Return trip Bisbee AZ to VT

Map of the trip home from Bisbee to Vermont

2019-02-03 Sunday - First day in Bisbee AZ

First thing I wanted to do is map the entire trip out so we don't forget what we did and where we went. Wow, what a crooked path, but those are always the best. We get tips about things to do and see as we go along.

It felt great to sleep in this morning. Deb found a few things in a store down the street so we could have coffee and tea this morning. Bisbee really has no large grocery store. My back is still a little stiff, but not bad so a few days R&R are in order. I suspect it was sitting in a car for two weeks that was the problem, but I'll find out on the way back when we blast back across in half the time.

Our place is very comfy. To get to our place you either climb 95 steps up (I counted) or about the same up to a high street and then walk down the street. Bisbee is an old mining town where at it's peak it had 9900 people living here so they built houses on all the side hills. I'll bet their high school track team kicked butt with those kids getting all that exercise all those years.

Being the weekend, there were tourists (us included) walking around the shops. It was not really that busy with people and you can park anywhere on the street with out a problem. Saturday night we walked up to a bar/pizza place and chatted with a local guy who taught at the high school and is now retired. From what he told us and what I have seen other places a lot of hippies moved here in the 1960's and 70's and never left. Small enough (5500 pop) where most folks know each other. I am guessing tourism is their big business. Sierra Vista is the big town (with the big grocery stores) so it's kind of like us in Starksboro with Burlington nearby.

I slept in and started reading one of the few books that I brought (the back thanked me). Deb spent the morning walking the route of the Bisbee 1000, which is an annual race they do around town where you climb 1000 steps on a route that goes up and down the hills through the neighborhood. She is leading a walking tour in Georgia in a couple weeks and is worried about being in shape enough for it. I did a few hundred steps today to stretch my back out and check out the town. Temperatures are in the 50's, maybe 60 and it is mixed clouds. The air is dry and when the sun comes out it warms you up nicely.

We ran over to the big grocery store toward Sierra Vista and stocked up on stuff so we can eat meals in our place which has full amenities (stove, laundry, all the usual stuff).

Then it was SuperBowl!! Everything happens TV wise, earlier since we are 2 time zones away. Someone told Deb we have to go to "Tables", the restaurant / bar down the street whith the biggest, most es (word?) TV's to watch the superbowl. We sat at the bar with an army guy from Boston and a couple from Cape Cod and the Ram's fans sat on the other side of the room, we so had two cheering sections. Gotta say, not too exciting game, but an enjoyable evening spent chatting with folks and watching the game.

We walked back up the street which was pretty much empty since the weekend folks went back home, leaving the town pleasantly empty. Nice intro day to Bisbee.

2019-02-02 Sat Silver City NM to Bisbee AZ

Well, we made it!! Bisbee AZ is where we will park for a week so we are excited to be out of the car for a bit.
We started this morning from Silver City NM, which they told us was sister city to Bisbee. We walked around Silver City this morning and found a nice aging hippie coffee shop. Silver City (population 10,000) is twice the size of Bisbee and they both have the same crunchy, aging hippie vibe, just like a lot of towns back home, but bigger. Lots of art shops, yoga places, used book stores, you get the picture. They both have real downtowns with with old historic
buildings, sidewalks, etc, and both grew up from mines. Silver City was silver of course and Bisbee was copper. Silver City I think still has some kind of mine near it but Bisbee shut their mine down in the 1970's or so. So now they attract tourists and folks move to these towns for the quality of life and climate. So lots of retired, coffee drinking, art loving, aging yoga stretchers.
Another nice sunny warm day peaking out in the 60's with big flat stretches, but now with snow capped mountains in the distance. We are up in altitude anyway so the mountains are 10K ft or more which means snow. A couple great podcasts make the mile go by quickly. We stopped in Sierra Vista for lunch. Sierra Vista is

the big town near Bisbee where people go to shop. It has an army base which seems to be the biggest employer in town.
We got into Bisbee an hour before check in and wandered the street so catch up on what was where. We were here a few years ago and it seems to have not changed much. We finally walked our bags up the 95 steps (I counted) to our place for the week. Very nice place that we are looking forward to settling into for the week.

I gotta say, the last two weeks on the road have been fantastic. We have seen so many parts of the country we have never been to before. But now it's time for a little R&R.

