July 5th, 6th, and 7th

A small corner of the hole

 Hwy 80 out of Tombstone, through the historic town of Bisbee, down to the border, and back up to Lordsburg passes http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211651657169317628289.0004a75bb01c7433ec030&msa=0 through some pretty rough and hot desert. The Valentine copper mine is just past Bisbee, and claims to be the 2nd largest open pit mine in the US. Prrrrettty big hole! The whole area here and into New Mexico seems to be a  big mining area as we saw a lot of them up in the hills. There also a few cattle around, though not as many as we expected.

 From Lordsburg, we did a small detour of 185 miles to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings. (pronounced Hila) These were adobe dwellings built in natural caves in the cliffs of the canyon by the Mogollon people around 1280AD. They were only there for one generation. The one mile hike was a partially  staired pathway with an incline of  about 180 feet, and the elevation (8000 ft) combined with the heat almost killed us, but was well worth it.  The last 40 miles to the cliffs and back out again, had the guys grinning from ear to ear. It was heard said "to hell with The Tail of the Dragon, it can't possibly be any better than this". Then on to Deming,New Mexico for the night.

Typical Desert View

Thursday, 7th, was a transition day, trying to get closer to the Rio Grande river and out of the desert. We drove along the Mexican border, and much of the time were the only cars on the road, except for dozens of border patrol vehicles. They have all kinds of surveillance equipment, and security checks along the highways complete with sniffer dogs. The guards were more interested in our cars than what we had in them. Then at the end of the day as we came back to our hotel from dinner, a Texas policeman followed us into the parking lot, lights flashing. Oh no!! what were we in for?? Our licence plate has a plastic cover which is illegal in Texas! So we said "no problem officer we'll take them off. Besides you have a big gun!" He said "not so big" and then felt embarrassed he had stopped us at all. Richard asked if he was getting a ticket too, and the officer said he didn't need to do the paperwork twice. He ended up helping us take the plastic covers off and then gave Steve a warning ticket. It was kind of fun changing this very serious, no nonsense cop into a regular kid we could chat to.   This all happened in Van Horn TX wher we spent the night.



Steve's Warning Ticket



July 3rd and 4th Tombstone

 What a place! Western characters walking around all over the place, horses, cowboys, gunfights (cheesy though) in the streets and bars, and also a lot of interesting museums, and stories. Though Tombstone suffered 2 major fires, a lot of the town was rebuilt during the silver mining days. The original buildings are still standing and used for museums, shops and restaurants. We took a stage coach ride, toured museums, watched some films about the history of Tombstone and saw a reenactment of the famous Gunfight. We ate and drank in the Crystal Palace Saloon, which has been in business for 130 years.

Richard and Celeste



Boot Hill

 





This man innocently bought a stolen horse, and was hung. Buyer beware!!

 

July 2nd,3rd and 4th Tucson to Tombstone

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Click above to see the latest map.


Saguarro Forest

While in Tucson, we did some shopping and went to Saguarro National Park. The exhibits are excellent and very informative. You can see a lot of desert  and take pictures, but not really understand what makes it work and how the plants, animals and people interact until you see some of the films and read the displays.
On the way out of town on the 3rd, we drove an extra 50 miles to see Bioshere 2, Biosphere 1 is Earth. This was where 8 people lived for 2 years, attempting to live completely independant of outside resourses. The experiment was considered by many to be a failure as they did not reach their goal, but scientists believe it was a huge success because of all they learned from it about living in space. The 2 big problems were food and oxygen. They weren't able to produce enough calories to keep the people healthy, so all of them lost a lot of weight. They could have solved this by sending one person out, but no one volunteered and they all adjusted their intake. The oxygen problem could not be solved, and when they all started suffering oxygen deprivation symtoms, they had to have outside help. Later they found that the concrete inside the buildings, which was new, depleted oxygen as it cured. Back to present day-the Biosphere houses several different ecosystems, and is used by environmentalists to study the effects of different stresses on the environment.

Ocean and reef ecosystem

Rainforest



This is one of 2 giant 'lungs' used to equalize pressure inside the buildings to prevent the glass panes from exploding or imploding



June 29-30 July 1st

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We've turned left and are now heading east towards Yuma and into the searing desert heat. We could see the wall along the Mexican border from the highway.  As we crossed the Coloado river into the city the temperature was 110 degrees. At 6:30 AM we headed for Gila Bend and then south to Ajo, our next destination, arriving at 10:30 AM. We had been advised by many people to leave early and arrive early to avoid the worst heat of the day and that worked well. Our cars' 'air conditioning' consisted of  wet towels draped over our bodies and plenty of water. 



Desert camp for ilegal aliens



 



Saguaro Flowers





Organ Pipe cactus

Temperature in Ajo was 112. In Ajo there is a small refuge for a very rare fish that lives in the desert. Steve and Sheila decided to put the roof up for the next day's travel. Friday morning 6:30AM found us on our way through the town of Why (we think it means "Why live here?") and then into Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Among the many beautiful varieties of cacti the Organ Pipe and Saguaro are truly stunning, to make it even better, they are all in bloom right now.



Back onto Hwy 86 east, where we stumbled upon Kitt Peak National Observatory, a 12 mile winding road took us from 2000 to 7000 feet. The 23 observatories are run by several universities as well as the American government. A tour of the 2.1 metre telescope was quite informative. Then down the mountain and off to Tucson for the next two nights.

