A Break Between Tucson Rallies

Hi, welcome back. Our last episode ended on Friday, March 1^st, when we left Tucson, Arizona after a wonderful rally, and drove 200 miles east to Deming, New Mexico and the Low-Hi RV Ranch. Saturday was a day of rest for the most part. The 10 day rally in Tucson was VERY busy and the travel yesterday was also tiring, so we were ready for a slow day. We did a few chores around the house and did go out briefly to do a Walmart run. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at 5:30 and then dinner. Jackie made a chili relleno casserole that was very good. Peggy made some rice and we had a nice meal. After dinner the Bullock's went home and we watched some TV until bedtime.

Sunday, March 3^rd, we left the coach with the Bullock's in our car about 10:30 and headed north out of Deming towards Silver City, New Mexico, a little over 50 miles northwest. Silver City is located in a valley in the foothills of the Mogollon Mountains of Southwestern New Mexico. The city was founded in 1870 after silver was discovered in the area, although the general area had been mined for copper decades earlier by the Spanish who were the first Europeans to visit the area. The silver played out after a few decades, but the area is now again active with modern copper mines. The city has a population of about 10,000 and sits at nearly 6,000 feet in elevation. I have never been to Silver City and wanted to visit it since we were so close in Deming. I was curious about the town because back in 1970 I joined the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Phoenix. When I went to the academy later that year one of my classmates was Mike Bethea. After the academy Mike and I found ourselves on the same patrol squad in adjacent beats and became pretty good friends. Mike's wife at the time was from New Mexico and sometime around 1974 Mike resigned from MCSO and moved to Silver City. We never had any contact after that, however, we did hear that a few years later, sometime in the late 70's, he was elected Sheriff of Grant County, of which Silver City is the county seat.

When we arrived in Silver City we found a high desert mining town which was very reminiscent of areas in Arizona we are familiar with, like Cottonwood and Clarkdale, where my brother Dennis lives. We went into the old downtown area, which dates back to the turn of the century, and went to the Little Toad Creek Brewery for lunch. The place had good ratings and it turns out the food was very good. Three of us had what they called a New Mexico Reuben sandwich, which added onions and green chilies to a Reuben and the flavors were excellent. Jackie had Baja fish tacos and said they were good too. After lunch we drove around downtown and did some sightseeing in the area. The altitude was a little too much for Jackie to do much walking around. It is a very picturesque town, although being a Sunday it was pretty quiet. We found that the Elks Lodge was open, so we stopped in and had a drink and got a lodge pin for our banner. We also picked up a couple of easy geocaches in the area before heading back to Deming. After we got back to the park we stayed in the rest of the night. Peggy was not feeling well, had a bad cold, so we just stayed in and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Monday, March 4^th was another relaxation day. We got a few chores done around the coach and Jackie and I went out after lunch and got our toes clipped. I just get trimmed, Jackie went full pedi. After the pedi we went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the day. Peggy was still not feeling well, so we had cocktails on our own and Jackie made dinner for us. We then watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday we had planned to go to Puerto Palomas, the Mexican border city about 30 miles south of Deming, however, Peggy's was still not feeling well, so we decided to put the trip off a couple days. Instead we met the Bullock's for lunch at Irma's Mexican Cafe, our all time favorite New Mexico Mexican restaurant. It is located right in the heart of downtown and we have been coming here whenever we pass through Deming for about the last six years. As always lunch was wonderful, and filling. After lunch the Bullock's went to run some errands, including a trip to the pharmacy for Peggy, and we went out to do some geocaching. We first dropped off some stuff at the local St. Vincent De Paul thrift store, then did some urban caching. We were able to get seven new finds in about 90 minutes. After caching we stopped at a local Mexican food store for some frozen chili rellenos that Peggy said she got last year and loved. We then went back to the coach for the rest of the day. We had cocktails with just the two of us, some light dinner and then watched TV for the rest of the night. As a side note, today marks the one year anniversary of when we had to put our beloved cat Smokey to sleep. RIP Smokey!

