Sabino Canyon

Riding the tram up, eastward in canyon.

Yesterday we re-visited Sabino Canyon, a very scenic canyon in northeast Tucson. Our first visit here was 20 years ago while on a business award trip. While I have forgotten a lot of the past visit, I do remember it as being quite spectacular to see for the first time. The second time around was just about as great.

Anderson's Dam swirling rock.

We took the tram up the 3 and half mile road into the canyon. At the top, we got off and walk into the canyon and down into the creek bed. We rock hopped and walked about a half mile down the creek bed, admiring the views and taking a few pics. One spot was called Anderson's Dam where the rock was a swirl of black and white, with the creek tumbling over into a small pool.

Bev on the rocks.

Shortly after Anderson's Dam, we climbed back up to the paved road and walked another mile to the one of the pickup spots and took the tram the rest of the way down.

Southwest view down canyon.

Sabino Canyon is the number two visited site in Tucson, while the Desert Museum is #1. We got to see both while we were in Tucson.

Tomorrow we leave for Amado, which puts us about 20 miles north of the border. We plan to arrange our Mexican vehicle insurance and try to hook up with another travel buddy in Nogales. But right now everything is swaying in the wind as Bev's mom is in hospital, so we have to play it ear and see how she recovers.

We have had enough of the cold nights and yearn for the warmth of Lo de Marcos. Tonight will be another frosty night with the low going down to freezing.

The Transmission Story

I have alluded to telling more about our transmission transgressions. Finally here is the story, which is probably too technically boring for some people. Right girls?

We always have to keep a diligent eye on the transmission fluid level. It seems to just disappear, more so after a tough uphill drive in the hills and mountains. I had examined the transmission and couldn't find where it was leaking. It was just not a big deal that would hold us back as long as we had lots of transmission fluid on hand. I would often have to a add quart or liter so I carry a couple of jugs to keep up. We got through last year's trip without problems but sooner or later this had to be addressed.

When time and inclination met, I got on the Internet and Googled for information. It seems that these transmissions (GM 4L80-E) can overheat and spew fluid out a vent on top of the transmission. Hah! That is why I couldn't see the leak, as I was always looking for drips from below.

Now...how to manage this situation.

See the vent pipe and notice the traces of fluid atop the tranny housing.

Add a line to the vent and a bottle to catch the overflow. Now we can be sure of how much fluid is being lost. Note: After the first drive, the bottle got deformed from the heat coming from the exhaust pipe so I had to re-position the bottle further aft. Good thing we didn't invest much in the bottle which was an empty dish soap bottle.

$23 7" electric fan in front of tranny rad.

Now we have to augment the cooling for the transmission fluid. While the transmission has it's own cooling radiator in front of the engine radiator, it has no fan to boost the cooling when driving slowly or while stopped in traffic. We could also have changed out the tranny rad and put in a larger one. We opted for the fan to avoid any plumbing issues with a new rad.

$30 adjustable thermostat

While we were staying in Benson AZ, I ordered an electric fan and thermostat from vendors on eBay. I got them installed prior to leaving for Tucson. The thermostat will turn on the fan when it reaches a preset temperature and turn it off when the temp drops back to normal. All I have to do now is set the thermostat to come on when the overheating condition starts.

Transmission temperature gauge.

Then I picked up a transmission temperature gauge at Pep Boys (cheaper than buying on eBay) and installed that in the dash. It won't help the cooling but will allow me to stay on top of the issue when it arises. I thought the installation of the temperature sensor was going to be a messy job. Thankfully, when I took out the plug on the side of the tranny, only a little dribble came out and I was able to get the sensor in without losing more than a few drops of fluid. I can now set the thermostat to come on when the temp rises above the normal operating temperature.



Hopefully the fan will be enough to solve this fluid loss problem but time will tell if a larger cooling rad is necessary. If so, it will have to wait until we get home in the spring.

