NICE MORNING DRIVE, WHOPPERIZED OURSELVES IN DOUGLAS ARIZONA THEN DROPPED IN TO SEE SOME FRIENDS FURTHER UP COCHISE COUNTY’S SULPHUR SPRINGS VALLEY

NO PHEEBS WE CAN’T GO IN THE HOUSE YET…..MOM’S SLEEPING

Air was cold this morning and a brisk wind made it feel colder.  Still warm compared to what’s going on back home in Ontario Canada though.  No hurry to be anywhere again today so we took our time and slowly readied the coach for travel.   It was about 10 a.m. when we waved good-bye to the cozy little Mountain Valley RV Park.

WHILE DOING A LOAD OF LAUNDRY I TOOK A FEW LAST PHOTOS AROUND THE PARK

LAUNDRY ROOM

 

A READER ASKED HOW MUCH WE PAID A NIGHT AND IT WAS $20  WITH FULL HOOK-UPS….ELECTRIC,WATER, SEWER AND 30 AMP SERVICE PLUS WIFI

ONLY 5 SITES HERE WITH ONE OF THEM BEING A PULL THROUGH AND THAT’S THE SIGHT WE HAVE….ABOVE PHOTO SHOWS 4 BACK-IN SITES WITH THE 2 END ONES OCCUPIED

WE HAD A NICE AGAVE BESIDE US

FOR ANYONE COMING HERE I SUGGEST YOU PHONE AHEAD TO SEE IF THERE IS A SITE AVAILABLE AND KEEP IN MIND THE WEBSITE STATES 30 FEET OR LESS FOR RV’S BUT WITH IT NOT BEING CROWDED WE FIT IN JUST FINE WITH OUR 37 FEET

We sure had us one fine morning going on as we rolled the 50 miles south to Douglas Arizona.  If I said we saw 10 cars the whole way I would probably be exaggerating.   Way less people means way less traffic out here in the Southwest and that of course has always been one of the biggest attractions for us.   Mountains from horizon to horizon and wide sweeping valleys one can see across for miles and miles from one side to the other.

THIS STONE MONUMENT ALONG THE WAY IS IN MEMORY OF GERONIMO WHO WAS CAPTURED NEARBY IN SKELETON CANYON

AND OVER THERE IN THAT MOUNTAIN RANGE IS SKELETON CANYON

BORDER PATROL HAD MOBILE CAMERAS SET UP FACING MEXICO ALONG THE HIGHWAY

THE NUMBER OF TIMES WE HAVE DRIVEN THIS HIGHWAY WE HAVE NEVER SEEN MUCH TRAFFIC ON IT

THE CLOSER ONE GETS TO THE MEXICON BORDER THE MORE BORDER PATROL VEHICLES ONE SEES

I SEE A SLEEPING GIANT ON THE HORIZON, DO YOU SEE HIM??

Our destination in Douglas was Walmart and we didn’t have any trouble finding it.  Of all the Walmarts in the United States we have been to the Douglas Walmart more than all the other Stateside Walmarts combined.  We figured the last time here would have been in January of 2012.  Walking in we noticed they had a Burger King so without further ado we whipped in and totally Whoppered ourselves.  We both have always liked Burger King and back home the nearest one to Bayfield is an hour’s drive away. 

AT BURGER KING’S COUNTER GETTING WHOPPERIZED AND BY GOLLY DARE COME DA WHOPPAS NOW

Browsing around the store was like old times and most everything still seemed to be in the same places we remembered them.  Sure was warm in Douglas though and we were soon into short sleeves.  As we were loading groceries into the Motorhome I heard, “Heh AL”.  A black pick-up truck rolled up as I turned around.  Turns out it was a fella we had met at Rusty’s RV Ranch a number of years ago.  He’s been following our blog ever since and recognized the rig and Jeep in the Walmart parking lot.  He said he lives in Portal now and I said, “oh we were just through there yesterday”, and he said, “oh I know cause I’ve been following ya and even in the summer when your back in Bayfield as well”.  So how nice is that to have a blog reader recognize us and stop to say, ‘Howdy’:))

