On June 5th we had everything “summerized” in the house, and the camper all packed up ready to go! Ordinarily we would take the trailer on a trip this long, but not this time! Our plan for the summer is to combine exploring with genealogy research. Much of that research will need to be done in major cities, and we decided that driving a dually would get very old very fast, so we are taking the camper and towing the Jeep behind us. Before we left we sat down and made a list of the states and provinces we need to visit in our search for information. Our basic route will be Texas /Mississippi /Tennessee /Georgia /Alabama /Virginia /Massachusetts /Nova Scotia.Then, if need be, we will reverse the order on the way home, depending on what we learn along the way.
We are determined to keep our pace as leisurely as we can, even though we know that won’t always be possible. With that idea in mind, we stopped several times before we got to El Paso to visit Paul’s mom.
Our first stop was Colossal Cave, just outside Tucson. We have seen the highway billboards for this cave for years. It has been a tourist attraction since the 1920s!
The underground temperature is about 70 degrees, which we figured would be a welcome relief from the 107 degrees on the highway.
The only problem was the cat. We couldn’t leave him in the camper for 3 hours without air conditioning, so for the first time ever, we paid for an rv spot with electricity, even though we had no intention of spending the night there.
There are several different tours you can take, and although I am NOT a fan of being underground, we chose the 1.5 hour long Ladder tour, which involves some scrambling and climbing. I figured as long as I was going to be underground, it might as well be fun.
The pictures came out fuzzy because pretty much the only light we had was our headlamps, which made it more interesting, but more challenging for pictures.We’ve been in quite a few caves over the years, and other than the hiking aspect, this one doesn’t rate in the top 5. The formations are quite dusty and dirty, and not all that pretty ( admittedly, we are spoiled).
Our next stop along the way was Wilcox, AZ, the closest town to Chiricahua National Monument. We have hiked many of the trails here, but we were again hoping for some relief from the heat by hiking at an elevation of about 7500 feet.
We chose the Sugarloaf Mountain Trail- its only about 3 miles long, and we tried to get an early start to beat the heat. There are great views wherever you go in the Chiricahuas-one of the reasons we like it so much.
After a quick picnic lunch we meandered through the town of Wilcox, thinking we would check out the museum that we somehow have never taken the time to investigate. We chatted with the woman operating it, (not pictured here) and she was warning us that she might get an urgent phone call that would require her to leave, and sure enough, the words were barely out of her mouth when her phone rang, and the “closed” sign went on the door. Oh well, maybe next time. At least the ice cream parlor was open!
We spent 4 days with Paul’s mom, and dang it, I never took a single picture! I am great at taking scenic shots, but horrible at remembering to get the camera out when I am with other people.
