March 18, 2005

Today was a slow start – and headed out towards Tombstone at about 10:30 this morning. Tombstone is in the process of having a celebration – which means that in addition to the usual tourist glitch – there are many people around in period costumes. This combined with Tucson’s part in Basketball’s March Madness there were many people around (losing teams supporters could be seen in their team colours).

First stop was at the historic Boot Hill Cemetery. With the assistance of the handy reference guide, walked through the cemetery to get the story on many of the 250 people buried there. The original wooden headstones are long gone – and have been replaced with metal identification plaques with painted names. Probably the most prominent “residents” of the cemetery are Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton (as a result of the Gunfight at OK Coral). However there are some other interesting stories about people there – including George Johnson who was wrongfully hung (for buying a stolen horse), and Lester Moore (Here lies Lester Moore, four slugs from a 44, No Les No Moore).

Continued down into town from Boot Hill and after finding parking – picked up our package tickets to the Museum, Historama, the Gun Fight re-enactment and a copy of the local Newspaper’s (Tombstone Epitaph) original coverage of the Gunfight. The Historama was narrated by Vincent Price – and was entitled the town that would not die. In 1877 a local prospector by the name of Ed Schieffelin left the safety of the Military Fort and went looking for his fortune. The local military personnel thought that his plan was foolish and told him that the only thing that he would find would be his tombstone. Ed Schieffelin discovered a major silver ore vein – and out of a sense of irony named his claim Tombstone. The mining boom that resulted created a town with a colourful history as a lawless mining community. A number of fires swept through Tombstone over the years but the town was rebuilt almost immediately. However in 1890, large scale mining in the area ended, as a result of the mine shafts flooding and the pumps not being able to keep up with the flow of water. At its height, Tombstone had over 10,000 people in it and was in the front running to become the State Capital, however when the mines closed – people left on mass. Tombstone has definitely transformed itself into a tourist Mecca (trap) – and today has a population of about 2000 people.

The streets of Tombstone try to re-create the 1880 atmosphere with the downtown streets being closed off and wooden sidewalks in front of the stores, restaurants and services trying make use of either the original buildings or others with facades. Some of the stores and restaurants have been here for years – whereas others come and go in the rental space that is available. There are a number of stagecoaches that are available for historic guided tours of the area. Many of the restaurants and stores have period costume barkers out advertising shows or products to the passing tourists. If a person were into a Western decorating theme – they would have thought they had died and gone to heaven. After all where else could you get cow skulls with the Duke or Eastwood painted on them?

Watched the re-enactment of the gunfight at OK Corral, as well as a few other re-enactments and demonstrations – which was well done – with the exception of a few minor technical glitches. First off – the Army helicopter kept circling the area – making it difficult for the actors to be heard. At one point one of the actors pointed a rifle at the helicopter – and you wondered if the helicopter was going to go into attack mode. The second glitch was during one of the comedy scenes, one of the actor’s blank guns jammed – and had everyone on the set breaking into hysterics – when he finally had to go “Bang your dead”. They were able to get everything working right for OK Corral re-enactment.

Finished off the day with a meal at the Longhorn Saloon – where the food was okay – and the portions were large but the service seemed filled with its own glitches. We didn’t have room for their delicious looking “Death by Chocolate”. Dad was looking for a silver necklace to go with his crystal that he has worn for years – and although not successful – does have one silver buyer who had one that he liked but it was not long enough. The buyer is expecting to get more stock in May and has our contact information if she is able to find a longer chain.

March 19, 2005

Today was a slow and relaxing day. We had a big pancake breakfast at the RV and then took a drive into Sierra Vista – for a short grocery shop and to locate a WiFi site. Ran into a Safeway so it made it feel like we were shopping at home. Managed to also fit in a couple of garage sales and a pawn shops before heading for home. Dad was able to pick up a silver replacement chain at a pawn shop for cheap that will work for his crystal – which pleased him.

