Thanksgiving - Alpine, Texas

Wishing all our family and friends a

Happy and Joyous Thanksgiving!

Y outdid herself again...Good Eats!

11:00pm addition - The Texas Longhorns beat the Texas A&M Aggies 49-39. The Longhorns are now 12-0 for the season. Hook'em Horns!

Back in TEXAS! - Alpine, Texas

We left Tucson yesterday, Y's birthday!, and headed east towards Texas. We stopped for the night at the Escapees park in Deming, New Mexico. Since it was Y's birthday, we went out for linner (that's lunch and dinner combined). We had a very good and inexpensive meal at the Si Senor Mexican Restaurant.

We left Deming early, since we planned on stopping at the Flying J, on the Texas border, for fuel and breakfast. Y let out a big "woo hoo!" when we crossed into Texas. It had been seven months since we left our home state. From there is was an uneventful and long drive to Alpine. We are staying three weeks in Alpine at the BC Ranch RV Park. Nice and peaceful, away from the noise of town.

Some early morning visitors.

Chores - Tucson, Arizona

Today was chore day. We did grocery shopping, laundry, etc in preparation for our departure on Friday. We plan to be in Alpine, Texas on Saturday afternoon, with a layover at the Escapee's park in Deming, New Mexico. We found out today that our friends, Woody and Sandy, that we met in Alpine two years ago, will be there around the 1st of December. It will be great to see them again.

I did manage to capture a couple of pictures of the birds around the campsite.

Pima Air & Space Museum - Tucson, Arizona

Today we visited the Pima Air & Space Museum. We arrived in time for the 10:15am docent-led walking tour of the museum. The gentleman leading the tour was a retired Air Force pilot and was very knowledgeable of the aircraft on display. He told us if he didn't know the answer, he would make something up. We had to leave the walking tour early, because our scheduled AMARG "Boneyard" Tour was due to leave at 12:00pm by bus, and we had to check-in by 11:45am. Note: If you intend on doing the morning walking tour, schedule your "Boneyard" bus tour for the afternoon.

The museum contains inside and outside displays. The inside aircraft have been restored, many to their original configuration and markings. The museum had many rare and a few one-of-a-kind aircraft. Outside, the aircraft are much less restored, and many have latex covering the windows to protect them from the sun.

The AMARG "Boneyard" bus tour takes you onto Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to view plans that have been put into long-term storage. Some of the planes are used as parts to keep active-duty planes flying and others are kept in case they need to be reactivated. This was the case with the A-10 Thunderbolt. After the first Gulf War, most of the A-10 aircraft were deactivated and stored at the Boneyard. The military has determined that they need the unique capabilities of the A-10, so a number of the A-10s are being retrofitted with new wings and avionics to now serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

F-16 Falcons at the Boneyard

F-117 Stealth Fighter...so stealthy, you can't see it!

The A-10 Thunderbolt, commonly called the "Warthog". Its 30mm, nose-mounted, gatling gun, can fire 70 rounds of armor-piercing rounds per minute. There are a number of active A-10s stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB.

An A-10 taking-off from Davis-Monthan AFB.

A BD-5J Jet (smallest in the world). Painted to match the one used in a James Bond movie.

Martin PBM-5A Mariner (only one known to exist)

B-29 Superfortress (similar to the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bombs).

A Presidential aircraft used by Kennedy and Johnson.

B-36 Peacemaker (six, pusher-props and two jet assist engines)

Soviet MiG-29

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum - Tucson, Arizona

Today we visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, located just a few miles from the RV park. The museum is a zoo, natural history museum and botanical garden all in one place. We arrived just in time to see the morning Raptor Free Flight program. They allowed Chihuahuan Ravens, a Great Horned Owl, Ferruginous Hawk and Gray Hawk to fly free, while the narrator explained each bird's unique features for flying and capturing prey.

Great Horned Owl

Ferruginous Hawk

The museum has several botanical gardens, featuring plants native to the desert and surrounding area.

Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus

Overlook vista

The museum is also home to over 300 species of animals - in their natural settings. There is also squirrels, lizards, roadrunners and several species of birds that roam free over the museum grounds.

Coyote (posing for us)

A lizard soaking up the sun.

Ocelot - mean ol' Puddy Tat

A Screech Owl held by one of the docent handlers.

Another lizard out sunny. Doesn't he know that too much sun, gives you wrinkles?

One of the highlights, was visiting the Hummingbird Aviary. These "little buggers" weren't shy about flying past your head. Most of them were very photogenic, and would "strike a pose" when they saw the camera.


This is a great place to visit, but make sure you allocate plenty of time. We spent more than six hours, on the grounds, and still didn't get to see all the exhibits.

The White Dove of the Desert - Tucson, Arizona

Today we visited the San Xavier del Bac MIssion also known as the "White Dove of the Desert". The mission was founded by a Jesuit missionary in 1692. The present church was built under the direction of the Franciscans. Construction began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. The church is going through an ongoing restoration, to clean, repair and preserve as much as possible.

The tower on the left has been restored. The right tower is still showing its age.

Justin's Diamond J RV Park - Tucson, Arizona

We made the short move from Catalina State Park to Justin's Diamond J RV Park (located in the southwest part of Tucson). We are here for a week..."scoping out" the park (and surrounding area) as a probable location to spend this upcoming winter (January & February). The park is far enough from the city to be away from the noise, but close enough for the necessities.

Our campsite backs up to 40,000 acres of public land and has a great view of the surrounding mountains. The sites are large (40' wide by 60' deep). By the time we return in the winter, the area under the Jeep will be covered with crushed gravel.

The view out back.

Biosphere2 - Oracle, Arizona

Today we drove about 20-miles north to visit Biosphere2. The facility was built in 1986 to research and develop self-sustaining space-colonization technology. Two missions, between 1991 and 1994, sealed Biospherians inside the glass enclosure to measure survivability. The missions produced useful research that helped further ecological understanding.


There are five different biomes within Biosphere2:

• Ocean with coral reef
• Mangrove wetlands
• Tropical rainforest
• Savannah grassland
• Fog desert

Each of the biomes is maintained at different temperature and humidity levels. Walking through the facility, these levels change drastically.

The Ocean Biome is 25 feet deep and has a coral reef, aquatic life, a beach and wave action.

The Fog Desert Biome

The Human Habitat

Each of the 8-person (4 men, 4 women) crew had a 2-story cabin within the Human Habitat section.

The staircase leading to the crew's library tower.

Under the entire complex are underground tunnels which house all the necessary mechanical, electrical, and plumbing devices required to sustain the complex Biosphere2.

There are two geodesic domes, known as lungs. Because Biosphere2 was originally designed to be isolated from the outside environment, there are no pressure relief values to regulate changes in pressure. It is possible, since Biosphere2 is so well sealed, that it could explode as the sun heats the air inside, causing air to expand. The lungs act as "variable expansion chambers" which compensate for the pressure changes within the facility. Underground tunnels connect the lungs to Biosphere2. Inside the lungs, a giant synthetic rubber membrane with a circular metal disk floats freely on a cushion of air and rises and falls as the air expands and contracts.

We were able to see the lungs in action, when the tour guide opened one of the outside doors. The large metal disk began to fall...cool!


Black portions is the synthetic rubber membrane. The circular disk (with legs) floats up and down with the changes in air pressure.

Additional photos of our visit are posted here.