Day 20:Old Tucson and 3:10 to Yuma

"Old Tucson" is a western movie set where tons of movies and western TV shows have been filmed. Four John Wayne movies were shot there, including one of my favorites, "McClintock!". Scenes from Tombstone and The Three Amigos, The Outlaw Josie Wales.... Episodes of Bonanza, Gunsmoke, the "Minnesota" episodes of Little House on the Prairie and all of The High Chapparal came from Old Tucson's streets. It's open to the public and is really quite interesting. All the great movie cowboys either died in the streets or rode off into the sunset there.

The better part of our day was there. Lots of fun! I got "volunteered" to participate in one of their skits, enabling me to show off my bass drum skills honed 40 years ago in band. (Pictures tomorrow. The camera got left in the car and I'm not going back out for it.)

Just up the road from Old Tucson is the western half of the Sagauro National Park and the Sonora Desert Museum. There we walked through lots of desert fauna and wildlife. We're still so impressed with the beauty of the Arizona desert. Thankfully today was sunny and pleasant.

Late in the afternoon we made our way to Yuma, our last stop before California, which is just about 2 miles from our motel. Maybe we'll sleep in a bit longer since as soon as we cross the Colorado River we'll gain an hour and be on Pacific time. Plans are to eat lunch with friends in San Diego, then run up the Santa Ana Freeway to Orange, where we'll be staying with friends through the weekend.

While in Orange I'll be shopping for a new set of tires!

PS - Gail here. I think everyone has things and places that they would like to see/do during their lifetime. I'm getting to see a lot during our trip. But I always wanted to see the huge cactus that look like people, with arms. During the past 3 days, I have seen thousands of them, they just fascinate me! - Gail