TOOK A SCENIC DRIVE

Today was nice with a high of 24C and a light breeze.

This morning when we were leaving for a bicycle ride we saw these guys flying overhead.  

We checked out the map and there was one scenic road in the area which goes up to the top of Mount Lemmon known for skiing so we decided to check it out. It was a half hour away north east of the City. We started up a road with a sight grade, as we continued along the road it became steeper and had turned into curves and a couple of switch backs. The road then turned to gravel as we got closer to the top and then it started getting too rough for us to continue so we stopped at a parking lot were people hike from. While we standing by the parking lot, two young girls drove up in a car and got stuck in a large rut, a couple of guys had to help them get out. Good thing we decided to park on the road! The view was great and there were a lot of people going beyond this point in 4X4 vehicles, trucks hauling all terrain vehicles on trailers and dirt bikes. If only I had my truck - it would have been fun.  

The "arms" in the Saguaro cactus don't develop until the plant is at least 75 years

Homes like this were in the area

Saguaro Cactus can grow 40-60 feet high. Several birds make homes in them.

Just too rough to continue.

The only places we saw green grass were at a golf course and a bank which had it's sprinkles running at 2pm. 

After enjoying the view and taking a few pictures we headed back to the coach and stopped for refreshments at Dairy Queen.

After dinner we packed up a few things to get ready to take the coach in for the satellite dish installation tomorrow.

Till tomorrow....

WE HAD TO CHECK OUT THE TITAN MISSILE SILO!

We took a ride twenty minutes south of Tucson to the Titan Missile Museum. The Titan II missile was the largest missile built by the U.S. during the Cold War and became operational in 1963 and deactivation started in 1982. In 1987 the last Titan II site was deactivated. 54 Titan II missiles stood alert in their underground silos across the country. 18 in Wichita Kansas, 17 in Little Rock Arkansas (one was damaged during a repair) and 18 in Tucson. This is the only site that remains. We had a tour of the facility, went into the bunker, and saw the underground structure, the control center and the missile in the silo. They even had a mock launch. The highest state of alert was when President Kennedy was shot. At that time the launch keys were removed from the red storage box and placed on the table in front of the key switch.  After their decommissioning the missiles were disarmed and used to send satellites into space.  The missiles are 103 feet tall and the complex was built with steel reinforced cement walls up to 8 feet thick.     

Control Panel - only 4 people are on duty at a time for a 24 hr. shift.

"The Red Box" contains the 2 keys for launching the missile.

The binder with the code to confirm the command to launch.

One of the keys

View of missile - the top remains 1/2 sealed to show the Russians it can't be fired.

Viewing downward

Notice the hole on the nose, it is there as proof it can not be launched.

Missile engine

View from the parking lot.

The temperature high for today was 25C with no clouds. We have noticed the air is very dry here and it is taking its’ toll on our skin.

All for now.....

 

WE ARE STAYING LONGER

We checked on the status of the parts we are waiting for and we are told one came in and the second won’t be in until Monday. So we will be staying here until Tuesday. The good thing is they are reducing our campground fee since we are waiting for parts for their maintenance department to install.

This morning it was over cast  and when you look at the sun through the clouds you could see a rainbow ring around it. The evening news said it was a Sun Halo caused by ice crystals in cirrus clouds in the upper troposphere.   

We then unloaded the Wing and took off for the Prima Air & Space Museum. We bought tickets after showing photo I.D. to take the tour to the AMARG (Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group) at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. This base contains 2,600 acres.

This is a t-shirt in the store.

Space Bars - These are dehydrated ice cream bars and felt hard.

 

There were rows and rows of all kinds of planes and helicopters.

They are coated with a latex like coating to prevent light and moisture damage. It peels off easily when they need to get into them or remove some parts. It will keep the interior of the planes 15 degrees cooler.

This radar plane lets the other planes it is flying with know when there are enemy planes in the area.

This model of drone when used took down the plane it was shot from and was decommissioned right after. The two pilots did get out safely.

 

These are all pieces which have been dismantled.

All the helicopter blades are removed and stored inside a climate controlled building.

The chief reasons for selecting Davis-Monthan as the site for this storage center were Tucson's meager rainfall, low humidity, and alkaline soil. These conditions make it possible to store aircraft indefinitely with a minimum of deterioration and corrosion. In addition, the soil (called caliche) is hard, making it possible to park aircraft in the desert without constructing concrete or steel parking ramps.

 AMARG provides customer services including aircraft regeneration (restoring aircraft to flying status), programmed depot-level maintenance, and parts reclamation, in addition to its historic storage and disposal functions.

 

It contains more than 4,400 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles from the Air Force, Navy-Marine Corps, Army, Coast Guard, and several federal agencies including NASA. With an original purchase price of more than $35 billion, this aerospace fleet provides a unique savings account from which military units throughout the world may withdraw parts and aircraft. The government earns additional income by selling aircraft to various allies.

We caught these planes flying over head after our tour.

 

Cathy caught this guy bicycling his dog around. I thought we could use this unit so we would only need 1 bike. Not sure if Cathy would have enough power to haul me around though.

 

The weather was great reaching a high of 22C today.

All for now...

ANOTHER REPAIR TO DO!

After getting settled in for the evening we decided to put up the satellite dish to get an update on the happenings back home. So guess what? It wouldn’t start up for the initial satellite finding mode. I checked out the system connections in the coach and on the roof in the morning. All seemed ok so I then started fooling around with the buttons on the main control. It then started and went to the last location we used it at and stopped. Then after that it would not do anything as it was telling us it was already stowed and not in the up position. So as luck would have it, this campground has a huge rv repair and sales facility and off we went to make an appointment. The Repair Foreman then informed us our unit’s manufacturing company is no longer in business (@#$%@#$%&@#$%-crap). So we made the decision to have it replaced (ouch!) They have to order the parts in from California and Utah and they are unable to install them until Saturday, the day we were planning on leaving. So we are extending our stay 1 more day and leaving Sunday (we hope).

The sat. dish is facing straight up, not going down.

Last night we didn’t get much sleep due to a least 4 dogs barking constantly in the back area of the park. Cathy says she heard several trains through the night which I didn’t hear. We were up to here the jets from the Air Force Base taking off at 8 o’clock sharp. They seem to be coming and going throughout the day but it is not annoying.

In the afternoon, we bicycled around checking out the park, the various units in the park and the new coaches for sale. We didn’t notice any other units from Ontario but saw a few from British Columbia and Alberta. There are orange, lemon and grapefruit trees throughout the park but some have been hit with frost and are looking in pretty poor shape.

Pool area

Coach wash

There are 50 service bays for repairs.

Picking my morning orange juice.

Since today is Valentine’s Day I am taking Cathy out to the Park Restaurant for their Valentine’s Dinner as she suggested  several times (happy wife – happy life).  The entree options are New York Steak or Bacon Wrapped Prawns along with an appetizer and dessert. It was very good.

We have been wearing our shorts and t-shirts all day and see everyone else wearing long sleeved shirts and jackets with long pants. They are sure giving us some strange looks. It was a cloudless day with a high of 22C.

Happy Valentine’s Day