The Great Winter Boondocking Vacation, 2012-2013

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I'm Dreaming...of a White...New Years Eve... W%


Yep!  It freakin' snowed last night in Tombstone! 


Here are some pictures, cuz its hard to believe without them!


These 3 are of the snow covered Jeep!:











Snow on the Nautilus!:





I thought this old wagon looked pretty neat all covered in snow:





And I call this picture, Snow Ball Fight at the OK Corral:





Pretty neat!


Kev

[DonD]

Break out the skis!!     Not even enough to make a snowman.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOL Don!  I got out there late and half of it was already melted before I took the pictures.  An hour later, it was all gone.  Sure looked pretty on the mountains!


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Had a great New Years celebration at the Crystal Palace, even though we left a couple of hours early. 


Today is going to be a do-nothing day...a great kick-off to the new year...lol!  Although I do have to bring my pants back to the store I got them from...when taking them off last night (they are button flies), the seam ripped right out of them along the stitching...hope they'll exchange them!  And nope, there isn't even a good story to go along with the seam ripping out... :)rotflmao


Patti bought me an awesome pair of cowboy boots for New Years too!  Dan Post Milwaukee boots in a dark high gloss brown...I didn't know cowboy boots could fit so comfortably!  These things are more comfortable than my sneakers or my Sperry topsiders!  I tried them on at the boot place and commented that they were a perfect fit.  Patti went back in when I wasn't looking and bought them for me...lol!  Gotta love my Patti!


Kev

[DonD]

OK..you went to The Crystal Palace, ripped your pants while taking them off. You got some 'splainin' to do mister  Hm?

[HandyDan]

What happens in Tombstone, stays in Tombstone! :)rotflmao
That's why they have BootHill.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LMAO!!!


I talked to the guy where we bought the pants, and he said to just bring them in and he'll exchange them...great customer service over at Bandit and Belle...the best place to buy clothes in Tombstone.  Best prices, selection, and service.  He also does custom hats, but not nearly as nice as Optimo.  About 200 bucks cheaper, so if you want a 100 beaver hat for 600 bucks instead of 800, he's the guy to see.  However, if you are spending that much anyways, what's an extra 200 for the perfect hat?


Anyhow, its going to be chilly again today...not supposed to warm up until Saturday...so we are going to use the Jeep as a Jeep and go on a little semi-offroad trip to Cochise Stronghold...at least, as far as one can go in the Jeep before it turns into hiking trails.


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

What an amazing day today!!!


While Patti was getting ready, I walked my ripped pants over to Bandit and Belle, and he exchanged them no problem...he didn't have the tan in my size, but had nice brown ones with a black saddle inset and let me switch them out for those, even though they were a little more expensive.  Great shop!


Then it was time for the Jeep Tour!


We could have paid 275 bucks for a guided Jeep tour...or not be lazy, do our research, and plan our own itinerary (same as the guided tour)...which is what we did.


So I planned out the trip, gassed up the Jeep, and we began our 38 mile offroad trek.


After about 10 miles on a rough dirt road, we came to Coronado National Forest:





You can see Sheepshead Mountain from Tombstone, and it is one of the places that legend has it that Cochise is buried.  This is from about a mile away.  We ended up right under it on the Jeep trail:





From there, you pass into small stunted trees, and right up to these amazing rock formations.  Hidden in this maze of rock and mountain is the most amazingly beautiful forested wilderness area.  There are springs and water sources, the largest of which are Apache Springs and Crescent Lake.  These rock formations give none of it away:





After a lot of driving at a slow and leisurely pace, we arrive at the trailhead to Cochise Trail.  This sign greeted us:





Of course, as soon as we got there, Patti had to make a snow ball and whack me with it!  LMAO!!!  Here she is, caught in the act!:





Nice buns!


Anyhow...we both hiked a bit on the trail, although not very far.  It was bloody cold, and took us way longer to get there than we thought.  Here is a pic of Patti on the trail, and then one of me:








Oh yeah, this is me, 75 lbs lighter!  Yep, new Dan Post boots and I love these John Wayne style shirts from Frontier Classics.  The Stetson is my beater Stetson, since my favorite hat is still being worked on by Optimo Hatworks in Bisbee:





Watch out bad guys!  Some good guys have guns too!  I couldn't resist...lol!  Patti took the pic of me firing at imaginary bad guys with my trusty Ruger .357:





Here is a pic of Patti walking back to our little Jeep that made this trip possible:





Patti used to hate the Jeep before this trip...she might not LOVE it now, but she sure doesn't hate it!:





Some pretty rough roads and trails, and I only had to put it in 4x4 for the last mile and a half.  I didn't even bother airing down the tires.  Plenty of traction and perfect performance.  We drove VERY slow and used less than an eighth of a tank of gas.  Patti might not love it yet, but I do!