Wednesday, March 6^th, Peggy was still not feeling well, so after lunch Jackie and I went out to do a little geocaching. We were able to get three new finds in less than an hour and then we were pretty much out of caches in the area. There is apparently not a big caching community here. We did have a lot more caches on the list I printed out the day we got here, but two days later the owner archived all his caches, which were the majority of geocaches in Deming. Although most owners will not go out and pick up the containers when they archive a cache, it does no good to go find it because the website will not let you log an archived cache. After our caching we did a Walmart run, then returned to the RV park. We did have cocktails with the Bullock's, outside for the first time in a while since the weather was mild and for the first time since we have been here the wind was not blowing 30 mph. After cocktails we went back to our coach, fixed dinner and then watched TV until it was time to go to bed.

Thursday, March 7^th, our last full day in Deming. Peggy still didn't feel like going out, so about 10:00 Jackie and I left and drove south 39 miles to the border town of Columbus, New Mexico. We parked in the visitor's parking at the border station and walked across the border into Puerto Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico. We have been here once before, probably six or seven years ago. The U.S. Customs and Immigration border station here is brand new, and in fact it appears they are just finishing up the landscaping and some road work around it. This new crossing is huge, multiple lanes for traffic, a huge secondary search area, several large buildings. Given the number of people we saw walking around town after we crossed over, I am not sure why they wanted such a big facility. It is not even the commercial vehicle port, that is down the road a ways. When we crossed into Mexico there was a big, new building there too that you had to pass through to get into town. Palomas is basically one long street, maybe a mile, with some short cross streets. Only two tourist type shops, the Pink Store and a market. Everything else appeared to be geared mostly towards the locals. There were a couple of eye doctors and dentists, but a tiny fraction of what they have in Algodones. Based on what we saw there were probably fewer than a hundred tourists in town while we were there. There were no street vendors, or outside shops like in Algodones. Frankly, I suspect this will be the last time we visit because there just isn't that much there. It's only real claim to fame is that it is the town where General Pershing crossed when he invaded Mexico chasing Pancho Villa back at the turn of the century.

We walked a couple blocks on the street and then went into the Pink Store, which has an acre of kitschy Mexican crap and a nice restaurant. They do give you a free drink while you shop. After a half hour of looking around the store we had lunch, which was excellent. After lunch we picked up a wheel of white Mexican cheese, which we were told was made by members of a Mennonite colony that lives nearby, on the Mexican side. We also stopped at a pharmacy so Jackie could get a couple little things. We then walked back to the American side. Unlike Algodones, there were only two people in line ahead of us and we walked right in, checked in and walked out. The biggest drawback is that the customs facility is so big it's a quarter mile walk from the Mexican side of the fence to the building where the inspectors are, and then another quarter mile out of the facility. After we got back to the car we drove back to the RV park and stayed in for the rest of the day. Just as we were leaving Mexico a big windstorm, which was also very cold, started blowing and we listened to 40 mph wind blowing the rest of the afternoon and evening. By bedtime it had calmed down, but they were predicting tomorrow to be more of the same. We watched some TV and went to bed.

Friday, March 8^th, we were up early, packed up the coach and were on the road by 8:00 a.m., heading west to Wilcox, Arizona, about 140 miles. We left early because the weather forecast was for high winds again starting in the early afternoon and we did not want to be on the road in the kind of winds we had yesterday afternoon. We made Wilcox and the Grande Vista RV park, just before 11:00 and got parked and set up. We had occasional light winds and some gusts on the trip, but, just as was forecast, by 1:00 the winds were howling again, 40 mph steady with higher gusts. Our getting up and out early was a good idea. Since the weather was bad and we were tired anyway, we spent the rest of the day in. We had cocktails with Peggy and Vernon and then Jackie made some Chinese chicken casserole for dinner. After dinner the Bullock's left and we watched TV until bedtime.

This is our first time staying in Wilcox. We had stayed several times over the years in the next town West, Benson, but not here. Wilcox is town of about 3,500, founded in 1880 as a stop on the new Southern Pacific railroad line. Then, as now, it was mainly a ranching community and exists to support local ranches as well as the occasional tourist. The town is best known as the birthplace of 50's cowboy singer and actor Rex Allen. One of the main streets is named after him and there are several museums in town dedicated to his life, as well as a large stature in the old downtown area. We are going to be here for three nights, so we have a couple of days to explore. The weather is supposed to be better for the next few days.

