Slept fairly well. Hot, needed to use ceiling fan until early morning. Breezy outside this AM. Considering sleeping at some camping area in Tucson, then move out early towards El Paso. Not being able to get online to check things out has been a hassle that either I’ll need to get used to or find another way. Should have been easy here at Aunt Rosa’s house, but turned out to be a non-starter with the internet access. Will hit up a Starbucks along the way to check email, campsites, road and weather conditions.
Drove through Ajo, AZ, which I’ve always wanted to do. Not much here except old copper mine and lots of old hippies. Most of the restaurants are closed up.
Drive from Ajo to Tucson was nice. Lots of desert landscape as I remember it. Highway was quiet and peaceful, since most people don’t drive this section going through the Indian reservation.
There was a lot of construction on the highway going towards Tucson, just west of Robles Junction. The wind really started to kick up west of Tucson and didn’t seem like a very time for camping, much less cooking. So I stopped at the Karichimaka restaurant, picked up some food to go and headed towards the airport to find a hotel to stay at. Going into the Karichimaka seemed like going back in time, to another part of my life. Yet I still felt pretty detached. It was somebody else’s restaurant, somebody else’s problem, somebody else’s life.
Drove around the airport area hotels for about twenty minutes looking for hotel with vacancy and a parking spot big enough for the truck and trailer (where I could monitor from the hotel window – this area of Tucson isn’t that great). Ironic that the only place that I stayed at a hotel on this trip was my hometown of Tucson. The only family that I have here now is in the cemetery…
Hotel was decent, not cheap, but not expensive, and had internet. Ate the takeout food from Karichimaka (which was very good) and did some research on places to stay in the next several days.