Bisbee, Douglas, and Cranes

Monday was a day spent at the campground doing nothing too exciting or interesting. Tuesday was a different tale as we struck out in the morning heading south on route 80 toward Douglas, a border town that is about 70 miles from Benson. We passed through Tombstone and on to Bisbee. We had spent time in Bisbee last year so we just passed on through but on the southern end of town there is an open pit copper mine,the Lavender mine, that is no longer being mined.

We stopped at an overlook area and took some pictures and tried to read the posted signs that were in a real need of being replaced.

And then we continued our journey on toward Douglas. After crossing the mountainous area south of Bisbee we found ourselves to be in a valley surrounded by distant mountains. Our first stop in Douglas was at the Visitor's Center where we watched a film about Cochise County.

Center personnel gave us some literature and we set out to see the town. Within walking distance from the Visitor's center is an old El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Depot that was built in 1913.

The depot is no longer used as such but was restored in 1992 and is now used as headquarters for the Douglas Police Department. Inside the building is a stained glassed dome area.

The Gadsden Hotel was our next stop. This old hotel was built in 1907 and then rebuilt in 1928 following a fire the previous year. It has been called the "Last of the Grand Hotels". The main lobby has twin staircases of marble and four pillars topped with 14K gold leaf, valued at $20,000.00 in 1929. Forty-two feet across one wall of the mezzanine is Tiffany stained glass mural.

Many dignitaries and celebrities have stayed at this hotel. The doors to the rooms are unusal with the room numbers in wood carvings.

It continues to be used as a hotel and seemed to have people coming and going as we were there. In the lobby a dog was lying around not bothering anyone and on the stair landing there was a cat- a big stuffed mountain lion. Quite a place to see!

Leaving the hotel we drove about the city. One unique feature of the city is a block that has 4 churches, one on each side of the block- a Methodist, a Episcopal, a Baptist and a Presbyterian. Ripley's "Believe It or Not declared it the only place in the world with this feature in 1930. The end of town that borders Mexico has tall fencing, an old and a newer fence, separating the countries.

The population of the town appears to be mostly Hispanics. After lunch at a local Mexican restaurant we left Douglas and headed north toward Wilcox on route 191.
We came to the town of Pearce that at one time due to gold being found in the area had 1500 residents, presently the number of residents is 15- what a change. There is a gold/silver operation in the area that is run by a company from Ontario, Canada.

Not too much further from Pearce we came to an area known as Cochise Stronghold. We had to drive off on a side road that soon became a dirt road to go to a National campground by the granite cliffs.

The granite cliffs were the hiding place for Cochise when federal agents were searching for him and later he died and was buried in this area. Once to the campground the roads were paved and the campsites were also paved although the sites seemed small. The dirt road to the campground would not be good for driving any sizable RV in order to get to the campground.

Back on route 191 we continued north. We had been told that Sandhill Cranes had a migratory roost in the area near Wilcox from December until March. A power plant along 191 had a bird watching area set up so drove into there. A local man was there also but hoping to get a picture of a bald headed eagle that had been seen in the area. This man directed us to a place by the Wilcox golf course. As we drove into the ponds by the golf course we saw the first of several flocks of cranes flying in to roost for the night.

Apparently there are different species of cranes that roost in this area. It was amazing at the numbers of cranes that were in the grasses by the ponds- and the noise that these birds made.

About sunrise the cranes leave the roosting area in search of food, and that is to be quite a sight, and then later in the day they return to roost for the night.
From Wilcox we drove back to Benson and I-10 making an ice cream stop before getting to the campground. Later in the evening Tom went to the clubhouse to play Texas Hold'em and I just kept the home fires agoing.
Today, Wednesday has been another laid back day. Grocery shopping, post office stop, a load of laundry and a Jeep lube job. This evening I will be going to the clubhouse for Ladies Night Out- more about that at a later time.

