Friday, February 17, 2012 (Catalina State Park, Tucson, AZ)

It was a cool, cloudy morning but at least it wasn’t raining...there had been a brief downpour through the night...it woke me at about 1:00 a.m.  We had a lazy start to the day and then leisurely started to pack up.  We had to move to the overflow area of the park today but it was only for one night.  Tomorrow we would move again...into campground B for the duration of our stay.

We pulled out of our site at 11:30 and drove the short distance towards the group camping area where the overflow section was.  After checking in with the camp hosts, we pulled into the huge area.  We were really surprised at how it had cleared out...which was good; it made it easy to swing the rig around and back up into our spot.  There wasn’t much to setting up...other than levelling the 5^th wheel.   We didn’t unhitch but Steve did decide to set up the satellite dish even if we were just there for one night.

After lunch, we decided to go for a hike...this time we chose the Nature Trail.  There is a main trailhead where all trails start just up the road but with a trail from here to the trailhead, we didn’t have to walk the road. 

This is one spazzy saguaro cactus...

A flowering cactus...

We also learned a few interesting things...

We did the loop...

Dark clouds were looming as we headed back to the trailer...but luckily, we had no rain.  We had a great hike...only just over 3 miles but the scenery was beautiful and the exercise felt good.  The camp hosts were out waiting for more visitors to the overflow area when we walked by so we stopped and chatted with them.  They mentioned another trail that goes up to some pools...we’ll have to check that out another day.

We were relaxing inside with a bottle of water after our hike and watching as a few more RV’s came in.  Steve wasn’t sure whether we would need to use the generator but to be on the safe side, decided to go get it out and all hooked up.  While out there, I could hear him chatting to our neighbours so I decided to go out. 

Rob and Jackie are from Kelowna, BC...he used to be an Air Canada Airbus Pilot making international flights around the world.  Now he drives a very old GMC bus converted to a motorhome.  That's their bus on the right...

Another older couple (didn’t get their names) are from Salmon Arm, BC.  They used to drive their pickup and trailer down to southern Mexico all the time...but now their kids have forbidden them to go down there.  They did admit that it’s just not safe down there now.  There was also another couple in old van that they parked right beside us...they are from Kansas.

We had our usual evening inside...while watching TV, I was also messaging our son, Chris using my iPad.  He had given me a website to download 'codecs' that were needed on my laptop to read the TV shows that I had downloaded.  Well, I was getting pretty frustrated...the website was so confusing to me that I think I downloaded everything I didn't needed and not the thing I was supposed to.  I appreciate the patience you had with your mother, Chris!