Casa Grande

After laundry, grocery shopping, and a 2nd day at Tombstone we moved today to a campground in Casa Grande. We'll be here just 2 days then moving on to Earp, CA for a week.

More Tombstone pics! Greg & Dawn, you'd love it!!

Wyatt Earp

Hood Ornament?

What can I say??? He's got rhythm!!!

Wyatt's daughter smiling at Mel and a group of "shady" and "not so shady" ladies!

Dan & the Preacher!

Chiricahua National Park

We spent most of the day today in beautiful Chiricahua National Park in the Bonita Canyon area. The 8-mile paved scenic drive and 17-miles of day-use hiking trails provide opportunities to discover the beauty, natural sounds, and inhabitants of this 11,985 acre site. The first settlers to live in Bonita Canyon were Ja Hu Stafford and his wife Pauline. They originally built a one-room, log cabin in 1880, which grew with his family. You can still see the cabin today. Faraway Ranch was the home of Swedish immigrants, Neil and Emma Erickson, who settled in Bonita Canyon in the late 1880s.Their home evolved from a simple homestead to a thriving guest ranch that was in operation from 1917 - 1972. Members of the family lived on the ranch until 1975. Shortly thereafter, it was sold to the National Park Service. In addition to walking on some of the trails and taking many pictures (many, many pictures!), we were able to tour the ranch house. When it was sold, the personal belongings of the family were left in it, so it remains intact still today.
The views from the hiking trails were breath taking. I will upload pics tomorrow.

OK, if you checked back, the pics didn't get uploaded - sorry - here they are!!

St. David, AZ

Found our campground without too much trouble - only had to turn around once! It's nice, but the sites are kinda' small and very close together. On the way here, we stopped at an overlook-beautiful rock formations! We just stayed at the campground yesterday and relaxed. Today, we went to Tombstone for the afternoon. It is a neat little town with wooden sidewalks and shops galore. We enjoyed a reenactment of the Gunfight at OK Corral, shopped a little, and ate supper at Big Nose Kate's Saloon. All in all, a fun day. We've already decided we will be going back there again before we leave this area.

Whew!

Well, here we are, after two very long travel days and two overnights, in New Mexico! I must say I was not a very good traveler for this leg of the trip. Texas just didn't have much appeal to me -- it is WAY too big, too dirty, and too boring! After many many miles of the same scenery, pretty as it was, I was glad when we finally reached El Paso where there were at least some billboards to read and something to look at besides piles of gravel, sagebrush and an occasional dead coyote along the roadside! It is amazing to me the absolute squalor these people live in! Rusted mobile homes and abandoned shacks dot the landscape, and then in the blink of an eye, whole city's appear! We are staying at a nice campground in Deming, New Mexico - Hidden Valley Ranch (also my favorite salad dressing!) tucked in a little valley in the middle of nowhere with magnificent views all around us. I'll add pictures tomorrow, but for now . . . Good night!

OK, so maybe I was just a little travel-weary last night! As promised, here are the pics!

Indian Attack!!  Cheyenne Land RV Park

I-10 Texas

More I-10 Texas

Hidden Valley Ranch RV Park - Deming, NM

Day is Done!

Moving On

Today was our last day at Canyon Lake :( We will be leaving in the morning for Ft. Stockton. It was another beautiful day, a little cooler than yesterday. Spent the day at the campground, feeding the deer and Dan "making friends". This evening we went to the clubhouse for a spaghetti supper - very tasty! Finally got all pics transferred to my computer, so we can start fresh at our next stop. The sunset was really pretty tonight - I think we're going to miss this place!

Even More From Canyon Lake!

Yes, we're still here among the deer! Spent yesterday visiting Canyon Lake Dam - it was beautiful! We went down to the outlet and watched the people fishing. The river was so pretty. I'll post some more pics soon. It was very warm today (75), but a cold front moved through this afternoon, and it didn't take long for the temp to drop! Hoping for another warm day tomorrow, as it will be our last day here. We'll be heading to Ft. Stockton, TX Thursday for overnight, then on to Deming, NM on Friday. The plan is to stay there for 2 days before we move on. Time is going by so quickly, but each new place brings a new adventure. Looking forward to the next one, but will miss feeding the deer.

More From Canyon Lake

We're so enjoying our time here! Yesterday we took a walk around the wildlife preserve and the lake. Teddi decided to take a dip in the lake and brought two treasures (at least they were to her!) up to the path. This was her first time swimming in a lake - she was SO funny! Baxter went in only up to his tummy, then decided to just try to take what Teddi "rescued". Went for a few groceries and some deer corn in the afternoon so we could entice them to our campsite. It's such fun seeing them come running when they know you have food for them. I even had one eating out of my hand. Dan & Mel fed them again this AM. The days here have been pretty nice, but the nights are cool. Tomorrow is to be in the mid. 70's, so I'm looking forward to that. Later . . . .

Canyon Lake, TX

Yesterday, 10:10 PM
A beautiful day in the neighborhood today! The sun was out, so it warmed up a little bit. The folks here are real friendly. The campground is bordered on one side by a wildlife refuge, and the deer walk right into the campground! They aren't afraid of people at all, but the dogs make them a bit nervous. Got some great pics! That's brother-in-law Mel feeding the doe some corn.