2019-02-01 Fri Van Horn TX to Silver City NM

Super 8 on the Highway last night (Hmm, makings of a country song..) and crappy continental breakfast, but we did see our new best friends with the motorcycle in the back of their pickup from Minnesota again. Today's plan was to go north to catch Guadalupe Mountains National Park and then see how far west we can get. Kinda relaxed schedule since we do not have far to go to Bisbee AZ.
The road goes directly north from Van Horn and there is really nothing for 60 miles until you get to the park, but there is something pretty about nothing but dirt and rocks and scrubby trees and cactus. And it was "unseasonably warm" according to the local weather folks which is great. We hit 70 degrees today and it was clear and sunny (except some sprinkles in NM).
Guadalupe was free with my Senior pass (love it) , normally $5 a head, and it is a pretty small park (hence only $5). This area is where the old sea bed ended and the rocks are the reefs at the edge of the sea (I am sure it is more complicated that that but, heh, I'm an engineer). There looks to be about 2-4 people who run the place and there really is just the visitor center and a lot of hiking trails with remote campsites.
They said spring break is crazy with any kind of group who thinks about hiking showing up. It is also the time of year when anything that blooms, blooms.
The air is very dry and clear here, so we feel like we are really back in the west. Lots of sun and clear air. And we need to drink more since the dry airs sucks you dry out here.
We did a hike to a spring up on the side of the mountain and saw a lot of scat we did not recognize. Turns out they have Ring Tails, which look like a long skinny raccoon and coyotes (we stopped back and asked the nice visitor center folks and showed them our poop pictures).
After Guadalupe, we headed west on Rt180 (the only road west) and again spent a couple hours with spinning radio dial (no stations) and no cell service, but I have been downloading podcasts each night which are a great addition and make the trip go by quickly. Deb found a great (and very busy) Mexican restaurant in El Paso for lunch. El Paso is home to Ft Bliss Army base where 39,000 people work, so it takes up a good part of the city.
We continued west and decided we had enough time to end up north a bit in Silver City NM. We have been here before and it is an artsy town with a couple nice funky hotels right in town. We stopped and booked a room (at Super 8 prices..) and then wandered around town. We stopped at the used book store and a really engaging guy who owned the store (nice Scottish accent) gave us dining tips (the good, bad and ugly), got us up to date on the town's character, and sold us a couple used books of course. We found one of the places he recommended and had a nice supper with the locals. He ran out of the store on our way back through to make sure his recommendations worked out (they did).
Silver City seems a little more foo foo than last time we were here (for this redneck), but it is still pretty authentic. Back to our hotel, the end of another great day.

2019-01-31-Thurs Big Bend National Park to Van Horn TX

Woke up to pitch black outside even though it was 6:30 or 7:00. We must  be getting to the other side of the time zone. Walked to breakfast (in the dark) and had a nice B'fast, then back to the room. There is very little cell service here and the wifi works if you stand outside the visitor center (hot tip from one of the young folks who works here, "and they leave the wifi on all night!!")









After yesterday, I decide to download some maps of this part of Texas so I can use them offline. I also downloaded some podcasts which we have been getting into (Country Music history, I am slowly converting Deb..)
We decided to do an hour and a half hike this morning and then do another short hike along the Rio Grande. Overcast at first light so no nice sunrise pictures, but the sun came out while we
were hiking and we had a nice early morning hike down to "The Window". Deb is faster so we just set a time to hike out a trail, turn around and come back. Works great and we arrive back at the same time.





We drove down to the southern end of the park (30 miles or so) and parked near a short trail that takes you to the Santa Elena Canyon which is a narrow slot canyon that the Rio Grande cut through over the years. Short hike along the river and you quickly appreciate how small the Rio Grande is. The river is heavily controlled now and by the time the irrigation guys get done with it, there is not much left. We had heard that you can get a "ferry" across with a Mexican guy who rows you over (and sings) for $5, but now that I see the river, it must be a short song..
Nice little hike into the slot canyon with towering walls.
Then back in the National Park Assault Vehicle and headed north to try to get to Van Horn by dusk. We stopped for gas just outside the park (not taking chances out here) and then headed across the flat dry desert above the park with no radio
stations and no cell service.





The podcasts work great for making a long drive short. We are stopping a little more often for breaks which is helping my back issues tremendously.
Short detour into Marfa which we have been hearing is a quirky artist community. It does seem to have some vibe going on there, but we couldn't quite figure out what it was all about. All the buildings are painted nicely, even the empty one so there must be someone with a painting mission. We also saw signs for an Arts Festival, which must be an annual thing, and a couple references ti the Marfa Lights (they have a pull off on the road where you can watch them??). The waitress tonight made it sound like the Marfa lights are very mysterious (aliens??, Elvis??, pranksters??). Might be a publicity stunt. Gotta Google that one.






Nice road into Van Horn which is one of those interstate exit towns with restaurants and hotels. Met a woman driving from California to Texas to see her grand-kids and also chatted up a farmer from Minnesota and his wife with a motorcycle in

the back "escaping" from the Arctic blast at home.
Another full day.

2018-01-30 Weds - Kerville TX to Big Bend National Park

One of the nicer Super 8 motels last night in Kerrville TX. Conti breakfast was one of the better ones (eggs, sausage, etc) and even the waffle maker made waffles in the shape of Texas. Maybe there is a Vermont waffle maker??
The motels have been pretty cheap ($40 or so) probably due to the off season and we splurged in Galveston (bathroom the size of a ball room and doormen..) so we are thinking this trip is pretty inexpensive.
The Prius C gets 50 mpg so gas has been cheap, and gas prices are now down around $1.89 everywhere. The Prius is our Natural Park Assault Vehicle and it seems very comfy to ride in.

