Quartzsite, Az

The first night in Quartzsite we stopped on BLM land for the night at Hi Jolly. A storm moved through the area but we were glad Monday was clear. The desert appears flat until you get out and notice the washes and ridges. The desert was just beautiful and greener than usual due to a higher than usual amount of rain in the winter.

The camping areas were not nearly so busy as they had been a few weeks ago when the crowds poured into the area.

Near Quartzsite is the location where Jefferson Davis, then the secretary of war, decided to experiment with using camels in the arid southwest. 33 camels were unloaded in Texas in 1856 and later 41 were added to the group. Their caretaker who came along was Haiji Ali, who was renamed Hi Jolly by the soldiers. The experiment was abandoned in 1861 and the camels were left in the desert to fend for themselves.

In the Quartzsite cemetery is his grave.

Tombstones in this cemetery definitely have a different look and reflect the area.

Some of the graves reflect the name of the town also as does this one covered with quartz!

We did stop for one geocache in Quartzsite. It was well placed under a tree with thorns! I saw them, forgot, and then grabbed the branch to get up. I let go quickly and toppled right over!!

Solar Bill installed some solar panels for us and we were good to go back to the desert. No electricity needed!! What an exciting day! A lot of work happens from this little building in the desert.

We returned to BLM land, this time on Plumosa Rd. Leon tinkered with the tripod and satellite dish.

I explored the wash. This is what I consider wash day!

I really like a good desert wash.

You never know what you might find looking outside the box! I came across this cactus just almost ready to burst into color. They should be blooming in a couple of weeks according to the locals.

We left the solitude of the desert and headed to Apache Junction. But we will be back another time!!!!

Tucson, AZ

We spent a fantastic weekend visiting with Noah and his family in Tucson. We went to see the Percy Jackson movie and then stopped on the large hill with the painted A on it for a look out over Tucson. The A was always whitewashed since the early 20th century until after 9/11. It is now painted red, white, and blue.

Noah, of course investigated the top of the trailer. What else would a thirteen year old do?

He wished the motorcycle had been on the ground, or did he?

Rockband got everyone involved and we were entertained royaly by Joe, Christina, and Noah in their rockstar getup! All in all they make a pretty awesome rock band!!!!

 We got to join in on the pancake breakfast ritual on Sunday morning before we departed!

Kartchner Caverns, AZ

Benson is a bustling town on the interstate that was once a stopping point for the Butterfield Overland Stage. When the railroad came to town Benson thrived. The old wild west town is now a haven for rv’ers escaping the winter cold up north and basking in the sunshine of Arizona. It is also home to Kartchner Caverns which we visited after stopping at the library and having lunch in Benson.

The caverns were only opened in 1999, having been discovered in 1974 after two spelunkers from Tucson discovered them on the Kartchner’s property. We rode the tram to the hillside entrance and enjoyed a 90 minute tour through the big room. Cameras were not allowed.

The day ended with a steak dinner at the Elk’s Lodge back in Sierra Vista!

Bisbee, AZ

Further south of Tombstone we visited Bisbee, a copper mining camp in the 1880s.  By 1910 it had become the largest city between St. Louis and San Francisco.

When the copper mines closed in the 1970s many families left to find work in other mining towns. Along came the hippies, seeking an escape from the city and finding inexpensive housing and an easy going lifestyle. It is now an eclectic town at the base of the Mule Mountains with old volkswagons, old hippies, and quaint shops.

It was a great place to have a cup of coffee and observe the locals and tourists alike. It wasn’t hard to distinguish many of them. The town has a good feeling about it.

Notice the shop built on the concrete slab that is placed over the creek that flows between the street and other property.  This is typical all down the street and not anything I have ever seen.

As we left town we passed the mines.

We drove near the Mexican border as we took the less traveled route back to Sierra Vista.

Tombstone, AZ

The Elk’s Lodge in Sierra Vista has a nice camping area nearby and there is no train that runs all night nearby as was the case in Willcox. So after a good night’s sleep it was off to Tombstone on Thursday morning. Indeed it is a place for tourists and that is just what we are.

