Where are Cheryl and Dennis?: Benson - Tombstone, Riding and Fry Bread

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.