I am starting to wonder if my aching back is due to sitting in the car day after day so I'll hold judgment on the comfy Prius thing for now.
Today's goal was Big Bend National Park. We needed around 400 miles to get there since it is pretty far west of Kerrville (Jimmy Rogers lived there BTW) and also it is tucked way down in a pocket on the Mexican border so you need to go 150 miles down off the interstate.
So long day in the car with a nice national park for a prize.

The 2 hours or so before we got to the park is basically a desert with no cell service. The army actually tested camels out down here at one point.
We hit the friendly (and now getting paid) park ranger around 4pm. Got in free thanks to the Senior pass (getting old has its perks) and hit the visitor center where a nice lady gave us the overview. We still had to drive 35 miles or so inside the park to get to our bungalow.
This park is huge and it fully envelops an old volcanic mountain whose top blew off a gazillion years ago (apologies to any geologists out there). We checked in and the place ended up being about half full. Temperature was around 50 so very pleasant. Spectacular landscape.

We are up above 5000 ft so it is pretty green with maple trees and pines since there is more water up high. The sun sets at 6:30 so we decided to do a hike for an hour or so and come back to catch the sunset.
People are very chatty here and I made two new friends (Georgia & New Zealand) while waiting for a perfect light picture.
And sure enough the sun slid under the clouds and past the horizon to light up the rocks for a nice picture.
Then dinner at the only place here (there is no town). We sat at the bar and made new friends from Michigan, everyone talking about how cold it was back home. Turns out these folks knew a couple women that Deb knows from VBT. Small world.
Then back to the bungalow (I call it that because this place has the 60's feel, cement retro looking rooms spread around the site).
They also pride themselves on how dark it is here being so far away from any cities and they have lighting that keeps everything lit below but no above. So we really noticed how dark it was outside when we went to bed.
Another great day on the road..

2019-01-29 Tuesday Port Aransas TX to Kerrville TX

Today we left Port Aransas and headed toward San Antonio. Another long drive down the length of the island checking out all the public Texas beaches to the south and eventually turning inland and heading north.
We saw all the huge chemical plants here making who knows what. Lots of "man camps" which are small modular housing units with pickups parked outside each one. I am guessing you make good money moving down here and working your butt off. We saw signs for jobs so they must be looking for more help.
We drove by Corpus Christi which was not so spectacular looking, lots of chain stuff everywhere, billboards, etc, but to be fair, we did not drive into Corpus so we will call it a draw.
The big excitement today was going on the plant tour at the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma plant outside San Antonio. I went to their plant in Georgetown

KY which was wonderful a couple of years back. Toyota does what's called "Lean Manufacturing" and they do it as well as anyone in the world. I had originally made a reservation for Weds but we are ahead of schedule and also want to stop at Big Bend National Park (now that the parks are open again..). So I called this morning and they said they could get us in at noon today. We had just enough time to make it there by noon so we let "Lead Foot Deb" drive and got there with a half hour to spare.
Awesome tour. These guys employ 3000 people and produce about 500 trucks every 8 hour shift. Two shifts a day and 5 days a week. I saw a board that showed they had made 23,000 Tundras or Tacomas in the last 30 days. The employees all are dressed neatly, nobody looks stressed

out, and they all seem pretty darned happy there. These plants are like roller coaster rides for engineers. Awesome, awesome, awesome. We did the tour with a school bus full of 7th graders who had to give up their cell phones (or else!!). So it was Deb and I, another couple from NJ and about 40 7th graders. The kids did great and nobody had to escorted out.
The it was on to San Antonio to see the Japanese Tea Garden which the NJ folks had said we had to see. It was built in 1914 or so by a guy that made Portland cement and gave it to the city as a gift. When WW2 came along they re-named it the Chinese Tea Garden (remember that WW2 Japanese internment camp thing..) but they changed the name back to Japanese Tea Garden in the 70's.
After the Tea Garden it was on to the Alamo. This Mexico-Texas-USA thing is really confusing. Mexico was declaring its independence from Spain, and invited Americans to become Mexican citizens. Americans got confused with the Mexican civil war thing going on and decided to declare their

independence from Mexico, and the US was upset and also got into the act. So big mess over 50 years or so. If you controlled the Alamo, you controlled Texas, so the Alamo changed hands several times between Spain, Mexico and Texas. I need to find a good documentary to figure this out.
Chatted with the reenactors who kind of cleared it up, but not really. Mexico has its own version of what happened. So Texas was a republic for 10 years or so before it became a state.
Next up was the famous San Antonio River Walk. This is cool. It looks like in the 1940's, they decided to make a river in a U shape off the existing river using some streets in town. It is the

coolest thing. It's like what I imagine Venice is like with a small river running past shops and stores and restaurants. But done beautifully with lights and stone works and lots of trees and plants. A must see.
We stopped for coffee and tea to warm up (50's today) and decided to head west a little to get out of the city before stopping for the night. Since Toyota got us in a day early, we decided we could make it (we hope) to Big Bend Park on the way to Arizona. So here we are an hour west of San Antonio where we found a cute little city with a nice (and cheap) motel and dinner in a restored train station followed by coconut cream pie (my first on the trip) at another local place (Billie Genes). This morning seems like a week ago..