Returned to the campground – and the boys worked hard to get a full day of lessons in, while Dad worked on the motor home (cleaning the K&M Filter). Although there are numerous California Quail running around the campground – we were fortunate enough to have a Roadrunner come into the site and watch us. They are usually very skittish and do not usually socialize this way. The one neighbour beside us who has been coming down for the last five years says that he has never seen one behave like this – and you usually only see them in the distance or rushing by. The boys were thrilled to see a roadrunner this close – as they usually only get to see the tail end of one running across the road.

Earlier today, 6 prisoners broke out of a Mexican jail to the south of us. They have car jacked a number of vehicles and the last vehicle was abandoned within site of the border. The authorities are working on the assumption that they are trying to get into the US and therefore there has been an increased presence of border patrols and helicopters in the area. The local news station in Tucson is encouraging everyone to be vigilant and at the same time being concerned if there are enough law enforcement personnel available – given the resources being diverted for the President’s visit on Monday. This has also added fuel for the Minuteman group – who is coming out to Arizona in April to watch the borders. The Minutemen group is a volunteer organization out of California – who states that the number of illegal immigrants that enter the US every year is equal to the size of the total armed forces. They do not believe the government is doing enough to enforce the laws and therefore they set up viewing points along the border to prevent illegal entry. Local government and community groups (such as Humane Borders – which places large water barrels throughout the desert – in order to ensure that people entering the country do not die from de-hydration) – are urging the Minutemen not to get actively involved – and expressing concern that this may just be a racial attack. Maybe its best that we will be north of here by the time April first comes along…

March 20, 2005

Awoke to a clear and beautiful morning for the first day of spring. Mom was up early and drove to the State Park to wait in line for tickets for Kartchner Caverns. Tickets for the Caverns are pre-sold until mid-April; but they release 100 tickets on a first come first serve basis – when the gates open at 7:00 am you get a ticket with a number on it and the number of tickets that you want to purchase. Despite being there at 7:13 mom got #23. She then had to go to the Discovery Centre to wait until 7:30 for the doors to open and then get served in numerical order. Mom was rather worried as many people were buying multiple tickets and there was no guarantee that 4 would be remaining on a tour together. Then two groups ahead of mom after much discussion left without buying tickets. Mom came back to the campground with tickets for the Rotunda Tour at 2:40 PM.

The boys spent the morning doing up school work – and then down to the Club House for a Mexican lunch. We headed out early to get gas at the corner station – and were shocked to see that gas prices had jumped 30 cents since we arrived (now $2.29/gallon). All the news reports indicate that there is no reason for prices to be rising – as there is no shortage of gas and that Saudi Arabia is looking at increasing production. The only conclusion that they could draw was that the companies were trying to get the most out of the situation before surplus forced the price down. Oh well – we will just have to incorporate this into the latter part of our trip planning.

Kartchner Caverns State Park is a relatively new park – opening to the public in 1999. The caves were discovered in 1974 by a couple of amateur cavers – after squeezing through a sinkhole at the base of the hill. After slogging through mud and bat guano and scrambling over a rock fall – they found themselves in a wet cave with a series of larger and larger rooms. A wet cave is a cave that is still moist and is actively growing stalagmites and stalactites – unlike Carlsbad – which is more dormant. The cavers knew that they had found something special – but were also very wary that once it was known it would be quickly destroyed. They had previous discovered a smaller cave – and watched as it had been overused and vandalized. Therefore the two of them kept their discovery secret – while they explored the caves and options for their preservation. After being unsuccessful in trying to buy the land from the Kartchner family that owned it – they shared their discovery with them and the need for secrecy. The Kartchner family agreed – and for 14 years the group of them worked quietly behind the scenes trying to protect the area. In the end, the State Legislature ended up making the area a park – without truly knowing the exact location – until safeguards could be put in place to preserve and protect the area.

