We got to Tucson October 29. This is the earliest in the “winter” that we’ve ever arrived at the Davis Monthan Air Force Base Fam Camp. We've snowbirded here for at least a month for the last eight years. This year we'll be here longer.
The campground has 200 sites. Lots of them were empty when we arrived, but it’s close to full now and will probably stay that way into March. We got a good spot with a big Arizona garden (gravel and two big mesquite trees) on the driver's side of the rig. When the neighbors on the other side of the garden moved, so did we. Now we step out of the rig onto our 100-foot-wide personal desert.
We’re into our usual Tucson routine of going to the gym, walking the dogs, enjoying the weather and exploring. And we "explored" a lot of brew pubs. So far we’ve been to Crooked Tooth, Public House, Borderlands, Yard House, Harbottle, Arizona Beer House, Barrio, Gentle Ben's, and Ten55. (It's kind of embarrassing to type the names of all those brew pubs, but Jim says it's research so he can properly entertain friends who plan to visit in February. Oh sure.) They were all good but Jim gives an extra rave review to Borderlands.
We've also gone to see the movie "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" with Melissa McCarthy, taken a couple of trips to to nearby Saguaro National Park east, met people at the campground, and done some Christmas shopping. And we've taken care to two sick doggies -- especially our smaller one Maddie, but both are better now. We can highly recommend the Pantano Animal Clinic on East 22nd Street, plus my veterinarian brother Bob who has helped us a gazlilion times.
In a few days we'll drive back to Salt Lake for the holidays. It won’t take too long for us to get our fill of snow --- then we’ll be back in Tucson.
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| A RV decorated for the holidays at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. |
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| Saguaro National Park East has a short trail where you can take dogs, so we hiked it. With all the nearby cactus I have to keep Maddie on an especially short leash so she doesn't try to dive for a rabbit under a cholla. |
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| How the RV park looked when we first got to Tucson. That's our rig and tow car to the right. |
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| We hiked a four-mile trail at Saguaro National Park on a cloudy and cool Thanksgiving Day. After the hike we had a Boston Market turkey dinner with extra Bob Evans potatoes and store-bought pie. Easiest Thanksgiving ever. |
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| As seen on Saguaro National Park's Cactus Forest Drive -- a mostly one-way eight-mile loop. |
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| One night on a trip to the commissary, Bev took this photo of a low full moon. |
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| A downtown Tucson mural. |
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| The not especially scenic front door to Public House brew pub. It's off an alley near Tucson's Fourth Avenue area, which is full of small shops and restaurants. |
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| This is what can happen when someone (not us) pulls their RV into a campground late at night with a big rig and can't see well enough to navigate a turn. Jim and another camper used a hand truck to move the displaced rock back to where it belonged. |
