A new Jeep, a house, now what to do now ?

February 1- 21, 2018:

I always try to incorporate a few murals and Tucson with its hispanic culture tends not to disappoint, old ones constantly fade away and new ones spring up, like the cycle of life itself.  It's a beautiful thing !

This Tucson welcome mural is a favorite especially when the clouds are like this 

This has been around a while, love the dinosaur on the upper level

The Circus Academy building

Tucson has been designated a UNESCO city of gastronomy, the first in the US, with a stretch of road designated as the best "23 miles of Mexican Food" in the US. 

We visited a couple of the places recognized during the month.  We returned to El Guero Canelo for one of their “world famous Sonoran Hot Dogs”.  They recently received the prestigious James Beard award for their Sonoran Hot Dog, actually I don’t see what all the fuss is about, but then I’m not a “foodie”.  We also visited “Pat’s Hot Dogs” recently for their renown chill dogs and went to the truly great El Charo Cafe.
https://www.visittucson.org/food-drink/restaurants/23-miles-mexican-food

Pat's drive-in for chill dogs

I did a hike that I have never done before up Tumamoc Hill.  Tumamoc Hill was home to Hohokam indians who resided there for centuries.  The trail is about three miles in length but all uphill and steeply uphill in places. This doesn't stop young mothers from running or pushing their babies in carriages to the top, while I am panting by the side of the road.  This is all paved and has become a most popular fitness trail in Tucson and is right across form the hospital if needed !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumamoc_Hill

The start of the trail

I really have a dislike for the runners

I don't think so ?

Our new house is located out there just in front of the left
hill in the foreground

Nice overlook looking down on downtown Tucson

Thick healthy Saguaros

Another view of the Tucson valley

The weather has maintained about 10 degrees above average temperature, near 80 degrees this month and with practically no rainfall since we arrived here in mid November.  As result, the desert plant life is looking parched.  I was thinking a rainy day would be really nice when on February 15th the rain gods submitted culminating in two solid days of rain and no one complained.  I think we received about the whole winters amount of rain in this one storm.

My best intentions and precautions for this cold and flu season have failed, I received both a flu shot and the pneumonia shot, stayed away from group activities and happy hours in the campground and have still caught a nasty cold followed by the flu that has continued for the past month.  I now seem to be on the mend thanks to some potent medication in time for a trip back to New Jersey for a few days.  

In between cold sessions I caught “Broke Down Palace” at the St Charles Tavern, the Kevin Pakulis Band opening for Commander Cody and his Western Airmen at Monterey Court and Slaid Cleaves at the 191 Toole concert venue.

https://www.commandercody.com/the-website

https://www.slaidcleaves.com

Broke Down Palace had a nice country folk sound

Keven Pakulis and band opening for the Commander 

Commander Cody in action

We attended the Pascua Yaqui "Festival of the Arts" which was mostly the art of the custom car, well attended and with many exciting cars.  There was also a great band, Carlos Santana himself would have agreed.

Classic vintage 50's is more my style

This paint job is amazing

Custom bikes also, this one carries an indian bow and arrow

Many of these cars are heavily loaded with hydraulics

Very sleek 50's chevy with continental kit

Much imagination goes into these cars

Note the the pre air-conditioning evaporative cooler hanging out the window

Massive hydraulic pumps and speakers in trunk

Custom paint inside and outside

And under the hood

Most colorful and devilish

Our tentative travel plan for late March to the end of June or July has us heading to revisit some of the great Utah National Parks and the Arizona Grand Canyon.  We must return to Tucson in July, if not earlier, when the current house tenants plan to move out of the house and we then move in.  

I fly to New Jersey on February 22nd where I plan to get my 38 Dodge out of storage and prepare it for the trip back to Tucson.  That’s going to be quite an exciting ride taking a southerly route across the country.  Nothing quite like a cross country ride in an 80 year old car that's only been driven about 100 miles since 2012 ! The next blob post will describe that adventure in detail.

Watch out !

Twinkles and Slick

The Times They Are A- Changing

January 16 - 31, 2018:

A new Bob Dylan is needed in these sad days of political change, but I will not get into that conversation here.

Instead, I'm talking about our full time RV adventure that has been constantly evolving since the start in 2012, now going on six years ago.  In the beginning, the plan was to divest ourselves of the conventional house and its contents, buy a 5th wheel RV with a dually pickup to pull it and to roam the country free as a bird.  Next we realized that the large rig was kind of restrictive to really going everywhere and we downsized to a 30 foot Class C Motorhome and a Jeep.  This has been working out great, but after the second year of wintering for 3-4 months in Tucson I knew the free spirit full time RV adventure was ultimately doomed, Twinkles would eventually need a nest.

