Eastbound Day 10 – 113 miles – Phoenix to Tucson

Monday, 4 April 1994

We get slightly sidetracked en route to Tucson by a factory outlet shopping centre by the freeway. America is still the world’s great bargain centre for clothes and shoes and new Levis all round seem like a good idea. In Tucson we stay with Lonely Planet author Rob Rachowiecki who is currently working on our new guide to the Southwest, so we definitely have an expert guide. After lunch we spend the afternoon at the wonderful Sonora Desert Museum, part zoo and part botanic garden and a great introduction to the desert fauna and flora.

In South-East Asia I’ve always loved rice paddies. The neat organisation of the fields and the lush green then gold of the maturing rice is just a delight to the eye. I think I could develop the same passion for saguaro cactus, they’re the most picturesque looking plant imaginable and around Tucson there are so many of them. That night we sit up talking too late and drinking too much. We’ll regret it in the morning.