2002-03 . . . Episode 4 - SE Arizona . . . Oh, the Damn Truck!

Tombstone Territories RV Park lies exactly halfway between Hwy 80 and Hwy 90 on Hwy 82 and has no railroad nearby, which is very unusual for an RV park. It is fairly isolated and sits in a large desert canyon surrounded by mountains (hills) - the Mules, the Dragoons, the Whetstones and the Huachucas. The terrain here is different again, mesquite trees have taken over from the creosote shrubs and there is more undergrowth grass. The sites are large, there is great bird watching (a family of quail visit every morning), and there are the most incredible sunrises and sunsets! We weren't planning to stay here that long, but truck troubles and wanting to avoid the holiday traffic has resulted in our staying here for a month.

Hwy 80 (to the east and south) leads to the infamous Tombstone, then onto an interesting old mining town cum Artist/Hippie community by the name of Bisbee and finally ends up at the Mexican border at Douglas, AZ/Auga Prieta, Sonora, Mexico.

Arizona's economy seems worse this year and, like so many of the places in Arizona, Tombstone has interesting history and old characters in costumer wander the streets but has evolved into a place that chases and depends on the tourist dollar . This can sometimes make it very uncomfortable. We tend to check into the Visitor Centres first and try to stick to the Museums and non-commercial settings. The place we liked best in Tombstone was the old Courthouse (a State park). It was filled with pictures of the old town with its gunfighters and memorabilia. There is a reproduction of the courtroom and the yard houses the original hanging gallows. Boot hill is still there but they seemed to have re-stoned and lined up all the old graves. I don't think any of them are the originals. In fact, we were even told that the site had been changed so it was more convenient for the tourists.

Bisbee was built up the sides of a narrow canyon. Historically, it grew with around copper mining but when the quality and quantity of copper ran out, Bisbee apparently was invaded by hippies in the 60's and 70's and is now considered a major art center.

The main attraction in Douglas is the Gadsden Hotel and at the border crossing, Auga Prieta has some interesting murals and cigarettes for $9.00 a carton. AND then it happened!! The truck started hic-upping and missing. We made it back to the RV park and the resident mechanics were all very helpful and suggested this and that. So they changed a switch and fuel filter and it ran fine for a few miles and then started again. No choice but to take it into the dealer. Well, this was Wednesday and they couldn't work on it til Monday. So we were park-bound til we took it in and then park-bound til they got it fixed on Friday. Fortunately, the $3000.00 fuel injector pump they replaced was under warranty so it cost us less than $100.00.

We really needed to get out and on the road so we decided to take advantage of a package offer to stay overnight and tour Biosphere2 . . . something we wanted to do anyway . . . and give us the chance to try out the truck without the trailer.