Kitt Peak etc

We arrived at Justin's Diamond J RV Park on Friday morning after our short drive from Benson. We got settled in and headed off to town to get some service work on the Ford Focus toad. It needed an oil change, tire rotation and alignment. Pep Boys is highly recommended. They got the oil change done but when it came to alignment, they found that a rear camber kit was required and the part wouldn't be in until Monday. Darn, another trip into Pep Boys and more time wasted.

Starting up the mountain. Doesn't look high here.

Saturday we met up with Kelsi and Dave Holioday, just two rigs away from us. Dave is the son of our friends who we met in Lo de Marcos last year. After a nice chat, we headed off to visit Kitt Peak. What a drive! The road onto the mountain starts about  less than 3000' and after 12 miles of driving switchbacks up up and up, we arrived at the top, just under 7000'. It is a lot cooler up there and the wind was blowing strongly. The view is awesome and you can see Tucson 30 miles away. That makes up for the less than exciting tour of the facilities. Ho hum. Then it is all down hill to get to the highway again.

7000' and a wonderful view.

A couple of telescopes. Note the warning sign!

Take a look at this and see if you recognize it.

Looks like bones welded together.

Tall branches wave and clack in the wind.

Another look with a clue!


Yup, it is a saguaro cactus after death. It is surprising to me that this cactus is quite woody, and the exterior seems to be an overlay. It may have looked like the one in the background, which is likely 200 plus years old. You can learn more here.

Sunday, we went bike riding on the trails in the desert, just outside the campground. Lots of fun dodging the cacti but heavy work if you went into a "wash" filled with small loose gravel. We spotted a couple of Gambel's Quails, which are very distinctive with their teardrop topknot. I also spotted something running away from us, with tall ears and grey in color. May have been a hare.

On Monday Nov. 22, we headed into town to get the rest of the work done on the Focus. Surprise, they ordered the wrong part kit. Then they found they had the right part in stock. But they couldn't get the old bolts out. We compromised and had the rear aligned as close as possible and the front done correctly. And a credit for the work not done and the parts not used. We had a late lunch/dinner at a Chinese buffet and did some shopping.

Then we head back "home" for the final episode of BoB. We were disappointed that Todd Warner didn't win the crystal trophy but appreciated that all three couples on the finals were very close. The winning couple was Valeri Bure and his partner, Ekaterina Gordeeva. While Katia, started to tour the ice, the crystal part of the trophy toppled to the ice and it shattered. OMG. What a finale! Some people feel she dropped it but videos seem to show that the trophy had a malfunction.