Tucson

Tucson seems like a more blue collared version of Phoenix. We boondocked at the Casino Del Sol resort, just southwest of the city on the San Xavier Reservation. There were a ton of RVs there. We were told by one of our neighbours that the casino doesn't have a limit on how long people can stay there. She and her husband were there the entire winter. When the casino has special events that require the use of that part of the parking lot, they move them along to the older casino, and then welcome them back later on. Of course we ran into Gene again. He's the man who camped near us in Quartzsite, who we keep running into. This time we met his wife as well.

When we first arrived, we were entertained by a pair of roadrunners darting back and forth in the adjacent lot. They weren't afraid of much, not the traffic driving past them, and certainly not Teddy, telling them to get lost. We'd typically choose a spot along the edge of a parking lot, but my parents had already done that and if we wanted the same, we'd have been on the other end of the lot.

It's a very nice casino, well designed, with some interesting happy hour restaurants, and a pretty good air system. There's a smell that is particular only to casinos we've become accustomed to. Casino scent is a mixture of cigarette smoke, alcohol and perfumey cover-up. If you blindfolded me and plugged my ears, I'd be able to tell you I was in a casino based on that smell alone. I have come to almost enjoy that smell. To me it signifies fun, winning, and free drinks. I don't like the way my hair and clothes smell after we leave however.


Downtown Tucson is a great area to walk around. It's not a huge city area, but contains blocks of cool dining and drinking establishments. We took the dogs down with us, and Teddy just isn't mature enough to be a good patio mutt yet, and it was so hard to not stop in and have a drink somewhere. We really need to work on his patio skills. Toonie has amazing skills. We once hid her under our seats on a train for six hours and she just laid there sweet as can be, looking up at me, without a sound. It was that same trip down the Pacific coast where she traveled on the back of my bike, and nobody would ever notice her back there.

Overnight spot: Casino del Sol
Price: Free, No limit, No hookups
Includes: a spot to park
Dump: [View sanidumps.com]
Water: [View sanidumps.com]
Cell & Wifi: Verizon - 4 bars of 4G LTE.
Antenna tv reception: Major networks came in fine. Lots of Spanish and Christian channels as usual (I need to learn Spanish. The Mexican dramas look fun to watch, plus it will come in handy when we drive through Mexico).