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.