Tuesday, February 25, 2014
At the crack of dawn I was in the jeep and heading for N. Middlemarch Road while Dolly and Fergie were still sound asleep. A Cactus Wren was singing to me.
The road is only about a half mile from where we are staying, so I was there in no time. Turned right on to it and it immediately went from a blacktop to a wide bumpy dirt road. About a mile down, I looked to my left and there was a herd of mule deer just off the side of the road.
This went on for about eight miles. It would be fairly flat for awhile and then washboards came back with a vengeance. At the eight mile marker, I could see a border patrol SUV in the middle of the road and the two officers were looking up a side road. I stopped and asked what was going on and he said they were looking for bodies. I hoped he was kidding. I asked if it would be okay to continue on up the road and he said no problem, so I told him I would move on and they could continue looking for bodies.
Another two miles further, I crossed a cattle gate and entered the Coronado National Forest. I was finally on BLM land. Drove down a side road that had cows everywhere, and could quickly tell the motorhome couldn’t go down that road. Went back to the main road for a quarter mile further and it got narrow and rougher. It was at this point, I decided it would not be worth putting the motorhome through ten miles of rough road, just to get “Far from the Madding Crowds”.
Also, every time we wanted to go somewhere, we would have to take the jeep down that road. Took me about 25 minutes to drive the ten miles. Just isn’t worth the hassle.
When I got back to the motorhome and had my coffee and breakfast, Dolly, Fergie and I decided we would re-up for three more days at the Tombstone RV Park and use this as our base camp. Friday, we’ll decide what to do next, but for now this is home.
Dolly did two loads of laundry while I took the jeep with bicycle on the back up to the car wash. First time I have washed the jeep this year. It is not perfect but it looks presentable now.
In the afternoon, the skies got dark and it looked like rain, and it cooled off enough to where I had to put on a long sleeve shirt. We decided this would be a good time to go see Boothill Graveyard.
We had a nice time just walking around Boothill looking at all the headstones. Probably a hundred graves, most in the 1880s.
 Dolly and Fergie |  Yours truly |
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 Billy Clanton, Frank McLaury, Tom McLaury killed at OK Corral. |  |
Tomorrow, the sun should return and we will take the tourist walk through “Old Tombstone” to see and hear the wild west as it really was.
Tombstone sunset
See you later.
The museum in town is a good one and out of town there is the Rattlesnake Ranch.
ReplyDeleteI will need to check out the Ranch, thanks. We are heading to town today and will surely go to the museum.
DeleteToo bad about that rough road. We've been up & down it a few times but doesn't sound like it has been graded lately. There is another sweet boondocking spot near Tombstone. The Charleston road runs from Tombstone to Sierra Vista. You are probably very close to where that road heads out of Tombstone. On that road a few miles out of Tombstone on the left side is where we boondocked back at the end of January 09. Great spot but hard to see from the road heading west & I can't remember the mile markers it is between. Best thing I can tell you is head towards Sierra Vista watching closely to the left for some large concrete slabs a couple hundred yards in off the highway. If you reach the San Pedro River you have gone too far. Turn around & head back towards Tombstone & the cement slabs are much easier to see. When you see the slabs watch closely for a gate & pull in there. Gate will have signs saying no admittance etc. Don't worry about that it is OK to boondock in there. BLM guys told us about that spot. Open the gate & drive in with the Jeep. You will see the cement slabs ahead & to the right. We parked right on the slabs. Great spot & great view. Be sure to keep gate closed because of cattle. Here is one link from the time were there....http://thebayfieldbunch.com/search?q=sons+of+the+pioneers Beautiful view at night of Sierra Vista's lights in the valley below. If you get this spot you will be very close to the old wild west ghost towns of Charleston & Millville. They can be found from the spot where the Charleston Road crosses the San Pedro River. Both Ghost towns are on the north side of the highway & right across the river from each other. Millville can be found easily but Charleston is hard to find but I can help ya out a bit there if you get down that way......
ReplyDeleteHere is our Millville & Charleston link.......
ReplyDelete.http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2009/01/to-day-we-found-ruins-of-charleston.html
That Rattlesnake Ranch is over near Gleason on the road from Tombstone to Gleason. It will be on your right hand side closer to Gleason. A really interesting place to roam around & see a lot of old western history. Here's our link for Rattlesnake Ranch;;;;;;;
ReplyDeletehttp://thebayfieldbunch.com/search?q=rattlesnake+ranch