Kitt Peak etc

We arrived at Justin's Diamond J RV Park on Friday morning after our short drive from Benson. We got settled in and headed off to town to get some service work on the Ford Focus toad. It needed an oil change, tire rotation and alignment. Pep Boys is highly recommended. They got the oil change done but when it came to alignment, they found that a rear camber kit was required and the part wouldn't be in until Monday. Darn, another trip into Pep Boys and more time wasted.

Starting up the mountain. Doesn't look high here.

Saturday we met up with Kelsi and Dave Holioday, just two rigs away from us. Dave is the son of our friends who we met in Lo de Marcos last year. After a nice chat, we headed off to visit Kitt Peak. What a drive! The road onto the mountain starts about  less than 3000' and after 12 miles of driving switchbacks up up and up, we arrived at the top, just under 7000'. It is a lot cooler up there and the wind was blowing strongly. The view is awesome and you can see Tucson 30 miles away. That makes up for the less than exciting tour of the facilities. Ho hum. Then it is all down hill to get to the highway again.

7000' and a wonderful view.

A couple of telescopes. Note the warning sign!

Take a look at this and see if you recognize it.

Looks like bones welded together.

Tall branches wave and clack in the wind.

Another look with a clue!


Yup, it is a saguaro cactus after death. It is surprising to me that this cactus is quite woody, and the exterior seems to be an overlay. It may have looked like the one in the background, which is likely 200 plus years old. You can learn more here.

Sunday, we went bike riding on the trails in the desert, just outside the campground. Lots of fun dodging the cacti but heavy work if you went into a "wash" filled with small loose gravel. We spotted a couple of Gambel's Quails, which are very distinctive with their teardrop topknot. I also spotted something running away from us, with tall ears and grey in color. May have been a hare.

On Monday Nov. 22, we headed into town to get the rest of the work done on the Focus. Surprise, they ordered the wrong part kit. Then they found they had the right part in stock. But they couldn't get the old bolts out. We compromised and had the rear aligned as close as possible and the front done correctly. And a credit for the work not done and the parts not used. We had a late lunch/dinner at a Chinese buffet and did some shopping.

Then we head back "home" for the final episode of BoB. We were disappointed that Todd Warner didn't win the crystal trophy but appreciated that all three couples on the finals were very close. The winning couple was Valeri Bure and his partner, Ekaterina Gordeeva. While Katia, started to tour the ice, the crystal part of the trophy toppled to the ice and it shattered. OMG. What a finale! Some people feel she dropped it but videos seem to show that the trophy had a malfunction.

Wed Nov 17th to Fri Nov 19th

Wednesday we spent the day puttering around Cochise Terrace.  Vic washed the car and took all the dead bugs off the front of the RV plus installed the thermostat for the transmission fan (more to come on this). 

We never used the heated pool at the resort but did take time to relax in the hot tub in the afternoon.  Very enjoyable!

Thursday we headed south to Sierra Vista to visit 2 areas with walking trails along the San Pedro river.  They are both supposed to be good sites for bird watching.  The first spot we visited was the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.  The outstanding part of that visit was the siting of a mule deer who walked out onto the path about 100 ft in front of us, took a good look at us, then bounded off towards the river for water. We saw one hummingbird from a distance.

Next we went to Hereford Bridge to walk the main trail there.  We saw white-breasted nuthatch which are much larger than the nuthatch we see at home plus there were Gila woodpeckers, cedar wax-wings, and gold finch. The big cottonwood trees seemed to be the best site to spot any birds.

Friday we moved on to Justin's Diamond J RV Campground on the southwest side of Tucson.  It is 55 miles from Cochise Terrace but it is a lower elevation here (2471 ft) so about 10F degrees warmer than Cochise Terrace in Benson.  The weather here was 80F at 1pm when we arrived.

Tucson Desert Museum

Mighty Saguaro Cactus

Cacti Garden

Palo Verde bush

Tuesday Nov 16
We left “home” about 11 and headed west of Tucson to the Desert Museum, stopping for a picnic lunch at a picnic area in the middle of the desert, surrounded by saguaro cacti. Nice view too. Twenty years ago, I wasn’t all that keen to come here, but found the desert to be a very interesting place to visit. There is so much variety and so much to learn about the ecosystem. So very different from Southern Ontario.

