"No Guns Allowed"

Tucson AZ.

Tucson was on my radar for this trip from the time I started thinking about the possibility of a world tour. Tuscon is the home of the Armed Forces AMARG base. AMARG is the '309th Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Group'. More commonly known as the Airplane Graveyard. (They hate that term). The plan was to spend one whole day here and the other day visiting whatever other sights might be in Tucson. (I mean, how many can there be)?
We came in on a Thursday so we had Friday and Saturday for touring before leaving on Sunday. Standard Operating Procedure is I set up the trip, so once we get somewhere, I let G'ma suggest the itinerary for the town we are in. Kym's husband Chuck said if you're going to Tucson, you gotta stop and see Tombstone! I looked at the map and sure enough, Tombstone is less than 50 miles away! (On a 15,000 mile road trip, 50 miles is nothing). So, the plan was set for Tombstone on Friday, and AMARG on Saturday. (Easy Peazy).
Tombstone AZ is a small town who's whole existence depends on it's history. And they do a damn fine job of it. While many may think it is 'campy' or 'corny', we thought they pulled it off great. Main Street is full of expensive gift shops and the such. Stage Coaches will take you for tours of the four block Main Street. All the residents dress is period correct clothes and carry .45 revolvers in their holsters. For us, it was a great time. 
When we first pulled into town, we went to the Boothill Graveyard. It is the original place, in it's original location. It was something to see. Of course, it had a gift shop. Luckily I was able to contain myself and only got a couple small things.
We then went and found a small diner for lunch and a place to park the truck.
The diner was called the '1881 Restaurant. OK Cafe'. It was very cool. Very busy, and good food. Even had me a sarsaparilla. 
We took in a couple of the gift shops, took a ton of pictures and headed back out.
On the way out, we stopped by Wyatt Earp's house and said 'Hi'; to his statue of course.

Been Here

Imagine how nasty this guy was that the only thing growing here is a thorn bush

Madam, Your Limo Awaits

Yes. For those of you who cannot grow a mustache.....they'll sell you one.

Hello, Wyatt

Saguaro National Park

On the way to Tombstone, we saw a road sign for this park on the freeway. Since this trip is designed to hit as many National Parks as we can, we planned to hit this park on the way back to the campground. 
Saguaro N.P. is a 'drive thru' park built to allow you be in the center of some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. It was another eight mile dirt trail, but the ride was worth it.
We have found that some of the best things we see are 'spur of the moment', or 'unplanned events'. This was one of them. Now, every time we see a 'National Park' or a National Monument' sign, we try to check it out. (I say try, because we saw a sign for "Hoverbeen National Monument" and made a u-turn to go check it out. It was 85 miles away. Never mind)! 

Pima Air and Space Museum

Friday night at the trailer we researched this museum so we could see both the museum and the graveyard. It was not going to be an 'inexpensive' day, but it was in the budget to do these things. 
When we got to the ticket counter, there was a big sign there mentioning the fact that there were no tours of AMARG on Saturdays or Sundays since the graveyard is in an active Air National Guard base. My disappointment was palpable. There was no mention of this fact in any literature or web page we checked. So we decided to do the museum and a 'tram tour' of the museum grounds.
If you are a 'gear head', this is a MUST SEE museum. Second only to the Smithsonian, this place has the largest collection of aircraft in the world. 
This is a privately funded, non-profit museum started by some citizens, and former pilots visiting AMARG, that were not happy these planes were just being cut up by the government. It has six hangers with planes on the floor and hanging from the ceilings. It has thousands of acres of planes in various states of repair and/or restoration. It has it's own restoration building. I have seen a lot of different planes fly over our house on their way to Selfridge, but I have never seen a B-52. 
Unlike the Air-Zoo in Kalamazoo, you can actually touch the SR-71 sitting inside of Hanger 1, (and I did). 
We were thankful for the Tram ride since after walking five of the six hangers, we were pretty well done for the day. The tram took us around a route that highlighted several key aircraft in the collection. This collection even has one of the aircraft used as an early Air Force One from the Johnson administration.
While I was disappointed not to take the bus tour of AMARG, we could see some of it from the road. It's friggin' huge. 
Bucket List item 252 checked off. 

Yep. I touched that SR-71. And nobody yelled at me

For Sarah. Your Warthog awaits. With the Big Ass gun

Empty (mostly) shells from the A-10

The "Top Gun" plane

One of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. No sign of George Thorogood.

B-52. Not from Athens GA

One Big Ass Copter

   

Phoenix AZ

I had only one item on my list for Phoenix: Phoenix International Raceway and it's infamous 'Rattlesnake Hill". As it turns out, PIR is not open to visitors at any time except race weekends. We did see it on the side of the freeway before we got to the city, and I considered that a fulfillment of the bucket list item.
In one of my very few, (HA!!), miscues, the park I picked for this leg actually turned out to be a Senior Living Community that had a dozen or so spaces for 'transients'. And to top that off, all of those spots were 'back ins'. Now, I can back this rig up if I have to, but I prefer a pull thru since I can be crotchety, now that I am old.
While sitting in the parking lot on the Senior Center, we pulled out the trusty computer and looked for another place to spend a couple of nights. We found a small park in Rock Springs AZ, just about 40 miles north of the city of Phoenix. It turned out to be a blessing as the park was beautiful, and we found a restaurant named, strangely enough, The Rock Springs Cafe. 
The Rock Springs Cafe is home to the Rock Springs Pie company. Never heard of it? Neither did we. We got into Rock Springs on Sunday night, and Monday was a 'work day'. We went to the Rock Springs Cafe for dinner. What a great place. Built in 1912 and in business ever since. The benches were rough cut timber worn smooth by years of use. The bar was something out of an old time western. Pictures on the wall of celebrities that stopped in, like Jean Harlow. Dinner was delicious and reasonably priced. But the highlight of the visit was watched people pull in off the freeway and pick up pies. And more pies. And then again, some more pies. Apparently, Rock Springs Pie Company sells two to three THOUSAND pies a week out of this one location. Just during dinner, we must have seen thirty (30) pies fly out the door. AND, these pies ain't cheap. We did get two pieces to take back to the trailer. They were good.
The place was so cool, we went back to it for breakfast the next morning after we hooked up the home to head to Sedona. 
Definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far.  

Next post will be about Sedona and the surrounding area.

Till next time; Bump