Day 21 – Dry Underground – Plains! – Missile

Colossal Cavern
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Today, the vacation is almost over, but I had several stops planned, so I pushed that thought out of my mind.

First stop was Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Found the exit off of I10 and headed to the park. The road is not the smoothest. Part of the road was nice and smooth, and then another section is old and needs to be repaired. Once we arrived at the gate, we paid our fee; we headed to the parking lot. When it was time to start the first tour for the day, we were the only group; this made the tour fun and I think we got more fun facts. Now it was time to go to our next stop, but as we were heading for the RV, we were stopped and told to wait for a escort to get down from the parking area. Come time find out they have had problems with people that are big as I am, with the exit road, so I had to drive off the top going the wrong way.

cool, stake place at camp…But

Colossal Cavern Enterance
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Next stop – Plane Boone Yard or better yet the Pima Air & Space Museum. We arrived and decided to do the AMARC Tour via a bus (nice and cool ride). The information that the tour guide gave was amazing. It was neat to see all the different planes in different states of storage or being used as parts. After the tour, the kids went on a hunt for clues in the complex (inside and outside.) One of the things they had to find was this plane they called “Super Guppy”; man when you look at this thing, you wonder how it even got off the ground. After getting the little trinkets and the small consolation prize for completing the hunt, we ate lunch on the road going to our next destination.

Plains!!!!
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Next stop is also part of the Pima Air & Space Museum, but it’s the Titan Missile Museum located 20 minutes south of Tucson off of I19. This museum is a unique. This location has a Junior Missileer Program, so Amanda went ahead and started to work on it. We toured the top, looked down at the missile and then we headed on down to the control room. After going down the stairs and waiting to go towards the control room, Eric moved an ~8000 lbs door that protects the underground complex. The kids had fun; they even did a simulated launch of the missile. Eric and Amanda had to turn the keys to start the sequence. After the simulation, we headed down the corridor to see the missile. Once back above ground, Amanda completed the booklet and got a pin.

Eric having fun
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It was starting to get late, so we got the Woodalls and TrailerLife books out and we started to look for the next camping location. Based on the time, I thought we could get out of Tucson before stopping for the evening. I noticed a billboard that stated that the campground had stake dinners; cool, stake place at camp - the Picacho Campground. But after we checked in, I inquired about the place to get the stake dinner and found out the ‘restaurant’ is only open during the winter months. So I asked if there is something in walking distance to get something to eat. We walked to this bar/restaurant on the other side of the freeway and had an excellent dinner in a very unique environment. We ate and listened to some music and then return back to the RV for the evening.

The view from Colossal Cavern
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Facts:

• Gas Stops: None
• Tour/Attractions/Gift Shops: Three