Kartchner Caverns has the advantage of learning from the mistakes that many of the other national and private caves had made. They have therefore put in place a considerable number of things to protect the environment of the caves. Firstly, as the pre-ticket purchase indicates – they limit the number of people through the cave – and close some parts of the caves when the bats return (as it is a maternity cave). Tours leave about every 20 minutes – are limited to 20 people with 2 rangers, and last just over an hour. The paths through the caves are designed in such a way that limited outside material can enter the caverns. There are several stainless steel airlock doors, which you pass through before getting into the caverns – in order to maintain the internal temperature (70 degrees) and humidity. Then they lightly mist you down – so as to reduce the chance of lint or other impurities contaminating the caverns. There are no foreign objects allowed in the cave – including food – water, camera, etc. Because of the nutrient free environment any food object that is dropped quickly develops a large fuzzy growth around it. The entire caverns are illuminated with special low level lighting which is turned on and off by the rangers as you pass through the areas – so as not to heat up or dry out the caves. (In one area they had found that the moisture level had dropped one percent from when the caves were originally discovered – so they recycled ground water through misters to increase the level – and not introduce outside water sources).

The caverns – although not as large as Carlsbad – do have many of the delicate structures that have long since disappeared in other caves. There is a soda straw stalactite – that is over 20 feet long and helictites that defy gravity and grow in all directions. There are a variety of types of shields as well as incredibly coloured draperies and cave bacon looking like nicely crisped bacon for a giant. They also do not name the structures like other caves do – choosing to leave that to observer’s imagination. The exception to that is one formation that the original people who discovered the cave – named – “Kubla Khan” (a five story high totem) in the Throne Room. Here the tour sits you in the large room – and with some subtle background music – provided a subtle light show of the various features in the room – encouraging you to use your imagination as to what you see.

The ranger leading the tour – reminded us of “Uncle Frankie” in build and mannerisms – and had the patience of Job – in dealing with some of the silly questions from a number of the people on the tour. Trying to combine the need to provide information with the need to stay on a tight timeline for the tour, he had just the right amount of courtesy, humour and information – while at the same time putting in subtle digs. As we were leaving, the ranger was talking to an older gentleman – who had been asking numerous questions – and had indicated that he had been at Carlsbad and was on his way to a cave in California. The ranger encouraged him to keep asking his questions – as hopefully they would be able to answer them more clearly than he had (and then winked at Dad as he left).

Headed back to the campground and the kids played outside for a while in the sun. Many of the other units in our area of the campground have left – and we are sort of sitting out by ourselves – and therefore have plenty of privacy. With the President due to fly into Tucson tomorrow to talk about his social security reforms and the people that are protesting those reforms – and the increased security that will probably involve – we will stay out of there – and look for something a little more subdued to do.
March 21, 2005 –

As it is Monday and usually the day we post our web journal – we headed into the MacDonald’s in Sierra Vista that advertised itself as being a WiFi hotspot. Unfortunately their system was flaky and we could not stay connected – so were unsuccessful in have the web information posted.

Continued up and over the pass to old mining town of Bisbee, which is about 7 miles north of the Mexican border. Bisbee became an important copper mining town in the late 1800s. In 1875 a prospector by the name of Hugh Jones discovered copper in the area and in 1878, made a claim that became the Copper Queen mile – the richest copper mine in Arizona’s history. In 1880, the Phelps Dodge Corporation took over mining operations and Bisbee quickly became famous for its wealth – as well as its number of saloons and gambling halls. The lawyer who helped financed the Copper Queen – was named Dewitt Bisbee – and for whom the town was named. By the time Bisbee was incorporated in 1902 – it was the largest city in Arizona. The Phelps Dodge Company bought up and owns all of the land in the area. In 1917, there was a dispute between the miners and the management of the company that resulted in the miners being forcefully removed from the town and left stranded in the middle of the New Mexico desert – an event which became known as the “Bisbee Deportation”.

