Last Year Ants - This Year Tires

During last year's trip in the South we had to battle reoccurring ants for over a month after we picked up our trailer in Georgia.  This year we have not see one ant the entire trip

However.......

These little critters above have become our nemesis.  

Bill has had to change four (4) flat tires on our bikes so far - mainly because of the little "Goathead Thorns" you see above next to a penny.

These thorns or spurs, as some people call them, are like Nature's thumbtacks.  They come from an invasive plant called  Tribulus terrestris.  The picture above from the internet shows what they can do to a bicycle tire

They are on roads and bicycle paths and impossible to avoid because they are so small.  A man who  knows cactus types down here in Arizona told us that they can puncture the bottom of a tennis shoe.  Bill has pulled three out of his mountain bike tires and has now gone to "self sealing" tubes to see if that helps.

The good news....Bill has become really proficient at fixing bike tires which is not that easy on an 18-speed mountain bike rear tire.

A Sunday Trip to the Tanque Verde Swap Meet

The temperatures at night are still falling to around freezing, but each day is getting warmer.  Sunday the temp was due to rise above 60 degrees so we headed toward Tucson to their weekend Swap Meet.

We have seen much bigger flea markets in the Southwest but there was still plenty of merchandise, both old and new, to pick from.

The flea markets down here have much different "junk" than you can find up in Michigan.  Anybody need a  good steel cactus or copper javelina?

 Both Karen and Bill found a few items that they could not do without.  Furthermore, you can't beat the prices.

Sometimes you can find that rare item that you never see in the normal retail outlets.

Between Benson and Tucson were were amazed to see hundreds of railroad locomotives parked in a tight line along a side track sitting idle.  Without exaggeration, the line was more than a mile long. Notice how the engines go clear back and out of the top left of the picture above.  It appears that this desert area is a great place to park equipment for storage until they are again needed.  

More On the Town of Tombstone

Above are the gallows just outside the courthouse.  Five men were hanged on the same day for committing a robbery in a nearby town where three people died.

Tombstone was a mining town that sprang up quickly because of silver found in the nearby hills.  This is equipment found in the assay office.  A miner could bring in a sample of his ore to test for purity. 

Tourists could see the town from the windows of a few stagecoaches still in operation.  Note the sign for the OK Corral behind the coach.

Some residents brought their own means of transportation into town.

On our way out of Tombstone we had to stop at the BootHill Grave Yard.  For a $3.00 entry fee they even gave you a descriptive list of more than 250 graves there.

Here are the graves of the three men killed at the OK Corral by the three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday. May they rest in peace. 💀💀💀

A Visit to Tombstone, Arizona

Friday provided another cool, but sunny, day so we drove southwest about 30 miles to Tombstone.

Along the way we came across a historic site of what remains of the deserted town of Fairbank.  The railroad never reached Tombstone but came through this town where trains stopped and offloaded supplies for Tombstone and the surrounding area.

The old Fairbank school has been restored and a caretaker was working inside.

The school had a small gift shop and was open for the public to explore.  The lady told us a few interesting stories about the schoolhouse.  One story included a rattlesnake crawling in and causing her to shut down the school until it could be removed.  She said rattlesnakes were often seen crawling out from beneath the old buildings to sun themselves.

On to Tombstone which is a big tourist attraction, because it is an interesting place to experience.  Like Mackinaw Island, the main streets of the old part of town allow no motorized vehicles.

The schoolhouse lady told us the best place to start in Tombstone was the courthouse. 

The courthouse was built in 1882 ad once housed the offices of the sheriff, recorder, treasurer, board of supervisors, jail, and courtrooms of Cochise County.  It is now a museum.

Here is a display of one of the town's most famous residents.:  Wyatt Earp.

More on Tombstone tomorrow........

Cochise Terrace RV Resort near Benson, Arizona

The Cochise Terrace RV Resort has more going on than just the 70 short & long term RV sites in which we are parked.  There are also another 238 sites and lots - many for sale, to be used for park model units, houses, recreational vehicles, or part time use of such.

On one of our walks we could not help but notice how beautiful some of the landscaping is at many of the small houses here.