Sometime before we leave, its another Jeep excursion almost all the way to the ruins of Fort Bowie, a 1.5 mile hike to see all the ruins, then back to the Jeep for the drive out. 


Coronado National Forest is beautiful and HUGE, if you ever get a chance to visit it.  Very rich in history and wildlife.


We had a blast today!


Kev

[HandyDan]

What a blast!  Wish I was there.  Lots of history in those lands, some of it not so flattering for us white guys. 

Love the pictures and especially the John Wayne look.  Congrats on the weight loss.  It looks good on you.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Thanks Dan!  We are still having our coffee and deciding what to do today...looks like it might be a trip back to Bisbee to go on the Queen Mine Tour, but its still up in the air.


I can't wait to put a soft top on the Jeep!  Would have been even more fun with the top down on a warmer day!  Although more than likely we'll get the bikini top setup and tonneau cover...we really want to keep the hardtop, but can take it and the doors off at hot faires like AZ where it doesn't rain very often and just use a rain cover at night or if they are predicting rain.  Oklahoma gets horribly hot, but it rains a LOT there, so we'd either leave the hardtop on, or just always use the rain cover over the tub when not using the Jeep.


Anyhow, back to playing on the net and getting coffeed up!


Kev

[cosmic]

I've been following you along this journey. thanks for letting me come along for the ride. My question is how reasonable are the park rates down in that neck of the woods.
Here in Ontario we pay minimum. 35 a night..

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Wells Fargo RV park is pretty expensive...400 bucks for 2 weeks, but we indulge ourselves at this park since its right in the historic district and you step out of your RV and right into downtown Tombstone.  The other parks in the area would run you about 175 or less a week.


In San Antonio, the park we stayed at was 175 for the week, and not too far from all the attractions like the Alamo and the Riverwalk.


What REALLY makes being out here in the West nice and affordable are all the National Parks and BLM lands.  For instance, the annual pass for Hot Wells Dunes in Safford, AZ is 20.00, unlimited camping.  Even cheaper if you are a senior!  So that comes out to just over a buck a day if you stay for 2 weeks like we are going to.  Tonto National Forest, our next and last stop on vacation, comes out to 3 bucks a day...1.50 if you are a senior.  Hot Wells has no amenities other than bathrooms (no showers), garbage cans, free firewood, and of course the naturally fed solar powered hot tubs!  No potable water so you have to bring lots of your own.  Tonto doesn't have showers either, but they have potable water, bathrooms, level paved sites, beautiful views, dumpsters, and easy access to Lake Roosevelt (and pretty awesome Indian cliff dwellings!).


If you set yourself up for boondocking, this is the way to go!  The cost is minimal, and its beautiful this time of year!


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

So we skipped the Queen Mine Tour in Bisbee yesterday since we REALLY needed to go grocery shopping.  So Sierra Vista it was!


Since we had all day, we explored the town and stopped in a bunch of shops.  Mostly thrift stores, pawn shops, some guns shops, etc.  We didn't buy anything, but Patti was delighted to see an 8 week old German Shepherd puppy named Cricket in one of the gun shops and played with the cute little pup for quite some time...lol!


It was an all day thing and lots of fun, and we got enough groceries to last a while when all was said and done.


Not sure what we'll be doing today...last cold day predicted, and then it will be warm for the rest of our stay in Tombstone. 


Kev

[Wantawinnie]

Thanks for the pics! Looks like you two are having a blast.    Sure beats the blizzards and snow drifts around here. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yup!  We sure are having fun!  Even our lazy day doing nothing today but watching the telly and doing laundry was fun...lol!


Tomorrow we are definitely going to go out and do something, even if its just go on a long walk or a drive in the Jeep AND a long walk with the pups.


Ah, vacation....


Kev

[joanfenn]

It is great to know that you two DO know how to relax.  Keep up the good work.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yep Joan...and once we get out to Hot Wells Dunes, it will be a whole lot of relaxing with lots of reading and soaking in the hot tubs!  I can't wait to put our solar power system to the test!


Today we have an itinerary!  We are going up to the Fairbank Ghost Town!  Its BLM land now, and they restored a lot of the buildings, so it should be a lot of fun.  That shouldn't take all day, and if it doesn't, we'll drive back to Bisbee and do the Queen Mine Tour.


Just letting it warm up outside a bit first and enjoying our coffee...


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

LOT of fun today!!!


The first thing we did was go to the ghost town of Fairbank.  It was the closest rail town to Tombstone (Tombstone didn't have its own railroad station), so it was the nearest supporting town, about 10 miles away off of what is now Rt 82.


Not a heck of a lot is standing in the town anymore...when the land owners evicted almost everyone in the 1960s most home owners demolished their own houses with sledge hammers...lol! 


What remains are these haunting images.


