Desert Snow Birds

 It was an unusual flight to be on - Orlando to Phoenix considering neither place is our home, but it was a bit of a last minute decision to help Nicole with a bit of research for a script she is working on. On this flight, Olympian Michael Phelps was riding in first class. Nicole and I were in the last row, so we never saw him again as it took about 30 minutes to deplane. Our time in Phoenix was brief as we immediately rented a car and began driving south toward Tucson.

Nicole is working on a script regarding missileers, the crews who are in charge of America's nuclear weapons, and Tucson is the only remaining Titan II missile site in existence (albeit deactivated per nuclear treaties from the 80s). As we drove around the Tucson area and checked into our hotel, got dinner etc, we discovered that we were about 30-50 years younger than everyone we encountered. Traffic moved . . . slowly down the roads. Most of the luggage on the airport conveyor belt consisted of golf clubs. The Q-tips were in down, and in large numbers.

This age gap did not change when we got to the missile site itself. There were 25 people on the tour, and all but 3 (including us) were over the age of 65. Nevertheless, they were active enough to be capable of walking down the many steps to reach the base of the missile and the missile control room. It was good to get some insight into the inner workings of a missile site that contained the most powerful warhead in U.S. history. Apparently the explosive power would have been 650x that of the atomic bombs dropped over Japan. So that's some food for thought considering the U.S. still has 450 land-based missiles alone. It is a bit overkill, but what do I know. Anyway, on our way back to the city from the missile site, we stopped at the San Xavier del Bac Mission.

There we encountered more Q-tips, but enjoyed the sunshine and deep blue skies that flanked the mission. After that we spent a brief amount of time in downtown Tucson for some tacos and tortas and headed back to the Snowbird Inn to relax for the rest of the evening.

All in all, it was a relaxing time in Tucson despite the old folks oggling us and making us feel a bit out of place. Come March, I presume things will normalize.

Wichita is Closed

For the first time since New Years Day of 2016, I found myself overnighting in Wichita, Kansas. On that previous visit, Nicole and I braved 20 degree temps as we remarked on how deserted downtown Wichita was. We assumed this was due to it being New Years Day. Flash forward two years and little has changed...

Since I had a pretty long layover, I looked into museums or other attractions to see. It's then that I discovered everything's closed on Sunday. Nevertheless, I put on my jacket and hat and decided to go for a walk.

As I walked along the riverwalk, the only living creatures I encountered were geese who were too stupid to migrate. They had left a good amount of their poop on the trail to remind me who owned this part of town.

With the exception of a homeless man propped up against a veterans memorial, I saw zero people.

I approached an area with a bridge and a cascading fall that led up to a statue of sorts. I thought to myself, "Well that's at least interesting. Let me check it out..."

 No such luck. The pedestrian bridge was somehow also closed. Sunday is real serious business in Wichita. I gave up. From there I went into downtown Wichita and old town. It was noon now and I thought it best to try and find a place to eat. To date the only restaurant I have eaten at in Wichita is the restaurant attached to the hotel.

The creepy statues were my only company on downtown's streets. As I have previously speculated, it's to give downtown the illusion of being active and vibrant. I'm not sure if this town is a has-been or a never-was. Perhaps they are yearning to make America great again, like when cows roamed the streets and stores were open. But without exaggeration, I saw one place open during my entire walk. The rest were for lease or simply closed.

I found a Quizno's nearby on my map, so I walked toward it only to find that it too was closed. Things weren't looking good. When I returned to the hotel, I did a search to see what was available in the Wichita airport terminal to eat. The only thing that seemed quick and easy was a Chick-Fil-A. It's like a sick joke. I could starve to death here! At this rate, I'll have to wait until I get to Denver to eat. Pray for me. There's a church around the corner, and it's the only thing open today.