Sunday ; Valentine’s Day ; Picacho Peak State Park through Tucson to Benson, Arizona
Well, today was a beautiful, sunny, warm, interesting, although minor injury filled day ! This morning we pulled out of the unserviced loop of the campground and drove over to the Barrett Loop where we parked the rig and went for a hike on the Cave Trail. Picacho Peak State Park is known for its great hiking trails. As we hiked up the trail to the cave, once again … ( sigh ) … Joanne stumbled, falling forward onto her hands and knees on the lava rock trail. ( sigh ) She bruised her knee and shredded the skin on it ( sigh ). I vow to force her to use her walking stick from now on, on all hikes we do. I left her sitting there on the trail, feeling a bit nauseous and resting her injured leg, while I continued on upward with Bo until we reached the cave at the end of the trail. She waited for me to return to where she sat then we hiked slowly back down to where the truck and trailer were parked. I tended to her shredded knee. She has fallen and shredded the skin on her knees so often in the last 5½ years of our travelling RV life that I’m surprised that her knees have anything other than scar tissue on them !
We drove the rig over to the Memorial Loop and found a place to park the rig while we went on the Nature Trail. Joanne was determined ! She used her walking stick ! ! ! After finishing the Nature Trail hike we left Picacho Peak State Park heading east on Interstate 10. At Tucson we got off the Interstate and found our way to Camping World to purchase a few RV items, including a new 12 volt heater blankie for Sully. He had inherited Teddy’s old 12 volt heater blankie but it recently gave up the ghost, so to speak. If I was religious, I might think that the heater blankie joined Teddy, keeping him warm in “a better place”. HA HA HA !
On the east side of Tucson we headed north for 10 miles to Saguaro National Park ( East ). A few years ago we had visited Saguaro National Park ( West ) on the west side of Tucson. We pulled into Saguaro National Park ( East ) and found a place to park the rig and have a late lunch. After lunch we drove around the very scenic eight mile long, winding, hilly, one lane wide, one way Cactus Forest Drive. It was a bit difficult to do this drive with the trailer in tow, but hey … I’ve done Mexico ! HA HA HA ! As we drove slowly around the park, I spotted a rare “Crested” Saguaro. At the next possible place to pull the rig off the road, I parked and we walked back so that I could take a photo. When we got to where I could see the Crested Saguaro, Joanne waited with Bo on the side of the road while I traipsed over the desert to take a photo.
Saguaro National Park is filled with Saguaro Cacti, obviously, but also a lot of Palo Verde trees, and many different types of cacti, including a variety of types of Cholla ( pronounced Choya ) Cacti. One of the types of Cholla Cactus is called Jumping Cholla. The spines are razor sharp, and barbed, and the little end segments of the cactus break off very easily. One needs to just brush very lightly against a Jumping Cholla and one of the little cylindrical segments will “stick” in / on you, almost as if it “jumped” at you. The first year we were travelling, I got a Jumping Cholla segment in my knee, having brushed against it while I was taking a photo in the desert. Well … today … while Joanne and Bo were waiting for me on the side of the road … yes, yes … Bo sniffed a Jumping Cholla ! ! ! Instantly a segment of the plant broke off, spines embedded in the tip of his nose. He began to squirm and gyrate around, trying to smack it off his nose with his paw. Joanne quickly scooped him up, and quickly but gingerly knocked it off his nose. Of course, she ended up with a few spine punctures in her hand ! Stupid, ****ing dog ! ! !
We finished our loop around Cactus Forest Drive and left Saguaro National Park ( East ). On our way back to Interstate 10 we came upon a motorcycle accident, arriving just after the Fire Rescue Squad and even before the police arrived. We had to wait awhile while the EMT’s attended to the injured motorcyclist, then loaded him into their ambulance and left. Then we had to wait while the firemen cleaned up the blood and guts off the road !
