1-5-2019-1-10-2019
Saturday
and Sunday – Stayed “home” both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday
night we went to see a Mariache Band at the clubhouse. It was pretty
good but there is only so much Mariache music one can listen too. On
Sunday our friends Ira and Evelyn came over dinner. Earlier in the
week Evelyn had purchased a rack of ribs so Dennis offered to smoke
it for them. We purchased another rack and Dennis spent most of the
day cooking them. Ira and Evelyn came over about 5 and brought baked
sweet potatoes and a cabbage salad. The ribs were awesome as usual
and everyone enjoyed them. For dessert we had a berry tart I had made
earlier in the day. Yum!
Tuesday
– Steve and Li visited us today. We all went down to Tombstone.
Dennis and I have driven through the town a few times. The main drag
is nothing special and looks like most of the small desert towns in
this area. We were wondering what the attraction was because we did
not see anything special. But holy cow go one block off the main drag
and you swear you have stepped back in time! It looks like an old
time western town complete with wooden boardwalks and saloons. No
horses tied out front (I think they are missing an opportunity) but
there is a stage coach that goes up and down the street and gives
rides. We sauntered into Big Nose Kate's Saloon for lunch. The food was
good and it was fun viewing all the old billboards, photos and
artifacts hanging on the walls. From there we strolled up and down
the street and stopped in a few of the shops. Steve and Li each
purchased new Stetson hats. No one wanted to stay to watch the shoot
out at the OK Corral so we headed back to the park. I am glad we went
back to give the town another chance. It was worth the trip
Wednesday
– Riding day today!! The first week we were here I met a couple
from Stillwater MN. I found out they used to raise horses so I asked
Jari if she would like to go riding with me if I found a place. I
found the Triangle T Guest Ranch located about 18 miles east of here
in the Dragoon Mountains. The ranch is located among the jumbled
rocks of the Drogoons. Jari drove which was nice because then our
truck would not get “polluted” with horse dander. Dennis' words
not mine! He is allergic to horses. We arrived early but they were
ready for us. We had scheduled a two hour ride for advanced
riders. The cost was $85 per person.
The
ranch was established as a guest ranch in 1927. During World War II
it was used to detain high ranking Japanese Officials. There is an
old bunk house on the property that was used in the original filming
of 3:10 to Yuma. Other movies that used the property included
Tombstone, Geronimo, Duel in the Sun along with some of the original
Lone Ranger movies. The owner also told us that once Cosmopolitan
Magazine used it for a swim suit photo shoot.
It was a
little cooler than I would have liked. Around 52 degrees and a little
windy but it was still a wonderful day. Our trail guide was Dan, the
owner. The ride was wonderful winding among the large granite
boulders on the property. The second hour we crossed to the north
side of I-10 through a tunnel under the road and rode on an adjacent
property. It was a little more rugged in this area as we were riding
up and down steeper trails. Back at the ranch house we thanked Dan for the
great ride and headed back to the park.
Thursday
– Woke up to cloudy skies and rain. I suggested we take the day to
go to Tucson to stock up on groceries before we head to Quartzsite.
After we finished our shopping at Costco I suggested we take a drive
down to Green Valley to check out an RV park there. On the way we
stopped at Mission San Xavier del Bac. We were there 30ish years ago
and Dennis remembered they served fry bread at stands outside the
mission. Sure enough they were still there and we each enjoyed
wonderful freshly made fry bread. I had a bean and cheese and Dennis
had the works with beans, green chili, lettuce and cheese. Yummy!!
Where
we are parked: SKP Saguaro Coop RV Park – Benson Arizona –
Site 158. This is an Escapees SKP Coop park. Most of the sites are
leased by members with several guest sites available as well. We were
put on a lease holders site that has made their site available for
transient guests. The lease sites are huge and many of them have a
large sheds or casitas on them as well as a spot to park your RV and
vehicles. Besides the many full hookup sites there are overnight dry
camping sites as well. The cost is $20/day for Escapee members,
$30/day for non-members. This is for a full hookup site including
cable TV. We paid $375 for one month.
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| Mariachi Band |
TOMBSTONE
RIDING AT TRIANGLE T GUEST RANCH
MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC
