Benson AZ - Our First "Real" Stop for 2013

Roger here....  Here we are nestled in a beautiful site at the Saguaro Escapee Park just outside of Benson, Arizona.  We have finally escaped from Texas.  We have already been here for two nights, and will be spending two more nights before moving on.  How did we get here?  What have we been doing?  Read on.

Before leaving Fort Stockton, TX, we read about some possible windy travel days.  We intended to spend a couple of nights in Las Cruces, NM and visit the White Sands National Monument; however, due to the potential winds and possible dust storms, we decided to drive a little further on a calm day and postpone White Sands for another time.  We forged on to Deming NM, making the last day of driving to Benson a short one.  We stayed at the Escapee Dreamcatcher Park in Deming, an easy overnight stop and just off the interstate.  There are three intriguing state parks in the Deming area:  Rockhound, City of Rocks, and Pancho Villa.  The small town of Palomas, Mexico with its famous Pink Store is also nearby.  It was tempting to stay a few nights, but we wanted to have more time in the Benson area and we needed to get there before the winds.  Another time.

We left Deming just before 9:00 a.m. (early for us).  We knew that the worst of the winds were not due until afternoon, and hoped to arrive around noon.  Strong winds are a big deal when driving a high-profile vehicle, and more than a little scary.  Last year, a gust of wind blew us completely into another lane on the highway.  Not fun.  Another issue is the havoc that a sandstorm would wreak with the paint job of our motor home --- a major expense.  Below is a sampling of the signage that we passed on I-10 throughout most of the morning.  

By the time we arrived, the winds were in the 20 mph range and did push us around a little bit, but not too bad.  Glad we left early.  Now we could enjoy our time in this beautiful place.  

After setting up, we had time to take the dogs on a hike.  We discovered that there are trails through the desert area adjacent to the RV park.  We have actually gone hiking in that area for the last three days.  The first day we just scoped out the area.  Yesterday, we hiked for three miles.  Today's hike was just shy of six miles.  Here are some of the highlights.

The first leg of our walks involves an uphill trudge to the water tank.  

The view back from the water tank is dominated by the Saguaro RV Park with the distant mountains in the background.

The trail behind the water tank is actually well maintained.  The entire trail exists at the top of a rise, dropping off to the arroyos below on both sides.

Beautiful, stark desert and mountain views in all directions.

Even though the trail was obvious, there were numerous cairns to mark the way.  The creators of this one spent some time turning it into an arch.

Except for the initial trip up to the water tank, these were not strenuous hikes --- relatively flat.

Me and my gal...(D.)

We really did not even work up a sweat.  The morning temperatures in the upper 60s, the breeze, and the near complete absence of humidity helped to make our morning exercise in the intense sunlight an extremely pleasant experience.

Cactus Flower

Dianne, of course, stopped several times to take some close up photos.

This one of the yellow flowers is a little nondescript; however......................

Cows in the desert?????

This one of a splatter of unidentified poop is striking, don't you think?





Yesterday, after hiking, we closed the motor home shades, turned on the air conditioning, bribed the dogs (who remained behind) with treats, hopped in the car and headed to the nearby 
town of Bisbee.  What a cool town this place is!

Street View from Coffee  Shop

Bisbee is located in the mountains not too far from the Mexican border.  It was originally developed as a copper mining town.  When the mining operations shut down, it became a tourist mecca --- lots of places to eat, drink, stroll, shop and even take a ride into the old mine.  I love places like this because the old town still exists. The photo above was taken from the Bisbee Coffee Company where Dianne and I relaxed over a couple of mochas.   (Dianne here:  my mocha was a Mexican spiced Mocha and boy, was it good!)

The buildings are all original --- no facades here.  The decorated alleyway below goes up, up, up to the next street.  Lots of steps in this hilly town

I am pretty sure that the "Royale", which seems to be an old opera house, is blue.

We worked up an appetite, what with all the wandering around.  BUT, before heading to the lunch spot that we scoped out, we stopped at the Old Bisbee Brewing Company for a glass of red beer --- very tasty.

The view from the outdoor terrace was also a treat.

Lunchtime!  Dianne scoped out the various places to eat on Yelp during the drive.  She picked the Cafe Cornucopia, known for its homemade bread, quiche and soups.

Dianne had an egg salad sandwich on sourdough and a fresh-squeezed, frothy tangerine lemonade.  I had green chili quiche (I know.  quiche is not for men, but because it is green chili, it is acceptable) and made-from-scratch soup.  Very tasty.

