We had planned in advance not to celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day, so we weren’t doing anything special this morning. We ate a big breakfast, took hot showers, did laundry, and then looked around for something to do that was open.
We checked out of the RV park and pulled into a nearby McDonald’s parking lot to study our options on-line. A crusty man came riding up to the door of the truck on horseback, complete with a santa hat (on the horse), cowboy boots, bandana, spurs, and a six shooter (on him). His name was Dale, but most people called him “Cowboy.” He said he liked to go through the drive-through on his horse. McDonald’s didn’t mind, he said as long as he picked up any debris left by the horse.
He asked if we were new in town and suggested a few thing we could do. When we mentioned fossils, he invited us to his house to see his “fossils” which really were old indian pottery shards. We drove across the street to his abode, incongruously following the galloping horse in the Earthroamer, and stopped at a ramshackle old place with an old RV, a falling down tree-house, a tent with a homeless occupant, loads of junk, dogs, and trash in front. Cowboy was quite a character, talking non-stop, telling us all about the desert. While he spoke, he pulled a corona beer out of his saddlebag, offered Jason one, and popped open the cap with the edge of large dagger pulled from a sheath somewhere. Then he lit a cigarette, inserting it in the gap left by his missing front teeth.
We were entertained. His other rescue horses resided in filthy corals next to the driveway, overall better off, I guess, than being dead. He gave us some pottery shards and recommended we go to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, and see Old Tucson. Jason donated $20 to his rescue horse effort, and thus we made a new friend.
We took Cowboy’s advice, but had limited time. Unfortunately Old Tucson was closed, and there wasn’t enough time to do justice to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. We decided to come back another time. Before leaving we walked around the grounds admiring the carefully planted and manicured desert cacti and plants. It was a beautiful facility and definitely worth a longer visit.
We headed to Tucson to meet up with Larry and Elaine. Larry is an old friend of mine from MIT who married Elaine in 2003. The last time I had seen them was at their wedding! It was so nice to see them again. Having celebrated Hanukkah already, they didn’t mind that we were visiting on Christmas day!
Larry was as cheerful as ever. The boys enjoyed their fish and turtle pond that even had a large frog in it! We all enjoyed petting Teddy their wonderful dog. It made us miss Roscoe. We barbecued steaks, shared stories, and caught up on all the news. Larry was still teaching and loving it. Elaine was retired from Public Relations, and was a great resource for things to do in Tucson. On her advice, we planned to head to the Pima Air and Space Museum the next day. We parked in their driveway overnight.