Saturday, March 9^th, we left the coach with the Bullock's about 11:30 and went to a nearby cafe, the Hitching Post Cafe, for lunch/breakfast. Peggy and I had lunch, Vernon and Jackie had breakfast. After breakfast Jackie was not feeling well, so we dropped her off at the coach to rest while Peggy and Vernon and I drove to the Chiricahua National Monument about 35 miles southeast of Wilcox in the Chiricahua Mountains. The monument is a little over 12,000 acres in the Chiricahua Mountains, including most of the range's Bonita Canyon. Although the limestone formations in the park are very beautiful, the monument also includes a lot of history. This part of the Chiricahua Mountains was where the Chiricahua Apache Indians used as a stronghold in their fight against the white settlers and U.S. Army from the middle to the late 1800's. These were the tribes led by Cochise and then later Geronimo. These Apache tribes were some of the last native Americans to finally make peace with the U.S. government. We spent some time at the visitor's center and then drove around the monument sight-seeing. After our visit we drove back to Wilcox and I spent the rest of the day helping Jackie, who was having a really bad spell of stomach problems.

Sunday, March 10^th, Jackie was still feeling bad, I woke up with a renewed cough and fever, and Peggy was still sick. Vernon is the only one holding out to feeling half decent. I did go out and make a run to the grocery store to pick up some stuff, mostly medical supplies. We spent the rest of the day in the coach just trying to not be too miserable. Monday was another travel day. I was feeling just a little bit better, although I woke up with my own stomach issues. Fortunately, I already had the Pepto Bismol that I got Jackie yesterday. Today we are continuing west, going 90 miles to South Tucson. I had been worried about the weather as the forecast was for rain today, but the skies were partly cloudy and it was only a little windy, so an easy trip. We arrived at the Mission View RV resort about noon and got parked next to Peggy and Vernon. After we got set up we just relaxed for the rest of the day, still trying to get better. We did get together for a little while at 5:00 for our first cocktails together in a few days. After that we went back into the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, March 12^th, we woke up to the predicted rain with expectations that it would be raining on and off all day. After lunch we went out to do some shopping, hitting Walmart first and then Costco. At both stops we had to walk through rain to get to the stores. After shopping we went home and put everything away. We had cocktails with the Bullock's at 5:30 then Peggy served up some clam chowder she had made. The chowder was very good. After dinner we went home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Neither of us is feeling well yet, I hope these colds or whatever it is will relent soon. Wednesday, my son Roy Jr's birthday! It was also laundry day for us. We went out after lunch to a laundromat and got all our clothes and bedding washed and dried. On the way home we stopped at Fry's for some items that went on sale today, particularly stuff for St. Patrick's Day, which is this coming Sunday. We picked up everything we needed for corned beef and cabbage. After we got home we put everything away and then later had cocktails at the Bullock's. Peggy cooked again today, making meat loaf and roasted potatoes and carrots. It was a great meal. After dinner we went back to our coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, March 14^th, still a sick day for me, although Jackie seemed to be a bit better. We left the RV park about 10:30 and drove to a cafe called JerryBob's. We ate here a couple years ago and enjoyed it, so we went back. We met Peggy and Vernon there and had a nice breakfast/lunch. After lunch we took a drive to Sam's Club. I needed to return something, and the only store in Tucson, up on the north side, was closer from here than it would be from the fairgrounds. After Sam's Club we drove back to the campground and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had cocktails with the Bullock's, but no formal dinner. We watched TV until it was bedtime.

Friday, March 15^th, another travel day. We were only going about 27 miles east, back to the Pima County Fairgrounds that we left a week ago. This time we are going for the Escapee's RV Club annual Escapade, a very large RV rally, similar to the big FMCA Conventions that we go to. We didn't even hook up the car since we had to unhook before we parked anyway. We left Mission View about 9:30 and by 11:00 we were in the fairgrounds and parked. We did the basic set up, mostly inside because the wind was blowing about 40 mph outside. I was still feeling poorly, so after we got set up we just stayed in and rested. We didn't even do cocktails or dinner. Just watched some TV and went to bed.

It has been a couple weeks since we published and our arrival here at another big, week long rally, marks a good place to close out this chapter and get it online. Until next time remember to just be yourself because everyone else is taken. See ya soon.