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Sara and I left the Phoenix area about a week ago and are presently about 25 miles from the border with Mexico north of Nogales. We will be leaving the Green Valley area in about two days for an extended tour of the desert west of the valley. We will be dry camping with no water or sewage hookup. Probably will not have any internet hookup or cell phone reception. We do of course have the gasoline powered generator but this will be our first try at really "roughing" it.

We will stock up on groceries and drinking water south of Tucson and then travel on Highway 86 to Pipe Organ Cactus National Monument Park. According to their web site, http://www.nps.gov/orpi/, we can only run the generator between 12 noon and 4 PM http://www.nps.gov/orpi/Campground%20Regulations.htm which means we will miss both the morning and evening news. We do have a great radio (hope we can get PBS) and lots of CD's. We have to rely on our two golf cart batteries in the RV for lights and water pump when the generator isn't running. I am not sure how long we will last in the park, but we have dry camped for 5 days before returning to civilization, and that is our goal.

While we were in the Green Valley we bought 4 new pillows, one body pillow, new sheets, pillow cases and a new comforter for the RV. This is the first new bedding for the RV in 3 years and was dearly needed. Sara of course had a ball washing all the sheets and pillow cases. They are all color coordinated, a first for the RV and the dogs, Ollie and Rudy, love them. Wait a minute, the dogs are not supposed to be on the bed. Yeah right. Ollie has all ready claimed the fuzzy soft comforter as his.

One of our main reasons for visiting the Green Valley was to look at retirement homes in the area. While we are not serious buyers as yet, we know that someday we will relocate and having visited this area two years ago, we were very interested in taking a second, more, serious look.

This area has much too like. It is not nearly as crowded as Phoenix(3.5 million) and Tucson is the cultural center with a population of about 600,000 It is much cooler in the summer than in Phoenix (rarely gets above 100) and doesn't have the air quality problems of the valley. Real estate is generally cheaper.

We looked at retirement homes in the cities of Green Valley, Sierra Vista, Rio Rico, Tubac and Nogales, yes Nogales. Many of the retirement villages are associated with golf courses, a sport in which neither Sara nor I have much of an interest. That is not to say that we couldn't develop one but right now the thought of paying for a premium lot and house price for the ability to conveniently hit and chase a little white ball around is not in our game plan. No offense golfers.

Most retirement villages have a club house, pool and recreational area besides the golf course. You pay a monthly fee for upkeep that ranges from $45 to $100 dollars a month. We probably saw over 20 model homes ranging in price from $400 K down to $205 K. Oh course the models are furnished to the max so that the price can be much higher if you want a premium lot and the best of everything. To make a long story short, we found several models in the $200 to $250 K range that would be more than adequate for our needs. The construction time is about a year from the time you sign a contract. We saw some building sites that are euphemistically called "scattered" areas. The lots are a lot bigger but you are out in a more rural setting and Sara rolled her eyes with the old "over my dead, cold body will you get me out here." I pointed out the interesting wildlife including a wandering coyote, and a steer standing in the middle of the road with little positive effect. When I asked Sara if she would prefer that I check to see if there were any grape vineyards or pecan orchards available, she said, and I quote, "Great idea, but be sure to rename it Don's Place, because I won't be within a thousand miles." So it's probably back to the "55+" village. It is comforting to know that the by laws of most of these villages require any permanent resident must be over 19 years of age and no children can be permanent residents. To us, 19 seems somewhat "childlike."

The models range from 1200 sq ft to over 2400. The 1200 footers looked awfully big to us. Each model has a walled back yard and some even have a little guest area called "Casita "which roughly translates to "place to put visitors or offspring so you can't see them from the kitchen." All have the two car garage and a gas fireplace. Some even have a third garage for the golf cart. Golf cart -plug ins are everywhere like the hitching post of the old West. We didn't sign any contracts but we were comforted to know that if we sold everything we owned, (which is considerably less since putting the house up for sale) and had a New York Times best selling RV travelogue we could probably afford one of these places. Besides we still would like to look around at a few places like Nevada, Washington, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon and New Found land to name a few.

One of the real downsides of this area is what is referred to as the "illegals problem". Approximately 432,521 people illegally crossed the border into Arizona from Mexico last year. We assume not all in this area. Of those 30,031 had a criminal records. The presence of the Border Patrol is evident but when you press the local residents about this situation they are quite ambivalent. They will usually say, "Hey this is the last place they want to stay. They are all trying to get out of here to places like L. A., Chicago, Miami, Belleville, Oregon or the West side of Madison as fast as they can." We are just kidding about the last three places, but most folks don't seem to think that illegals are that much of a security risk. You don't suppose that is because you see a lot of them mowing lawns or working for construction companies doing manual labor. Shades of Walmart, Huh????

While in the area we skipped a trip across the border at Nogales into Mexico. Nogales on the US side is actually a rather attractive city with many beautiful views of the mountains. We traveled to a state park at Patagonia for a lakeside lunch. It was billed as the largest lake in southwest Arizona at 250 acres. Guess what? IT IS THE ONLY LAKE IN SOUTHWEST ARIZONA. Then it was off to the village of Patagonia which is a struggling artist colony with shades of bright orange, reds, purples and greens. The local PIGS garage and the town square was the highlight. Sara found a beautiful denim pants dress, a concept that still escapes me, but decided to pass on it, stating, "Where would I it?" I took that as a hint that our social life had been somewhat lacking lately. After a harrowing "shortcut" through the Santa Rita mountains, in which we saw a golden eagle drop its dead meal, only to re catch it again in mid air, we decided that a night on the town was in order.

We had our choice between the Cow Palace and the Longhorn Grill in nearby Amado, population 38. After dining on a "Ranch Burger, Onion Rings and a Taco Salad" to the strains of the Zapotecs of Oxacalos singing Diez Perritos (The Ten Puppies) on the jukebox, Sara was overhead saying, "I am glad I didn't wear my little black dress."

We will be in a communication blackout for the next five to eight days and hope to re emerge on the other side of the Pipe Organ Wilderness Area and the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation. Just like the astronauts. Let's hope our life support holds out.....................