We left Silver City, New Mexico with snow on our windshield but excitement in our hearts. We were finally on the road and super pumped about getting to Arizona. Our goal was to make it to Casa Grande by the 22nd of February! After leaving Silver City, New Mexico it was finally time to head toward Arizona. Our trip there would take us to Tombstone, Boothill, the Chirachaua National Monument, Fort Bowie and then into Tucson where we visited both the East and West side of Saguaro National Park.

Our drive to Tombstone was a relatively easy one. Once we got away from Silver City, the weather started clearing up and the snow melted off the RV. And before you know it, we were driving into the RV park inTombstone, Arizona. The park was reminiscent of Boothill with the site numbers being tombstone shaped. After getting set up and getting Bruce Wayne situated in the RV we headed out to discover what cool things we could do in Tombstone. And sure enough...we did all the touristy things you can do there. The first thing we did was head over to have lunch at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. Big Nose Kate was Doc Holiday's girlfriend/prostitute and we got a quick history lesson about the town. Then we checked out some of the local stores and window-shopped till it was time to head back to our RV spot. We stayed at the Tombstone RV Park and Campground right outside of Tombstone proper. It was 5 minutes to just about anything we wanted to do in town.

February 17th-2nd day in Tombstone, Arizona. We started the day by heading over to Boothill to see the graveyard. Talk about a resolute waste of land. It was pretty cool though walking through the graveyard and seeing how the people of the times made their living and even learning about how some of the more famous ones died!

Unfortunately, this was also the date that we found out from my sister that my Mom and Dad's house had been flooded by the extreme winter freeze that they had in Texas (right after my Dad had his knee surgery too) Talk about feeling helpless. My sisters chipped right in and worked so hard on cleaning up the house over the next few weeks but it would be several months before the repair work would get finished. In fact, it was May before the breakfast room got finished and June before all the carpet was laid and the furniture moved back in.

Side note, if you are in Tombstone, you really have to experience the gunfight. It's a self-guided tour till you get back to the gunfight area and then the gunfight is staged about  three times a day. Before and after the gunfight, the actors will walk through the downtown street and let you take pictures with them. At least the good guys do!

February 18, 2021-Today was a down day so we decided to go check out the Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie. Chiricahua National Monument is about 66 miles from Tombstone so we decided to make it a road trip and find something to eat along the way. Sandy's RV and Cafe was a perfect place to eat and then get back on the road. Before we made it to Sandy's though we saw two A-10 Warthogs doing low level runs over the road we were on. It happened so fast we couldn't get pictures of it but it was a total blast watching them. Robert thought they were probably doing a bombing run. I just wished I had a picture of them because they were so close. 

After lunch we headed to the National Monument. Chiricahua has some of the most unique rhyolite rock formations and is called "the wonderland of rocks". It's also called the "land of standing up rocks" and it definitely is an appropriate description of this place. Chiricahua National Monument is located in the southeastern part of the state. At the entrance station, the elevation is 5,124' and at the summit it is 7,310'. The people who lived in the area prior to European settlers or the "white man" were Apache but it is thought that they found themselves being pushed further south by warring tribes. They were mainly nomadic people and some of the more famous Apache Indians that may have moved through this area are Chochise and possibly Geronimo.

About 40 minutes away is Fort Bowie National Historic Site. It opens at 8:30am and closes at 4:00pm and it is about a 1-1.5 mile hike in to the Visitor Center and the old fort ruins. We got to the trailhead at around 3:15pm so Robert took off to go get the stamp for another national park, leaving me and Bruce to hike by ourselves. It really wasn't that bad but it was pretty cool. Along the trail in there are historical markers with a little bit of history about the area in the 1800s. At on point, you can stop at the site of the Butterfield stagecoach ambush by Chochise. The first Fort Bowie is close to Apache Pass which is the location of another famous attack.

There is so much history of the first Americans in this area and it was really fascinating to be able to learn about the culture and the difficulties both the Indians and the people who attempted to settle the land went through.

February 19, 2021-It's time to head to Tucson. It is about 70 miles to Tuscon from Tombstone so for us that is about a 2 hour drive depending on whether it's freeway driving or back road driving. Tucson is another one of those quintessential places that is typical of southwestern Arizona. Stucco buildings, desert surroundings and lots of Saguaro cactus. In fact so much Saguaro cactus that there are two national parks dedicated to it...Saguaro National Park East and West and while we were there, we visited both of them.

Our RV park was really just a parking lot with Full Hook ups in it. There was a small pool but we were so busy we never got a chance to check it out. I wouldn't recommend the park itself but it wasn't all that bad. Located in the city of Tucson, we were pretty close to just about anything we needed in the way of food. There wasn't a lot of shade but we were only going to be there three nights.

I had hoped to be able to go over to Old Town Tucson, the set and backdrop for many of the Western movies I had grown up on. The Guns of Fort Petticoat with Audie Murphy, Rio Bravo with John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson (my favorite of all time) McClintock with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara (another favorite) The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean with Paul Newman, The Man who Loved Cat Dancing with Burt Reynolds and then some newer movies like The Three Amigos with Steve Martin and Martin Short, and Young Guns II with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland and of course, Tombstone with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott (swoon, Sam Elliott is a major babe). Unfortunately, either due to COVID protocols or a lack of funds to open up safely, it was not to happen.

Saguaro National Park West has over 25,000 acres and the East has over 67,500 acres. The West has about a 5 mile loop to drive and the East has about a 8 mile loop to drive. The Wide side has the younger and more prolific cactii and the East has the older, and higher elevation cacti.

Tucson is also the home of the Pima Air and Space Museum and no pilot worth his salt would miss a tour of this place. I will say, plan to spend the entire day here. We probably spent about 5 hours walking around and checking out all the exhibits and planes that were out on the flight line. It is one of the world's largest non-governmental funded aerospace museums. It features more than 300 aircraft, over at least 80 acres of space.