The Copper Queen mine closed in the 1960’s and the other mines in the area in the 1978 – resulting in the loss of over 2000 jobs. Today the town is a quaint community built up on the hills – with narrow winding streets, and contains many antique and artisan shops. The town’s location in the Gulch of the mountains – adds to its moderating climate – making it a popular tourist and retirement area. The town is also close to the Coronado Memorial – commemorating the expedition of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Coronado into the area in 1540.

After wandering around the great shops in town (and picking up a few trinkets at a great antique store) – we headed to the Queen Mine – for our tour underground. For the tour itself, you are outfitted with heavy yellow rain jackets, miner’s hard hats, and battery packs and lamps (the boys took great pride in noting that the battery packs were made in Canada). The sleeves had to be rolled up on the kids’ jackets – and the mining helmets had to be cinched in – but it seemed to work well. People are then loaded onto a narrow gauge railway carts and enter the mine. Although the mine that we were in has three levels below and two levels above the main line – we stayed on the main level. We did disembark several times – to walk to various parts of the mining operation. The tour guides were all miners from the area – however they did not necessarily work in this mine. Our guide was very knowledgeable – and although having received a significant buyout from Phelps Dodge several years ago – thoroughly loves the area and sharing his underground experience.

Winter or summer – the temperature in the mine remains fairly constant between 47 and 51 degrees. Also the way that the air vents were drilled in – there are places where it almost felt that there was a breeze going through the mine. In most places in the mine there was only limited lighting – with most of the light being provided from our headlamps. Our guide states that it will only be a matter of time before the company comes back into to Bisbee to mine again. He indicated that the big open pit mines to the north are working with ore veins that are only up to 2% pure and down to as low as .2%. Tests on the waste pile from the Queen Mine show that it is in the 4% range. The guide figured the financial the return on the waste tailings from the Queen – they could pay for the entire set-up of a full mining operation – and therefore it is just a matter of time (and when copper prices become high enough again). At that time – there will be some happy people because of the money that the mine brings in – as well as some unhappy people who have picked the community to live in due to the artisans and retirement opportunities.

The kids really seemed to enjoy their opportunity to be underground (however there were others in our group that had to be taken out due to feeling claustrophobic). It added to some of their knowledge that they gained from Dynamic Earth in Sudbury – and rather than being a re-creation – this was an actual operating mine until the 1960’s.

After the mine tour – and a quick homemade sandwich – headed back into Bisbee to finish off the shops on main street. Found a great metal working gallery with a wide variety goods for sale. They had a 6 series set of metal silhouette statues depicting the evolution of man. These stood up to 6 ft tall – and the last in the series showed a slightly out of shape man carrying a beer can – ah … evolution at its finest. Between the price and the size – Dad was not able to bring the big guys home to adorn the ridge behind the cabin – but did get a small replica – for his office.

We headed back to the campground – and were fortunate enough to find a gas station that still had its prices at $2.03 a gallon. (News reports today said that prices in California are now over $3.00 a gallon in some places – guess that means that we are not going up the West Coast).

March 22, 2005 –

Today is to be a school and catch up day. The kids went to the clubhouse to work on their schooling – and attracted the attention of many of the seniors. This proved to be only a minor distraction for them – and they were able to put in a good day’s work. In the afternoon they sat outside in the shade of the motor home and continued their work. Suddenly they heard a loud whirring wound and turned to see a significant sized dirt devil come through the desert from behind the motor home – and pass within 20 feet of them. Although relatively small – it gave them a good idea of the power of what a tornado looks like. (Today they had tornado watches to the East of us – and some high winds in Texas and parts of Louisiana where we were a couple of weeks ago).

Dad went into Sierra Vista – and after getting his WiFi card checked out at a local Radio Shack – and they directed him to another WiFi site – where he was able to get on without a problem (Mountain Mocha – free WiFi and great coffee). Dad was finally able to post the Web Journal and check our e-mail.

