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.

Mariachi Band

TOMBSTONE

RIDING AT TRIANGLE T GUEST RANCH

MISSION SAN XAVIER DEL BAC

Benson - Snow, Polar Bears and Hummingbirds

1-1-2019-1-4-2019

Tuesday – Happy New Year! We woke up this morning to a dusting of snow. Not what we want to see here in Arizona. We watched a little of the Rose Bowl Parade. I made a batch of lemon marmalade. It turned out well although it was really sweet. Could cut back on the sugar if I make it again.

Wednesday – Oh boy! More snow this morning! This time about 3”. It looks really pretty but again not what we came to Arizona to experience. Oh well. Can't change the weather. It has been pretty cold the last few days as well with daytime temps in the upper 30's and low in the mid 20's. We have had the water unhooked and using the water tank so we don't have to deal with freezing hoses. We have also gone through quite a bit of propane to keep the camper warm.

This afternoon I noticed the wire on my left hearing aid was breaking so I contacted Widex to find an Audiology office that could replace it. We decided to go into Tucson to get it fixed. It was an hour drive to El Dorado Audiology. They fixed the wire then we headed back to Benson. On the way we stopped at Montgomery's Grill and Saloon for supper.

Thursday – Finally warmed up a little today which melted most of the snow. We took a walk around the park enjoying the warm sunshine. In the afternoon we headed to the clubhouse to help set up for the Polar Bear Party. This is an annual event at the park to collect food and raise money for the Benson Food Bank. Over the last few weeks food has been dropped off at various locations throughout the park. It was displayed at the party today. The Polar Bear refers to a drink made from Kaluha, Vodka, ice cream and ice. The drinks, wings donated from Buffalo Wild Wings and appetizers brought by the guests were enjoyed by all. There was no cost however everyone is encouraged to give food or monetary donations and participate in the 50-50 raffle. Dennis and I helped to serve the wings and potatoes. It was lots of fun and we got to see lots of new faces. Donations totaled $6000 and 2589 pounds of food. Awesome! Tomorrow the money and food will be delivered to the food bank.

Friday – Lovely day today with temps in the upper 60's. Yeah!! Today we decided to take a drive south and west to Nogales Mexico. Many years ago when the kids were in grade school we visited Arizona and Nogales. Dennis wanted to visit again. We took highway 10 west to highway 90 then south to highway 82. Highway 82 is a pretty drive and takes you right into Nogales. It took a while to find a parking spot as they do not seem to accommodate visitors on the US side. As we were walking in we saw a long line crossing the border back to the states. At that point we were committed so were just hoping that it would be shorter by the time we wanted to leave. We strolled around town and browsed some of the shops but it was nothing like we remembered, not as many shops and just seems more run down. After only about an hour in town we decided to head back. Well the line was not any shorter and we stood in line about 2 hours before we finally exited. We now know we do not have to visit Nogales again anytime soon.

On the way back we stopped in Patigonia AZ for a bite to eat then went to check out the Paton Center for Hummingbirds. Renowned for its backyard birds and scenic location, the Paton Center was acquired by the Tucson Audubon Society with generous help from the American Bird Conservancy and Victor Emanuel Nature Tours early in 2014. It was established as an international birding destination several decades earlier by Wally and Marion Paton, homeowners with a heart for birds and birders. When the Patons passed away in 2001 and 2009, the birding community began pulling together to save this gem for future generations. We spend a about a half hour looking for birds and saw quite a few that we do not see in Wisconsin. The highlight was a Annas Hummingbird. So beautiful!

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.

Snow Fall #1

Snow Fall #2

Snow Fall #2

Snow Fall #2

Lemon Marmalade

 Polar Bear Party

Nogalas - line to cross the border

Paton Center for Hummingbirds

Anna's Hummingbird

                                               

Arizona Sunset

Benson - Christmas and New Years Eve

12/24/2018-12/31/2019

Monday and Tuesday – The last few days we stayed at the park. Dennis spent Monday (Christmas Eve) smoking a pork roast that we will be taking to the Christmas Dinner tomorrow. I volunteered to be a table host for the Christmas Dinner. One of my duties was to decorate the our table. Monday evening I met with another lady who will be at our table so we could decorate. It turned out that Barb and Jeff Mullen are from Shawano WI and are snow birds as well. Christmas Day we sat down with our table of 20 along with 7 other tables celebrating Christmas with a nice dinner.

Thursday – The weather has turned a little cooler with highs back in the mid 50's and some scattered showers. It has snowed in the higher elevations so I thought it would be nice to take a drive to see if we could find some snow so we headed to Mt. Graham. We traveled east on I-10 then turned north on Highway 191 to Swift Trail Junction. We then turned west on to Highway 266 which wound up the mountain. We reached snow at about 6000 feet, traveled up to about 7000 feet then turned around when the road started to become snow covered. It was a beautiful drive with a mix of fluffy clouds and peaks of blue sky. When we got back to Highway 191 we drove north through the town of Safford AZ. I saw there was Indian Hot Springs north of Safford. We went to check it out but apparently whatever was there is closed to the public. We drove north a little further on some dirt back roads then back to Highway 70.