I also realize that a time will come when I will no longer be capable, physically, mentally or emotionally, to handle the rigors of this life on the road and will have to stop.  At that time it will be much more difficult to make the change back to a house.  I expected to avoid this situation for another year, especially after buying the Jeep, but Twinkles has been looking at house listings all year and this one fit most of our requirements, it was sort of too good to pass up on.  We looked at it and basically said, OK, we’ll take it. 

We will keep the RV and become sort of reverse snow birds taking off in the summer and fall. This year is going to be different, we will be RV’ing from April to July, then returning to Tucson to move in, after which I will return to New Jersey to get stuff being stored there, rent a truck and drive back to Tucson.  After settling into the house there could be additional RV road trips in early fall.        

 I go to the “Tap and Bottle” for Tom Walbank and Austin Count”s recent CD release.  I have seen Tom Walbank a number of times around town, he is a highly rated harmonica player but had never seen Austin Count before.  I am joined at the bar by an old guy who turns out to be quite entertaining giving me his thoughts on the changing roles of men and woman in the future world, specifically how women will become the dominant sex and men with good DNA attributes will be used mainly for breeding purposes.  I recently sent a sample out for DNA testing and am patiently waiting to see how I check out ? 

Kevin Pakulis’s Sunday Sessions event at Borderlands Brewery is becoming more popular and crowded every week.  It seems that the word has gotten out, it’s the coolest thing to do on a Sunday afternoon in Tucson.

Another Sunday Session at Borderlands

A Christmas present of mine “The Oregon Trail” by Rinker Buck turned out to be an excellent read.  I could identify with it somewhat (on a lower level) with our own RV travels of the last few years.  I also love traveling the old historic paths and thinking about the people who pioneered these routes.  He really trashed RV'ers in the book, in particular the large motor home types, it was kind of funny.  I especially liked how he told the story of westward expansion in a light that was not exactly the sugar coated heroic version learned in school.  This book is about much more than a wagon ride across the country, highly recommended.

Wednesday evenings at LaCocina with Kevin and Lana have become more like visiting old friends.  Every year one of their friends, Gabe Rozzell, comes to visit from California and sits in with them.  He is very Alt-Country or something like that with a deep country accented voice.  Nobody does a better rendition of Townes Van Zandt's “Pancho and Lefty” than Gabe.

Lana, Gabe and Kevin at LaCocina

On Friday evening I ventured to the St. Charles Tavern to hear a rather weird father daughter duo called the “Exbats”.  The description of the band clinched it, late 1970’s New York Bowery punk,  I had to see them.  I must confess, one of my biggest regrets is missing the whole punk music period.   The opening band, TWGS, had an interesting punk alternative sound that was very interesting. The Exbats were as weird as expected, (not in a bad way) with a musical style you don’t hear in the southwest, or anywhere, truly unique.  Dad is obviously an old hand on the guitar and the daughter has a unique standing up style of drumming with brushes and strong vocals.  Of course, a band like this draws a strange and fun crowd including the “Resist Fascism” volunteers who I totally support.  At the end of the concert, Kevin Mayfield and Gabe Rozzell show up after a show Gabe had performed earlier at “Exo Roasting”, another place I need to visit in the future.

Good to see the youth getting involved in more than texting

The big event this month is the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and we must go.  I don’t care so much about the beads and jewelry, but love the rocks, gemstones, dinosaurs and fossils.  Twinkles who used to have a bead selling business is considering getting back into it again next year.

   

Many fish fossils can be purchased

Or Indian brass goods

All sizes of stone lamps

Or polished rocks

All kinds of beads

Alaskan Mammouth tusks

Even a Tyrannosaurus Rex 

I've had a horrible cold or flu for the past two weeks, but still managed a couple of hikes behind the campground.

The fence line at Tucson Mountain Park

There are people here with too much spare time 

A dead Saguaro taking on a monumental appearance

I found an interesting historic park adjacent to the Julian Wash in Tucson that described the native indian cultures that inhabited and farmed this area.

The Julian Wash Cultural History Walk

A roadrunner crosses my path

Many healthy looking agaves

Exhibit on native Indian stoneware 

I am always on the lookout for a new mural in Tucson which is a treasure trove of street art and murals.

This is a talking mural that celebrates local businesses

You can scan the business into your phone for information

Local self serve car wash

A wild looking leopard mural 

There is a plan underway to return to New Jersey to retrieve the 38 Dodge from storage and bring it back to Tucson at the end of this month.  More will be revealed later ?

I want to plug a wonderful Tucson organization called "Ben's Bells".  Their mission is to educate communities about the known positive impacts of intentional kindness and to empower individuals to act according to that awareness.  Twinkles and a couple of friends went there and did some volunteer painting last week.  The world needs more of this kind of thinking these days !

https://bensbells.org

Give that some thought:
Twinkles and Slick