Paul and Marilyn's travels: 2015

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.