We strolled down the street listening to the clip clop of the horses pulling the tourist mail wagon in the “town too tough to die!”

At one time Tombstone was the county seat which was later moved to Bisbee when the silver mine flooded and the population dwindled. The courthouse is a fine museum and it is inconceivable to us that the state can’t afford to keep it open and plans to close it at the end of March.

At the OK Corral we watched a multimedia presentation about the history of the town and it’s famous, or infamous gunfight, depending on how you look at it. We then filled the bleachers with 300 other mostly old people and enjoyed the reenactment of the gunfight in which Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers killed the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton. They are buried at Boothill.

According to the locals, Wyatt Earp and his brothers were not the good people! But for the popularity of the gunfight, I think Tombstone might just have become another ghost town. And yet it was once larger than San Francisco!

A tour of the Boothill Cemetery provided some comic relief. Most of the people buried there did not die of natural causes according to historical records and family interviews used to help recreate the long forgotten cemetery.

Willcox, AZ

The Elk's Lodge is a fine place to stay in Willcox until you realize the train track is one block away and the trains run all night long, blowing their whistles for what seems like forever.

Willcox grew from a small cow town into a major cattle-shipping area. The cowboy actor, Rex Allen, was a famous son. Leon took a tour of the small museum. I had visited with Rex Allen, Jr. when I was here before.

Two doors down is a recently opened museum that pays tribute to the music of Marty Robbins. We sure could not play favorites so we stopped there also.

We also took the time to visit the Chiricahua Regional Museum. Here the focus was more on the Indians that had inhabited the area.

Ft. Bowie, south of town, was built in 1862 to protect the Butterfield Stage Line that passed through the area; as well as pioneers from Apache skirmishes. We chose not to do the 3 mile hike to visit only later to learn that we could have driven to the visitor’s center.

North of Willcox are U pick farms and orchards, At Stout’s Cider Mill you can sample some of the finest looking apple pies I have seen. We resisted this temptation! Then later, as if it were an omen, a geocache led us right back to Stout’s. I decided if we found the cache I would reward myself with a piece of pie. That was when I did not think I would find it. Then, Bingo! Apple pie alamode no less.

I took in another cache in town while Leon was getting the trailer hooked up for travel. I was delighted, while wandering the streets, to see a HUGE flock of sand hill cranes circling in the sky. I knew they wintered in the area and wasn’t sure where to find them. Seems they fly across town each day from their feeding area to the nesting area. We debated staying in Willcox one more day but more adventures awaited down the road.

Wake up, Leon. It is time to go!! LOL

Chiricahua National Monument, AZ

Day 1: We rolled along the interstate to the Walmart in Abilene, Texas.
Day 2: We rolled along the interstate to the Walmart in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Now here was a first: the security guard was meeting all the rv’ers and showing them where he would like them to park. There were more than twenty rv’s there Monday night! How welcomed we felt!

Day 3: We rolled along the interstate to the Elk’s Lodge in Willcox, Arizona. What a nice rv parking lot they have! We hooked up to the electricity, unhooked the rv, and were off to explore the Chiricahua National Monument. Here we found the snow we had seen for many miles!

This is an isolated mountain range that rises above the surrounding grassland in an area 36 miles south of Willcox. The Chiricahua Apache, led by Cochise, at one time controlled the land.

We passed on the hiking trails but did drive to Massai Point where we were in the snow.
The sun was shining and it was 62 degrees. What a way to say goodbye to Winter!

The rock pinnacles were formed from volcanic ash. This is balanced rock!

Swedish immigrants settled here in 1888 and by the 1920s they had turned their home into a guest ranch. They took visitors on horseback rides or hiking trails through the “Wonderland of Rocks” and lobbied for the area’s protection. They were rewarded for their efforts in 1924 when the national monument was established.

Sweetwater, Tx

We stopped in Sweetwater to get diesel and I wandered inside the gas station only to find this glass enclosed trophy! Watch where you step in these parts. This is the record holder for the Sweetwater Rattlesnake roundup that is held each March. It is 81” long and weighed 12 pounds.

Well that is long enough for me to be in Sweetwater, Texas!!