We arrived at Freedom RV just about on time with only the required stop for the Border Patrol on the Sasabe Road. They were happy to use the hose we had bought in the hope of doing it ourselves. The service adviser estimated about three hours and an eye-watering $400 estimate but it had to be done. They went at it and we went off to find breakfast.
There is not much within walking distance (Tucson doesn't seem to be much of a walkable city), but we found a nearby strip mall with a small and busy restaurant, the Crying Onion Cafe. The only other place in sight was a Wendy's, so we tried the Crying Onion. It was a down-home place and it was packed. Service was a little slow and Ellen was a bit disappointed in her poached eggs (served in a cup and a bit watery), but the bacon and toast were good. The sunny-side up eggs were just fine, as were the hash browns and crispy bacon. The coffee cake I had as a side was pretty good, but toast would have been a better choice with the runny eggs. Ellen gave me a half-slice of her toast to sop up the eggs. Being Halloween, the wait staff were all dressed as Ninja Turtles, complete with masks, an interesting touch. All were quite friendly.
An hour gone, we were back at the RV shop expecting a long wait, but they were just finishing up. It was easier than they originally thought. Hopefully, they left the joint clean so I might be able to remove it the next time we split a hose. It was "only" a few dollars shy of $200 for the work. Quick, friendly service with a willingness to fit us in, in a hurry and coming in under budget is always a wise business practice. What's more, being Saturday, it was donut day. We politely declined after our large breakfast. We'd go back if necessary—with Speedy you never know.
We had to do a small additional bit of work on Speedy before we left Freedom RV. As the technician was looking at our problem when we arrived, Ellen asked what the wire hanging down from from the cargo box was for. I took a look and noticed that it was the wire to the license plate light that I had installed before leaving. I also noticed that the light was missing...and so was the license plate. It had fallen off the bracket somewhere during our drive. The tech said we were lucky not to get stopped. What to do? Fortunately, Arizona is a single plate state, so we took the front plate off and with new bolts, nuts and lock washers attached it to the bracket. Ellen looked until her eyes watered as we drove back, but we didn't find the other one.
Since we'd come all the way to Tucson, we couldn't not stop for food. We decided to try yet another Fry's Market, this one was just off the Interstate at the same exit that we take to get back to Buenos Aires. We were hoping for good things that might make this our main store. Sadly, it was not to be. The selection was not very good, no Boar's Head in the deli and lots and lots of processed foods and snacks. The first one Fry's Market we stopped at was very impressive, but these last two were really disappointing. The first was on the north side of town, these were on the south side—perhaps a socio-economic distinction in stock selection? We will see what happens on our next trip. We are still looking for a good general supermarket in addition to Whole Foods.
When we got back to the refuge, Ellen decided that she should pull out all of our food and see what we actually had, since we had been shopping off-the-cuff lately and we probably wouldn't get a chance to shop for at least a week. It was an interesting exercise. She found that we had such oddities as three jars of peanut butter and four of jam (we'd evidently thought that we needed to have extra for lunchtime PB&J and we thought this several times).
As she was doing this, the final set of volunteers arrived, Craig and Evelyn, pulling another big fifth-wheel trailer. That makes four 30-foot-plus fifth-wheels and 19-foot Speedy. Maybe we should join the crowd and trade Speedy for a fifth-wheel and all that room? (Right.) Actually, we will be losing one of the fifth-wheels on Monday.
Our friend Norm is leaving, only two weeks after he arrived. He aggravated a torn rotator cuff when he arrived and can hardly lift his arm. He called his doctor this week and is already scheduled for surgery in Texas next month, so he figured that since he really can't do anything here, he will just leave and stay in Corpus Christi until his surgery there. We will miss him. The only upside is that we will be moving to his site, which is closer to the community building and has a great sunrise view. We will be giving up our sunset view for easier access to kitchen and showers (and better Wi-Fi).
Later in the afternoon, Ellen, Betty and I went for a quick walk up to the barn near the visitor center to see the resident Barn Owl. It was supposedly also to look at birds, but Ellen and Betty are walkers as well and they put on a walker pace, not a birder pace (it was the slow time of day for birds), not exactly my style. The Barn Owl was in residence and good looks were had by all.
On the way back, however, Ellen saw her first rattlesnake, right in the middle of the road. In fact, she almost stepped on it, noticing it just before she put her foot down. No jumping and screaming, but just quickly backing off (she admitted later that she was scared speechless). The snake was a small one, only about 18-inches long, and was laid out straight. At first we thought that it was dead, but a stone tossed in its direction caused it to move and take up a defensive posture. Betty is the snake enthusiast, so she was quite interested. Actually, Betty's husband Chuck is the avid herpetologist and they brought three of their own snakes with them (all non-venomous) to give presentations about snakes to school-kids.
Both she and Ellen took photos, Betty at a closer distance than Ellen, who had a longer camera lens. I found an bushy branch and Betty shooed the snake off the road so it wouldn't become roadkill, rattling its tail as it went. When we got back, Chuck identified it as a Western Diamondback about a year old. I guess we could call it a life snake for Ellen.
As we were grilling pizza for dinner, Craig came by with his young poodle, Paco, and pointed out a Great-horned Owl, sitting on a branch right above Norm's trailer. We'd been hearing Great-horned Owls almost every evening and early morning—and here it was.
A two owl and one rattlesnake day ... not bad. The pizza was good too.
Photos—Snake, too!
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