BEEN 6 YEARS SINCE WE HAD BEEN TO THIS DOUGLAS ARIZONA WALMART

Rolled out of Douglas about an hour and half of getting there and headed for our second destination further to the north somewhere between the western side of the Chiricahua Mountains and the Eastern side of the Dragoon Mountains.  What a trip along memory lane it was for us driving through Cochise County’s Sulphur Springs Valley.  Chiricahua Mountains to our far right, Swiss Helm Mountains closer in also to the right.  On our left were the Mule Mountains with the little Alpine town of Bisbee nestled in and further along the Dragoon Mountains where………yup you guessed it, Mike and Janna from Restoration Cowboy have their winter home located just Southeast of the Chiricahua Stronghold near Pearce and Sunsites Arizona.  And that’s where we was a-headed:))

WE HAVE MEMORIES OVER THERE BY THE SWISS HELM MOUNTAINS

HEY SARGE, GOT A FEW ELFRIDA PICS FOR YA

BOUGHT MYSELF A BIG WHITE COWBOY HAT AT THIS STORE ONE TIME

THIS WAS OUR FAVORITE ELFRIDA ARIZONA EATING PLACE

I’LL BET THIS PLACE LOOKS MIGHTY FAMILIAR EH SARGE

ELFRIDA LIBRARY WHERE I ENJOYABLY ATTENDED A LOCAL CAMERA CLUB’S GET TOGETHERS ONE WINTER

ROLLING NORTH UP THE SULPHUR SPRINGS VALLEY

THE COCHISE STRONGHOLD IS DEAD AHEAD AND JANNA AND MIKE ARE NOT FAR FROM THERE

BY GOLLY WE FOUND JANNA AND MIKES PLACE AGAIN….WE HAD BEEN HERE ONCE  BEFORE LAST MARCH

JANNA AND MIKE SURE HAVE DONE A LOT OF WORK ON THIS HOUSE SINCE OUR LAST VISIT

We knew Janna and Mike would be in Wilcox this afternoon picking up some lawn furniture so we made ourselves at home and I took a few pics.  Wasn’t long and they and their little Schnauzer Emmi rolled in and we were all soon catching up on whatever it was we had not been caught up on for the past 10 months.  We’ve known Janna and Mike for 8 or 9 years now and they are two of our favorite fellow RV people.  Long time readers will remember me writing of them before and we, along with a 3 other Jeep Wrangler couples have been out on a couple great off-road Jeep runs through the mountains and desert around Congress Arizona.  Good people these folks.

We are all settled in for the night complete with full hook-ups which Mike put in shortly after they bought this house and property.  So nice to have a completely clear night sky and we can see the lights of Sun City Arizona twinkling on the nearby horizon.  All is well.   I’ll try to get our Chiricahua Mountain Jeep ride photos in tomorrow’s post.  I simply ran out of time to edit them today.  But here’s a follow-up on Tuesday’s post by a blog reader regarding one of the grave markers in the Paradise cemetery.  in a comment by Mike Sipes he says, “Thought I would comment on the picture of Vince Roth's headstone. Vince was the director of the Southwest Research Station there in Portal. His research speciality was spiders, hence the spider web on his grave marker. Trapdoor spiders of the southwest and Mexico were his speciality. I became acquainted with Vince early 1970's while working as a Ranger at Chiricahua National Monument”………….. Thanks for that Mike.

THE FIRST OF JANNA AND MIKE’S TREES

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A famed English explorer was invited to Dartmouth to tell of his adventures in the African jungle.  "Can you imagine, a people so primitive that they love to eat the embryo of certain birds, and slices from the belly of certain animals? And grind up grass seed, make it into paste, burn it over a fire, then smear it with a greasy mess they extract from the mammary fluid of certain other animals?"
When the students looked startled by such barbarism, the explorer added softly, "What I've been describing, of course, is a breakfast of bacon and eggs and buttered toast."

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“I spent a summer working on a rabbit farm. It was a hare raising experience.”

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