45th Anniversary

Yesterday, February 4th, was our 45th wedding anniversary. We started the day by going to a local restaurant, Reb's, for breakfast. From there we went down to Sierra Vista to attend the Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering. This was the third year that we attended this gathering and we enjoyed it like it was the first. The Gathering is a 3 day event beginning on Friday evening. On Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon there are staged preformances in a high school auditorium. Saturday from 10am to 5pm there are multple poetry and music sessions. We attended a night performance the first year we attended but found that we preferred the Saturday day sessions best. There are 8 areas in the school in which every hour from 10 am until 4pm there are 50 minute sessions set up for 3-4 preformers to recite their poetry or perform their songs. Attendees just go to whatever sessions they choose.

The music is primarily cowboy music (think Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans). Arvel Bird, a Native American violinist/flutist educated in classical music, performed music in a Native American and Celtic style. Two hispanic brothers, the Morales, performed music with a Classical Mexican style. Many of the cowboy/girl performers come from ranching backgrounds and their music and poetry is reflective of that life.

One preformer that I found to be an amazing entertainer was an elderly lady, Buckshot Dot.

We had seen her last week at a bookstore here in Benson and then she again preformed at the Gathering. I would guess this lady is well into her eighties and just an unflappable performer. In the session we saw her she had lost her list of the songs she was planning to sing so she just sang whatever came to her mind. Occasionally she would get mixed up or forget where she was in a song and would just start over making a joke of the incident.

                                                Our favorite performer is Bill Barwick.

He plays the guitar very well and has a deep, rich voice. We had first heard him on the internet some years ago and it was through that means that we first learned about this Gathering in Sierra Vista.
When we left the Gathering we stopped for dinner at La Casita, a Mexican restaurant. After dinner we decided to check out the movie theaters to see if there was a movie that we would like to see. "Extremely Loud-Incredibly Close" was playing so we killed some time by walking about the shopping mall until movie time. The movie was an exceptionally good film. Even though Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock starred in it, the boy actor, Thomas Horn, was the central character and did a great acting job.

Unbeknownst to us, someone had placed a bottle behind our tire and when we backed out of the parking lot we heard a pop, saw what had been run over and held our breaths that we didn't damage a tire. Luckily we made back to the campground in Benson without a problem. It was a good day. I almost forgot- for our anniversary Tom got me a pretty sapphire necklace (45th anniversary is a sapphire anniversary) and I got him a card.

Today Sunday, we again went to the local Methodist church for services that included communion this morning. Afterwards, friends Marti and Drew and us went to the Horseshoe Cafe for breakfast. Today being Super Bowl Sunday we spent the remainder of the day in the motorhome and are now watching the game.

A Relative Day in Tucson

Wednesday we spent the day in the campground doing laundry and other housekeeping stuff. In the evening we went into Benson to the Horseshoe Grill with friends, Drew and Marti. A nice ending to the day.

Thursday morning we went to Tucson to spend the day with my cousin Patty and her husband Braxton- the Cooley's.

After taking a walk about their outside patio/pool area admiring the different cacti and other landscaping plants, we starting catching up the latest family news and events. A little past noon we all went out to lunch at the Firebird Grille, located in a shopping mall, for a nice meal. We then had to walk to a Gelato store nearby for dessert of some gelato, of course. After dessert we stopped at a few stores in the mall before returning to the car and moving on. We had a nice ride through some beautiful desert country and up through Gates Pass. The Pass had some wonderful views (and lots of wind) of the city of Tucson.  Returning back to the Cooley's house Patty fixed a nice supper before we said good-by and headed back to Benson. We always have a good time being with Pat and Braxton.

