Day 57 - Phoenix/Scottsdale AZ

Today we reached the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It was still sweltering, and we found a Laundromat with Air Conditioning. Afterward, we spend most of the day in an air-conditioned shopping center, writing letters and postcards to our friends and family.

Then I went to Citibank to obtain a letter of credit to make withdrawals while traveling in Central and South America. After that, I called travel agencies inquiring about maritime transportation from Panama to Colombia (since no road was in existence between the two countries).

Two agencies recommended Italian Line. However, their representative office was in Tucson. No problem; we wanted to visit Tucson anyway. Later that afternoon, we did a drive-through of Phoenix and Scottsdale. We noticed lots of expensive villas and nice golf courses, and resorts.

After dinner, we studied the maps, discussing traveling through Mexico and Central America. We needed to estimate how much time we would require to get from here to Panama to reserve a date for the boat to Columbia. It was a challenging task, with many what and if's.

June 28th
All went well at the Italian Line agent in Tucson. I booked our boat trip to Colombia for August 19th. The cost was $516 for the three of us, plus the camper, but we had no other choice.

Around noon, the temperature reached 116 degrees! How does anyone survive here?

We found a nice restaurant with air-conditioning and celebrated today's spending record. Afterward, we visited Old Tucson, a Wild-West City once built for a movie set. A brochure promised a wild-west show that was a must-see. We purchased tickets for the following day.

We camped at a nearby desert campground. All around us was sand, dry bushes, and cactuses. Getting used to this heat was challenging, but we had at least a slight breeze in the evening and during the night.Read more