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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Tucson. Busy.

We are staying at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson.  We like the campground and the price is right ($15/night).
We intend to be here for a couple of months (end of April ish).

Spring baseball is nearby so we drove up to Mesa (outside of Phoenix about 110 miles from Tucson) and caught the Cubs and Texas Rangers game.
It was a fun afternoon.  We got to see some players we recognized and the vendors are always entertaining.  The guy at the bottom right corner above (Mike), has his own baseball card showing what MLB games he has been to for opening day...what a hoot.

Outside near the concessions, some of the former greats were signing autographs and chatting with folks.
It was cool to meet some of the greats:  George Foster, Bert Campenaris, Gaylord Perry, Rollie Fingers and Ferguson Jenkins.  That was pretty cool.

Last week we also were able to catch the Arizona Diamondbacks playing the Chicago White Sox here in Tucson.
The teams came down to Tucson for a game with proceeds going toward the victims of the Tucson shooting a few weeks ago.  They had 8,000 plus attending so it was a great crowd.

You might think all we have been doing is playing baseball.  Nope.  We got in some golf with the regular Wednesday morning RV group here on base.
George and Sharon are from Michigan and head south for the winter.  We hit it off pretty well and had a very good time with them.  I had a good day with a 77 which is a lot lower than usual.  Hopefully we can play a few more times.  We are enjoying the 80 degree weather a lot.  I took a shot of a furry friend when we had a stray shot go over to where he was...

Then last week we volunteered at the local Tucson Habitat.  A construction site is about 15 minutes from the base and we arrived to start work promptly at 7:00 AM.
Before we got started a new homeowner who was there wanted say a few words and thank everyone for giving their time.  We were with a group of 25 from Chicago Loyola University who gave up their spring break to come to Tucson to work here.
There must have been 45 or 50 people working on site.  There are eight homes in a row being built.  Tucson Habitat definitely has it going.  There must have been 10 work crews doing things.  We worked on the outside of a house with the mesh (chicken wire). It goes up on the styrofoam siding.  Then the stucco plaster is applied.

We met some nice people and talked with the volunteer coordinator and site supervisor and the construction supervisor.  We definitely will be back and are thinking about a Tues/Thurs work schedule. We will see.

Since we have been in Tucson we have gotten to see some old friends.  In some ways we feel like old-timers since the ones we have seen are RV friends.  We had dinner with Art and Gerri a few days after we arrived.  We met them for the first time while in Quartzsite at the Tiffin Rally. Then Marti and Bill came over and we got caught up.  We cooked steaks on the grill and had a great time.  We first met them in Santa Fe when we all volunteered with Habitat de Santa Fe as Care-A-Vanners.  Then we saw them last year while we were here.

A couple of nights ago we had dinner with Judy who winters here in Tucson.  We first met her in Pontiac, IL while we were on our first NOMADS project together.  Last night we were taking a walk around the campground and saw Jerry and Jenny.  We met them here at Agave Gulch last year and also ran into them at Deming at the Escapees Park.

In a few minutes we are driving up to Phoenix to see Bub and Winnie ~ old friends from Albuquerque from years ago.  Hopefully we will be able to get some tickets to see the Dodgers vs the Giants.

Suffice it to say we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves here in Tucson.  Hope you are doing well where you are too.  Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

10 comments:

  1. We are headed toward Tucson and will look into the base camp there. Looks fairly full, but we did hear there is an overflow area where we can stay if it is too full. We plan to spend two nights in Tucson before going east to try the Fort Huachuca camp. Mo was stationed there when she was in the reserves for 3 months of training. Nice to see you two adding your skills to the Tucson Habitat projects!

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  2. We have never stayed at that air base. We will have to get there next time in the area.

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  3. I just got near on all plum tuckered out a readin' yer blog, what with ya a doin' so many things.

    At the rate you is a goin', yer really soon gonna be a lookin' like old, oldtimers. At which point yo'ull have to rename this here blog, and call it the Roadcrawler Chronicles, that being the highest speed you old folks can get around.

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  4. Sounds like you are having fun and keeping busy. How wonderful that you are to meet up with so many people with whom you've crossed paths before. It really is a small community!

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  5. I am a bit jealous of you and the baseball games! Looks like a great time! Been a while since I have been to one! Very cool about running into old friends/travelers!

    -Mike
    97 Roadtrek 170P "Taj Ma Trek"
    HTTP://WWW.VanTramps.Com

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  6. sure sounds like you have been very busy!..not much time to stop and 'smell the roses'..but at least you are having a great time!!!

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  7. I sure wouldn't mind seeing a few of those ballgames. Great to see you volunteering at Habitat too, wow, you and Pam are always busy!

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  8. Do you have to be retired Air Force to stay at the AFB there?? We were South of Tucson last Spring at Amado...We went to Pima Air Museum..what a great place!!! Sure wish we were there right now!GO CUBS!

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  9. We've been in AZ over two months now. We are really getting anxious to move on. Spent three weeks in Tucson. We did enjoy it.

    Loved both the Saguaro Parks. Quite sure you will too.

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  10. Great adventure! Thank you for sharing it with the world.

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