Today, Friday, I attempted to call Larry to find out where he and Joanne were at this time. I thought I had called Larry but when I did not recognize the voice on the other end as Larry's voice I asked who was I talking to and found out that somehow I had called the Cooley's and was talking to Braxton. A senior moment or what?? After a good laugh I did finally call the correct number and learned that Larry and Joanne were in Havasu Lake, California but were moving to Quartzsite, Az. today. Later we drove to St. David, a small town south of Benson with a Benedictine monastary. The monastery are having bake sales on Friday beginning today. We went to the bake sale and bought a loaf of bread and 2 pieces of an apple-nut cake or bar, that we ate there. Leaving the bake sale area we saw several beautiful peacocks strutting about the grounds. We did stop at the chapel and went inside but a choir rehearsal was in progress so we did not linger long. (St. David aside from having a monastary is known as a Mormon community.) Leaving St. David we returned to Benson to go to the post office to pick up some mail and a grocery store stop. After returning to the motorhome I made a Chili Relleno casserole, a recipe that I had gotten from a newsletter of the local church. The casserole was very good and simple to prepare. We did a short walk about the park before it got dark. Today has been sunny but it was windy and little cooler than the past several days but temperatures were still in the 60's. Can't complain.

Copper Mine Tour

Yesterday, Monday, was spent here at the campground. First item of the day was getting moved to a new site as the owners to the site we were on were coming into the park. We moved from site 70 to site 73(- and the owners on 70 are still not in the campground on Tuesday). Oh well we are moved to a site that is just as accommodating. Then a load of wash was done, a walk about the park, and a ride into town to a quilt shop and Walmart. The campground had a pork roast dinner that we went to and it was really good- large serving of pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetable medley, roll and butter and ice cream with cake for dessert- not bad for $7.50 per person.

This morning, Tuesday, we drove north about 50 miles to an open-pit copper mine, Ascarco Mission Mine. We got there about 10:30am and were able to get on a tour at 11am. The tour guide explain a few things and then we got on a bus that took us to the mining area.

At the edge of the open pit we got off the bus, watched the acivity in the mining area and took pictures.

Back on the bus we rode to the mill and again got off the bus and then went into a viewing area to the mill. Extracting copper from the rocks is quite a process as,I think I have this right, out of a ton of rock about 40 pounds of copper is obtained. Other minerals are also obtained in the process, silver being one that over a million dollars of silver is mined per month which pays for the company's electric bill.

Leaving the mine Tom and I drove to a nearby town, Sahuarita, and had lunch at El Charro restaurant. A good choice as it had nice atmosphere and good food. After lunch we drove into Tucson to get some goodies from Trader Joe's. Returning to Benson and our "home" we chilled out for an hour and then we went to the Methodist church for a spaghetti dinner which was yummy. Tonight, Tom has gone to the clubhouse to play Texas Hold 'em. Last week he came in second and is hoping to do as well or better tonight- we'll see.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Friday, we went to Karchner Caverns just north of Benson. We had gone to these caverns last year but just did the "Big Room" tour. So this year we took a second tour the "Rotunda and Throne Room". These caverns are about the most protected caverns other that allow tours. Tour guides lead the tours and you must stay on a paved walkway and should you touch something other than the railing along the walkway you must inform the guide so that place can be marked for special cleaning. This cavern is part of the Arizona Parks system. Leaving the caverns we drove on down to Sierra Vista, getting an ice cream cone and then returning to Benson.

Saturday was a lazy quiet morning for us. In the afternoon we again went down to Sierra Vista to the movies to see "The Decendants", a good George Clooney film. Returning back to the campground we went to the clubhouse for an evening of dancing, socializing and listening to music of "The Partners", a couple of country singers/musicians.

Sunday started off with going to church services at a small Methodist local church about a mile from the campground. We attended services at this church last year. Friends, Marti and Drew Moehlau, also attended services with their 2 young great-grandsons. After service we along with the Moehlau's minus the grandsons went for breakfast at the Horseshoe Cafe, a great place for breakfast. Afterwards we returned to the campground where we had a note attached to the motorhome informing us that we would have to move to another site as the leaseholders to the lot we were on were returning to the campground. Tom went down to the office and was told we could wait until Monday morning to make the move. We then went to a bookstore that specializes in books of the southwest, Singing Wind, that was having a Cowboy Poetry and Music get together this afternoon.

This bookstore is located outside of Benson back a dirt road on a ranch. Chairs were set up outside and inside the house/store.