Dad also went to a local bike shop to pick up his bike that he dropped off yesterday. This is the bike that the derailleur was bent down in the Everglades. It turned out fixing the problem was no easy feat – as most derailleur do not have enough clearance to work on this folding bicycle. Therefore the shop – put on a new specialized (but out of production) derailleur, new shifter and brake to accommodate the different derailleur, new cables and a new chain (to account for the different diameter for the derailleur). All this and the labour came to under $30 – as they felt bad they could not repair with original parts. Dad left another $10 dollars for them to have a drink at the end of the day – to which they seemed pleased. The one bike mechanic who also races mountain bikes – missed out in coming up to BC last year (Fernie) – and is hoping to get us this summer – and was thrilled to get information about the area.

Mom and the boys were able to get some information about other things to do in the area from a couple of the people that were here. This combined with an upcoming storm system and the Easter Weekend – probably means that we will stay here an extra couple of days. Although it does not have all the amenities of some of the resorts – it is cheap ($2 per night as it is our ‘home resort’) and we are in an isolated area with the desert behind us – which makes it nice and quiet.

March 23, 2005 –

Up early this morning and into Tucson and the Sonora Desert Museum. The Museum opens at 7:30 – and although we will not make it by that time – we wanted to get as early a start as possible. Fought headwinds most of the way into Tucson – and the little Suzuki was really getting blown around. Once into Tucson – you exit west onto Speedway Boulevard (which it is not) and follow a winding road up and over Gates Pass – another road where motor homes and trailers are not allowed. As you climb the mountain / hill – the Saguaro cactus (this is the big one with arms that everyone envisions when they think about a cactus) start getting bigger and more plentiful. Some of the large homes have 30 – 40 cacti decorating their property. The Saguaro growth rate is greatly dependant on the temperature and rainfall on an annual basis – and after about 15 years they have only grown about 2 feet in height. After that if conditions continue to be favourable it grows at an average rate of 3 inches per year. The arms on the saguaro cactus do not start to appear until it is nearly 70 years of age. Saguaro cacti have a root system that is double the height of cactus. This is why when you see them in the natural environment – the large ones appear almost equally spaced throughout the desert. They grow naturally only in the Sonora Desert.

The Sonora Desert Museum is a zoo, botanical garden and natural history museum that depicts life in the Sonora Desert (that extends through parts of Arizona and California as well as the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California). The Museum is located at the top of a hill – and extends down into the valley. They boast having more than 300 types of local animal and bird species – as well as over 1200 types of plants and cactus on display. Also with the amount of rain that this area of the desert has received over this year – we are fortunate that the spring flowers are in bloom in the desert – and not just the ones where there is irrigation. For many years – it was dry enough that there are no spring flowers. Reports from Death Valley state that it is ablaze of blossoms – an event that only happens every 80 years. Here, they say that there are flowers in bloom that they have not seen in at least three decades. They have over 100 species of cactus that are both around the site naturally – as well as displayed and labelled in their Cactus Garden. Given that the Museum has been in existence for over 50 years – and the slowness of growth of cacti – their gardens are phenomenal compared to others.

The Museum has two Aviaries – one for hummingbirds – and one for larger birds. There were over 50 hummingbirds in the aviary – with seven different varieties. We were fortunate enough to see a hummingbird feeding their young – and a nest with eggs in it. (Apparently from the time that the eggs are laid until they chicks are hatched is only 14 days. And then the chicks are able to fly and be on their own another 14 days later). The nests are made of many different materials – and we watched one snag a thread from a sweater to help it build its nest. The larger Aviary is full of cardinals, quail, cactus wrens – and many other varieties of local birds. The pollination gardens also had many bees, butterflies and hummingbirds flying around – including bees that are larger than your thumb. We watched a large swallowtail butterfly chase away a couple of the large carpenter bees – from a flowing bush it was feeding on. The fight over nectar made what you usually view as gentle and docile (the butterfly) – very aggressive.

