Ordinary things

Monday, March 21, 2011

TUCSON, AZ – On our last day in Tucson, there were some housekeeping items to look after — especially laundry, which, even when in travel mode, must be done! Visiting a new laundry room every week makes the chore a bit of an adventure. Will there be enough machines available? Will they work properly? How long will a load take? Where do I get quarters to feed the machines? Which dryer is the fastest? Will the clothes come out fried? (Some dryers virtually cook the clothes dry.)

When it’s all finished and the still-cooling clothes are stashed neatly away, there’s a great feeling knowing it will be a whole week before the adventure repeats itself in some other laundry room in some other place.

If we were in a less upscale RV park, we might have been able to hang the clothes out to dry – much cheaper, but not a sight the neighbours want to see next to the pristeen flower beds and stately palms. But today would not have been a day for that anyway; a stiff and steady wind was sweeping through the park, gusting to the point of ripping dead palm fronds off the trees. It was a lot cooler, and people were even saying there might be rain.

My last objective before leaving this area was to have a look at downtown Tucson. We’ve seen so many attractions around the city, but had never actually see the heart of town, so after a bite of lunch, we drove to the Visitor Centre next to the few multi-storey buildings we had glimpsed from the Interstate.

With a walking tour map in hand, we set out to see some sights. The wind was even worse, tunneled between the taller buildings, so I finally gave up holding my hat on my head and carried it in my hand, with my hair whipping in my eyes. We had to step over some palm debris as we went to check out some interesting statues.

The brochure explained that Tucson got its name from the native words describing the black granite foothills of the mountains surrounding the fort, or presidio, that was built here in the late 1700s. We also learned that the Mormons, who were looking for a way to establish a community in the west, had agreed to form a battalion, entirely made up of Mormons, to help settle the area and encourage the families of the troops to follow them here.

The city’s main courthouse is the showpiece of the downtown – a pink adobe building with rows of arches around the sides of a quadrangle, with a high dome over the entrance which is covered with shiny, multi-coloured ceramic tiles. It’s built on the spot where the original presidio used to be, with only an outline in darker paving stones indicating where its walls were located.

Worn out by the relentless wind, we headed back to suburbia and did some shopping and went to a movie (a new thriller called The Lincoln Lawyer – OK, but not great)! When we got out, there was a pungent smell of ozone in the air, and dark clouds hung overhead. By the time we were home, eating supper, the sound of raindrops pattered on the roof.