One interesting bush is the Palo Verde (Spanish for Green Wood) which has smooth green bark. The chlorophyll is actually in the bark too, so that the tree still is active, even after dropping its leaves.

The Saguaro cacti dot the landscape, about as close to a forest as you can get in the desert. It takes fifty years before they even bloom, at about 7-8 feet tall. The one in the top photo is probably 150 years old.

There are so many types of cacti that is hard to keep up. One thing is common...those prickly spines!

Beware the spines on the Saguaro

 We entered the Desert Museum and learned that there would be a show of Harris hawks so we headed out to the viewing area. They released three hawks, a female and two males, and let them fly around us, skimming over our heads. They were awesome. Somewhere in the bushes, someone released a mouse, so the hawks could hunt the prey. Here is where the Harris hawk is different than all others. They hunt in a pack, rather than alone. One will flush out the prey from hiding and another will catch it. Amazing to watch. There is a hierarchy among the birds with an alpha female (females are larger than males) dominating the pack and getting first dibs on the captured prey.

Handler with Harris Hawk

Harris hawk perched for hunting

We toured the other parts of the museum seeing animals we had seen before in Carlsbad’s Living Desert Museum. One difference was the presence of volunteers who where there to provide interesting background tidbits.
We entered the aviary, and enclosure surrounded by high netting, with the birds free to fly around in a somewhat natural setting. This aviary was largely disappointing, as there were few birds in it. We saw one cardinal (nothing special), a few doves, a few ducks, a hummingbird way up (nice), a cactus wren (common in this area).

Rosy Boa Constrictor

Black-necked Stilt

Hognose Skunk, one of four skunk species in area

Baja Fairy Duster. See the bee?

Our destination area was saved for last…the Hummingbird aviary. This enclosure was smaller and much more exciting. These tiny beautiful creatures seemed to sit on nearby branches and pose for photos. I really miss having a great zoom lens to get closeups but made do with my little pocket shooter. The birds would flit and hover around chasing tiny bugs we couldn’t see. Sometimes a little squabble would break out which was fun to watch and tough to follow as they moved so quickly and radically. At one point I was standing two feet from a feeder when one tiny critter came and drank its fill. What a joy to behold! To be able to stand so close and watch while the bird casually dipped into the feeder over and over, was awesome.

Broadtail Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Our memories of twenty years ago were sure that we saw many more birds and more species. And the birds were in large cages, separated from people. I would have loved to see more but this is still a great place to visit.







I have posted 6 updates today so check back thru the menu on left side if you have missed any.

Tucson shopping

Monday Nov 15
Westward ho the toad to Tuscon to do some shopping, stopping at Home Depot for a shower door seal strip. Then on to Harbor Freight for some boy bargains. Got me a handheld infrared thermometer. Now I’ll be able to measure the temp of the transmission oil cooler. More on this later. After HF, we headed on to Camping World to exchange the propane detection alarm, which we bought in El Paso. It was the surface mount type and we needed the flush mount type. They didn’t have what we needed but could order it for us. We declined and got a refund. We went across the street to an RV dealer and got what we needed for much less money! $41 rather than $60.
By this time, it was middle afternoon and not enough time to tour anywhere so we scouted out where we wanted to go. Twenty years ago we were in Tucson on a business vacation and toured the Desert Museum. So that will be tops on the list for tomorrow.

Big Birding

Sunday Nov 14
East again today to Willcox AZ to see the Sandhill cranes, wintering in the Willcox Playa area. We rode our bikes about a mile and a half into one area maintained by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. As we approached a small area filled with water, hundreds of cranes lifted off and circled over us, calling constantly to each other. We thought this was a great sighting. Little did we know…
We left this area and drove south west into farm country. Lots of big open fields, with irrigation equipment. A large corn field, uncut. Off to the left a big swarm of cranes was lifting off the field. We guessed maybe 2000 cranes. Then another and another. Thousands and thousands of the beautiful big birds winging over us. Our next stop was an established viewing platform at the Apache Station Wildlife Area, overlooking a large flat grazing area. The birds were a quarter mile away but you could see them well with the binos. And there were thousands and thousands more. Some estimates put the total at 30,000 birds wintering here, from Alaska, Canada and Montana. They eat whatever is available, starting on grasshoppers. When the grasshoppers are all gone, they start into the corn laying the fields, eating a pound and a half every day.

