Snowbirding this year led us to Tucson for the entire month of January, soaking up its unique charm; e.g., hiking blisters and cactus thorns. The Crazy Horse RV Park on the south side was our base camp, where the camp sites were packed in tighter than a jar of pickles. But don’t worry, we hit the road often and gallivanted around to check out all the quirks of Arizona’s second-largest city, too. Here’s a whirlwind recap of the sights and sounds we encountered; some of which might’ve slipped through the cracks of our previous blog posts from the month and others that definitely deserved a standing ovation (or perhaps just a polite clap) of their own.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and a Rocket!)

The Crazy Horse RV Park is situated right between the Tucson International Airport and the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base giving us a front-row seat to a daily airshow. Sure, some might find the low-flying planes a bit annoying and noisy, but we absolutely loved it. It took us back to the good old days when the Air National Guard fighter jets zoomed over our Saylorville home before they were moved out of the Des Moines Airport.

Speaking of airplanes. I can’t forget to mention the fact that Tucson has the largest aircraft “boneyard” in the world. Tours are no longer available to see the nearly 4,000 military airplanes parked near the base without an Air Force sponsor, but the views along the roadways are pretty amazing. Unfortunately, the photos I snapped don’t do it justice and a postcard or pictures via Google would be much, much better to fully appreciate it.

Tucson is a major East-West thoroughfare for a number of railroad companies, including Amtrak. The trains’ distinctive horns were audible from our campground, and it wasn’t unusual to see at least a couple of long trains (including some with engines at the front, middle, and rear) pass by near the bike path where we took our daily walks, runs, or bike rides.

Tucson was pretty easy to get around in the van, but the roads have seen better days. They are likely the worse city streets in terms of roughness and moon craters we’ve encountered on our many travels. During our drives, we spotted signs urging folks to vote YES (and some NO) on a couple of road improvement propositions this coming March. At this point, we’re all for a major road makeover and let’s hope they pass and get fixed before next winter when we might venture this way again.

While heading back to the van one evening after showering at the bathhouse, I looked up and was lucky enough to catch sight of a Falcon 9 rocket flying overhead. I learned later that it was launched by Space X from California to deliver more Starlink satellites into orbit. I was even more lucky to not slip in my soapy flip-flops while taking the picture below.

Walking, Running, and Biking

Tucson has an awesome bike path — known as “The Loop”. This 54-mile path circles the city and includes enough connected tributaries to make for 131 miles of wide, nicely paved trails. A trailhead was located just a quarter mile from our RV park so we made daily use of it, and I was very tired from running the full 131 miles every day. OK, maybe not 131 miles a day and perhaps not EVERY day, but whatever. Lisa and Roxann used the trail for some seriously long morning walks and Paul rode his trusty e-bike on many of the mornings. On a couple of occasions, Lisa and I drove to a different part of the trail to either bike or walk and take advantage of the wonderfully warm January afternoons. The paths we took were all very well maintained and well used. There were too many sights and sounds to mention on our journeys, but here a few of the pictures we took.

Events & Outings

While in Tucson we enjoyed a number of outings, which Lisa and I have blogged about in previous posts:

• Saguaro National Park – Meeting the Saguaro
• Saguaro National Park – A Hiking Paradise
• Pima Space and Air Museum
• Biosphere 2 Revisited
• Gemstone and Mineral Shows
• Tucson Botanical Gardens

One outing we didn’t necessarily enjoy, but was necessary, was having to spend time at the local Mercedes Sprinter service shop. Usain needed a new chassis battery and another front-end alignment to try to solve some of our road vibration issues.

Dining & Shopping

Normally we don’t eat out much during our van life adventures, but this month was a delightful detour (except for perhaps my waistline). We found ourselves out and about with our friends, Paul and Roxann, and they love eating out early and often. There were also several days when we, er, Lisa was too wiped out to whip up a meal after a day of hiking. Here’s my take on the culinary spots we hit while in Tucson:

• Kelly’s Cajun Grill – A fast food joint at the Tucson Mall that had wonderful bourbon chicken, one of my all-time favorite mall food when at Jordan Creek Mall back home.
• Nori Japan – This was another mall fast food place where Lisa enjoyed some tasty vegetarian fare.
• Nates Italian Kitchen – Paul discovered this very small (and crowded!) neighborhood Italian restaurant with personal service and very delicious and large portions.
• Birrieria Guasave 2 – Just off I-10 down the road from our base camp, this is a Mexican food truck-type place we enjoyed on a few occasions. By the third time, the sweet lady that took our order recognized us and asked to see the inside of our van. After seeing our cats in the back and speaking Spanish to them, she just had to show off pictures of her own cats.
• Rancho Rustico Restaurant – This was a nice sit-down place not far from Crazy Horse RV Park with the usual selection of Mexican dishes. Lisa particularly liked the refried served in mini taco bowls.
• In-n-Out Burger – I’d been wanting to try an In-n-Out burger for years and finally got my chance. It was as good as I had hoped. I hope to have another before we leave the Southwest.
• La Chingada – We ate at this upper-scale Mexican place downtown with our nephew, his gal, et. al. We found the food to be delicious, and it was our first chance to try local prickly pear Margaritas, which lived up to their reputation.
• Los Nopales – We stopped at this small, neighborhood Mexican restaurant on the way back from a day of hiking. The food was good ole Mexican fare and the service was exceptional.
• The Screamery – We rode across town with Paul and Rox for the sole purpose of an afternoon hand-crafted ice cream treat. Tasty stuff!
• Bear Canyon Pizza – I found the pizza to be so-so at this place, but the garlic and pretzel knots we shared as an appetizer were amazing.
• BJs Restaurants – We had the lunch special as this restaurant and brewhouse, which included an entree and a unique dessert called a “pizookie” — a cookie topped with ice cream served pizza style.

The Tucson Mall is fairly large and thriving when compared to many of the malls in Des Moines and other areas of the country. We went on New Years’ Day to kill some time before our RV Park check-in time and another day when it was raining. Lisa was able to find a Camelbak wearable canteen at Dick’s Sporting Goods for use on hikes.

Crazy Horse RV Park

I mentioned the closeness of the sites at the Crazy Horse RV Park…and they were crazy close, but the park had nice points as well; e.g., free donuts on Monday and Friday mornings, proximity to the bike path, heated pool, and hot showers. There was also BINGO every Thursday evening, which we attended once. Lisa, Rox, and I were all winners and we netted a whopping $2.25 after all was said and done.

Final Thoughts

Overall, we found our time in Tucson enjoyable. The weather was fantastic — 5 days with some rain, 0 days with snow or ice — with warm to hot days (60s and 70s) and cool to cold nights (40s and 50s). The proximity to the national park and the bike path added to make this a great place to winter.

Other than the road conditions, our other disappointments included the amount of litter along the sidewalks and roads in some areas and the number of unhoused people throughout the city. We spent a couple of hours walking around Reid Park, a 156-acre metro park one morning and found that nearly every shelter was occupied by homeless people with shopping carts full of their belongings. From reading, it sounds like the city has made some progress in this area, but I’m sure it’s difficult to make progress given the warm climate. Aside from this, we generally found the people to be friendly (lots of hellos and good mornings on the bike path) and over all a nice southwestern city to spend a winter. I say winter because the last time Lisa and I spent a few days in Tucson it was 115 degrees the day we went to the Pima Air and Space Museum in June 2017.