We continued east on Interstate 10 to Benson, where we checked into Saguaro Co-op SKP RV Park. Their serviced sites were all full, so we had to go into their unserviced boondock area. Darn … no power ! Tonight was the season premiere of Amazing Race. We have a 12 volt TV, but a year ago we failed to get the converter that’s necessary for older televisions to view the new digital TV signals that all American stations now transmit “over the air” for antenna reception. Early in the evening we headed for the clubhouse, for the weekly ice cream social. BUT … we found a TV in the library and decided we would rather watch Amazing Race than eat ice cream and socialize. After watching Amazing Race we decided we might as well watch Undercover Boss as well.
Monday ; Gee, today was President’s Day, a U.S. national holiday. Darn ! I was planning to pick up our forwarded mail at the Benson Post Office today. Joanne wanted to make a day trip to explore Bisbee and area.
We drove about an hour south on Hwy. 80 through Tombstone to Bisbee. Both Tombstone and Bisbee are true “Old Wild West” towns. We explored Tombstone a few years ago. When we arrived in Bisbee we drove though “Historic Old Bisbee”, found a parking spot, then wandered around town sightseeing and browsing in the many arts and crafts shops and antiques stores. We fell in love with the metal art work in a shop called Metalmorphosis. After visiting the shop twice we bought a large Kokopelli Dreamcatcher metal art piece that we intend to mount on the side of our storage shed back home.
We explored more of the town by truck then headed out of town on Hwy. 90 taking a roundabout route back to Benson though Sierra Vista and Huachaca City. Once back in Benson we stopped at Safeway to buy some groceries before heading “home” to Saguaro Co-op. Joanne prepared the special Valentine’s Day dinner she had planned for yesterday but postponed until today. We had supper while watching Olympic coverage on TV. We spent the evening watching the Olympics coverage. At the same time I worked ( somewhat distractedly ) on downloading and processing my photos of the last few days.
WOO-HOO … Canada won its first ever Gold at home !
This morning we prepared for departure from Saguaro Co-op in Benson. We considered staying another day but decided we would rather head off to explore Chiricahua National Park, then head to Roper Lake State Park for the night. Joanne wanted to explore Chiricahua National Park, and I wanted to see Roper Lake State Park where I tried unsuccessfully last fall to get a WorkCamping / Volunteer Campground Host position for this winter season.
So we hitched up and left. Just as we were leaving town and about to get on the Interstate I remembered that we had a batch of mail to pick up at the Benson Post Office. Recently I had made ( ahem ) new mail forwarding arrangements and had requested that our January mail be sent to Benson. And … sure enough … it was waiting for us there. Picking up our mail from our home mailbox on a daily basis and forwarding it to us once a month isn’t rocket science !
We headed east on Interstate 10, stopping in Willcox to refill with diesel at a TravelCenters of America. From Willcox we headed south on Hwy. 186 to Chiricahua National Park. At the Visitor Center we paid our admission fees and got instructions on where we could drop the trailer while we explored the park by truck, The roads in the National Park are narrow, steep, and winding. Large or long vehicles are prohibited. We had lunch and detached the trailer from the truck in the parking lot of Faraway Ranch, the site of the original homestead in the park. After lunch we went on a guided tour of the Faraway Ranch homestead, settled in 1888.
We spent the afternoon exploring the park by truck, stopping often to take photos. The park is at a high elevation, about 6900 feet ASL. There was snow on the ground in places. The topography is similar to Canyonlands National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park, both in Utah. Lots of rock “columns”, somewhat similar to the Hoodoos in Alberta.
Late in the afternoon we returned to Faraway Ranch’s parking lot to hitch up the trailer and head to Roper Lake State Park. As we were hitching up I noticed a damaged tire on the trailer. One of the tires had a large split in it, with chunks of tread missing. WOW … not many more miles before it would have exploded, likely damaging the fiberglass lower skirt of the trailer … again ! Oh, well, better to have to change a tire on a sunny warm afternoon in a deserted parking lot in a National Park, then in the rain on the side of a busy highway, after the tire explodes and causes damage.