This first one shows some of the last remaining buildings...the stables, a couple of houses, and the school house:





The next few pictures show the adobe commercial building, still being structurally restored by the BLM.  It housed a saloon, the jail house, a bank, a blacksmith/farrier shop, and the post office!

















The next couple of pics are of the outhouse near a surviving house.  The family that poops together...








Next we hiked a trail, about a 3 mile round trip, to the town cemetery.  Its almost as big as Boot Hill, but not nearly as well preserved. 


This is the trail, very pretty:





And this is Patti on the trail...even prettier!





I have a LOT of pictures of the graveyard, but this one stood out to me...its an original grave marker, like the ones at boot hill...all wood and still standing...but weathered and rotted with nothing legible...it was haunting...





The grave yard is built on a hill...must have been a Western tradition...and from the top of the hill, this beautiful snow capped mountain is visible:





It was lots of fun, but we were finished by around 1pm, so it was off to Bisbee for the Queen Mine Tour!


This is the entrance to the mine, and the neat rail system we used to see it...those are the original mine cart engines, with modified rail seats that you have to straddle like a saddle.  It brings you 1000 feet underground:











Yep...that's snow on the ground!


This neat mine rail bicycle was used by the mine foreman to run errands and messages and deliver orders...I wish I could have ridden it!








When you get to the mine, they give you a hard hat, a rain coat (to keep your clothes clean), a light, and a badge.  Here's Patti getting all decked out as a miner!





Here is Patti trying her hand at one of the air powered mining drills.  Question:  Can I get in trouble for having sex with a miner?





And here is Patti holding a hand drill with her eyes closed...the tour guide didn't really swing the hammer though:





Once we were done with the mine tour, we drove down to Optimo Hatworks to check on the status of my hat...Its gonna be a while!  At least a few more weeks!  Ah well!  Here is their sign:





Once all of the excitement of the day was done, it was the not so long drive left back to Tombstone.  So we decided to drive down to the local area of Tombstone, where the locals live.  The neighborhoods and whatnot.  And THIS is what we saw!  Deer are not dumb!  No hunting in city limits, and there were many little groups of deer just laying in the shade like these guys.  Not sure what species of deer they are...maybe mule deer?





Once we got home, Patti was wiped out, so I took the pups into town myself...they love walking through downtown Tombstone!


And that was today's adventures.  Not sure yet what we are going to do tomorrow!


While at the ghost town , we stopped in the gift shop and bought a couple of books...I bought one on John Wayne, and Patti bought one on films and where they were filmed in the old west...gonna be good reading material when we get to Hot Wells Dunes!


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Yesterday was a totally lazy do nothing day again...aside from walking the pups a few times, it was just back to back episodes of NCIS all day...lol!


Today we'll be going back into town, see a couple more museums and whatnot, maybe catch a gunfight reenactment...Not sure yet.


Wednesday I'm going to redistribute some of the weight in the RV compartments and get more weight up front, then Thursday we'll be back on the road to Safford, AZ for a couple of weeks of relaxing boondocking and soaking in the hot tubs!


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

We ended up today just taking the pups on a very long walk, along main street, all the side streets, and then into the residential area.  It was about a 3 hour walk and Patti was done...lol!  We are both still getting used to the higher elevation, but it hits Patti harder than me.


The pups had a great time!  It wasn't very busy today, and shop owners kept coming out and petting the pups and inviting them into the stores...they were so happy exploring the stores, although Barnabas DID try to steal a cow skull, horns and all!



When we got back to the rig, we sat on the porch and had a cup of coffee together, then I decided to tackle fixing one of the over-dash compartment doors while Patti did some more laundry.  What a challenge!  The door is built like a roll top desk, and it was like a chinese puzzle figuring out how to remove it, fix it, and reinstall it...but with the help of Gorilla Tape, the repair itself was easy. 


And that was pretty much it!  A relaxing vacation day, enjoyed by all but the cat...who had to stay locked up in the bathroom with his food dish.  We'll let him run free (during the day) in Hot Wells Dunes.


Tomorrow, aside from walking the pups for another not so long walk, its going to be working on redistributing the load in the RV, checking fluids and topping things off if needed, and getting up on the roof of the RV and washing the solar panels with clean water, a clean rag, and a squeegie. I want to make sure we have full solar power when we boondock for the next 3 weeks!  While I'm doing all this, Patti will be cleaning and doing more laundry.


You can take vacations as a fulltime RVer, but there is still always work to do!


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I ran a hose up to the roof and rinsed off the solar panels, wiped them with a clean rag, rinsed them again, and dried them off with a squeegie.  They were filthy!  Low maintenance my butt...lol!  I just cleaned them in North Carolina in November, right after Thanksgiving!


Then I checked the battery water levels...they were all perfect, so I didn't have to top them off.


Next it was redistribute the load in the storage compartments, putting all the heaviest stuff in the front compartments, and the lightest in the rear compartments.  That took a while, since it meant emptying every compartment and playing Tetris in each one.