We intended to visit the local mining museum that is operated by the Smithsonian, but we ran out of time.  Another time....

At 2:00 p.m. we had reservations to ride a mine train into the copper Queen Mine, to see how copper was mined in the past.  We took a mining tour in Creede, CO last year, but this one was different.  We got to dress up!

After being outfitted in slickers, hard hats and miner's lamps, we straddled the train car and headed into the mine.

The train stopped in three different locations where we disembarked and walked through the shafts.  At the farthest point, we were 1500 feet into the mine.  The mine itself goes to a depth of 900 feet.  The constant temperature underground was 47 degrees, no matter how hot or cold it might be on the surface.

Our guide, Joe, who is a retired miner, demonstrated how the machinery worked ... back in the day.

He also showed how dynamite and fuses were tamped into the seven-foot holes that the miners drilled, and how they staggered the lengths of the fuses so that the dynamite would go off in a series of blasts.

The highlight of the underground excursion was the honey wagon.  This contraption was fitted onto rail tracks and moved to the surface by one of the unfortunate miners.  It was said to be a crappy job.  (groan)  Our guide, Joe, did not demonstrate this piece of equipment, but he did ask for volunteers.

On to the surface....









Dianne does not typically enjoy shopping.  She is strictly an Amazon girl.  However, she did do some damage in Bisbee.

Let's see --- a calcite tea candle sconce (we have been finding calcite on our walks in the desert), a splash of copper from the Queen Mine, two bottles of flavored olive oil, and a pair of labradorite earrings (a VERY rare jewelry purchase for Dianne).

The pet pictures of the day were taken during our daily walks in the desert.

Bandido is checking out the next leg of the trail.

Tequila is critiquing my pathetic effort at desert rock art.  I kept telling her, "It is a spiral, and very cool."  She was not convinced.

Away We Go!!!!!

Away we go!  .... Just like in Disney's Peter Pan; except this time without the fantasy --- just the fun.

Roger here....  Before we "fly" (roll) off I need to show you the highlights of our last day at Retama Village in south Texas.  Dianne spent her last day walking her soul-mate, Bart, at the Cinderella Pet Rescue --- one of the dogs she walks twice a week.  She was very sad to say goodbye until fall.  She hopes that he will find a forever home, but would hate to not see him again.

If we did not already have two dogs, Bart would be a part of our family.   Dianne here...if you know of anyone who would like a smart, affectionate black lab, here's a link:  Dogs Available/Cinderella Pet Rescue info 

Our friend, Sue, fixed us an Italian dinner on the night before our departure so Dianne would not have to cook (yum), but first a round of Jim's frozen margaritas.

After dinner, we all took one last walk around Retama Village with our four dogs:  Click, Bandido, Tequila, and Gabe.

Sleep passed quickly.  Morning soon arrived.  I pulled the motor home out of our lot.

Wow, does the lot look empty, despite the new landscaping in the back.

After hooking up the trusty Toyota with the refrain of Peter Pan's song in my brain, away we go!  

Well, we have been driving for two days and we still have another full day before we get out of Texas.  Lest you think that everything works perfectly for us, the end of our first day (at least the first part of the end) was irritating.  

We had driven for four and a half hours to the small town of Carrizo Springs, hoping to stay in an inexpensive RV campground outside of town.  Our GPS, mapquest, and the directions from the campground website all failed us.  An obvious first turn in town did not appear in any of our directions.  So, we drove out of town (with no easy place to turn around --- these motorhomes require more space for u-turns than a car.  After some frustrated bickering (polite term), we drove to the next town, Crystal City, where Dianne was able to locate another campground off the beaten path.  What a find!  Things happen for a reason.  The Triple R Campground was just what we needed after a long drive.  You can see the view from our front window in the opening photo.

After setting up, we had time for a short hike in the rural campground before dinner.

The views as we strolled around the resaca (oxbow lake) were just what we needed.

In a short while, Dianne said, "Look! there's a motorhome just like ours!"  My reply was, "It is our motor home."  (Dianne here:  At times I'm a little spacey....)  A little while later, it was visible again.

We loved and ascribe to the placard that was displayed on the tree below.

After emerging from the trail, we wandered over to a deck that overlooked the Nueces River --- the original southern boundary of Texas before the Mexican-American War.  Such a tranquil place this is.

Before climbing back into the motor home, we returned to Neverland.  Tick Tock, Tick Tock, Crock!  Not a fantasy, this one.  He seems to have the beginnings of rusting teeth.  