You do not need grass when you can be this creative with different kinds of gravel and stone in your yard.  This is real desert landscaping.

Back in the RV part of the resort above shows a common picnic / gathering area for any snow birds who want to use it.  All the cacti make people stay pretty sober, because falling down can be dangerous!

The wi-fi was not working so here are the repairmen putting up a new antenna at the club house behind our RV site.

Hi -Ho, Hi-Ho ---> It's Farther West We Go

On Wednesday January 25th we packed up and headed down Interstate 10 toward Tucson from Deming.

From a recommendation given to us by a fellow traveler we checked into Cochise Terrace RV Park just south of Benson, Arizona.  We are in Cochise County, Arizona now.

One pleasing aspect of this park is that it is about three miles from the interstate so that makes it quiet compared to many.  Above is the office.

The sites are large with smooth clean gravel.  We are about forty-miles east of Tucson and in a good location for some day trips for the week that we will stay here.

Deming, New Mexico Museum (Part II)

Because we enjoyed our visit to the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum so much we are posting a few more pictures to share:

 The exhibits were beautifully displayed and the museum was much larger inside than it appeared from the street view.  We wanted to take this sofa home for our living room.

Local history was covered from ancient times to the present.

Here is a local dentist chair from the early 1900's.

This display of various hats was great.  "Hats off" to the creator.

Here is a quilt that shows a lot of skill.

When was the last time you saw one of these?  The iron lung reminded us of the terror of Polio.

The museum went on and on and was fascinating to view.  Here is a room up stairs.

💥💫😄

If you ever go through south New Mexico be sure to stop at this Deming museum!

The Deming, New Mexico Museum

On Monday we discovered a little-known gem of a museum.  It is the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum near the downtown.

It is located in the old armory building.  Luna is the name of the New Mexico county we are in, and Mimbres is the name of an ancient Indian tribe that lived near here.

The Mimbres people were famous for their beautiful pottery and there is plenty on display.

Here is an ancient bow and arrows display of the Mimbres.

Throughout the museum there were more arrowheads on display than either of us had ever seen in one place.  The picture above shows just one example.

The rock and mineral displays were fantastic.  These are geodes which are a small cavity in rock lined with crystals or other mineral matter.

This rare REO automobile was built in Lansing, Michigan.

More on the museum to come tomorrow.......

Brewster Higley Was Right

Here is proof that Mr. Higley knew what he was talking about when he penned the lyrics to 

"Home On The Range".

This is a recent screen shot above of The Weather Channel website for 10 days in a town in southwest Texas.  Note the icons in the second to left column for the sky condition.

Here above is a screen shot for the same 10-day stretch for Northern Michigan where we live.  Note these icons of the sky conditions there.

So.....Now you know why we are traveling in the Southwest U.S.

and

Brewster Higley was not exaggerating when he wrote:

"and the skies are not cloudy all day."

Las Cruces, New Mexico

This was a lucky photo shot from the bike trail.  Can you spot the elusive critter in the picture below?

Give up?  Look in the middle above the wooden fence.

;

;

;

BEEP - BEEP and he was gone. Roadrunners are always on the move.

On Friday we visited the old town of Mesilla.  There were many small shops, and we had been told by plenty of people to have a drink and dinner at La Posta.

So we did!  Here is Karen enjoying the first of two margaritas.

They were tasty and the food and service were very good.

Just east of the town of Las Cruces are the Organ Mountains.  We were surprised to see snow at the peaks.

A Bicycle Ride Around Las Cruces, New Mexico

On Thursday there were high wind warnings out for the Davis Mountains area so we packed up very early and departed, heading west.  From experience we learned that it is not much fun pulling a travel trailer during periods of high winds, so we tried to beat the worst of the windy conditions.

We drove through El Paso and  checked into the Sunny Acres RV Park in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We are now in the Mountain Time Zone and two hours later than Michigan.  Bill found a good paved bike trail (above) and went for a long Friday ride.

The way these pecan trees had been pruned recently reminded Bill that he needs a haircut soon.

There were many of these sign along the trail asking people not to disturb the Burrowing Owls.

A homeless person was living on the banks of the shallow and muddy Rio Grande River near the trail.
More to come on the Las Cruces area tomorrow.