Sunday, March 4, 2018

Huachuca City, Arizona Huh? Where?

That's what we said too. Actually if you know anything about American history and forts, you will know Fort Huachuca is quite famous and the Buffalo Soldiers once manned it,  That will be another blog for another day. Today is a "we got here" blog.

We left our site at Black Meadow Landing after hugs and farewells and started our journey out the winding twisty road. I became quite good at it in the car but so dreaded this particular stretch of road near the end. Seeing the world from the front seat passenger side of an RV is quite different then a cozy seat lower in a car.




Can you see that tiny road way off there? That's the road out.

And finally, our official farewell committee!! 



Around that corner is the road leading to the Parker Dam but we can't go over it in the RV. plus we are driving south towards Quartzite to get onto Rt 10 towards Tuscon.  We did stop at the end of the road to check the ties holding our car wheels onto the tow dolly and after the bumpy, windy, twisty road, they did become somewhat loose. Secured and ready, I jumped back into CiCiBlue and off we went. 

The mileage to Gila Bend, Arizona, our half way point to Huachuca City, was about a 4 hour drive. We prefer 3 but 4 is doable and there's an RV park right there that you can spend the night. 

The Parker Train Bridge that goes over the Colorado River, We took the smaller bridge that connects California to Arizona if you are too large to go over the Dam. 



Parker, Az isn't a very large town and is in the middle of the desert but provided us with shopping and oh, a fun time at the Blue Waters casino.


So 95 south brings you to Rt 8 east across through the Sonoran Desert. We had a full tank of fuel and plenty of water and before we roll I always put the White Light of Protection around CiCi. We were ready.

The desert to some is dull and colorless but I see it as future art work, alive with color. A mental note to self as we went across, don't forget to add a dash of bright orange along the road. 



The mighty Saguaro (se-wo-roo) Cactus of the Sonoran Desert 


These cactus grow only in this region and are protected by the National park here. They are slow growing for the first eight years of their lives only going to 1 to 1.5 ". and they grow under the protection of the Mesquite tree. (Which to me right now look like rows of dead burnt trees. Who knew?)

When they are about 80 years old the arms are said to start forming and usually around 100 years of age they have developed an arm. 

I took this image from the internet so you could see the flowers that bloom from the arms or the side of the trunk at age 35. (They seem to get more interesting as they age... as of course we do!!)



We reached Gila Bend about 1:00 P.M. and met up with our friends who had left earlier to find a site at the park. Everything was full so they were parked outback of a Subway sandwich shop as we did also and after two days of Subway food I actually lost weight, but I'm so done.

We stayed two days since our reservation was on the 2nd of March. Interstate 8 joins I 10 and drives along side of Tuscon. Perfect so we didn't have to drive through the city itself.


It was another 3 1/2 - 4 hour drive to the cutoff to Huachuca City. Almost there!


Our New Home   The view from our front window.


A nice view to have my coffee and work on my computer. We are far enough away from the main road so you don't hear any road noises. A few times around 2:00 A.M. I have heard a distant siren but that's it. i do miss the burros under our bedroom window but we couldn't bring them with us.


One bonus is that our side yard is large enough that when the wind stops I can paint outside. Woohoo. 

At happy hour we go down to Betty and Bob's coach, so the kids won't see us, and as we look out across the desert we see something hanging up in the sky just so far. It's usually around 4:00 P.M. 
I sometimes wake up around 1 or 2:00 A.M. and then think of something and have to research. One night I looked up "weather balloon over Huachuca City" and found that is was actually a Tethered_Aerostat_Radar_System .  We are really close to the Mexican border and they use it in various places, they have more than one, to detect low flying planes coming in under the radar and to see SUV's driving in along the mountains. Reality check down here and yes, I lock the door at night. After reading up I did see that you probably shouldn't stop overnight on I 8 at the picnic areas and Phoenix has higher incidents with "banditos" then around here. 



So all is well here. CiCi Blue ran like a champ. We are at 4,400 ft above sea level and she doesn't particularly like it with her high oil pressure issue but when we leave here it's down hill and we will be happy again, won't we CiCi!!  I on the other hand was happy to arrive and had a couple of glasses of wine and not much water. Silly me. Day 2 of a headache so drinking tons of water. Oh and closer to the sun so tons of sun screen. After the 15th I'll do a blog on how MOH's surgery truly is!! lol

The sun setting behind CiCiBlue on the first night. 



Thanks for following and see you soon.

Warmly,
Sheila

Living The Artists Dream

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