NOV 23, Monday, wash day
After Val’ exercise, we went to the laundrymat for the weekly laundry duties. In the afternoon, I downloaded our e-mail and updated our blog. We got an e-mail from Val’s sister that they may be coming to Palm Spring for X-Mas and New-Years! Wonderful news and Val is very excited! We will be in Winterhaven, only 2 hours from Palm Springs.
The rest of the day was spent reading, walking Tucker and helping a new neighbour in backing up and setting up. He is handicap and she did all the driving, set-up and looked after him and the dog that is blind and deaf. Now that is one courageous lady to whom I lift my hat!!!
NOV 24, Tuesday, Fort Bowie
Val wanted to go to the library to exchange some books that we’ve read and after doing that, we drove to Fort Bowie National Historic Site, approx one hour from here. We first drove to Wilcox than south on Hwy 192 to the turn-off which turned into a gravel road. We drove into the Chiricahua Mountains and found the fort on the East side of the mountains. As we drove up to the fort, two Javenila (wild pigs) crossed in front of us; that was exciting! Then we came upon a camp site full of University student studying Buddhism. There was even a Buddhist temple! A little further we came upon a house built of “bales of hay”; yes, bales of hay and it had a metal roof, windows and two doors. We took a picture of it.
Although not much was left of the fort, it was still impressive and the Ranger at the Info Centre was most informative and knowledgeable on his history of the place. I found out, for example, that the reason they built in the mountains was because water was found more readily then on the plains. This was also the immigrants trail to California and the “Butterfield Overland Mail route” which began in Fort Smith, Arkansas and ended in San Francisco via Yuma and Los Angeles. We spent about a half hour with him then walked the grounds and took a few pictures which I’ve uploaded to the “Arizona Folder”.
Fort Bowie was instrumental in the Apache war in the 1800’s and Cochise was held here as a prisoner for a while. The fort was closed in the late 1890’s. Now, all that remain are ruins here and there which have withstood years of deterioration and the elements quite admirably.
You know, as we go through all these historic sites, everything I learned and watched on TV comes together and makes me feel quite good about my limited knowledge of history. It is really neat to see sites that one has heard about and finally find what is fact and what was fiction!
We drove home via I-10 and fuelled in Benson @ 1.87/gallon. I BBQ’ed hamburger for dinner and Val made a lentil salad then we watched the tube for a while. The temperature has dropped quite a bit and it is really cool outside.
NOV 25, Wednesday, packing and readying to leave.
We woke up to 34*F (2*C) and sunny skies! This is our last day here and Val went for her final exercise classes. Later in the day, I loaded the kayaks and the bikes and put everything away. Val made muffins and cleaned house. We both need a change from this place.
For dinner, we went out to Benson at a Mexican restaurant with another couple. The restaurant had tacos for 1.50 each so we each had three with either rice or re-fried beans. It was delicious and we had fun. A good way to end our stay here! I also made some changes to our stay in Yuma so that we can spend some time with Marcel and Audrey in Desert Hot Springs. We are now booked in Yuma from Dec 21 to 30th and Catalina Spa RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs from Dec 31 to Jan 3/10.
NOV 26, Thursday, Onward to Sierra Vista, AZ
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Since we had a short distance to go, we slept in. We were on the road by 11 a.m. and after saying good-bye to our neighbours, we left and headed for I-10 then south on hwy 90 to Hwy 82 where we turned west and arrived at our new destination, Quail RV Park, an A.O.R. member in Huachuca City near Sierra Vista.
After setting up, we went over to the club house and had Thanks-Giving dinner (or is it lunch?) and met a bunch of new and very friendly people.
We have WI-FI here but no cable and only one English Channel on the antenna. We are here for 7 nights.
We went a whole 32 miles (52 KM) in one hour @ an average speed of 36 MPH
N 31* 41’ 29”
W 110* 21’ 25”
Alt: 4425 feet
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