From Palm Springs we zipped through Phoenix (we tried to contact you Oslynn) and then landed in Tucson, Arizona. We were quite impressed with Tucson and all the tourist things it has to offer in the area. The old Tucson movie “studio” (outside of Tucson) is the location where dozens of great Westerns were made over the years and it did make for a fun afternoon. The Tucson highlight for us however was a visit to the massive “Pima Air & Space Museum” which also included a trip through an aircraft “Bone-Yard” where 4000 decommissioned military aircraft sit proudly in the Sun awaiting their destiny with a crusher. During our visit we had the privilege of meeting a truly amazing man. Retired US Air Force Colonel Richard Bushong who became a B-17 pilot at 20 years of age and then flew 28 missions over Europe during WWII. He ended his combat career flying F-4 Jet fighters in Vietnam and then became a test pilot where he flew aircraft from 0 speed (helicopter) to Mach 2.1. At 94 years of age, he now volunteers every Thursday afternoon at the Museum’s B-17 hanger display where he truly is considered a local celebrity and hero. We spent over an hour with this very entertaining gentleman listening to some of his incredible stories and enjoying his company. He has written a memoir of his service years called “My Wars” and yes… he did sign my copy. Another very interesting visit was a trip to the only remaining Titan II ICBM missile Silo in existence. The other 53 were destroyed around 1982 as part of President Reagan’s nuclear modernisation program. But, Silo No. 571-7 (1 of 18 outside of Tucson) was kept as a Museum. Touring through this incredible and thought-provoking structure (that included a simulated launch) made me realise I should have been much more frightened than I was as a young boy in the early 60’s when we practiced hiding under our desks when the community “air-raid” sirens sounded. Exploring this one small component of the much larger nightmare scenario helps drive home the freakish concepts of “Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)”, Nuclear Apocalypse and Nuclear winter in a very chilling way. Unbelievably this many years later and international leaders are once again talking about the use of strategic nuclear weapons… makes me fearful, and sad.
From Tucson we drove to Tombstone for a look at the place where Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday had their famous shoot-out at the OK Corral. On our way to El Paso, Texas we passed the location in “Skeleton Canyon” where Geronimo surrendered in 1886 thus ending the Apache Wars in the South West. San Antonio turned out to be a pleasant surprise with its impressive downtown river walk and of course, the famous Alamo. A nice drive to Corpus Christi and our first look at the Gulf of Mexico. Driving East along the outer coast past magnificent beaches we could hardly believe the number of oil refineries dotting the coastline and casting there dark shadows on the sand. No question about it, oil is big business in Texas. We were also surprised to see thousands of beach homes and buildings built on tall stilts for protection against storms and high water. Not my idea of a solid foundation, Through Galveston and on to Louisiana where we discovered that “road-kill” now includes small Alligators that unfortunately and unknowingly wander onto the road from their safe swampy ditches. We’ve just pulled into exciting New Orleans and now we’re looking forward to sampling more Cajun goodies and exploring the jazzy French Quarter.