Tucson October 26, 2016

Arrived about 2:30 yesterday to 88 degrees Farh.;  it was a little brutal stepping out of the truck after the air-conditioned ride!  Great to get here nevertheless.  It was one week ago to the day that I left.  It's been a slow meandering trip, only going 6 hrs/day max.  The last stretch from Flagstaff to here started with a drop from 6900' down to 2000' over about 1 1/2 hrs, so quite dramatic.  The vegetation went from pine trees to scrub brush and finally to tall Sequaro cacti, and the temp. went from 25 up to 35 Celsius. The freeways through Phoenix were Hell, as expected, but not as bad as Salt Lake.  Everyone was only doing 75 MPH instead of 80-85!   Glad to get out on the open road again after.  It was a relief to finally see the mountains behind Tucson start to appear.

I forgot how spread out this city is.  What looks like a few blks on the map turns out to be 10 kms!  I really like it though, as everything is only one story, so don't see any skyscapers except for a handful right downtown.  It feels like California with the streets so wide and lined with palm trees.  I went to look at a house and it turned out to be 1/2 hr away in the Catalina Foothills; thought it was closer;  there's a LOT of people living here, and a good number of them are Canadians apparently (in the winter). 

There is even a street called "La Canada."  It was a nice place; just waiting to here back about it.  The area is all newly developed in the Adobe style...very cool.  I can see I will be doing a lot of driving here, but then at the price of gas, that's Ok.  I saw it advertised for 1.97/gal. yesterday.  That's 1/3 what we have to pay at home!  At this rate, I'm not going to be able to afford to go home.  Once I get settled into a place, I'll be able to do some exploring around.  Right now, it's just nice to put my feet up after so much driving, which I love, but it's also exhausting.  I might do a day on and a day off on the way home, to have a break. It's a beautiful, but very large country, with still a lot of open spaces, with very little in it.  Thank God for Sirrius radio!