Saturday, April 21, 2018

We Have Returned to Tucson

This is what passed for dinner last night.  We had a primo parking place, wherein we backed in to a shrub.  Backing up to walls and bushes makes it harder for people to steal anything out of the back of the truck.  So anyway, we walked over to Rudy’s BBQ.  They had gas pumps out in front! You order at the counter, get sides out of the refrigerator and then they give you a bag of white bread.  Their food would have been OK except for the sodium content.  Fortunately they post their sodium counts on the web and we knew what to avoid.

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This is the very first stretch of New Mexico.  There were a number of stock yards just across the border from Texas.

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The Bowlin company owns a bunch of road side attractions.  These signs were for Akela Flats – they sell worthless crap from China, but they did have a well placed restroom.  Their most famous attraction is The Thing.

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The yuccas in New Mexico were large and multi armed.  For such an unattractive plant, they do put out an amazing flower spike.

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NM has its own austere beauty.

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When you see these rocks in Arizona, the drive is almost over.

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Two things struck me on this trip.  The first is the incredible number of hotels along the freeway.  They are everywhere.  One has to wonder how they fill enough rooms to make money.  They appear in clots along the freeway.  Unfortunately, they do not appear with any place decent to eat.

My second observation is the continuing decline in restaurant food.  We had one decent meal at a Holiday Inn.  I had a salad with steak on it, and Jim had one with chicken.  They were actually good.  The rest of the time we felt like we were being poisoned.  It’s like people have forgotten what food is supposed to taste like.  The amount of fat and salt is just horrendous.  It’s probably not fair to expect much along a freeway, but it seems worse than our last continental crossing.

We’re here.  We close on Tuesday, unload the truck on Wednesday.  I’m going to be very happy when this is over.

7 comments:

  1. .....and then once you've unloaded its only the arranging of stuff!!! I say only with tongue in cheek. All the best.

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  2. Creative use of the word "clots." :)
    Box Canyon Mark

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  3. Glad you're home. Still have a lot of work to do, I know, but at least the end of the tunnel is getting closer.

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  4. It must feel good to be back in Tucson, although you still have plenty of work ahead of you. At least it will be exciting setting up your new house.

    Just imagine trying to eat out if you don't eat meat or dairy. Pretty much impossible most places!

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    1. It would be difficult. I thought about you two when looking at the menus. Everything just looks like a heart attack on a plate.

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  5. We eat mostly home made, whole foods so we can control the stuff that goes into it, eating out almost always makes me feel unhealthy! One more reason for RV travel...less eating out!

    Congrats on making the transit...now for the moving in!

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  6. When we did our 2014 road trip around the US in our Honda, when we were on the road between spots and couldn't make our own food, we tended to eat at Subway. At least there we could get a sandwich loaded with veggies on whole grain bread. You're so right about the majority of restaurants. We also occasionally bought healthy frozen meals at grocery stores and cooked them in hotel room microwaves. There are some pretty nice offerings in the frozen aisle, at least at some stores.

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