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| Trailhead for Romero Pools hike |
Time flies in the desert. Here we are on the cusp of March
and two months of our winter getaway behind us. This has been one of the
warmest Februarys in recorded weather history for Tucson and many days were in
the 80s. Other than the two rain days we have been clear and sunny every day.
When last we visited we had a quiet Sunday in the resort and
for the most part the last week has been fairly slow, as slow as things get
here in Senior Winter Camp.
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| Our small hiking group ready to head out |
On Monday, Joan went to her aquacise class and I went to the
fitness center to get in a few miles on the treadmill. It sometimes seems silly
to be walking in place at 4 mph when I could be outside enjoying the beauty of
the desert, but when I am outside I sometimes take my time and don’t get a good
workout. I have a great time sightseeing, but not so much exercising outdoors.
Through a quirk of the day’s activities, we went out to mail
our tax information and get new passport photos taken, Joan missed the annual
quilt show in the ballroom which she really enjoys. So that was a
disappointment. Later in the day, we
invited our Michigan friends, Jerry and Marcia (who are working with us on the
Michigan Party) to go to Meet Me At Maynard’s.
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| Marcia, Joan, me and Jerry at MMM |
We all had a great time and they are now fans of the weekly
event. In addition, we finally made reservations to eat at El Charro’s in
downtown Tucson and the four of us enjoyed a great meal. El Charro’s is one of
the oldest restaurants in Tucson and in addition to the good food there is
great atmosphere in an old building.
Also on Monday at Meet Me at Maynard’s Joan and I qualified
to receive our free hats for attending 15 times. Because we are only here
during the winter it has taken us three seasons to finally get our hats. If you
remember, we received our free t-shirts last season which signified 8 times at
the weekly event.
Next up after the hats is a 50-time pin and then a 100-event
t-shirt. Judging by how long it has taken us to get to the hats, I will be dead
before I get to another t-shirt. The pin is in range though.
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| Joan and I cheering to get our MMM hats |
Monday brought the funniest moment of the week, at least for
me. We ended up going to Walmart to have our passport photos taken. The
photographer told us we could smile, but not show our teeth. Something to do
with mangling your cheekbones and the State Department doesn’t like mangled
cheekbones. So I took my photo first but when Joan was sitting for her photo I
stood behind the photographer making money faces at Joan.
As you can imagine she had difficulty keeping a straight
face and finally told the photographer: “Tell him to stop making faces.” The
photographer turned around and I just acted normal and pretended I didn’t know
what Joan was talking about. After one more “monkey” episode I knocked it off
so we could finish our business (monkey business?).
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| We "earned" our MMM hats |
On Tuesday I was up early and off on a beautiful hike to
Romero Pools in Catalina State Park in north Tucson. The hike is arduous, but
with all the high altitude snow, the payoff at the end was worth it. Lots of
water running down Romero Canyon and some beautiful waterfalls to boot. The
temperatures warmed up significantly in the afternoon so coming down off the
mountain was pretty taxing.
Joan spent the day as she likes to do cleaning up the
trailer and then making a dessert for the Tuesday night pot luck. Spent some
time talking to my friend Hap (another Michigan friend) after dinner trying to
encourage him about his recent memory issues which were brought on by a
concussion he received last summer when he fell off his roof in Michigan.
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| A break on the trail |
On Wednesday, I went to the fitness center early, but Joan
wimped out on her pool class because the morning temperatures were cool and the
wind was whipping a gale. Instead she stayed home and then headed over to
Market Days with me.
Our spirits were somewhat dashed when due to the windy
conditions a number of usual merchants did not show up for the outdoor market.
We were most disappointed that the man who sells great bags of oranges for $4
took the day off. We are now running dangerously low on fine citrus and are
relying on our alternate orange supplier – Walmart.
We had tickets to the Wednesday night comedian in the
ballroom. His show “The Spouse Whisperer” was very funny and we had a lot of
laughs.
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| Lunch at Romero Pools |
Thursday morning brought on my Men’s Bible study in the
morning and then the afternoon lecture by a University of Arizona political
science professor on “The 2016 Political Landscape.” Making sense of the
current political clown show was about as possible as the earlier lecture on
making sense of what is happening in the Middle East.
But the talk and question and answer period following were
very interesting anyway.
Thursday night I attended the latest “Experiencing God”
study and as it turned out will be leading that discussion and study this
coming Thursday. Lots of work to do on that. Joan stayed home and watched her
favorite TV show – Grey’s Anatomy.
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| More of Romero Pools |
Joan was up and at it early with her Friday morning Women’s
Bible Study and we spent the rest of the day getting our stuff together for the
Michigan Party which is Monday, Feb. 29. (You’ll have to read about that next
week.)
Our dinners this week were pretty much salads, Taco salad
one night, Shrimp Louie another night, then bacon, lettuce and tomato
sandwiches another and we had breakfast for dinner one night, which is one of
my favorite dinners.
I got up early Saturday so I could promote for the last time
our Michigan party at the massive coffee and doughnuts presentation in the
ballroom at 8 a.m. Each week the coffee and doughnuts has a different sponsor
and this week it was one of the local RV dealers who brought along four rigs
for us to walk through. We look at the
rigs, but we’re pretty satisfied with our current arrangement, which is long
paid for.
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| Heading down the trail |
On Saturday afternoon Joan and I moved outside to soak up
some sunshine and I began the long process of calling 300 potential blood
donors for my next Michigan blood drive which occurs on Tuesday, March 8. A
friend of mine is babysitting the drive for me while I am here, but I did all
the work setting it up and making the reminder calls. My favorite call this
time was I reached a man who is wintering in Florida, so he can’t make the
drive and when I told him I was calling him from Tucson, we both got a good
laugh out of that.
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| A trail vista |
Entertainment for the evening was performed by a group
called Goldwing Express, a father and three sons, who play bluegrass, country
AND western, as well as gospel music. They were very funny and very talented
musicians and singers. At the end of the concert they called up each veteran by
branch of service and it was truly amazing how many men (and some women) have
served here at Voyager.
They, of course, called up the Army first, even though
everyone knows that America’s Navy was the first real military organization in
the country.
Because the rodeo is in town, the whole week is considered
“Western Heritage” time here in Tucson and on church everyone was dressed out
in their best cowboy garb for services on Sunday. I don’t have much in the way
of western garb, so I just used it as an excuse to wear jeans and tennis shoes
to church this week.
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| C-130s in the boneyard |
After church we came home and watched a nationally televised
hockey game and then I finished what I started on Saturday and called the rest
of my blood drive phone list. On Sunday night we ate out at Weinerschnitzel and
then caught a cheap movie at the bargain theater. We saw “Bridge of Spies.”
This movie had some very special meaning to me as my
stepfather worked for Lockheed Aircraft Corp. in Burbank at the time that
Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union in the Lockheed built
U-2. I remember at one point during the crisis that my stepfather mentioned
that the pilot of those planes were not supposed to survive any shootdowns.
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| An aerial view of the boneyard |
My father would enjoy the U-2 flying scenes, as short as
they are in the movie, but the history of a previously untold story would also
be of interest to anyone with even a passing interest of the history of that
era.
Monday promises to be a busy day with our responsibilities
for hosting the “Michigan Party” here at the Voyager. Too bad for you, because
you will have to wait for the next post to read all about it.
Just a quick note for my Dad. Every time I pass the boneyard
on Kolb Road I think of you. But mostly I wish the thousands of military
aircraft sitting in the desert could talk. I’d love to know where they had
flown and what exotic missions they had performed. It’s a little sad to see
them covered and forlorn sitting in the desert like forgotten heirlooms.
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