Tucson — Part 1
It rained off and on during the night with the rain-drops making soothing sounds on the roof. I always like to listen to the rain as long as it is gentle. Because I was less than 60 miles from my destination I was able to take my time getting up and around. I had left my computer set up the night before so I checked my email after having breakfast.

When it was time to get on the road I had to drive slowly out of the campground because the rain during the night left a lot of puddles. The roads inside the campground as well as the road out of the campground was dirt. By driving slowly I was hoping to minimize the amount of muddy water splashed up on my motorhome and car. I would learn later that my car really had been covered with dirty water and it dried coating most of my car.

It was good to see the Tucson skyline

Because I had stopped, the night before, a relatively short distance from my destination, it didn't take very long before the skyline of Tucson appear. At the last minute, I decided to take up an RV club friend's offer to park my motorhome next to her house. With that in mind I called Martie to have her "talk me in" to her place. Once it was established as to which direction I was traveling, Martie's instructions brought me right to the front of her house.

My car is covered with dried Arizona mud

It was very nice to be warm

With my motorhome and car blocking Martie's driveway I unhooked my car leaving it parked in place in the road in front of Martie's house. That gave me the room I needed to maneuver my motorhome into the parking place next to Martie's house. Before I tried parking my motorhome the neighbors across the street from Martie came out to talk to us. They were very nice to offer to let me park in their driveway if I wasn't able to get next to Martie's house.

I'm glad I've had experience parking in tight places because this was the tightest parking space for me. The gate opening gave me 4 inches on each side of my motorhome. The side mirrors stuck out beyond the opening. However, the mirrors cleared the top of the gate by 3/4 of an inch. Once in place I connected the power cable to the 50 amp outlet on the back corner of the house.

I enjoyed the sound of this water feature

This was looking very good indeed. Martie gave me a tour of her house and I think it is a very nice place. In the back yard is a water feature that I really like; the sound it makes is soothing. Another thing I liked when I saw it was a big dial thermometer. The best part was that it was reading 70 degrees; which was nice after leaving snow behind in Colorado. Martie told me that I should tell our friends in the RV club that Martie's RV parking place next to her house is available to members of the RV club. I would be sleeping in my motorhome and using the facilities in the house for meals and showers. My motorhome was now parked in Martie's Haven.

My campsite at Martie's Haven

The layout of Martie's Haven

Next I went out to get my car running. I replaced a fuse, that had to be removed before towing,and found that the car would not start. At first it acted as if the battery was dead. However, there were some things that were working which told me that the battery was okay. I tested the fuse and found that it was blown. I had to get my car out of the way, so I gave it a little push and let my car coast down to where I could park it next to the curb. As it turned out, I didn't have a replacement fuse which meant that the first task at hand was to go find a place to buy a fuse.

Martie drove to a place where I could buy a fuse for my car. Since it was lunch time, we found a place to eat nearby. Martie had heard of a new place that had opened recently. It is a Mexican restaurant called Nana's Kitchen. We placed our order which was brought to us in a timely fashion. I ordered a chicken burrito that was delicious. While we were eating a woman came over to ask how we liked our food. We told her that it was very good. Where upon she introduced herself, it was Nana herself. We had a nice chat and learned that this eatery is a family operation.

Martie and Nana of Nana's Kitchen — a nice place to eat

I asked to get a photo of Nana and she complied by getting next to Martie for the picture. I can recommend Nana's Kitchen and I will eat there again when I return to Tucson. After lunch we returned to Martie's Haven to see if I could get my car started.

With the new fuse installed my car started easily, so I pulled it up into the area directly in front of the gate where my motorhome was located. Now it was time to get ready for the arrival of friends from our RV club.

The Tucson Chapter of the Venture Outers RV Club had all gotten together, the night before I arrived, to have dinner at Tina's and Kevin's place. Now Martie was going to have dinner for everyone at her house. I was looking forward to the gathering of RV club friends; several of them I hadn't seen for some time. I really enjoy these get-togethers. It was nice to get a lot of "Hello hugs" from the women in our group. The dinner that Martie prepared was very good.

After dinner a lot of time was spent visiting and catching up on what we had all done since we last saw each other. Those present other than Martie and me were Tina and Kevin; Cathie and her geocaching friend Helen along with Cathie's parents Ray and Marian. I always enjoy seeing Ray and his bride.

After a while people began leaving and the party was over. I was very glad that I made the last minute decision to stay at Martie's Haven. I had a very short walk home to my RV. This ended a very full and fun day.

On my first full day in Tucson I didn't have to be anywhere so I took my time getting up and around. I went into the house to have breakfast with Martie and to talk about what we might do during this day. This was similar to RV campgrounds where I sleep in my motorhome and I would eat in the campground club house. However, this club house was set up much nicer than any club house I've used before.

It didn't take long for me to get my computer setup to use the wi-fi network at Martie's place. First I set my computer in the house, then I tried to connect from my motorhome and found that the signal was excellent for me to go online from my RV. This would allow me to leave my computer set up until it came time for me to get on the road again. This all took me up to lunchtime.

When I finished getting my computer setup, Martie wanted to show me a place where she wanted to have lunch. Because I was not familiar with the area, I asked Martie to drive my car. First we went to a place where I could get the layer of dry mud removed so my car would shine again. From the carwash we went to the Metropolitan Grill for lunch. This place turned out to have an elegant ambiance and still had reasonable prices. Just inside the entrance is a water feature that I liked. There is a wall covered with flat stonework and a sheet of water flows down the rock surface. I will return to this place during a future visit Tucson.

A very nice place to eat

With lunch over, Martie suggested that we go to the Saguaro National Park. Again I asked Martie to drive us there. This worked out very nicely because it left me free to take pictures as we traversed the park. The park has more saguaro cacti than I've ever seen in one spot. The thing that amazed me is the fact that a saguaro doesn't sprout a branch until it is approximately 70 years old. There were a lot of old-timers out there.

A touristy picture to show that my car was there

Martie drove all the way across this part of the park and she showed me one of the houses that she considered buying when she bought the house she now lives in during the winter. We stopped at several places so I could get out to take photos of the saguaro. In some cases it looked as if there was a group of alien life forms marching down the hill.

Hordes of saguaro marching down a hillside

After leaving the park Martie drove home where we would meet some of her neighbors. We walked down the hill where I was introduced to Barbara and Shane. We had a nice time visiting with them. Shane gave me a tour of their house which is decorated very much like a hunting lodge. Shane is a hunter and Barbara does beautiful leather work. It was a pleasure meeting both of them.

When we returned to the house Martie and I visited for awhile discussing the events of the day. I then retired to my motorhome where I stayed up for awhile taking care of email issues and updating my trip notes. It was very nice to have internet access right in my motorhome.

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