Tucson, AZ

We have been making lemonade the last few days from the lemons fate tossed our way Friday. While the coach is being repaired we have gotten out and had a great time. Marc and Patricia have been wonderful hosts and we have been able to spend time with Huguette.

We have gotten around the Tucson area, seen a lot of the local attractions, and had an opportunity to attend the Tucson Ballet.

Biosphere 2

You may recall the elaborate experiment conducted between 1991 and 1993 where eight scientists were sealed in an artificial ecological laboratory for two years. The laboratory is a large complex in which they attempted to recreate earth’s complex biological systems to a degree that would support them for the full two years. The Tucson area was chosen for the high number of sunny days to support photosynthesis in the model rain forest which would create oxygen sufficient to support life in the biosphere. Unfortunately, the experiment coincided with an El Nino year. El Nino brought far more cloudy days than usual and insufficient oxygen production. As a result the seal on the biosphere was broken short of the two year goal and oxygen was introduced. There are still ecological experiments being conducted there and tours are provided. Pretty cool place!

Tumacacori

In the late 1600s Jesuit priest Euseblo Kino established a mission in Tumacacori about an hour south of modern Tucson. The mission flourished under the Jesuits, but in 1767 King Charles III of Spain evicted all Jesuits from his realms when he feared an overthrow of his rule. King Charles dispatched Franciscans to take over the New World missions. The pressure of hostile Apache Indians, disease and increasing numbers of settlers eventually lead to the abandonment of the mission by 1790. An attempt to rebuild by Fray Narcisco Gutierrez around 1800 was hampered by Mexican wars for independence and ultimately stopped when all Spanish born residents were forced to leave the country by Mexican decree.

Titan Missile Museum

One of the Titan II missile silos has been converted to a museum. We were taken through the control room and to the missile itself. Pretty amazing, but happily obsolete.

  

Pima Air Museum

This is an extensive aviation museum that covers primarily military aircraft, but it did have a Lockheed 049 Constellation in TWA livery. It is, in fact, an aircraft that my father flew while a TWA captain. While not aircraft that I actually flew, there were examples of helicopters that I have flown in my military career. I guess that means I am old enough to be in a museum myself.

The technicians at Freedom RV are making good progress in the repair of our coach. They have retracted the slide and found the source of the problem to be a pinhole leak in a metal hydraulic line buried in the inner workings of the slide mechanism. A lot of interior dis-assembly was required. They should start putting it all back together today.

Barbara has posted more pictures of these places on our gallery.