The museum also gave us an opportunity to see a number of animals that we had not been able to see in the wild. This included the Jaguarondi, the Ocelot, the Javelina, the Coatis, and the large Harris’ Antelope Squirrel. Keelan was in heaven as he loves all types of cats and he was able to get a good look at these guys. They also had some great-naturalized displays of cougar, and bobcat – in simulated canyons – and were making new cave and aviator exhibits. The workmen were constructing the new large cave – and had a display on how they make casts of and replicate the rocks to build and complete this cave. Mom joking asked if they would come and build a cave (complete with the pools and stalactites) to put our hot tub in – and the labourer said – we could do that and pointed out the foreman we should talk to. (Dad just walked away – not wanting to know the costs of this dream).

The museum also offers an earth science exhibit – which includes a replica limestone cave complete with pools, stalactites, and trail with low ceilings and tight passageways that the kids scrambled through. There was also a very large and spectacular collection of minerals and gems – collected from different parts of the Sonora Desert.

Both kids were excited to see about 7 different types of lizards in natural setting – including a brightly coloured blue and green 15-inch long lizard. They were able to spot the lizards hiding and sunning themselves on the rocks – and spent time showing other people where they were “hiding” among the rocks.

After leaving the Sonora Desert Museum we made a brief stop at Old Tucson studio’s – “where many westerns were filmed” – with a brief stop to scramble around Gates Pass and for Mom and the boys to discover the an ancient ruin site that once they got close enough to examine turned out to be a “restroom” that had been built many years ago and was designed to fit into the environment.

March 24, 2005 –

Up slowly this morning – with the intention of paying for another five nights – to get us through the Easter weekend. However, when Mom went down to try and pay for the next couple of days – she was informed that this was not possible – and that we would have to leave for 7 days before we could come back. There was no effort made to offer us any sort of break – and it felt that they were happy just to get rid of us. Given the number of RV resorts that are in the area – we can understand why this resort was less than half full. Mom made a quick call and got reservations 5 days from now in a RPI resort outside of Mesa Verde – but nothing any sooner. As she explained the situation that had occurred – the RPI representative said that it was not the first complaint that they had heard about this resort. Good thing we bought this primarily for the ability to travel – and not on the basis of this being our permanent resort – or we would be very disappointed. We quickly packed up all of our stuff and were on the road again – with no pre-determined destination. Mom stopped into the office on the way out of the gate – to express her disappointment – and the staff’s only response was that they were highly rated. (Again these are quasi-volunteer staff – and I’m sure that they have a highly rated view of themselves).

As we rolled down the road – Mom was on the phone – and determined that we could get into an RV park outside of Phoenix (Apache Junction) for a couple of days – and then would have to play it by ear. Retraced our route up to Tucson – and then took a scenic route through Florence and crossing through the Sonora Desert. During the last 30 miles into Apache Junction – you could see the mountains rising to the north and west. The large and ominous presence of Superstition Mountain is highlighted to the west.

As we drove into Apache Junction – it had many RV resorts – most advertising 55 and over only. (Sorry but Mom and Dad don’t quite qualify for this yet – even through it seems that the grey hair is contagious). This is truly a snowbird area – and Dad had to adjust his driving skills to be conscious of all the “wrinkles”. However the Resort that we pulled into (Carefree Manor) did not advertise this restriction. Mom went into register and Dad went to work taking the toad off. By the time Mom got back – she informed us that things had changed and we were able to stay for the four days – and did not need to seek out another resort.

After getting set up – Mom went back down to the office to get directions to a grocery store – etc. The staff seemed more than welcoming and helpful – such a pleasant change. Dad was pleased that they had a local WiFi site so that he does not have to go in search of a connection. After a grocery shop – and a big pizza for supper – Mom and the kids went to the heated outdoor pool for a swim. Although the resort is fairly full with over 150 mostly permanent sites – they were the only ones in the pool and had a great time.