It was tough leaving Marquette on Friday, but it was time to continue our journey south. The first leg of our journey was only 2 hours due to a stopover in West Des Moines to see Sister Shelly and family.
West Des Moines: We spent the evening at the Iowa State Fair and had an opportunity to view some characters and eat a "guinea grinder"--an Iowa fair specialty. Irene fulfilled her lifelong dream of visiting Archivers (scrapbook store) with Shelly, Brittany and Anna. This was the first of many Archivers stops on our way across the U.S. Shelly had a beautiful home and West Des Moines was awesome, but the journey continues. The night before our departure, Shell mixed up some Moscow Mules to cap an enjoyable visit. We spent 2 nights with Shell and departed Sunday for our next stop: Aurora.
Aurora: We arrived in Colorado around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night. Sister Gina had a huge spread of BBQ'd ribs, potato salad, beans and Kristan's famous Alaska Mudpie for dessert. Everything was delicious. There was quite a rush of activity in the short time before we went to sleep, but the final event was a brawl between Peaches and Coda (Gina's black lab) ending with Peaches' head in Coda's mouth. Peaches walked away with a wet head, a pierced ear and a hole in her right leg. It wasn't pretty. Peaches was about to go back for more before we pulled them apart. Gina patched up Peaches leg with gauze and a sports bandage. Gina is quite the pet nurse for those not in the know. Dana took off on Monday to give us a first class tour of the Denver area and on Tuesday, we drove to Golden with Gina/Dana/Brittany/Kristan to see the Coors Brewery, Buffalo Bill's grave and Red Rocks (awesome). The highlight of our visit was during the evenings socializing with the Denning family in the cool night air on the patio of Gina's home. We had a wonderful visit in Aurora, but our clothes were getting tight from all of Gina's (and Brittany's and Kristan's) wonderful meals. We left Wednesday morning heading southbound to Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs: We made a pit stop at the U.S. Air Force Academy before arriving at the Jones' home on Wednesday. This was probably one of the neatest bases I have ever seen--definitely a dream assignment. Eric and Debbie greeted us at the door after arriving at their beautiful home -- Martha Stuart hasn't got anything on Debbie. Eric showed us around the area and we checked out Peterson AFB. We loved this area of CO and now see why Eric and Debbie don't miss Alaska. The next morning as we prepared for our departure, we found Bayley upstairs lying on the floor next to Eric. Bayley said he was trying to show Eric that dogs weren't all that bad. We got on the road around 0830 for the 12-hour drive to Tucson.
Tucson: We got to Tucson late Thursday night. It was interesting to see how the terrain changed as we headed south. Neither of us was real impressed with New Mexico, but I have to admit the Albuquerque landscape was pretty cool. We made a pit stop in Truth or Consequences, NM for some DQ and a dog break. Not much to see there. We kept plugging away and arrived in Tucson late Thursday night and checked into the Radisson downtown since billeting is booked until Monday. So far the area doesn't seem too bad. The streets are lined with cacti and palm trees and the mountain views are nice in a desert/Hell kind of way. It reached 97 yesterday and I only passed out three times. BUT I'll adapt.
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