Sunday October 12, Tuscon AZ

Just resting, Tombstone

Walmart ended up being a good quiet night, we both slept really well. Came to the conclusion that we must not let all these closures and then re-openings upset our plans too much, and that we needed to continue on our travels through Southern Arizona and not rush north and try and see all the parks during their week of opening. 

The skies were blue without a cloud and the temperatures were warming as we set off this morning for Tuscon, spending about 50 miles on the Interstate 10. We very seldom use these big freeways but sometimes there is no alternative so as we cruised at 60mph on a 75 highway we were passed by all the big rigs!

Tombstone, the town that we all remembered in the old western movies was not that far south so  needed to go and have a look. Suspected that it would be quite the tourist town, which it was, but somehow enjoyed wandering down the board walks with the horses still pulling the stage coaches around..full of tourists!

Tombstone is probably less than 50 miles from Mexico and the border patrols were very evident with patrol vehicles tucked in corners as we drove by. We had to go through a check point and were asked if we were American Citizens…so had to pull over and produce our passports. They could tell we were honest looking people(!), and ended up having a long chat with the officer. They are federal employees but at the moment are not being paid yet they are needed to look after the borders, their back pay will come when the mess is all sorted out!! The longer this goes on the more you realise how many people are affected.

The Tombstone Marshall in his upmarket transport!

We are members of Passport America a discount camping group and found a listing for a camp on the east side of Tuscon, not many miles from the freeway. After Jilly (the GPS) did a bit of hairy navigation we finally arrived at the destination…turned out to be a gated upmarket camp where snowbirders (people from the northern states who spend the winter in the warmer climes of the south) stay. Not quite our scene but as we were here, and the price was reasonable, decided to book in for a few nights, it makes a change from Walmart! Ruakiwi looked rather small and grubby beside all the fancy rigs, and see by the camp rules, they only allow vehicles 10 years or younger into the camp…we seemed to have passed by the radar with our 2000 model! Also luckily we are over 55 and have no pets or children with us else we couldn’t stay here either.

The Saguaro (cacti) National Park is just about on our doorstep…sadly it is closed, but the huge graveyard of planes and museum is not far away so may take a look tomorrow.

Quite the place!