RV Trips South : Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, Arizona

Day 32-36, Thursday to Monday, February 23-27, Gilbert Ray County Park, Tucson, AZ

We arrived at Gilbert Ray about 11:30, were able to get a nice campsite in the desert. There is a bike loop we can do, down McCain, then back up to Kinney to the campground, about 10 miles, with a couple of long, steady hills. There are lots of bikers around Tucson, skinny tire guys in their fancy outfits pedaling along the roads, and cars are more polite here than they are in other places! As usual, we heard lots of coyotes at night, just as we had at Cave Creek, McDowell, and Lost Dutchman.

Gilbert Ray sunset with Ocotillo

On Friday we drove down to the University of Arizona to the Space and Geology Museum, which is part of my OMSI membership. We learned about Osiris Rex, which left September 2016 to go to the Bennu asteroid and bring a sample back. This asteroid has a high probability of impacting the earth late in the 22^nd century, as it is on an orbit around the sun. Osiris Rex will return to the earth with the sample in September, 2023, if all goes well. The University of Arizona has been very involved with the US space program. The mineral and gem displays were amazing, lots of private collections which have been donated or loaned to the University.

Wulfenite

Agate

On Saturday we went to the Pima Air and Space Museum, went on a bus tour all around the outside area as well as walking through big hangars with lots of planes from all eras. There was a replica of the Wright Brothers plane, and there were many military planes from many wars. One plane, which was used in Afghanistan, was a pink color. Hiking Brown Mountain by Gilbert Ray, I found pink rocks that were the same color! Our tour guide said it was not pink, it was camouflage! Guess he was right!

Afghanistan Rocks, on Brown Mountain

We saw a B24. That was the plane Jim’s father was shot down in when Jim was only 6 months old, in September, 1943. It is difficult to think these planes are wonderful when they represent so much death and destruction. There was a map of Germany at the Museum with a red mark for every spot our bombs hit in World War II. So many, in that beautiful country – unfortunately governed by Hitler at the time.

B-17 Bomber

B-24 Bomber

Sunday Linda went on the Brown Mountain hike, ended very tired and footsore. You climb up a ridge, then down, then to a higher ridge, then down, then to the highest ridge! The walk back is through a canyon. I saw lots of wildflowers. Jim went on a long mountain bike ride, down through the desert, came to a road, and rode all the way back up the mountain!