We got the tire changed and headed back towards Willcox and the Interstate. By the time we got to Willcox the sun had set and we were minutes away from darkness. We had another 45 minutes or hour to go to Roper Lake. We would be looking for the State Park entrance in the dark, then looking for a campsite in the dark, and then backing the rig into a campsite in the dark. We learned pretty early in our full time RV’ing life that that should be avoided. Been there, done that ! And we would have to pay the State Park’s full daily camping fee for the privilege of getting into a site in the dark, cooking and eating supper, then going to sleep. We decided to boondock overnight at the TravelCenters of America in Willcox where we had purchased diesel earlier in the day. Which was fine, except … it aggravated me that they had lowered the price of diesel by four cents a gallon from what I had paid earlier in the day.
This morning we departed the TravelCenters of America truck parking lot and headed into the town of Willcox to find a tire shop. I wanted to have the damaged trailer tire removed from the wheel and replaced with a new, unmounted tire that I have had since last spring as a spare spare. I was hoping that if I showed up at a tire shop right at opening time they would have time to mount the new tire immediately. We found a Goodyear dealer in Willcox but they were not able to do the job immediately and I didn’t want to wait.
We headed east on Interstate 10, then north on Hwy. 191 to Roper Lake State Park. There were only two campsites available in the State Park. We got set up in a site, did our weekly application of OraVet gel to Sully and Bo, then I replaced a burnt out license plate light bulb on the truck before we set off to do some exploring of the park. Near our campsite was a path to the Day Use Island in Roper Lake. We wandered over there with Bo, enjoying the warm sunshine and lovely setting of the day use picnic area and beach on the island. Back at our campsite Joanne took Sully outside to allow him to explore a bit. He enjoyed wandering around, spending more time outdoors than he usually wants to. He even contemplated climbing a Mesquite tree. HA HA HA … Sully, at your age, I think your climbing days are behind you.
We headed into the nearby town of Safford, and the adjacent town of Thatcher, looking for a tire shop and the Mexican restaurants in the two towns that comprise the majority of “The Salsa Trail”, a marketing ploy, I guess, by the local Chambers of Commerce. We dropped the old tire and wheel, and new tire, at Big “O” Tires in Thatcher, then went for lunch to El Charro, a restaurant in old downtown Safford. Oh, my … what wonderful Mexico / New Mexico food ! We’re far enough east in Arizona that we’re close to New Mexico, and this restaurant’s food was somewhat of a fusion between Mexico and New Mexico. Joanne had Chalaca, a pork and green chile dish served in a baked masa ( corn meal ) “bowl”. We have had taco salads served in baked tortilla bowls … we even make those ourselves … but we’ve never had a baked masa bowl.
After lunch I wanted to wander around town a bit while I smoked a cigarette. We found the Mi Casa ( My House ) Tortilla Factory. We went inside to take a look. The lady behind the retail counter in the front asked if we were interested in seeing tortillas being made in the factory in the back. YES ! It was very interesting to see tortillas made. And then … she asked if we wanted a sample, hot and fresh off the production line. YES ! I hadn’t expected that a plain, unadorned tortilla would taste that good, especially right after a big lunch, but … it did ! Needless to say, we bought a package of fresh harina ( wheat flour ) tortillas. We picked up the new tire mounted on the wheel at Big “O” Tires and headed back to Roper Lake State Park.
I needed a nap ! Yesterday tired me out. After I napped we walked over to the campground’s natural stone hot tub fed by a mineral hot spring. AHHHHH … very nice ! Afterwards I sat outside at the picnic table in our site and began to review the batch of mail we had picked up in Benson yesterday. Joanne went for a walk with Bo over to Day Use Island. When she returned she asked me to walk back to Day Use Island with her to see the many types of birds on Roper Lake. We grabbed our binoculars and ambled over. The sun had just set and it was becoming dusk. On Day Use Island is a huge gazebo picnic shelter with a large cupola on top. Sitting on top of the cupola was … WOW … a Great Horned Owl. Very impressive bird !