Touring Benson area

Saturday Nov 13
We got in the toad (our Ford Focus) and headed out to do some touristy things. First stop was Tombstone, the centre of the wild west in the late 1800s. Many western movies and TV programs drew their story lines from the history here. Remember “The Shoot-out at the OK Corral”? Wyatt Earp? Doc Holiday? Boot Hill Cemetery. It all happened here. Turns out the shoot-out wasn’t in the OK Corral but it did end up with 3 bad guys dead.

Bad guys from "Shoot-out"

Modern "gunslingers" put on wild west show.

We started at Boot Hill, the famous cemetery. It didn’t take long to find the three bad guys’ graves. And lots of others in the years of 1880 through 1882. Seems like there was a lot of violent deaths and no law and order. And how about poor George Johnson. They hung him for stealing a horse. Turns out he was found innocent after they had hung him. We moved on into town and walked around. The place is muchly a tourist trap with lots of stores selling their artistic goods at high prices. We were expecting more history lessons.

Poor George!

Forgot his deodorant?

Deep deep open pit mine.

We moved on to Bisbee, several miles south and near the border with Mexico. The area was a large mining center for copper and silver, with both open pit and tunnel operations. We opted not to go on the mine tunnel tour but stopped and gawked at the very deep open pit.

Hole in rocks

Column formations

Next stop was the Chiricahua National Monument http://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm  (cheer ee caw wah). You may think Monument may imply some statue or memorial but this is not the case. The park contains spectacular rock formations of columns and balancing rocks, very scenic and photogenic. We arrived mid-afternoon and the light was failing so the photos didn’t do justice to the natural beauty. This is a true bargain for $5 each and the pass is good for a whole week. If time permits, we may return.

A whole field of rock columns

Onward to Benson AZ

Friday Nov 12
On Friday we drove westward 176 miles, across the Continental Divide, to Benson Arizona. We book in for a week at Cochise Terrace RV Resort. This is a nice place with all the amenities and a great view looking over the valley and Benson below us. The campground honors our Passport America membership which means we stay for half price for the whole week, $186 for 7 nights.

Carlsbad to Deming

Thursday Nov 11
We spent the day traveling from Carlsbad to Deming New Mexico, about 266 miles, give or take a few feet. Not too far south of Carlsbad lies the Guadaloupe Mountains and the south end was a high peak of limestone cliff, called El Capitan. It is hard to believe that this mountain was once a reef teaming with life in a great sea. The great Earth does some stupendous things to our geology.

El Capitan

After leaving the Guadaloupe Mtns, the terrain flatten out and we were in the middle of a very large salt lake, completely dry, and stretching for miles.

Salt Lake dry as a bone

The route through El Paso mapped out by Streets and Trips, which avoided the downtown area. Big mistake…this route took us over a ridge with steep long climbs and then down the other side. OK for cars and the view was nice, but not nice for big rigs. The other way would have been much flatter.

We stayed the night in Deming at the WalMart campground, aka mall. There were 14 rigs there with us! Popular spot.

Carlsbad Caverns

Now this was exciting. Carlsbad Caverns is one of twenty World Heritage sites. Pretty special places!

We arrived at the Carlsbad Caverns at 9:30 AM, paid our admission, and proceeded down the path into the cavern. It took an hour just to get to the bottom of the entrance on the winding paved path with stainless steel handrails all the way. It left us wondering how the first adventurous cowboy got down here. He didn't have a paved path nor today's lighting, and the cave floor is strewn with boulders and so many path options, he must have really struggled. But he also must have been very very excited about his discovery. More on this later.

