On Tuscon

Yesterday, Saturday October 26 we drove to Tuscon. Before leaving Phoenix we went to a Safeway, bought some prepared chicken wings, apples, carrots, iced tea etc. On the way we stopped at Casa Grande, an old Indian ruin about 50km south of Phoenix. The ruin was in pretty bad shape but it was very nice to get off the interstate and take a side road. We even pulled over and had a close look at the cactus. They were huge, much taller than me. The sound of gravel crunching under foot was soothing.

As for Tuscon itself, a thoroughly forgettable experience. The town is profoundly poor, as we drove south I remarked that one area made the worst parts of Scarborough look good. You may think the Golden Mile is in bad shape, but Tuscon is just plain depressing. To top things off it was Home Coming for the University of Arizona Wild Cats, can you say "Holy drunken college students batman".

We did stop for dinner at an American-Italian restaurant. I have eaten better but the ambiance, as well as eating outside in late October was very pleasant.

According to the travel guides there is a lot of drunk driving around these parts and there are all kinds or warnings regarding imprisonment for DUI on the road signs. I can understand, everything is so spread out and roads so straight it is difficult to stay focused. That said, people drink too much here and don't pay attention, in Tuscon a pedestrian walked right in front of me with a baby without looking, if I was not alert he would be pushing up the daises. Maybe that's why people vote Republican? They don't even realize how bad those guys are because the people would rather be drinking?