Heading South of Tucson

Tubac and San Xavier Mission

I appreciated the comment on the last post from Laura from Chapter 3 Travels. Just think: some day this will all be behind us, and everyone will share their stories about how they made it through the crazy year of 2020. "Remember when there were toilet paper shortages and highways were blocked by checkpoints?" Weird to think about, but some day.... 

Finally, a day without coming home dirty after a hike or bike ride. We headed nine miles south to the San Xavier Mission del BAc on the reservation south of Tucson.  San Xavier Mission was founded as a Catholic mission by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692. Construction of the current church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. 

The oldest intact European structure in Arizona, the church's interior is filled with original statuary and mural paintings. 

Tubac is located just 50 miles south of the Tucson. Tubac is said to have “good light” attracting artists to this small art community at the base of the Santa Rita Mountains in Southern, Arizona. 

Meeting people and spending time getting to know a little about them is one of the biggest thing I miss since we have started social distancing. We used to stop and visit on the trails. We don't have dinner at the bar and visit with the fellow next to us. We also prefer eating at a community table rather than our own private table.

Listening to the music while having a green chili burger and chatting up the musicians between songs made things better. Throw in a little dance between the tables made us smile. The people at a not so nearby table gave us a little applause after the spin. 

I occasionally think about walking this is part of the 1200 mile Juan Bautista De Anza Trail from Nogales to San Francisco that runs by Tubac. In 1775, Juan Bautista commanding officer in the Spanish army loaded up 50 men and blazed a trail to San Francisco. Sounds like fun to me! The Tumacacori to Tubac 4.5 mile section of the trail that parallels the riparian Santa Cruz River. But sometimes it is good to just be a tourist for the day and stay tidy.

This wasn't a far trip and one that we have done several times in the past. Passing the mileage signs marked in kilometers and passing through the border patrol made us feels as if we had gone far away.

We moved to Phoenix to volunteer for the Medical Reserve Corp at COVID vaccine site, helping get "shots in arms", me preparing vaccines and Mike helping with parking or PPE distribution. In return, we would get a vaccine. With only 10 hour shifts at first, they soon realized the need for 5 hour shifts and I signed us up. We started getting emails for urgent needs as the program amped up.

We got an email saying that we would only get a vaccine if there was any available at the end of our day. Another email showed that many of the first round volunteers were having trouble getting their second vaccine at 21 days. The volunteers were given phone numbers to call to hopefully get their second dose. Arizona has the highest COVID rate in the nation and poor state policies. We continue to get emails for urgent needs but also one saying that if we were uncomfortable with the risk, we should wait until our turn to get the vaccine and volunteer once we we received our shots. We canceled our shifts to wait our turn for the vaccine and pitch in once we are safe and the risk is lower.

The Reserve is for medical and nonmedical volunteers for emergencies both local and national. There is a simple application process and background check was done.

We are heading to Southwestern Utah in a few days!