RV work and Tucson play

February 10-16, 2014:

We have 3 mirrors that are glued to wood cabinet doors in our bathroom that appear to be slowly sliding down.  I can't believe someone would purposely install a glass mirror like this, but then again it is RV engineering, or lack thereof.  The mirrors are 1/2 inch below the door top and 1/2 inch below the bottom door edge with no edge or corner protection, you have to open the door by pulling on the mirror edge.  It's crazy !  So, I took one door to a glass/mirror shop to see if they could remove the mirror and reposition it and possibly add some kind of lower edging piece.  Of course, they said they wouldn't be able to remove it without breaking it, so I gave them the go ahead to do it.  Then when I pick up the completed mirror, they said they were able to remove the mirror without breaking it so they only charged me for the reinstallation.  I then tried to remove the mirror from another one myself and was successful, although it was a hard, slow process and did the other two myself.  I  added a piece of wood trim to the door bottom to prevent the glass from sliding down and to act as a pull handle.   

Mirror before

Mirror after

It was our 15th anniversary on February 11th and we celebrated by going to La Fuente Restaurant.  The decor inside is really colorful and pleasant and the food was equally good.  There was a musician playing who did everything from traditional mexican mariachi, to Johnny Cash to Jimmy Buffet to Crosby Stills Nash. 

La Fuente interior mural

La Fuente musician

I spent much time during the week working on a additional slide out battery tray for the RV to house a second battery. I fabricated it out of angle iron pieces bolted together and a sliding tray that I purchased from Mor-Ryde.  This tray allows me to utilize two 6V Golf Cart batteries, saved from the 5th wheel, for increased battery capacity while boondocking. There have been way too many trips to Lowe's and Home Depot for parts on this project.    

Thursday night I returned to LaCocina to see blues player Stephan George perform for the dinner crowd. He is a great blues guitar player but the delta blues guitar style seems a bit out of place for the dinner crowd.  

We went to the Tucson Convention Center on Saturday for more incredible Gem and Mineral displays and vendors.  Twinkles said in the afternoon as she was admiring the gem specimens:  "The Bug is bitting me hard".  That's trouble !

Gem Show display

Russian Dolls

Gem Show specimens

More gems

This is prime time in Tucson, the Gem and Mineral Show is now ending and the Rodeo started last Saturday.  The Rodeo, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, goes on for a week and is another major event. It is one of the oldest, (89th year) and most prestigious rodeo's in the country.  An interesting fact is that approximately 2,000 cowboy hats are sold during the event.

Saturday night we were out with friends for dinner at the El Charro Cafe.  It was established in 1922 and they claim to be the nations oldest Mexican restaurant in continuous operation by the same family.  Gourmet Magazine called it "One of America's 21 most legendary restaurants.  It lived up to its reputation, the food was great ! 

It was 88 degrees on Saturday, a heat record for the date in Tucson, giving us a chance to test the AC.

At the library while Twinkles was updating and backing up the computer, the iPads and iPhones, I checked out the latest issue of "Hot Rod" magazine.  On the last page, I found a great essay (I use that term loosely) called "Road Trippin' ".  It really struck the basic "anti tech/old school nerve in me, I thought; This is the way I want to RV, how great would that be ?  So, I took a photo of it to share, to get the word out.  Am I inspired enough to return to New Jersey in June, get the 38 Dodge out of storage and drive it to Detroit for the Dodge Brothers Club annual meet and 100th anniversary of the Dodge Brothers ???

Keep an open mind,

Twinkles and Slick

Gems, minerals, beads and the Beatles

February 3 - 9, 2014:

Lots of very disgusted Colorado fans after the un-Super Bowl game.  I half watched half the game on Spanish TV, a different perspective, thought it might be better not understanding the play by play.  

Monday was back to the torture chamber, dentist that is to install my two permanent crowns.  Hopefully that is it for the year.  I now have two dentists in Arizona, one in New Jersey and one in California, that's enough.  Afterwards in the afternoon, I went to the Recreation Hall for the Monday jam session.  It is always interesting, the music tends to be old school country, there are old guys who still sound good along with novices who will never sound good.  There was even a blind guy with his seeing eye dog playing a banjo.  Then there was a young woman (under 50), very shy about getting on stage, who played the violin beautifully. 

I am getting serious now with my to do list on the RV, have to be ready for the road on March 1st.  The rear bumper is at a weld shop for repair, I have a new battery tray on order, I have various pipe clamps to improve and several other minor (to boring to mention) issues to address. We also need to get a bike rack and GPS units.

That didn't stop me from going out Wednesday evening back to LaCocina to see Lana Rebel and Kevin Mayfield.  I'm really liking their vibe and their strange mix of songs.  LaCocina has a great outside patio for dining, (with heaters), a small pub area with many local Tucson beers on tap and is surrounded by a interesting complex of artistic shops.  

Or stop me from going on the campground group hike on Thursday on the Blackett's Ridge Trail at Sabino Canyon, a very strenuous 6+ mile roundtrip rocky uphill hike.  It was a killer hike, I was sweaty, soaking wet by trails end where we took a lunch break.  It was over 4,000 feet elevation at trails end with great views, but it was a cold, cloudy day so we didn't linger up there for long.

