Day 154: Chiricahua NM and Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Ben

This morning we drove from our BLM site near Fort Bowie to Chiricahua National Monument. We got up at 6am because we had signed up for the 8:30am shuttle that takes hikers to Masai Point for the 5 mile hike back to the visitor center. We managed to get there in time, and we were pleasantly surprised to find that the shuttle driver was Ranger Ross, whom we met yesterday at the visitor center at Fort Bowie. We were the only passengers on the shuttle this morning.

From Masai Point, we could see the vertical towers that made Chiricahua National Monument famous. The towers are eroded remnants of a 2000 foot-thick layer of ash deposited by the eruption of the Turkey Creek Caldera:

Masai Point is at 6800 feet, and there’s snow on the trail in spots:

Along the trail there are grottos where hikers can hike between the towers. This one has a massive tower remnant suspended between the adjacent towers:

Even in this dry landscape, pockets of water exist:

After returning to the visitor center, we drove up to the campground to shower and fill our water tank. From there we stopped at the Faraway Ranch, a homesteading site in the National Monument.

Our daughter tried ringing the chow bell:

Trish explained that these are saddle racks with the names of the corresponding horse painted on the cans above:

I found an old bike frame:

Pulling out of the campground there was a steep dip to cross a wash. The rear triangles scraped so much that the steel failed and was bent back:

From Chiricahua, we drove to Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. For some time before this trip, I had been following a number of full-time RV blogs, and when I found something of interest, I would add that location to a Google Map set. This location was recommended by the Hochs and Paul and Nina of Wheelingit, so we decided to stop by. Whitewater is the winter home to tens of thousands of migratory Sandhill Cranes:

The kids got in on the action:

I’m photographing our son photographing our daughter:

We saw an egret as well:

Whitewater allows overnight parking, and we have quite a few neighbors tonight:

As the sun set, I spotted an Aerostat. Nice to know the government is keeping an eye on the border:

Tomorrow we’ll head towards Bisbee, AZ. See the trip map for details.

Day 153: Fort Bowie NHS

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Ben

We left the casino early this morning and drove a couple hours East to Chiricahua National Monument. When we arrived, we found out that we the road to Fort Bowie NHS is passable with an RV. We had attempted to visit both Chiricahua and Fort Bowie during our four-week trip in the summer of 2011, but the area was aflame with what would later become known as the Horseshoe 2 fire.

We arrived at the trailhead without incident:

It’s a 1.5 mile walk to the fort and visitor center. I think this is the only NPS site I’ve been to that has a hike-only access to the visitor center:

In the distance, we could see the remains of the fort. I tried to imagine the relief felt by survivors of Apache raids when they realized they were going to make it to the safety of the fort:

After the kids received their Junior Ranger badges at the visitor center from Ranger Ross, we walked the ruins. Many of the building were made of low-grade adobe, now stabilized by an overcoating of plaster by the Park Service:

It was neat to find artifacts and know that they were from the 1860s, contemporaries of President Lincoln:

We stopped in at the cemetery on the hike back to the RV:

The sunset was amazing:

We drove down from Fort Bowie’s trailhead parking about a mile to overnight on BLM land with decent 4G service. See the trip map for details. Tomorrow we will head back to Chiricahua.

Day 152: Casa Grande National Monument

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Ben

We left the Walmart in Tempe, AZ this morning, and after stops at Lowe’s and the bank, we headed Southeast to Casa Grande National Monument. There’s not much here, as the Monument exists primary to preserve and interpret the three-story “Casa Grande”, the largest known structure built by local 15th century Native Americans:

It doesn’t seem like much of an accomplishment, but considering the fact that the entire structure was built using clay plastered over wood framing, it’s pretty impressive:

Junior Ranger badges were earned, as usual:

Leaving Casa Grande, we headed South towards Tucson, stopping at a Walmart for dinner. This Walmart has “no overnight RV” signs posted, probably due to local campgrounds lobbying town government to restrict overnight camping in an attempt to force RVers to pay for camping at their facilities. I suspect most RVers in fact do what we did, namely, move on to the next free parking location. The real loser here is Walmart, as RVers that park overnight tend to purchase items while they’re there.

We headed South for another 20 miles and are parked for the night at the Desert Diamond Casino on South Nogales Highway. There are 10 or so other RVs here, and we do have WiFi, though it’s only twice the speed of dialup. Tomorrow we will head East to Chiricahua National Monument. See the trip map for details.

New LBYL facebook page, Getting the blog in order

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Ben

Sorry, no blinking “under construction” GIFs from the ‘90s, but I’ll give you this:

I’ve created an LBYL Facebook page and added a link to it in the “Follow Us” widget on the left side of the screen. “Like” us, won’t you? I’ve also added a “Contact Us” page to the menu bar, and fixed the “Trip Map” page.

That’s all for now, carry on.

Day 151: WiFi, Winners, and Walmart

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Ben

We had a wonderful Shabbos in Scottsdale at the Scottsdale Torah Center. We had the pleasure of having dinner with Rabbi G and his family as well as other folks from the community. We had lunch with the M family, and found that we had quite a bit in common. Thanks for making our Shabbos so special!

On Saturday night, I found that the WiFi antenna wasn’t working correctly, so this morning we drove to Lowe’s and I bought the parts needed to fix what turned out to be a not-fully-seated pin in the RJ45 connector on the cable running to the antenna. That problem solved, we drove a couple blocks north to the Penske Racing Museum, which is a one-room museum nestled amongst a row of high end car dealerships:

Our son is in a “get excited about cars” phase, so on our walk back to where the RV was parked, we checked out some of the modest offerings in the adjacent dealership lots:

Heading south, we stocked up on Kosher meat and cheese, filled the SUV, and stopped for the night at the Walmart of Tempe, AZ. See the trip map for details.

Look Before You Live!

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Day 154: Chiricahua NM and Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area

Day 153: Fort Bowie NHS

Day 152: Casa Grande National Monument

New LBYL facebook page, Getting the blog in order

Day 151: WiFi, Winners, and Walmart