                                Entertainment consisted of Ed Newman (singer/songwriter),

                             Buckshot Dot (singer/songwriter/storyteller), Joan Baeza (storyteller),

                                                        Dean Cook (singer/storyteller),

                                   and an 82 year old lady named Nancy that did roping tricks.

                                          A fun and different way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Warm Weather

Yesterday, Wednesday, after taking our morning walk about the campground we went for a drive around the town of Benson.  We had seen a notice here at the campground about a Poetry and Music get together this weekend at a bookstore located outside of town on a dirt road so we checked out that area for a possible something to do on Sunday afternoon.  We then rode south to Tombstone.  There seemed to be lots of folks walking about the town.  It was a nice day with temperatures in the upper 60’s.  We grabbed a bite to eat at a café and then walked about.  I enjoy going into the stores that have the western clothes.  Don’t buy anything but it is interesting to see clothes that are not seen in the east.

After getting back to the campground our friends, Marti and Drew,  called asking if we were going to the clubhouse for a light supper followed by a movie.  Since we were going they said they would stop by to pick us up.  We had pulled pork sandwiches and popcorn.  The movie was a Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts film called “Larry Crowne”.  It was an enjoyable evening.

Today we didn’t do much at all.  We took a morning walk around the campground and later in the evening we took another walk up the hill to where a water tower is located.  It was quite a climb but a great view of the campground and the mountains way off in the distance.  Drew and Marti stopped by this afternoon and spent some time chatting with us.   It was nice and warm today with temperatures in the 70’s.  The temperature drops down at nighttime – last night it got down into the 30’s and tonight it is to get down into the 40’s.  We have to have some heat on in the night but once the sun comes up it becomes quite warm inside and windows need to be opened.

Alamogordo, New Mexico/ Benson, Arizona

Saturday we were hearing about a wind storm that was coming from the west and could be south enough to be in the Alamogordo area. When we went to bed that night we had not had any strong winds but about 2am we felt the wind. We had some rocking of the motorhome and sounds of slider awnings flapping. Upon rising Sunday morning there were still some winds but we heard the worst was north of the area we were in. We left Alamogordo on route 70 to Las Cruces where we picked up I-10 that took us to Benson, Arizona, 315 miles. Wind did cause some problems with driving the motorhome on route 70 but Tom was able to control it fairly well. A little after 3pm we were settled into a campsite at SKP Saquaro park. We were able to watch the last part of the Ravens/Patriots playoff game and, sadly, the Ravens lost. Marti Moehlau, friends that are in this RV park, called to say that she and Drew would drop by in the morning.
Monday morning was a busy morning. Tom had sent an application in to join the Elk's Club here in Benson so a member of that organization, also named Tom, stopped by for visit and to talk about the Elk's. While he was here Drew and Marti stopped by but didn't stay long as they had groceries so they said they would be back later in the day. Before Tom from the Elk's left his wife Betsy stopped by so we had a nice visit with her also. After the visitors left we ran into town for lunch at Wendy's and to pick up a few groceries. After returning Marti and Drew stopped by and we had a real nice visit with them. Marti and Drew gave us a rundown of the activities here at the campground. Marti had called us several days before we arrived about getting tickets for a dinner for this Monday evening but we were unsure exactly when we would get here. Tom had checked with the office in the morning and was told there were no more tickets.
We did go down to the clubhouse after the dinner to listen to the entertainment. Johnny Bencomo was the entertainer, a musician that plays an 18- string guitar and has a easy-to-listen-to voice. He played and sang for 2 1/2 hours. The cost for this was just a pass of the hat and he was worth every cent he received plus.
Today, Monday, we have just been catching up on some housekeeping chores this morning. For lunch we went into town to Palatiano's, the special was a Greek spinach pie which we both ordered. For $7.25 we had a cup of soup, spinach pie with a chicken breast and pita bread and dessert of bread pudding with rum sauce. It was more than I could eat so I had to get a doggy bag. The food was delicious and the cost unbelievable.