1/25 - 2/28/06 The New Travels with Timmy - Arizona travels |
Southern Arizona Photo Gallery |
2/9 - Greetings from Tucson! We stopped here for a couple of days to
take in the big Tucson Rock & Gem Show, biggest on the planet I'm
told. Rocks have been an occasional item of interest 
in our travels over the last year, but with the new addition to Travels
with Timmy, they have taken on greater importance. My new traveling
companion, Liz, is a veteran rockhound, gem cutter & jewelry designer,
so we'll be adding rock hunts & shows to our itineraries from time
to time.
But I'm getting ahead of the story here. After Liz joined Timmy &
I out at Kofa for a couple of days, we all headed back toward Phoenix
via Wickenburg following US 60...part of our Historic Highways travels.
Then we spent about a week up at Lake Pleasant on a high finger of land
that extended about a half mile into the lake, giving us gorgeous views
out over the water. While there we enjoyed an afternoon of rockhounding,
where yours truly learned to identify chalcedonies & even found
a couple of fire agates. We had some great sunsets, hikes & just
a grand peaceful week.
With my additional writing for RVTravel.com (I now edit a weekly newsletter in addition to the Highways columns), plus enjoying the company of a very fun lady, I've had trouble finding time to keep these journals up to date. But I will keep Travels with Timmy going. By the way, Timmy loves traveling with Liz too.
2/15 - Gypsy & crew is back docked at at our new alternate base
in greater Phoenix, in between treks. After Tucson
last week, we headed south to Kartchner Caverns, a relatively new state
park in southern Arizona. This trip was in part an exploration of old
US 80 which once ran from Phoenix to Tucson to Tombstone and Bisbee
before looping back up into New Mexico. But Kartchner was on the way
& sounded great. It was. The caverns have only been open for viewing
for a few years, but they are spectacular. Nice RV facilities &
hiking around the park too.
Next it was on to Tombstone. We enjoyed visiting Boot Hill, where death by natural causes is most unusual. You might have heard a couple of the epitaphs from there:
| Here lies Lester Moore Four slugs from a 44 No Les, No more |
He was right And we was wrong We strung him up And now he's gone |
The last regarding a mistaken lynching. The main drag in Tombstone was cool too: Dirt street, boardwalks, old store fronts and of course, cowboys.
Bisbee is small mining town nestled in a canyon. Lots of late 19th century buildings. Some huge mining pits just beyond remain as grotesque scars. The highlight for us was the guy with a cat that rode on the back of his dog and in turn carried a mouse on her back. He asks for donations for food for the critters. I appreciate creative approaches to panhandling.
2/26 - We're on the road again, this time to Patagonia -- Arizona that is. We're at Patagonia Lake, just a few miles from the Mexican border, not far from Nogales. It's a small park nestled in among desert hills, but very popular with birders. They claim over 275 species in these parts. On a short hike today we saw a few birds that were new to us. Our quest for the elusive elegant trogan came up empty, but few other birders saw it either. It's a gorgeous bird & we'll have to come back another time to find it.
Grand weather continues, although some rain in the forecast will be welcome. I found time to build a new photo gallery with shots from these recent forays. Besides this trip, we got out to Cave Creek, north of Phoenix, last week for a nice hike. Liz took Timmy & I along with 2 of her sisters to see a very rare crested saguaro cactus.
We're going to be limited to these brief expeditions based out of the Phoenix area for the next several weeks. But big plans are afoot for the spring and summer when Liz will be hiking the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). Yes, that's over 3000 miles from Mexico to Canada along the backbone of America. Timmy & I will meet her at each of her resupply points with hugs, grub, clean socks & a place to shower & sleep on a mattress. Much planning & preparation will be going into this, thereby curtailing travels for the near term. So keep in touch with us & make sure to follow along starting in April when the trek begins.
<< prior adventure next adventure >>
