Tumbstone and Kartchner Caverns, March 11-14

Thursday I headed over to Benson to stay at the Escapee Saguaro Co-Op park for a few days.  I was able to secure dry camping for $5.00.  The folks at the park are really nice and very helpful. Lots of activities, free wi-fi, nice laundry mat, and good tasting water.  The park backs up against desert so there are ample places to let Sadie run. There are lots of  dry washes, arroyos,  and dirt roads ...all looking alike.

Friday, I took Sadie out for a walk missed the turn to the wash back to the park  went out of and my one hour/3 mile walk ended up being a 3  hour/5 mile epic.  I ended up asking a rancher how get back to the highway and he kindly pointed me in the right direction.  I was only 1/2 mail east of where I was suppose to be.   The next day I made sure I took the GPS with me so I wouldn't miss any turns.

Later in the day I took a drive to Tombstone which is only about 25 miles south rom the park.  The old court house was really interesting but the old west shops on the main street  are very touristy....pretty much the same old stuff.

                                Doctor's bag of instruments.  They look pretty scary to me! The sign said doctor, but it looks more like denistry instruments to me.

                               I'm easily intrigued.  I never knew there were so many different kinds of bobbedwire.

                                                     The main court room.

                                          District attorney's law library

                                                    Beautiful stairway from the court room to the main floor.

                                          I guess they think the orange fencing will keep people from the gallows

                                         The old town of Tombstone


I had made reservations to see the Kartchner Caverns. Reservations are a must unless you want to arrive at the part at 6:00 a.m. and wait in line to see if there are any same day tickets available.   I had wanted to see them last year but ran out of time.  I was able to reserve tickets for both  rooms of the cave.  I've been to Lehman cave and Blanchard Springs cave but the Karchner Caverns are much more spectacular.  Cameras are not allowed in the cave so the photos are taken from some post cards. Even the post cards don't do the caves' beauty justice.  The caves are huge and spacious and I didn't have any  clausterphobic sensations at all. There is a series of locking doors and entry you go through to keep the outside air out and the inside air in.  The caverns are very humid and warm.

The Kubla Khan column is over 58 feet tall.  There is a beautiful light show included with the tour.  Very impressive.

This was in the Big Room.  Its the largest room in the cave.  The bats come back in the summer and this cave is closed from about April 15th during the time the bats return until fall when they leave.

                                        This is a butterscotch formation and sometimes called drapery.


Friday evening while I was finishing up my blog and having a cup of tea, Sadie bumped me and I spilled a few drops of tea on my computer. The screen instantly went blank and the computer died.  I immediately sopped up any moisture but my computer wouldn't respond.  Apple customer care had nothing but condolences for me as computer and water don't mix and suggested I go to the Apple store in Tucson about 45 miles from Benson. The customer service rep  made an appointment for me so I wouldn't have to wait.  The tec at the store confirmed my computer was very dead and could try and revive it but it would cost more than a new one and the new ones were better and faster.  Thank goodness I had recently used time machine to back everything up.  So, $$$ later I headed out the store satisfied I would be connected with the world again.

I  needed to go back to the Apple store the next day and get a few glitches sorted out so I moved  back to the Casino thinking it might take more than a day to get everything sorted out.   While in town  the volume control on my cell phone quit.  Verizon's solution was to send me another Blackberry, which meant another week without a working cell phone which was not an acceptable solution.  So, goodbye old Blackberry Curve and hello new Iphone.  I'm loving it! So... new cell phone, new computer, and lighter wallet!  One would think I was in the Bermuda triangle and not the Arizona desert. This trip is getting expensive!! Much to my delight, I was able to get everything done in one day and headed towards Saffard, Az to meet up with the Escapee Boondockers on Tuesday.