So it's been a while since I've posted anything to our blog. Well DUH! I thought I should at least update those of you who are wondering what happened to us since last October. We've been busy bees since then having bought a home near Tucson. We landed in the Tucson area and stayed at an RV park for a month and using the Internet, picked out houses for sale that we might be interested in.
When we found them we contacted our agent and followed up with a visit to check out the home. We did eventually find one in Marana which is just north of Tucson about 20 miles. The deal closed on December 3rd but we didn't move in until the 11th because we didn't have a bed. Once the deal closed we contacted the Door to Door Storage in Kent WA who had our pods and they shipped them down. It's taken a few months to get all our stuff sorted out. We bought new or used furniture and furnishings. Craigslist was a great resource as were the many local consignment stores.

The pods were carefully unloaded only to litter the house with boxes

By early April we had things pretty much ironed out and we're happy with the results.

The guest bathroom

A Murphy type bed we picked up on Craigslist

We needed to stock up on food because we had none. So we made a very expensive trip to Costco

Marilyn and I needed some dental work done in January and with Nogales Mexico only 45 minutes away we took the camper and car combo down to an RV park near the border. From there we commuted to a dentist and got our work done over a period of 4 days. And while we were down there I spent one day visiting the Titan Missile Museum. The is the last remaining complete silo from the cold war. There were many silos spread around the southwest and eastward. They were the forerunners of the Minuteman silos which are in the northern tier of the country. It was a stark reminder of the dark days of that era but nevertheless quite an amazing sight.

There were several of these monstrous blast doors each weighing 3000+ pounds

It was a policy that certain areas were not to be entered without a partner. Security reasons. In other words, no trust.

The main control room with launched keys

This  long corridor led to the silo. Eerie to walk down.

The nose cone which at one time contained a 9 megaton thermonuclear warhead.

Outside looking toward the huge silo cover

The objects along the silo wall are platforms which swing down and provide a place for maintenance.

This depicts what a 9 megaton bomb would do in Tucson. Our home is in Marana to the northeast and just outside the red area.

The enclosure for the warhead 

The paint on the house was somewhat faded and needed a face-lift. So we contacted two outfits and chose one. He did a very professional job and we're pleased with the results. But this being an HOA development we needed to submit a proposal with the intended colors.

My brother Steve lives in Chandler so I called him and said let's go to a spring training ball game.

In mid-April we took a week off to go to Visalia CA and Joshua Tree National Park. I'm a ham radio operator and the Southern California DX Association sponsors a very large, well attended convention each year. We attended in 2011 and I met so many fellow hams whom I've contacted over the years. So it was a fine opportunity to renew friendships.

Banquet dinner on Saturday evening

We parked the camper at a local KOA campground along with other convention goers who came down from the Seattle area and San Diego.

On the way back home we spent two lovely days in Joshua Tree National Park.

We spent the first day at Ryan campground

While we were at the Ryan campground people were doing rock climbing but I didn't get a good pix.

This is a shot looking west toward Palm Springs.

I love this women more that I did yesterday

These are pear cacti and we were lucky to be there to see them in bloom

This is the remains of a turn of the century homestead. The owner raised cattle to feed the gold miners in the hills

Bleak but somehow beautiful. The quiet and serenity was astounding

In the background is the Cholla Garden in JTNP

This is were we spent the next day. Cottonwood campground

So that's about it up to this point in late April 2015,

Tulsa Oklahoma

Elvis' "Pink Cadillac" which he eventually gave to his mother

One of the things on Marilyn's bucket list was to stand in front of the pink Cadillac at Graceland. So we spent a day in Memphis exploring all things Elvis. That means starting at the beginning. And that meant going to the Sun Studio building where many of the early rock and roll and blues sensations got their start. Sam Phillips opened the studio under the name Memphis Recording Service in January of 1950.

Some of the original recording equipment is on display. This will interest some of you audiophiles. Old name like Ampex, Maxell and others were used

This machine cut original discs used as masters in the long play 33 1/3 rpm mono format

Sam Phillips at the big Ampex recording machine

A Gates-Harris mixer used in broadcast studios

Many black artists admired and were thankful to Elvis because he broke the color barrier in the music business. Prior to Elvis, black artists were marginalized by the white majority. Elvis was roundly criticized for this.

After the studio tour we drove on to Graceland which is an amazingly well organized operation. We chose the mid level tour package and with our senior discount and AAA cost $37.50 each. While waiting for our tour number to come up, we looked around the lobby at all the Elvis centric displays. There were several flat screen monitors showing clips of his concerts over the years. Looking at all this stuff brought back memories of my mother who hated Elvis. She thought he was the devil incarnate! She forbade us kids to watch him on the Ed Sullivan show. Thinking about this reminded me of how much I despised the new music that became popular after the 60's. Bands like The Dead Kennedys, Pearl Jam, The Cure, Slayer and so on. To me real rock and roll died when Cream disbanded.  Funny how each generation views music isn't it?

Waiting to load up the bus that takes us across the street to the Graceland mansion

So we get on this tour bus and each person is issued an Ipad which is preloaded with a program that takes you step by step through the mansion.

Kevin Sorbo who was the athiest professor in "God's not Dead" was on a private tour in front of us

All dark wood tones typical of the 70's

Elvis' TV room which nowadays would be called the media center

The fabric on the wall was all folded over and took several days to install

This is the "Jungle" room with shag carpet even on the ceiling

This was a separate building made for raquetball and now is a display room

RIP Elvis

On the way back to camp we were met with a furious rain and hail storm moving through the area. Sean O'Donnell lives in Bartlett and drove his motorcycle through this stuff and met up with us at our RV park. I BBQ'd steaks and we had a wonderful time catching up with him and his many interesting jobs overseas. He is the youngest son of old friends Mike and Jenny O'Donnell from Saudi Arabia days.

We're glad he got home safe because soon after he left a thunderstorm rolled in and lit up the sky. It blew like a fury with pounding rain and claps of thunder. Around 10:30 the National Weather Service sent cellphone alerts sounding the alarm of a tornado in the area. It said to seek shelter. Then in the distance I heard the tornado warning siren blasting. So this was scary now! I stayed up until midnight peeking out the window and listening for an unusual howling sound. By midnight thirty it had calmed down enough to go to bed. Whew!!

So we are in a Amarillo TX Walmart parking lot this evening Oct 6th. We'll be traveling to Roswell NM tomorrow. Maybe see some aliens??