Deming, NM - Tucson, AZ
4/24/24 - 4/27/24
Miles Traveled 226
Trip Total 2487
Travel Time 3:48
States visited: FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TX, NM, Arizona
We left Deming for a quick and somewhat easy drive to Tucson Arizona. The roads were good for the most part but we did have a few hills. Overall the RV handled the hills very well, only slowing down to 30MPH a couple of times. Our destination in Tucson was Prince Of Tucson RV Park. It is located directly off of I10 on the outskirts of town. It looked like I10 was farther from the park until they widen I10, now the only thing between the RV park and I10 is the sound barrier wall. Over all it was a good park with large spots. About 3/4 of the park is full time residents.
When the hills are steep the only thing we can do is stay in the right lane put the hazard flashers on, and keep chugging up the hill. During our last fuel fill up, we did add high test fuel which I think helped a lot. Not only did it feel like it had more power, but the gas milage went up about 10%. Going up the hills have never really concerned me, I knew we would make it up the hill sooner or later, going down is a whole different challenge.26,000LBS is a lot of vehicle to slow down. So far we have not had a problem. The hills between Deming to Tucson were just a warm up we have even steeper hills in the days ahead.
The views while driving have been incredible, each area we go through is a little be different. Each desert area is very different from the next, with the one thing they all have in common is DUST and no humidity. In New Jersey the average humidity is 76%, in Tucson it is 25%. While we were there it was 10%, and you can definitely tell.
Thursday we headed to Tombstone, Tombstone is know for the most notorious gunfight in the wild west. Today it is a tourist destination, with some of the original buildings still standing while others have been rebuilt. Some of them have been rebuilt twice due to fires in 1881 and 1882. The one building that is still 100% original is The Bird Cage Theater. The Bird Cage Theater is where the Ladies of The Night would stand on the staircase enticing the men to spend some time with them. While we went into the lobby, we did not do the full tour. You could spend all day (and lots of money) doing each individual tour and reenactment.
East Allen Street looks like it did in the late 1800's, including the dirt road, and all of the businesses. Walking down the street you could imagine what is was like in its heyday. We choose to visit the Gunfight Palace to see a couple of reenactments of famous gunfights. It was a little hokey, with a little history mixed in, overall it was enjoyable. After the gun fight we had lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. Big Kate's started out as The Grand Hotel, but after it was devastated by a fire in 1882, it was changed into a Saloon. The bar is still the original bar, but was moved into the what was the hotel lobby. You can see where the floor in the restaurant changes from the original floor to a newer floor. While you are there you can dress up in costume and have your photo taking around the saloon. Because the temperature was 20 degrees colder in Tombstone than Tucson and we came unprepared we all bought fleeces! Next time we will think ahead.
The museum is the only remaining silo from the cold war. The missile is the actual missile that was in the silo while it was an active silo. It has been rendered inoperable, by cutting a 2'x2' hole in the nose cone and the silo doors have also been sealed. This was all done in accordance with the 1979 SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) Treaty. The treaty allowed for both us and the Soviet Union to keep one silo, with a disabled missile that could be verified by satellite.
The tour took us through the procedures that a the crew would go through when arriving at the silo for their 24 hour shift. We walked down the same stairway they used, and through the double bomb proof doors into the silo. The silo consisted of a concrete cylinder suspended between the concrete walls of the hole. Each floor is suspended by extremely large springs. If the silo was hit by a nuclear warhead or a bomb they crew in the silo would not feel it, and the floors would not even move. We sat in the control room while while the tour guide explained explained everything. Then we were walked through a simulated launch. Like in the movies, it takes to keys to launch the missile and the two keys are far enough apart that it would require to people to launch it. Unlike the movies once the launch sequence is initiated, there is no stopping the launch, also the crew did not know what the target was. They only knew to select Target 1, 2 or 3. To this day the targets for each silo is highly classified.
After our tour we headed next door to the Green Valley, AZ American Legion for lunch. Pizza and a round of drink for the six of us was $30. One of the great things about belonging to the Legion, is you are always welcomed at any legion. This one was no exception.
After lunch we headed to Tubac Az, a small community known as where art meets history. Tubac has dozens of art galleries, restaurants and historical sites. Mark, Karen, Angel and I did not stay long deciding instead to head to Nogales AZ, to check out the border and The Border Wall only twenty miles from where we were. There is both a Nogales AZ and a Nogales Mexico separated only by The Border Wall.
It was definitely an experience seeing the Border Wall. It looks like at one time you could very easily walk between the two towns. In Nogales the wall is steel beams spaced inches apart, reaching up over 30 feet in the air. attached to the beams is chain link fencing. As we drove by the wall we could see people on the Mexico side looking to the US side. At one spot there was a young women and a child talking to a man on the Mexico side. They were reaching through the fence to each other. Most of the fence had barbed wire on the bottom 10 feet of the wall. Also along the Border Wall were towers with cameras, that tracked the car as we drove along the border. The last piece of security were Border Patrol Agents in SUV's parked along the street. It looked like they were spaced where one Agent could see to the next agent. It was worth the drive to check it out.
On our return trip to Tucson we had to stop and go through a Border Patrol Check Point. This was about 25 miles from the border. Commercial vehicles had to go through one lane, while passenger vehicles had several other lanes to pass through, either way the first thing you pass is an automated license plate reader. When we got up to the agent, he just waved us past him. On the commercial vehicle lane they had a truck with a mobile scanner, that x-rays, and detects drugs explosives and organic material.
Saturday we left Tucson to heads to Flagstaff AZ.
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