Saturday – We went into Tucson to visit with Steve and Li. They are staying at the Lazy Daze/KOA Campground. It a lovely campground, nice sites with bushes and fruit trees on most sites. Its pretty expensive but was the only place they could find that had openings in January. We walked over to the adjacent Lazy Daze sales area to look at a their campers. Mid afternoon we were all getting hungry so walked over to the on site restaurant and had a bite to eat. After our visit, Dennis and I stopped at Costco and picked up a few things.

Monday – New Years Eve! When we visited Steve and Li they had a lemon tree on their site so we were able to bring a bunch of lemons home with us. I made Dennis' favorite pie....Lemon Meringue! I have not made a meringue pie in ages but it turned out great! Later in the day we both spent some time in the workout room at the clubhouse. In the evening we attended a New Years Eve party. We had a great time dancing with all our friends at the park to the music of Juke Box Junkies.

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.

Mount Graham

Scenes from Benson

Benson Arizona

12/18/2018-12/23/018

Tuesday – Yesterday Dennis was invited to go along on a Jeep ride out in the bush. So today he was picked up around 8:15 and they headed south west of here. Dennis did not know exactly where they ended up but he enjoyed it even though it was very bumpy.

I spent the day taking advantage of full hook ups to catch up on the wash. I also took a bike ride into Benson. The ride was about 8 miles round trip.

After happy hour we headed into town with a group from the park to The Horseshoe Cafe for Taco Tuesday. Dennis and I both had pork tacos then shared a piece of Heath Chocolate pie. Yum!

The weather has been very nice with clear blue skies and temps into the mid 60's. The wind picked up in the afternoon and got kind of cool but still nice. It has been close to freezing over night but warms up quickly when the sun come up.

Friday – Today we took a drive. We wanted to go across the border to the Pink Store. We drove down to Agua Prieta and walked across the border and realized as soon as we started walking down the main street that we had the wrong town. The Pink Store is in the Mexican town south of Deming NM! Bummer! I should have consulted my blog from last year. We walked a few of the streets to check out the town but did not find anything interesting.

On the way back home we stopped in Bisbee, strolled through the town and had lunch at the Stock Exchange Restaurant. From there we drove west and drove through Sierra Vista.

Saturday – Saturday evening was the annual Brown Bag gift exchange at the park. Everyone brings a $10 gift in a brown paper bag. As your name is called you can either pick an unopened gift or steal an opened gift from someone. Our group brought lots of great appetizers to share. We had lots of fun. The evening ended with a snowball fight with fuzzy white snowballs.

Sunday – After spending several days at the park we needed an exploring day. Dennis did some research and found Cave Creek Canyon in the Coronado National Forest. It was a 2 hour drive east of Benson but was a nice drive. We arrived around noon, stopped in the visitor center then headed to the Southfork hiking trail. This park is popular with birders as it has many uncommon birds as well as neotropical migrant birds that show up at different times of the year. We did not see any birds of interest but it was a pretty walk along a babbling stream. We stopped at the Rafter G restaurant in Bowie for supper. Arrived home around 7:00.

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.

JEEP TRIP

BISBEE AZ

HAPPY HOUR AT THE PARK

                                    
                                 CAVE CREEK CANYON - SOUTHFORK TRAIL

On to Arizona

12/16/2018-12/17/018

Sunday – We spent 5 days at Big Bend and still did not see it all. But today we left to continue our journey west. We went through the park to Study Butte then took 118 up to Alpine. We wanted to take 90 west to Van Horn but the GPS kept telling us to go through Fort Davis. We turn on 90 anyway and found out why the GPS did not want us to go that way. There is a low bridge on the west side of Alpine, 13'-7”. We have the height set in the GPS at 13'-10” even though our actual height is 13'-4”. We made it under with room to spare but it is good to know that the GPS is watching out for us! We did not know how far we would go or where we were going to spend the night. Travel weather and roads were good so we kept driving and made it all the way to El Paso. We stayed at the Sunland Racetrack and Casino in there parking lot RV park. It was very interesting to me as we were right next to the racetrack and in the morning we could see the horses being worked on the track. We traveled 346 miles today.

Where we are parked: Sunland Racetrack and Casino RV Park – 8 paved sites with water and electric - $15.

Monday – We got up quite early to get on the road as we decided we would try to get to Benson today. It had rained over night and remained cloudy and sprinkled a little as we drove. By the time we got to Benson around noon the sun was out and it was 59 degrees. We traveled 267 miles today. 

We tracked down our friends Jill and Ed Iteen and went with them to the clubhouse to the daily happy hour. It was like coming home as we were greeted with lots of hugs and welcome backs from our many friends we made from last year.

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.