After Dianne and I settled in for the night in this rural setting, our animals went on high alert.  Big Chuck and Tequila guarded against a large population of roaming house cats.

Hey cat, wanna fight?

Here, kitty kitty...

Bandido startled us with a series of urgent barks.  He was warning us that nine or more deer were getting a drink on the other side of the lake.  (Sorry, no pictures of the deer --- too dark.)  

I told you something was out there!  You guys never believe me until you look twice!

During our second day of travel, we forged on through Eagle Pass and Del Rio.  A scenic highlight was the crossing of the Pecos River.

Right now, we are settled in an overnight spot near Fort Stockton, Texas.  We have another full day of driving ahead of us until we take the long roll through El Paso, and finally cross into New Mexico.  More about that later.

We have two pet pictures of the day.  Both of them showing our doggies in travel mode.  Here is Tequila, snuggling next to me while I drive.  It is nice to have a furry friend to pet when the traffic is light.

AND. here is our fifty-pound lap dog, Bandido, crushing Dianne's legs in the passenger's seat.  She would not have it any other way.

Thanks for cracking the window, mom.  Laredo sure smells interesting!

So Why Are We Leaving?

Roger here.....  Wow!  Look at the riot of color in our back yard.  The plant life here in deep south Texas is amazing most of the year (even in January), but right now it seems to be at its peak.

The jasmine vines that we planted at the corners of our pergola are growing so fast that you can almost see them creeping up the trellis.  They are in full bloom and so fragrant.  

I just finished conducting our last community meeting of the season.  Good to have that behind me.  It almost feels like the start of Spring Break (educators understand the analogy).  It is so relaxing to sit in a comfortable chair on the back patio ---- looking at the flowers, watching the butterflies and birds, enjoying the ever-present Texas breeze, reading a good book.  SO, why are we leaving?

Well let's see....  

--  We have been working for a couple of months getting the motor home ready for a long trip:  new tires (expensive -- ouch!), new tire pressure monitoring system, annual service, oil change, battery fluid checks, repair to a couple of the bay latches, a thorough wash and wax.  It would be a shame to waste all that effort.

There's no place to sit in front of the coach house  -- our red Adirondack chairs have disappeared.   Oh, wait!  There they are.

-  The back patio looks so empty --- nothing except the camping chairs that we are taking with us.

-  Even our Texas bar has found its way inside.  Why linger here if there is no bar?

-  Necessities have been moved into the motor home and location lists have been made so that we can find them.  Dianne did most of the list making this year.  My obsessive compulsive, concrete- sequential traits are finally rubbing off on my dear wife.  It only took forty-some years...

-  Our good friend, Jim, helped me drain the water heater that lives in the attic.  We have to leave, or his help was for naught.  Have a look at those legs!

-  Anal retentive me has been planning the trip for weeks:  routes, reservations, timing to meet with family/friends, things to see, things to avoid, new adventures.  It would be a waste to not follow through after having done all that work.

-  Most of our dogs' friends have already left.  Look at those sad faces.

-  Oh, and there is a scary spider in the back yard.

This fella is about three inches long.  Everything in Texas is bigger.  I have no idea what the spirals are that seem to be caught in its web, nor do I know what kind of spider it is.  Maybe some of you readers can help.  Pretty interesting, though, isn't it?

-  There are lots of questionable reasons to leave, despite the beauty of our place right now.  However, the main reason for leaving is to begin a new set of adventures.  We are planning to travel through southern New Mexico and Arizona.  We plan to spend some time near Palm Springs to see our Los Angeles daughter and her boyfriend.  When it warms up in the northern climes, we are headed to the beaches of Oregon and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington where we will get to see both our daughters and our granddaughter --- as well as our life-long friends, Jay and Nancy.  Lady Dianne will get to spend some time in Salt Lake City doing genealogy research (seems she is descended from royalty), while I fly to Indiana for a couple of weeks.  We will then spend a month in the Colorado mountains before heading back to Texas.  I am starting to get excited!

We will be blogging more frequently as we travel, so start looking for our posts.

The pet picture of the day shows Bandido being a selfish boy while Tequila looks on.

The story behind the picture.... Dianne gave each dog a leather chew.  Bandido stole Tequila's chew, and then proceeded to chew up his own, while protecting Tequila's chew by trapping it under his paw.  In the vernacular of our friend, Bob:  Bad Bandido.  Poor Tequila.  Good Dianne (for eventually rescuing Tequila's treat).