As we walked back to our campsite in twilight, and came to a fork in the trail, I said to Joanne “tournez à droite ( “turn right” in French ), por favor ( “please” in Spanish )”, then commended myself for speaking two languages at once. Joanne’s response was “well … I would have been really impressed if you had said ‘tournez à droite, por favor, Babycakes’ ”. HA HA HA !
After we returned to the campground I napped for awhile, then we went to soak in the mineral hot springs natural stone “hot tub” in the campground. Late in the afternoon we headed to Day Use Island hoping to see the Great Horned Owl again. He wasn’t there today. We brought our Sibley Field Guide To Birds ( thank you, Erbon & Lorraine ) to do some bird watching. We’re not very adept at positively identifying birds but we did positively identify at least one unusual specie, a Red Naped Sapsucker.
I barbecued supper then worked on the photos I took over the last few days. I worked on the computer while sitting on the sofa with Sully asleep cuddled against my leg. Every evening Sully wants to sleep cuddled against my leg on a knit throw ( thank you, Ruth-Anne ) we have on the sofa. We call it his “TV cuddle time”. He’s such a sweet fellow !
Tomorrow we want to visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park. So today we wanted to go to an RV park near there. Our original plan was to go to the campground at Lost Dutchman State Park, but Joanne did a bit of travel research yesterday and decided we should check out the RV park at Apache Gold Casino Resort as we passed it on our way to Lost Dutchman State Park. Apache Gold Casino Resort is even closer to Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park than Lost Dutchman State Park is.
This morning we departed Roper Lake State Park. It’s definitely worth a return visit ! We headed north on Hwy. 191 to Safford, then through Safford and Thatcher and west on Hwy. 70. A few hours later we were on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. We stopped at the Apache Gold Casino Resort to check out their RV park. We decided to stay. The rate was reasonable, and there was cable TV and Wi-Fi. We got set up in our site, had lunch, and I went for a nap with Bo and Sully.
When we checked in at the RV park we were given a voucher for a coupon package in the casino. We went inside the casino and picked up our coupon packages. Each of us received a coupon for $1.00, redeemable at any casino cashier cage, and a coupon for a free drink. The dollars are obviously meant to be spent at the casino. But we just considered our free $2 as a reduction in the RV park fee, making it even more reasonable. We went to the bar and each had our free drink.
I spent the rest of the afternoon working online, getting caught up on e-mail, banking, and investments. Late in the afternoon we took Bo for a walk. We attracted a motley crew of free roaming “rez dogs”. Oh boy, Bo was thrilled to form his own pack, just like when going for walks in Mexico. But, as in Mexico, he was envious of the other dogs’ off leash, free roaming lifestyle. HA HA HA ! We spent the evening watching the Olympic coverage on TV.
Saturday ; Well, what a disappointing day ! I first learned of Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park about six years ago, six months before we began full time RV’ing, when I was looking for our first WorkCamping job. At that time they were looking for WorkCampers / Volunteers. I have been interested in visiting it ever since. Today was to be the day.
This morning the temperature was mild, and there were clouds far off in the distance. Joanne prepared a picnic lunch and we headed off to Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park, about an hour away. We headed west on Hwy. 70 to Globe, then west on Hwy. 60. By then time we arrived at Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park the temperature had dropped about 30 degrees, and it was raining heavily ( sigh ). We sat in the parking lot for awhile contemplating whether or not to go in. No … it was far too cold and wet ( sigh ). We drove “home” to Apache Gold Casino Resort, stopping in Globe to buy groceries at Safeway and refill Lanoire with diesel.
The Wi-Fi signal in the casino resort’s was not working today, so we went to the casino to use Wi-Fi, have our daily free drinks and get our daily free two dollars. We hitched Lanoire to Harvey in preparation for departure tomorrow. Joanne did a load of laundry. We spent the evening watching Olympics.
DSK
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