Happy In Tucson

We arrived in Tucson Sunday after a short, uneventful drive from Bowie AZ.  We had spent a few days here last fall and were looking forward to now having 2 weeks here.  There is good scenery and food in the area.  In fact, Tucson has recently been named the first North American City of Gastronomy by UNESCO.

first-unesco-city-of-gastronomy

We're not sure what that means, but it has to be good.  Tucson is also the home of some friends, one former Kenosha librarian and her partner, who have very kindly invited us for Christmas as well as other fun activities.

We were also excited by the appointment we had with a mobile RV couple who agreed to come find us Monday afternoon despite their busy pre-holiday schedule.

We got to the Tucson KOA campground, a huge facility that was more than three quarters empty.  Our first site was very un-level and we went on a hunt for something better, which just happened to be a site directly across from laundry and pool.  It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to get 3 slides out and allow us to settle in  and then head out for a good dinner Sunday night.  Monday dawned and we were really un-level again.  It seemed that the gravel base had settled over night.  We shoved the cats into their carriers, pulled in the slides, disconnected the water and electric and jockeyed around in the site until we were better and then damned the torpedoes and put all 4 slides out.  Chuck must be happy fully extended since we've stayed pretty level ever since.

Ken and Rachel - RV Techs Extraordinaire came later that afternoon, solved out electrical problem, showed us how to solve it ourselves next time, confirmed that our jacks were fried and we need the big repair and then chatted with us about RVing, repairing and life in general for a while.  Upon leaving they tried to NOT take any money, saying they hadn't really done anything.  Luckily the Navigator got Rachel to finally take something, but they restored our faith in RVing.

Tuesday was set aside for the usual restocking of the larder, especially now that I can cook again.  A Google search didn't show any familiar grocery chains but the Navigator, now Researcher Extraordinaire finally, after an exhaustive search, assured me she had found the perfect market.  It would have EVERYTHING my heart would desire.  We set off on our errands including a stop at Petco for the cats, a stop at Trader Joe's for wine, cheese and snacks and then headed for Hilltop Market.  Again, I heard about the great reviews Hilltop Market had on Google and how much I would like it.  The Navigator assured me it would be the Tucson version of Woodman's (chain of massive grocery stores familiar to Wisconsinites).  We drove, following the GPS, and drove some more, and some more until there it was, exactly the address, the long-promised nirvana of groceries...

What you don't see in this Google streetview are the bars on the window and the neon beer signs in the dusty, fly-specked window.

Not exactly what I was expecting.  Laughing, we conceding defeat and saved grocery shopping for another day.

More again soon, but in the meantime we're level in Tucson!