The path down opened into the Big Room. It is constantly 56 degrees down here so we are glad we came prepared with jackets. The 1 mile tour took about an hour to walk around the circuitous route back to the starting point. We were held in awe gaping at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling and stalagmites growing off the floor. Some were joined and created columns, floor to ceiling. In one part of the chamber the ceiling stretches up 250 feet. This place is really larger than you imagine and there are other sections we haven't seen yet or will have the time to see today. After touring the Big Room, it was time for lunch which meant going back to the surface...about 800 feet. Walk up? No way. We took the elevator up. We not dumb.

After lunch, we headed back down (on the elevator this time) for a 2:00 PM tour of the King's Palace. This is a tour of a large "room" lower than the Big Room, along with a guide, who explains the geology of the cave and it's history. At one point, he points out some stalactites that are broken off. He explains that years ago people would take "souvenirs" back with them, not appreciating the long term consequences. The park authority closed off most of the cavern to the general public except by supervised tours to preserve the splendor for everyone to enjoy today and the future.

Each of the formations were named by the discoverer of the caves, Jim White. In 1898, this 16 year old cowboy found the entrance after seeing smoke rising in the distance one evening. Upon closer inspection, he found that the smoke was really a cloud of bats leaving the cave to feed at night. He made a ladder of sticks wire and rope and descended into the unknown, telling nobody of his discovery until later. His only light was a home-made candle lantern and matches. He would later offer to show the cave to others with little success until one person took a series of photos between 1912 and 1915. As word spread, the cave became a National Monument in 1923. In the years between, the cave was operated as a mining venture for bat guano fertilizer and Jim White served as foreman.


Learn more about Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

It wasn't until 4 pm when we returned to the surface to see the sunshine again, leaving with great memories of a wonderful natural underground paradise.

A falls of draping on the cave wall.

The groto.

This spectacular stalactite is over 30 feet long.

This is a stalagmite with a hole where water dripped through, making a "straw'.

The Whale's Mouth formation of "drapes" caused by water running down an angled rock edge.

Spectacular columns in pool of water.

Bev thought all the columns looked like phallus and I thought this formation looked like...

After Dallas comes...

We stayed two nights at the Corp of Engineer park 30 miles NE of Dallas. That allowed us to veg out for a while and do some more foaming of the firewall area, as there still was a draft coming in. We have now been through one and a half cans of the expanding foam and finally have it licked. Yah...now that it isn't so cold any more! Oh well, it will come into play when we need to use the AC.

Nothing but flat dry desert.

While leaving Dallas, and passing through Forth Worth, we went through some hilly areas but it wasn't long until we hit the flat stuff again. Flat stuff is good for the motorhome but somewhat boring. The crosswind was brutal at about 25 to 30 mph directly from the left side. Bev offered to drive after a few hours but I said you will not want to battle the wind, so I kept driving. Around Abilene, things changed. The terrain was still flat but now there are nodding horses all over the place and thousands of wind generators. They stretch over the horizon. With all this wind available, I guess that this power source can add up to major source of electricity in Texas. We did 400 miles yesterday and ended up in Odessa TX and stayed overnight at the WalMart campground, aka parking lot.

Entering New Mexico

Pope's Crossing

Today we arrived at Carlsbad New Mexico, not far from Odessa, only 158 miles. Again the terrain was flat and the wind was again directly from the side. This is not far off our intended route and we didn't want to pass up the opportunity. We saw Historical Markers along the route and decided to stop at one to see what it was about. What a co-inky-dink Shannon!

We checked into the Carlsbad RV Campground, mainly because they offer Passport America discounts (half price) and they have free WiFi. Now we are caught up on email and the blog.

Since we arrived in late morning, we looked around town for local things to do and see (not much) and ended up visiting the Living Desert Zoo. It was mildly interesting with lots of plant identification, and displays of wolves, prairie dogs, elk, mule deer, and prong horn sheep. The zoo is situated on the top of high hill and had some great views of the desert area and the town. We returned to the rig and enjoyed a nice happy hour, Bev on her computer and me on mine doing the blog.

