AZ - Benson, Tombstone, Bisbee

 Monday May 18 – We had a relaxed morning, having our devotions, catching up on some email and left Las Cruces about 10:30.  Enjoyed a lovely scenic drive to Benson, AZ.  On the way here, we went through another of the many border patrol stops.  As a rule, they just ask if we're both American citizens and tell us to have a nice day, waving us on, but we've seen RVs and cars pulled over where they're searching.  Hmmm maybe we just have trustworthy faces.  

 We had intended to stay in Benson for 3 days, but once we got here we liked it so much we decided to stay a full week.  Benson is a small town, but close to Tombstone and Tucson and other places we wanted to visit, and the RV park is lovely.  For my RVing friends – it pays to be a member of Passport America.  We joined years ago when we started RVing but it seemed like either the places we went didn’t carry it, or if they did, they were places we really didn’t want to stay!  But we realized lots of places out west do and this is a prime example.  Awesome park, huge sites, beautiful views of the mountains, nice indoor pool and spa, with exercise equipment right there, and all for $40 a night.  Very reasonable, but with our Passport America membership, it costs us only $20 a night, so it’s already paid for itself! Still getting used to the gravel everywhere here in AZ but it kind of grows on you - it's very tidy looking.

 When we got settled in, we decided to give the RV a much needed bath, and then went to check out the downtown,,,,, only a few restaurants, but one Mexican restaurant (always a necessity!) looks really good, and a couple of diner type places.  We chose a little diner and it was delicious.  Wonderful salad, Earl got country fried steak, I got grilled salmon.  While we waited we looked at some of the literature we’d picked up at the Visitor Center and began to get really excited about all the things we’re going to be seeing.  That’s when we totally decided to stay a week.  We got home, watched The Voice and I worked on my last blog, getting it posted quite late.  We were here awhile before we had this confused feeling that something was off. Well, we passed another time zone so now we are 3 hours behind!  We feel so blessed though, that that is no worry.  We go to bed whenever we’re tired and get up whenever we wake up.

  Tuesday – we woke up to a delightfully chilly morning.  After our quiet time and catching up on FB and email, we went out to read.  BEAUTIFUL day.  It was about 60 when we got up but warmed up to high 70s and hit 80 or 81 in the afternoon.  It was just a slight breeze, nothing like the wind we had yesterday.  I was chilly in the shade and hot in the sun.  Nice problem, huh?  So I kept moving back and forth and enjoying reading.  We were due for a stay at home day!  I love all the days we go go go, but it’s always a treat to stay and be able to be quiet and read.  I made a special dessert for tonight, and we grilled steaks and asparagus.  Very happy day.

Wednesday – May 20.  We love waking up to really cool mornings, that’s a novelty for us as it just doesn’t usually cool off this much at night in Florida.  0% chance of rain today and predicted high of 82.  Doesn’t get much better than that.  We spent most of the day in Tombstone.  What a city rich in history! I think I’m going to have to get to Redbox and rent an old western movie.  I’m just in the mood to see one! First we parked and just wandered around town a bit, getting a feel of what was there to do.  These towns, we’ve found, will nickel and dime you to death with every little bit of tourist info costing $5-$20.  We took a trolley ride all through town.  I now know more of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral than ever before. Ha.I learned that it took place in October of 1881, and actually began in the 18’ wide lot behind the O.K. Corral, next to Fly’s Boarding House and Photo Shop.  Bad tempers had been brewing for awhile and the inevitable showdown over control of Tombstone climaxed that day after months of taunts and threats made on both sides, as well as some romantic rivalries thrown in, and a few stage robberies as well. Police Chief Virgil Earp deputized brothers Wyatt and Morgan Earp and Doc Holiday to help him disarm the cowboys who were waiting to confront Doc when he returned to his rental room at Fly’s.

When the shooting started, unarmed cowboy Ike Clanton ran into Fly’s and kept on running.  In the next 30 seconds (think how quick that is!) nearly 30 shots were fired!  The three cowboys who stood their ground were all killed.  Tom McLaury, who may have been unarmed was cut down from a blast from Doc’s shotgun.  Frank stumbled onto Fremont St. and was shot in the head. Morgan Earp shot 19 year old Billy Clanton.  All the cowboys were buried in Boothill Cemetery.  Both Virgil and Morgan Earp were badly wounded, while Doc Holiday suffered a hip wound. Only Wyatt Earp walked away unscathed.  We watched a live reenactment of that and while very loud, very interesting.   Here I am first with Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday.

