birds” here and there. Plenty of raptors on the drive in sitting on telephone poles looking for lunch

We booked a week’s stary  in Tucson proper at a little casita in the barrio. Check back in a few days to see how the adventure continues

I’m your Huckleberry

13-Jan-2019

Tubac, Az

A busy couple of days.

After a night in Deming we headed north up to City of Rocks State Park.

A beautiful park with some well planned campsites.

We’re not much into real camping so after a look around we rolled on to Silver City NM.

A town of about 10k people with a small University and some decent food.

Perhaps what Salida Co was many years ago. 

Except it was too cold for yours truly so onward we rolled.

Spent the next night in Willcox at a truck stop. 

Headed south next headfirst into the land of the partial government shutdown at Chiricahaua National Monument.

That bummed me out a bit as there’s a reall cool hike up in the park.

Anyway we immediately converted into full on tourist mode.

We took a dirt road a few miles and encountered the grave of Johnny Ringo, from Doc Holliday,Wayatt Earp fame.

He was no longer so high strung.

From there we continued south toward the border.

We stopped in Tombstone long enough to shoot a few photos but not long enough for coffee.

From there southwest toward Nogales to snap a picture of the wall.

Still no caravans anywhere but we did see a few very tasty looking taco trucks.

We hiked a little at Pena Blanca Lake in the Coronado National forest.

Up the road to Tubac Az where we slept behind the Mexican restaurant we ate at.

Good mole, pretty good live mariachi, and a quiet safe spot to rest our heads.

Steel Slats

Draw Your Brakes

11-Jan 2018

Hatch New Mexico

La la la la la, la la la la la la, oooh 

La la la la la, la la la la la la, oooh 

See I express I self

Bob Marley-  Draw Your Brakes

We pulled back on the Gunship throttle and decided to take a look around Las Cruces NM

It’s been at least a couple of decades since we’ve been here.

Quite a nice little town on the Rio Grande will plenty of green Chile for eating and mountains for climbing.

We decided to try a little of both.

We found the local breakfast joint (The Shed) in Las Cruces and fueled up for our first real trail of the trip.

The Organ Mountains lie to the east of town and we spend a couple hours hiking the Dripping Springs Trail.

Apparently the rattlesnakes have holed up for the winter. We neither saw nor heard them

We spent the night at a hotel and freshened up for the next day.

There’s a nice park almost in town on the Rio Grande  with plenty of raptors flying round.

We spend a little time looking around and chatting up some of the locals

From there we rolled up the west side of the river toward the Robledo Mountains.

The Prehistoric Trackways National Monument was our destination.

Met some locals in the parking lot and set out for an hour or two of hiking on the Ridgeline Trail.

From there we followed the river up to Hatch, ate some more Chile and rolled on to Deming before dark.

Enjoyable couple of days

Corned Beef Eggs Benedict with Green Chile Hollandaise  -  Chicken Fried Steak with eggs and Green and Red Chile (Christmas Tree)

The proverbial Eensy beensy spider

The valley is changing over from Chile production to more and more Pecan tree orchards