Hiking group

View from the trail

View from the top

Friday was another Tucson Gem and Mineral Show at the Kino Sports Complex area. There can't be any gems or minerals still left in the ground ?  Latter in the evening our friends Karen and Gary invited us to go to the Nimbus Brewery for dinner.  I had been wanting to go there and it is an interesting place with great beer.  They had a $5 cover charge and a live rock band that started to play at 6:30 which seemed weird to me for the dinner crowd.  

All kinds of exotic gems

Huge fossils

Lots of jewelry 

Saturday was a big family day with my sister Marie, brother-in-law John, niece Cindy and great niece Tatum coming to visit us from Phoenix to go to the gem and mineral show.  We went to several show sites and are now kind of suffering from gem and mineral show burnout. 

Huge Geodes

Beautiful !

Photos of Gem Stones

Twinkles with my sister, niece and great niece

Twinkles and Tatum

Sure would look good in the RV ?

These would fit better

Beautiful Mexican Pottery

The weather is definitely getting warmer now, the daily highs are climbing into the 70's with 80's (near record) forecast for next week.  That's HOT !!!  I'm getting back into the shorts frame of mind again.

It's Sunday night and I'm watching the The Beatles Grammy Salute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.  I actually remember watching the original show although I cared about as much about the Beatles then as I do about Justin Bieber now.  They did eventually grow on me as time went on.  Hard to imagine I'm watching another Beatles spectacular 50 years latter in Tucson, Arizona.  

JoJo left his home in Tucson, Arizona……………..

Get Back !!

Twinkles and Slick

Gems, minerals, a wedding and the rodeo

January 27- February 2, 2014:

We received disturbing news from my daughter Jessica in Florida about my granddaughter Mallory who had to have emergency appendix removal surgery on Saturday evening.  The surgery went well but the appendix was somewhat ruptured and she will be in the hospital for a while dealing with the infection.  It seems to me that the doctor who did the original diagnosis on her illness totally missed the call.  Jessica eventually took Mallory to an Urgent Care facility, who would not do anything, then to the hospital ER where they sat for hours to see a doctor which resulted in immediate emergency surgery.  A real horror story, but by weeks end she is recovering. 

I checked out the RV roof seam sealing this week, that's always a thrill.  The RV dealer had cleaned and recaulked all the roof seams and it appears good, but I kind of wonder what lies under all that new caulk.  I moped it again and applied another coat of roof UV protective coating, just to feel better.  I then removed the spare tire and mounting bracket, next to remove the bumper and get it rewelded.  It seems that most of the heavy electrical stuff like the Convertor, Invertor, transfer switch and electrical circuit panel wiring is installed under the bed in this RV.  It makes me a little nervous sleeping over all that stuff.  I want to take a look, see if all the connections are tight and if there is a surge protection devise.  I don't expect to find one, so that could become another potential project. 

I went downtown to "LaCocina" on Wednesday night for a couple of hours to see Lana Rebel and Kevin Mayfield who are sort of like modern day hippies, who play a fun interesting mix of tunes and have a music shop in the "Old Town Artisans" complex where LaCocina is located.

Lana Rebel and Kevin Mayfield

I played wedding photographer on Friday afternoon for a new campground couple, Gary and Karen, a bit out of my comfort zone.  We have been friends of Gary and Karen since coming to Desert Trail last winter.  It's a little scary having the potential to screw up someones memories of the big day, but it went pretty well.  It was a nice service attended by many from the campground.  

Karen and Gary

Mt. Zion Lutheran Church has an inspiring  mountain view

The great sunset on Friday evening couldn't be missed.

Could not resist the great cloud formation

Or the sun beams

Or the blazing sunset

Friday evening was another really excellent concert at the campground with a long time singer songwriter originally from Texas, Steve Spurgin.  He was the total package, good guitar player, good voice, funny, good stories and great songwriting.  

Saturday morning I was awakened by the sound of raindrops on the roof, something we haven't heard in a month now.  It didn't amount to much, just enough to wet the ground.  Good news was that we didn't see any water leaks in the RV roof.  

The Tucson Gem and Mineral Show is now underway, it goes on for two weeks and is one of the largest shows in the country.  We had gone to this many years ago when Twinkles was in the bead world.  It's a must see attraction in Tucson.  The quantity of exotic rocks, gems, minerals, fossils, petrified wood and dinosaur bones is pretty amazing. 

They even have fozzilized Turtle turds

Those are big feet !

Twinkles is checking out this gem stone for size

Have a hankering for some shark teeth ?

Our TV reception here is poor that when I do watch TV, the choices are very limited.  One channel that somehow comes in strong is "Me-TV" which shows old classic reruns and "B" movies that sometimes are actually a relief from todays crappy sitcom and reality shows.  Saturday night after an exciting "Star Trek episode I watched the "Tarantula" about a mad science experiment gone wrong where a tarantula grew to 100 times normal size and was going around killing animals and people.  This movie took place in Arizona making me think back to a few months ago when we were seeing real Tarantulas.