San Diego June 26 - 28th

Sunday we  spent the day at Cabrillo Point. Lots to see and do there. Great views of San Diego and the naval base. The Military is very big in this city. We toured a historic lighthouse, checked out some tidal pools and then had a picnic lunch overlooking the ocean.

 The hillsides on both sides of the road were filled with thousands of headstones for naval personnel lost in various battles. Fort Rosecrans Cemetery









Dee and Wayne Johnson(NAMGAR members that Steve met on line) invited us to use their garage facilities, and for a home cooked dinner. The guys did a couple of minor things to the cars, and are so jealous of his setup. 5 bays with a pit and all the tools anyone could wish for.

On Monday Linde got her tooth filled after losing her filling on Saturday.Then we met Dee and Wayne in Old Town, where we caught the hop on hop off trolley for a tour of San Diego highlights. A special part of the ride was going over the Coronado Bridge to the peninsula, where we walked around the Hotel Del Coronado. It was built over a hundred years ago and has welcomed many of the rich and famous.

 On Tuesday, we were much surprised to find that the Sea World in San Diego, is not just an aquarium. It is a Disney type theme park that requires a full day to see everything and costs $70 per person. Dolphin, whale, Orca, and seal shows as well as turtle, shark, and penquin encounters. There were also theme rides, restaurants and gift shops. A circular glass rotating elevator took us up a 300 ft. tower for a wonderful view of the bay, harbour and city.Then the Bayside Skyride took us out over a small bay for another view of the city. The highlight ride for Sheila and Richard was the roller coaster that included a dunk in the river and an elevator that lifted the whole car to some thrilling harpin curves and another splashing end. After a very long but great day, we all dragged ourselves home with sore feet and aching backs. Oh, the several aquariums are really spectacular!

Thurs June 23-Sat 25th

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Sun at last!! Miles and miles of sandy beaches, lovely beach homes, and surf. We followed the coastal roads and went through all the famous beaches we've heard of in song and story: Santa Monica, Redondo, Long Beach, Newport, Huntington, etc. We were amazed at the huge number of homes along that coast. At Malibu we were able to drive down and see some of  the houses. We couldn't find Charley Harper's house.
As we got closer to LA, traffic got heavier, population denser and we found all the beaches lined with parking lots and meters. "LA is a great big freeway" Thank  goodness for the GPS's and when they didn't agree, the Walkie-talkies.
Lunch was in Huntington Beach and we are now in Laguna Beach for 2 nights.
The boys went to Barrett Jackson. It was all we expected it to be, and was definitely worth the trip. Then we all went out for a wonderfull seafood dinner with Steve and Mary Meline, from Huntington Beach, they are NAMGAR members. They took us for a lovely drive and on a 3-car ferry to Balboa Island.

Saturday's drive took us along more beautiful coastal towns and beaches to San Diego where we will spend the next two or three days. We had a picnic lunch on the beach overlooking a lovely view of waves crashing on the rocks and surfers trying to catch "the" wave.

June 17th to 22nd

Hi Folks, sorry about the delay, we had a few 'issues', one being the computer. This is the map of where we've been the last six days. I hope you all know to click on the pictures you want to enlarge.

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We headed out of Reno on Friday, the 17th, and took the road around the west side of Lake Tahoe. It was up in the snow again, even the lakes were still frozen over. By the time we reached the historic Main St. of Jackson it was hot enough to need some icecream. We spent the night near Jamestown, which is also a historic town. On the 18th, we took a very winding road that followed what used to be a mule train trail across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. We had breakfast at Priest Station, established in 1849 as a mule train depot.

Our planned trip to Yosemite Village was aborted because of a 3 hour wait to get into the valley, so we took Hwy 140 through the southern part of the park along a raging rivers and many magnificent waterfalls. Steve is testing the water which is freezing.

The California  coast is very rocky and wild and yet more temperate than Oregon. Rolling hills covered in wild flowers, and curvy roads along cliffs and through lush valleys. It is strange to see cattle grazing beside crashing waves below.

The route to Merced and on to Monterey is through some of  California's major agricultural areas. The next two nights, 19th and 20th were spent in Monteray, where we got our laundry done and relaxed  awhile.We took the "famed"

17-Mile Drive (at $9.50) around the Monterey Penninsula, which was interesting , but not so different from what we had already seen. The very rich live there in fabulous houses with fantastic views, and that is where the famous Pebble Beach concourse is held at one of the golf courses.

Then off down along the coast again to Cambia, and as there was so much to see, we only did 125 miles. At every view point we saw squirrels, sea gulls, cormorants, pelicans, and wild beautiful coastal scenes. At one of the viewpoints, we had a special treat of watching a large herd of elephant seals, who were sunning and sparring, just enjoying life on the beach. The fog was rollling off the sea so we had intermittant sun and fog.

Wednesday the 22nd, was same rolling fog, but at least it didn't rain and was a bit warmer. The vegetation is sub tropical and all in bloom. Jacaranda and Blue Gum trees as well as several varieties of palms. We got a large box of fresh California strawberries and  stood in front of the fruit stand and all pigged out. Delicious!!! 

 A quick visit to Moss motors for a couple of parts and a tour of the store for the guys. For those of you who are not car nuts, that is where most of thier parts come from.

This is the San Luis Obispo Mission built in 1772 by the Franciscans, who built a chain of missions along the California coast. The goal was to turn the native Chumash Indians into Spanish citizens. The goal was not acheived as the Indians were decimated by disease and the Mexican government refused to pay more money on the failing missions.They were secularized and served as courthouses and jails. In 1848 California became  part of the USA and the missions were returned to the church.

We spent the night in Santa Barbara