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We got up early today so we can do the boneyard tour in Tucson. Breakfast was interesting, there was a soldier in full uniform, a businessman in a suit, us and a table with three gang bangers! One of the three was a woman complete with face tatts lol. Not a great sight to start the day!
We were on the road before 8am and headed out of El Paso. To the south we can see a ton of pollution hanging from where Mexico starts. In Texas the skies are clear with just a little cloud, a lower than average temp of 25C expected today, much more comfy than yesterday's 40.
Half an hour on the road we crossed into New Mexico. A wee ways on we were again stopped at a border control check point, no dramas just a quick check and we were on our way again.
Due to time constraints, the boneyard tour isn't on tomorrow so we have to get there by 2pm today to catch the last tour, we took the highway. It ran alongside the railway track with not a lot to see, mostly flat featureless landscape with a few mountains in the far distance. Now and then we pass some land that's cultivated, grapes, corn, nut trees etc but for the most part a lot of not very much.
Along the highway there's a lot of signs warning of possible dust storms with zero visibility, we didn't hit any but they must be wicked when they do occur.
Getting on for three hours on the road and we crossed into Arizona, not much changed lol we didn't have phone coverage for most of the day.
We got into Tucson early so went straight to our hotel. I'd booked a studio at the Marriott using points and when we got there I asked for an upgrade. We got the upgrade to an awesome two bedroom suite complete with a kitchen :-) We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the museum. Along the way we passed a motel which took the no tell policy to extremes, it was called The No-Tel Motel lol
As we arrived we were "greeted" by a Hercules and an A10 intruder both buzzing past us, Pete was in his element.
Before we could get inside the building to buy tickets we were greeted for real by an elderly bloke, one of many ex-pilots who volunteer there. He explained where everything was before answering our q's re the tour with a shattering, sorry the tours are sold out! You can't book on line and when I checked 6 or more months ago it said just turn up on the day and it'll be fine. According to our greeter, that was the case but now it's getting very popular so you have to get there first thing to have a hope :-(
I think Pete took it better than me, I'd been secretly planning this for a year; he'd only known it was happening for a day.
We still checked out the museum including the outside displays in the searing 40C heat. Pete found one of his beloved F1-11's and checked it over pretty thoroughly. There's a small space museum but it's nothing compared to others we've been to so we spent little time there but did get a goofy shot of Pete trying out the kids area lol
We left there and drove around the base as best we could given the limitations of not being able to go on the base. We could see some but far from all of the planes in the boneyard so will have to return better prepared to muscle in on a tour.
The base is massive with a lot of housing for the personnel and incredibly extensive banks of solar panels.
We headed back towards our hotel stopping on the way to get some steak for dinner, we were determined to make the most of having a kitchen tonight.
I spent ages trying to find a hotel worth staying in for under $200 in San Diego for tomorrow night so we can catch up with Jeff, I'll try again tomorrow cos no luck with that mission so far :-(
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