Sunday was a ride to Sells, Arizona to the Tohono o'odham Indian Rodeo.  Sells is in the middle of the Indian reservation and all the rodeo participants are required to be native Americans.  It was a three day event with the final round of competition on Sunday to determine the winners.  The spectators were at least 90% indian, I really felt like a minority. It was the usual rodeo announcer and clown, they all sound the same, with an excess of corny jokes and antics.  I naturally love any rodeo, but this was extra good due to the natural setting, the closeness to the action and especially because it was all Indian.  They also had a Pow Wow going on, a fair midway filled with rides and lots of authentic Indian and Mexican food vendors.  

The grandstands

Bucking Bronco

Cowgirl barrel racing

One bad ass Bull ride

The midway

The Indian Pow-Wow

A rare photo of me with one of my pals.

My old prospector pose

Having fun in the Sun, 

Twinkles and Slick

Dentist, Dillinger and Hot Tuna

January 26, 2014:

Checking out the Onan Generator, the oil and air filter were changed by the RV dealer, the spark plug looks decent, only 46 hours run time on it is not much.  I start it up, all seems OK until about a 1/2 hour, then it starts sputtering and dies.  Good thing there is a month warranty period, we are going to exercise everything on this RV very well.  Also I take a good look underneath the RV, there are some loose wires and loose pipe clamps clamps, but looks relatively good.  I'm thinking about getting rid of the spare tire, adding a bike rack to the bumper, possibly insulating the drain tanks and piping and adding another battery.  I need to make this rig "boondock ready" to give the bank account a break.

We have the interior almost livable now, most people use the front area over the truck cab for storage, but I am trying to minimize that.  I visualize that area as my "Man Cave" when I need a temporary reprieve from Twinkles.

Tuesday morning and I'm off to a local dentist for an 8 AM appointment, what was I thinking agreeing to an 8 AM appointment, there is no reason to hurry any more ?  This dentist was in a hurry though, (to make money) they cleaned my teeth, replace two old fillings, removed an old crown that had issues and put a temporary crown on and then added a temporary crown to a chipped front tooth.  I need to return for the permanent crowns and then hopefully I'll done for a while.  I have had an overdose of dental treatment this past year.

A great concert at the campground on Tuesday evening with a local legendary blues slide guitar player, Stefan George, accompanied by another Arizona Hall of Fame bass player, Steve Grams.   I had seen them previously a couple of times downtown and knew it would be special. It's a big blues week for me as on Saturday I have tickets to see "Hot Tuna" play at the Rialto Theater.  Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy of Jefferson Airplane fame started Hot Tuna as an outlet for their love of the blues in the 1969.  They have continued the band all these years and are still going strong.  Jorma has a great blog, what a fantastic life this guy leads and the blog is required motivational reading.  

The Jeep has several "character" dings in it's finish which we are OK with. Twinkles rationalizes that because of this, we don't have to worry about it, like we would if it was a new Jeep.  I just say it's a "Jeep" it's supposed to have some battle scars.  Today, a passing car kicked up a stone which hit the windshield and put a crack in it.  That's the kind of battle scar I could live without ! 

This RV craziness is really interfering with my hiking and photography playtime.  I have missed the last two group campground hikes, so on Thursday it felt good to get out away from the RV issues for a while on a good hike. 

Happy Hikers

Petroglyphs along the trail

A craft show at the campground on Friday morning with Twinkles trying to sell some craft supplies to lighten our load.  The bad news is that I'm expected to get rid of an equal amount.  Downsizing is hard work !  People keep coming up to us asking about our new RV, but when we tell them we got a smaller one, we often get a strange puzzled reaction like, Oh, why did you do that ?  

The big event on Saturday in Tucson was "Dillinger Days", to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the capture of public enemy # 1, gangster John Dillinger, and his gang in Tucson in the 1934.  They had a reenactment of the fire at the Hotel Congress which lead to their capture, with smoke, ladders and even the original fire truck.  Also a play by play account of how the capture happened and a shootout between the gang and the cops. 

Dillinger Days

Old classic limo on display

Interesting back seat passenger

Restored fire truck that was the one used to rescue Dillinger
gang members from the fire at Hotel Congress.  It is a
American LaFrance built in Elmira, NY

Reenactment of the Hotel fire

Wanted poster

  

Saturday nights big event was the "Hot Tuna" and "Leon Russell" concert at the Rialto Theater.  It was acoustic Hot Tuna which to me doesn't create enough noise and excitement for the usual concert crowd. Jorma's intricate finger picking guitar to ancient blues songs is lost to most of the concert crowd.  They were however in good form and sounded great as ever.  Leon Russell's honky tonk piano and full electric band playing a blend of originals and covers was more to the crowds taste.  

Sunday I visited the Tucson Transportation museum and wandered around the warehouse district, which is fast becoming an arts district.  Also a lunch stop at Barrio Brewing, housed in an old rustic tin building, very cool from the outside, kind of dumpy inside, but the food was good.   

Tile mural depicting Pasqua Yaqui tribe warrior

Local church in Tucson

Tile mural on South Tucson street corner

Mural in Tucson warehouse district

   

Interesting days indeed,

Twinkles and Slick