This was our 2013 Jayco Flight Swift 198 RD

THIS WAS OUR 2013 JAYCO FLIGHT SWIFT 198RD, PARKED AT THE TOMBSTONE TERRITORIES RV PARK IN ARIZONA



Monday 18 March 2024

Visiting friends

 It had been a quiet week for us here in the RV Park. Although we did not take any excursions into the mountains, we did however go on a very nice visit to see friends that are now based in Tucson during the winter months and we were hosted to a wonderful lunch. Thanks guys!



We met Barb & Chuck (Charles Thomas Shipley) during our cruising years onboard “Diesel Duck”. They were cruising on their Kadey-Krogen 48 North Sea Trawler called “Tusen Takk II” and we both shared some of the same anchorages and ports throughout the Caribbean. It is a small world and while we are presently down here with our travel trailer, Barb and Chuck bought a mobile home in Tucson and travel during the summer months in their 40’ Motorhome. 


Barb keeps busy with many activities offered through the RV park and one of her talents is making pottery. Thank you Barb for the little goodby vase gift you made. Chuck is a hobby photographer, but there is nothing amateurish in his photos and I believe his photos are world class and he has won numerous prizes for them. He posts some of his photos in FB.



While we recalled our cruising adventures, a fun get-together with mutual friends came to mind. The following link is a YouTube link of an episode filmed by our friends Sheryl and Paul Shard of “Distant Shores” You can copy and paste it to YouTube app or onto Google. Those were great times we shared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEZXaxeA23g



And while we are at the subject of the Distant Shores TV Sailing Channel, and YouTubes, Sheryl and Paul flew into Panama 2011 to spend another time with us on our boat filming the Guna Yala natives while waiting for their new sailboat, a Southerly 49 to launch. That episode is not free on YouTube but is on Distant Shores Season 7 DVD set for purchase.


Eleven years later they revisited the area with their Southerly 480 sailboat and blended in some of their previous filming on our boat. This is the link to that episode.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIpn6e_YJVY




Coming back home our two rascals, i.e. Elsa and Reggy greeted us with many kisses but apparently were not as quiet during our absence as we had thought as per our next door neighbour Ken, a computer Guru. Look at the great gift we got from Ken and that he made, it will find a nice spot on a wall in our house.




So we are relaxing a bit and Benno is making plans for another fun excursion tomorrow here in Arizona. I am going to pack lunch and coffee for it. Benno is going to wear his Desert Storm Boots and I’m my Ruff Terrain Boots. Our doggies are going to love it. 




Stay tuned to find out where our next adventure took us.  Thanks for dropping by.


Monday 11 March 2024

Visiting Council Rocks in the Dragoon Mountains

 If you love endless mountain views, clambering over boulders, hiking through wilderness and exploring shallow caves, you’d be in your element. 

Just above the trees, middle/left of the photo are the Council Rocks


So yesterday on Sunday, with packed lunch and coffee, we had a fantastic day driving to the Council Rocks. It is described in numerous websites and blogs and I would recommend to read at least this ONE to get an idea of what I am talking about.  


This is the N Middlemarch Road



Here at the N Middlemarch Road we turned left


We drove from our RV Park along Arizona State Route 82 to the 80 State Route south toward Tombstone. After a half mile we made a left turn into the N Middlemarch Rd, which took us to the foot of the Dragoon Mountains where we made a left turn into the Forest Road 687. This sandy trail road running parallel along the Dragoon Mountains is half the fun and adventure even if you don’t want to climb up to the long ago stronghold of Cochise and the Chiricahua Apaches. This was where the fun really begun. Although the trail is a bit rough in parts, it is doable and picturesque as you take in the views. It blew me away and I think it is plainly fantastic!


Through this cattle grate into Forest Road 687



The area parallel to the mountains is great for easy hiking and there were several campers boon docking in flat clearings along the trail. (We went on a warm, sunny Sunday during March Break) Perhaps at other times this area is not quite so populated. However, the trail is partly rutted, twisted and with dips, so you need high clearance as you bounce along (but so worth it!)







