March 10, 2014 Nogales to Picacho Peak, Arizona

We left Patagonia Lake state park. To head north we had to go south to Nogales, then north through Tucson.

Highway 19 from Nogales on the Mexican border to Tucson the highway signs are in Kilometers instead of miles. I read in the AAA book about Tumacacori and we stopped and took a tour. It is the ruins of a mission. Very interesting.

The Church. They never finished it due to lack of funding. There was supposed to be a dome on the bell tower. Here is a model of the mission. The church is in the middle. Most of the missions were large ranches or farms. There is a canal in middle of this one, orchards, crops and livestock.

This is the nave as it is restored so far and a photo of a model of what it looked like when in use. It was abandoned for many years. The walls are 7 foot thick adobe. The roof has been replaced. Floods removed a lot of the stucco over the adobe. The second photo is of the sanctuary as is and a drawing of what it looked like.

This is the tour we took of the mission. We are behind the church in the cemetery  here. John I think was more interested in the Old Tumacacori Bar across the street.

I also read about this Titan II missile silo we could tour. It is deactivated now and is the only one left of the 54 there originally were. We got to see a missile in the silo.

The underground control room. I was chosen to be the commander and I turned the key to launch the missile in a simulated launch. They gave me this cute card saying I turned the key. We parked the bus in front of this antennae in the parking lot, looks like the bus is receiving signals from outer space with it!

We made it through Tucson right before rush hour. Here is some of the over pass art. We are now camped at Picacho Peak state park. It is midway between Tucson and Phoenix. This is the peak. It rises 1,500 feet above the desert.

The bus at Picacho Peak State Park. We have an  electric hook up.  We are back in the Sonoran desert with the saguaros.

Looking east is the highway. Not exactly a wilderness experience, but nice anyway. The bus at sunset, with a saguaro and the moon right above the cactus. Tomorrow we may try to climb the peak. 1,500 vertical, 2 miles, very steep, knife edge with cables.