Later in the afternoon, I had my photo taken with those wicked cowboys.  Note of interest, a year later, Morgan was shot in the back while playing pool, supposedly by Johnny Ringo, who was later hunted down and killed by Wyatt Earp. 

The townfolk could not have been more charming from the lawmen and cowboys roaming the streets tipping their hats and saying “Howdy, M’am” to the clerks in the store, all ready to share their opinion of what really happened back in the day.  You might notice that I had on a shirt of Hertford, marked on the NC .map, saying “This is where my story began.”  You would not believe the comments I got all day long from various people.  Who would have thought?  One guy stopped me and said, “I know exactly where you were born.  Do they still have the S Bridge there?”  Wow, you know they really have been there if they know that, as Hertford is the home of the only S Bridge in the world.  Pretty cool.  Several other people apparently could not read correctly and called it Hartford!  Duh, did that map really look like CT?

We later watched Tombstone’s Historama for even more interesting details. The sidewalks are all wooden boardwalks and with all the sand ever present, and so many in period costumes walking around, it was easy to just picture ourselves in history during the 1800’s. We toured the Tombstone Epitaph, the local paper back then, enjoyed brunch at the Longhorn Saloon on the famous Allen St. 

We took a very scenic route home and came back by Sierra Vista.  What amazing views!  9400 ft. elevation, you can just imagine.  This is a paradise for really serious hikers with several mile high hikes.  Enjoy some of the photos. We may want to come back here one day.

                                                                                                                           

Thursday, May 21, we took a day to relax and rest and read again – one of my favorite things in the world to do!  Sitting outside until the wind got so breezy that it was about to blow my book away, we came in and with our windows open, it was still so breezy, my hair was blown all over the place.  But an absolutely beautiful day.  Tomorrow, more sightseeing.

Friday, May 22 –  We went to Bisbee today.  What a cute mountain town!  You can see how scenic it is by the photos.

 One thing that was absolutely fascinating was the Lavender Mines.  We were told by someone in a restaurant not to miss seeing this if we went to Bisbee, so I was wondering what in the world would we see – thousands of lavender plants in a big pit or what.  Haha Come to find out the name of the owner/general manager was named Lavender – thus the name.  It’s a copper mine and pit.  What looks like mountains off to the left is actually the stones and dirt, etc. that they mined in order to get to the copper ore.  I wish photos could capture what we really saw, but it’s a poor substitute.  The depth and magnitude of this place was astounding. 

They had a wonderful tribute to our servicemen there.

 Saturday May 23, we relaxed all morning and took off in the afternoon to Sierra Vista.  I’m not sure what we were expecting from the town, after the beauty of the drive by, but were a little disappointed.  Just stores like you’d see anywhere and other than the mountains in the background you’d have never known we were in Arizona.  One interesting thing…when we were eating lunch, a nice looking soldier in fatigues came up to Earl and said “Go Gators” (Earl had on one of his many Gator shirts).  We chatted for a few minutes.  He’s stationed here, but is from Tampa and his wife from Daytona.  He was soon joined by his wife and 3 kids – what a sweet family.  We decided out of appreciation for his service, we’d buy their lunch.  We told the waitress just tell them the people from Florida are grateful for his service. Our thoughts have been focused a lot this weekend on the sacrifice our military has made that we might be free.  I feel discouraged sometimes when I see the direction it would seem that we're headed in America, but looking at our brave men and women who bravely serve, gives me hope, and may we never forget the many who paid the ultimate price that we might be free.

On the way back, we stopped by the Boothill Cemetery, where many of these famous lawmen and cowboys were buried.  Very interesting!

 Sunday – May 24^th -  This time difference has us all messed up. It gets light so early, so we wake up early, but it worked out well today as 7:30 our time, we were able to tune in to our church in Eustis, and watch the live streaming of the service.   This afternoon we sat out to read, but it was pretty breezy and was a little cool, so we decided to take a drive since we’ll be leaving tomorrow and came across some of the most amazing boulders.  Wonder how much these boulders weigh?  Has to be tons.  And some of them look like they’re just perched there.  How did this happen?

We had a wonderful dinner in Benson after we came home, and on the way home the sky was so beautiful!

We’ll be leaving in the morning even though it’s Memorial Day – didn’t plan that when we set out but we’re ready to move on and find new adventure