We missed the turn off trail from the Forest Road 687 to the Council Rock parking lot, but shortly after we realized we’d driven too far, as we ended up on a gate to a ranch called Council Rock Land & Cattle, we turned the truck around (not an easy thing to do, but Benno managed) Tracing back to where we came from, we then noticed a turn off with tire marks and followed it. There were no posted signs, only once we were about a hundred yards into the trail, we saw a sign advising “no camping and no fire” and then we spotted a trail circle and knew we had found the parking lot for the trail up to the Council Rock, because I recognized it from a photo Al took from "Travel With The Bayfield Bunch" who had visited this historic site and wrote a beautiful post about it.





So I could have taken a thousand photos, well, not quite so many, but I still took a lot. Following are some I selected.






This is the turn off from Forest Road 687 right into the trail to the parking area


We are parked at the trail circle parking lot in front of the hike to the Council Rocks


Up on the trail, it's not difficult




This flat rock was our table where we unpacked and ate our lunch









I am just going to adjust the level of this boulder ;-)



This one I'm going to roll home for my garden!



Do you see an elephant here?




There are steps in the rocks (Apaches made them) and we are taking them



















Hopefully my photos will inspire you to also visit this fantastic area. I sure wouldn't mind coming here again.


Thanks everyone for making it this far :-) And please come again!

Wednesday 6 March 2024

When you just have to know

During last week’s outing to the Camp Rucker we drove along the North Rucker Canyon Road. This red earth dirt road is pretty good maintained by a grader and wide enough for two cars to pass one another with plenty of room on both sides, although sloped for water runoff. At a distance in the mountains we had spotted a white dot and as we drove on, there were two more that looked like Army tanks in the middle of nowhere. 





Benno cranked his head, almost busting his neck, as he stopped the truck by the road popping his eyes while trying to see if there actually were three Army tanks in front of the mountains. “Christ, those look like artillery tanks up there”. It seemed so. I now knew right away that we would end up there soon!




Back home he tried to find any information on the Internet about military equipment stored in the foothills of the Swisshelm mountain range, but could not find any. Having served his mandatory time in the West German Defence Force with an Artillery Battalion, he thought those tanks might be tracked howitzers and being trained on them he had a desire to know if those were it. He wanted to drive back to find out.  Ok then, I agreed to come along although not convinced we could get there.



So yesterday we packed a lunch and some coffee, you know the drill, and headed again for the Rucker Canyon Road on a mission to find the cannons. After the N Bar SS Ranch Rd, further on at mile marker 9 on the N Rucker Canyon Road, there was a dirt trail on the northern side through the bushes that looked like it could go up into the hills toward the tanks. We took it. Actually, I would have preferred to hike it because of all that prickly brush, but it looked pretty far. Benno just bumped the truck through the potholes and swerved along the winding trail all the way up the hill until we came to a small clearing where we parked the truck. Right in front of us was the first howitzer-tank and further down two more.





“Bah, those are mockups” were Benno’s words. “M 109 mockups,” to be more specific and they looked like made for the Military to be used as targets. Well, what did we expect? So instead of being ready to shoot, they were shot at as the multi holes in the metal revealed. One had gotten two full loads of buckshots and some slugs punching holes into the thin metal sheeting. Never the less, we traipsed through the bushes, around the tanks and I even climbed up on one (because I could) and I looked underneath to find out that it was hollow except for the structure.  I spotted a black and white coloured cat sitting by the third and farthest howitzer, but it took off before I had the camera ready.









While eating our packed lunch sandwiches in the truck we admired the beautiful view from up there. Then we drove back down again through all that brush but this time avoiding most of the potholes.





We still have no idea why those mock-up howitzers are in the mountains, who put them there and what are they being used for other than some hunters practice target shooting.


So that was our adventure of the mystery tanks. Back on the dirt road this young bull (steer) seemed to be lost on the wrong side of the fence. We could not help!




Thanks for visiting again!