But that got done, and most of the compartment weight is forward now, over the steering wheels.


Finally, I decided to test the genny in case we need it out in the desert.  No spark!  I think its a bad coil.  Can't afford to fix it now, so I guess we're gonna find out real quick if my solar power system is adequate to our usage!


Tomorrow I'll check the fluids and air pressures, load up the porch stuff, hook up the Jeep, and be ready to roll out of here first thing Thursday morning.


We are going to stay one night at the same RV park we stayed at last year in Safford.  21.50 for the night with our Good Sam membership.  That way we can load up on groceries (and lots of paper plates!) before hitting the boondocking trail, fill up both fresh water tanks from the good drinking water at the RV park, and go to the BLM office right near the campground and get our annual pass for Hot Wells Dunes. Rates went up:  Its 30 bucks without the Senior Pass, 15 bucks if you are a senior.  Patti can't find her senior card, so we have to pay 10 bucks for a replacement card, but 25 bucks for 2 weeks of camping with hot tubs is pretty awesome!


Next year we are thinking about skipping San Antonio, and going to Carlsbad for a few days...then only staying a week in Tombstone before bookdocking our butts off!


Guess we'll find out very soon just how good our solar power system works out!  No genny as a backup...Yikes!


Kev

[joanfenn]

Kevin....Patti... Where is todays adventure?  I am waiting, holding my breath wondering what is happening today    I am so used to reading your posts early in the day, I haven't done any housework because I am afraid I might miss your post.  Hope everything is okay with you all.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sorry Joan!  Yesterday's adventure was just a trip into Sierra Vista in the Jeep to get Patti a swim suit for the hot tubs...she didn't have one...a quick stop at the post office to mail out my old cowboy boots that I sold on eBay...and then back to camp.


I was going to start pack down, but Patti and I got caught up in a Bones marathon on the telly, and then an NCIS marathon on another station...lol!


We took the pups on two long walks through Tombstone of course, and that was pretty much it.


Once my coffee kicks in, its another long walk with the pups, then down to the gas station to get road cigs, then back to camp to finish packing up and hooking up the Jeep, checking fluids and air pressures, topping off the front air bags, showering and shaving, and then we'll be on the road no later than noon.  That should bring us to the Safford, AZ campground no later than 2pm, so we'll be able to shoot down to the BLM office and take care of all that, and then do some final grocery shopping before heading to Hot Wells Dunes the next day.


We'll fill both fresh water tanks at the campground right before we leave.


Kev

[ClydesdaleKevin]

A very pleasant and mechanically uneventful trip to Safford yesterday morning, and as predicted, we arrived at the campground just before 2pm.


What I didn't expect, but was pleasantly surprised to see, was the incredible gas mileage we got on this leg of the journey!  10.2 mpg!  Granted, we were descending a lot of the way, except the steep pass over Texas Canyon on I-10, and most of the trip was on Route 80 coming out of Tombstone, and north on Route 191 to Safford, and I kept the gas pedal very light, speed around 45 mph, and the RPMs around 2100 (except on I-10, where I had to open the secondaries twice chugging up Texas Canyon).


I really have to thank Mark for the Christmas present that I'm still reading!  I always thought 55 mph was the ideal speed for MPG, but its not about the speed according to the book, its about vacuum.  According to the authors, ideal vacuum with a gas powered carburated RV is around 38 mph.  I don't have a vacuum gauge on this rig yet, but I'll certainly be installing one!  I'll also start planning my trips on smaller highways and state routes where I can drive a lot slower and enjoy the scenery!  I'll just have to make sure those smaller routes and highways don't have a lot of traffic stops and busy towns along the way, since acceleration from a dead stop burns a lot of fuel.  I'll also have to check elevation gains and whatnot, since a lot of the smaller routes have steeper climbs out west, but that's pretty easy to do as well.


So once we arrived at the campground we parked the rig, hooked up to shore power and water and sewer (for our grey water), and took the pups over to the dog park to play and do their business.  They love chasing pine cones!


Then we went into town and got groceries at Basha's supermarket.  I missed Basha's!  They have great food at great prices!


Then back to camp, put the groceries away, and that was it.


Today is Patti's birthday, so we decided to stay one more day at the campground, and leave for Hotwells Dunes tomorrow morning.  That will give us time today to hit a couple of stores, go get our passes at the BLM office, and still give Patti time to relax on her B-Day.


Tomorrow is the big day!  A relaxing couple of weeks in the desert, with no one around to spread the flu...lol!  And a solid real world test of our solar power system, battery bank, and LED lights.  I'm kinda nervous without a generator to back it up, but it should be more than adequate if we are careful with power usage.


Kev

[HandyDan]

                         Happy Birthday Patti!
May you have a wonderful year with lots of surprises.