Tomorrow we will get an early start and spend the whole day touring the Carlsbad Caverns. It should be a awesome. The last time we did something like this was in the Luray Caverns in Virginia in 1971. From the preview we saw in the Information Center, it should be great. I hope to add to the blog tomorrow to let you know our impressions. Maybe a couple of pics too.

We miss you, Maxine.

Short Stay Near Dallas

After leaving brother Don's in La Porte Indiana, we traveled southward for 12 hours to get to a WalMart campground (aka store) west of Memphis TN, in Forest River, Arkansas. It was a long tough day of driving but the roads were good and the traffic not a problem. The prime objective was to get south far enough to escape the freezing nighttime temperatures. Mission accomplished as it only went down to about 35F or 2C.

I have to say that the geography was interesting...like how flat can it get! The rich dark black soils of Indiana and Illinois gave way to the rich brown soils of Missouri. There were only a few lazy hills along the way, the biggest of which was a bridge crossing the big Mississippi River.

Onward we went today, west and south toward Dallas, with a few more rolling hills thrown in but still mostly flat. We arrived at this campground 30 miles northeast of Dallas, an Army Corp of Engineer campground for $18 per night. It would have been cheaper if I had remembered my Seniors card...like about half price cheaper. It is a very nice spot on a man-made lake, built by the Corp of Eng, with a surprising number of campers. I imagine most will disappear tomorrow as the kids will be back to school.

Immediately upon arrival we set up the satellite dish so we could (well really me, not Bev), watch the hockey game tonight. Then tomorrow it will be the Nascar race and Battle of the Blades. Can't miss the Battle!

I checked for Wi-Fi in the area and found one free access open at one and sometimes two bars. I got the new Wi-Fi antenna installed and the signal shot up to 4 bars. I don't know where the site is located but the antenna is pointing across the lake, and the far shore is a few miles away. Awesome....oops, just as I wrote awesome we heard a bang on the ceiling. The antenna had fallen on the roof. The suction cups had given up. No Prob...back in action after a bit of spit and remounting the cups.

We were able to make a Skype call to Laura and Bill, mainly to ask her to look for my missing Senior card, among other things. As a bonus we were able to give birthday greetings to Bill's mom Barb.

While at Don's in Indiana, one maintenance item was trying to fix a draft that hits the driver's lower legs. We used the small compressor we have onboard to shoot air around the firewall area. We found a few areas and filled the gaps with spray-in expanding foam. But it was all for not, as the same draft is still there. Tomorrow we will try another area. Sooner or later we will get this annoying cold draft gone.

The next leg of the odyssey will be to southwestern Texas, location unknown at this time. Tune in later for the next episode.

We gone!

On Sunday morning (Halloween) I mentioned to Bev that we could  be in Sarnia by midnight if we left after the kids came around for candy. She said she would think about it. In the early afternoon she said let's go for it because the weather forecast was for -3C overnight and in Sarnia, the forecast was +3C .Since we didn't want to risk freeze-up damage to the water system we agreed to head out for Sarnia after Battle of the Blades program ended at 9PM.

In the commercial breaks before the show ended, we scurried around setting the thermostat back to 9C for the winter and unplugging the various electrical devices throughout the house. At the end of the show, we both went to the john, turned off the water to the house, pulled the plug on the TV and receiver, then hustled out the door into the motorhome. Our neighbour Bob was there to see us off. When we return in the spring, he probably won't be our neighbour anymore as the house is up for sale. We will be extremely sad to see him go. Thanks, Bob, for all your kindness and support over the years.

At 11:30 PM, we stopped in London at the Flying J because we were in need of fuel. We decided that we would stay here for the night and settled down with about 10 other rigs all on the same mission southward. We awoke to 2C weather outside and the front room of the motorhome was 4C. We had stayed snug and warm in the bedroom for the night with the separate furnace for that room. Everything around was covered in frost, windshields, grass, fields...but no overnight freeze damage.

We started out the next morning about 8:30 AM and hit the duty free store about an hour later in Sarnia. By 10:30 AM, we had cleared US customs in Port Huron Michigan and were underway to brother Don's in La Porte Indiana.