The Valley of the Sun

Hello everyone!

We made it to Bisbee, Arizona It is indeed the "funkiest" town we have seen! One man said it was described as "an open air mental hospital!"
Actually, it is a wonderful place transitioned from mining to arts and tourism. Similar to Silver City but without active mining.
Geographically it is amazing. Not unlike San Fransisco, the town is built on hillsides surrounding a gulch. There are stairs [upon stairs, upon stairs...] and pathways connecting the town. There are many houses that one cannot drive to. People must carry everything up and down steps. It is the town of 10,000 steps. I'm not sure who counted but they understated the number!
Even the parking lot attendant, Mike, was in full period clothing and gave us "the Real History of Bisbee." And there is art everywhere in a wide variety of forms. It's on the stairs, on the walls, on the gates, on the houses, even on the cars. We saw one which was the "Party Patrol". A typical 80's Chevy Caprice cop car with "Party Patrol" on the trunk, a star on the doors and "to Protect and Service" on the side. Another was covered in bottle caps in a 60's design. The downtown shops were great too!

The campground we stayed in was in a wide open valley over the mountain from Old Bisbee with views of the Coronado National Forest, Chiricahua Peak and into Mexico. Met a bunch of nice guys at the campground and may head back to be "work campers" for little pay and free board. We can also pick up some massage work.

Our trip north brought us to Tucson and visiting Anna and Arthur. Each has a new house and both are very cool. Enjoyed Anna's wonderful back yard complete with a babbling stream that recirculates the 2 gallons continuously. Our visit was too short and may need to go back for more.
We made it to the Valley of the Sun! Phoenix, Arizona. YES!!
Arriving here we brought a welcome couple days of rain. Not much rain but more than there has been in months. The desert appreciates the moisture.
Our good buddy Dave has gone out of his way to welcome us and make arrangements for safe parking of the "Immaculate Contraption" in a neighbors locked yard. Lots of projects to complete on the bus to keep us busy for a while. All that depends on the desire to do them instead of being tourists in the sun! And Dave has kept us busy!
Went to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Tempe yesterday. Absolutely beautiful! Wandered through the gardens until the sun began getting low and the temperature went all the way down to 55. BRRRR! I guess we have acclimatized to the Southwestern warmth! At least we are surely appreciative of the non freezing winter.

No plans on leaving Phoenix yet. Will keep you posted!

Keep in touch and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!!!!!

johnney and Scott

We've Struck Silver!

After the Geogia O'Keefe museum in Santa Fe we had lunch with Milton and Bobby before heading south toward Albuquerque. Camped in Bernalillo, just to the north of Albuquerque where we met a family from Hawaii traveling the continental states for a year. Had a good chat and got some ideas of western spots to camp from them. Headed south and stopped in Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We saw thousands of snow geese, ducks a plenty as well as a spotted towhee and a pyrrhuloxia, the desert cardinal.

Moved on south of Truth of Consequences to Percha Dam State park for the night.

In the evening, Mr. Fix-it had better luck with the fuel filters and grease job than with the lights!

In the morning we were up early to catch the migrating flocks of sand hill cranes. A truly amazing sight as hundreds flew over for an hour or more. Scott got a close up of one on the dam take flight. We also got an early start of our daily drive.

We left the freeway at Hatch, which must be the hot pepper capital of the US. There were dozens of pepper vendors along the road. We did stop and smell the peppers....WOW!!!

We traveled around the low road to Silver City, not tempting luck to be on the high passes if the forecasted storm came early. Here we are now enjoying the wonderful Southwestern sun reflecting off "the rare" snow storm! All the locals credit us for this phenomenon. With more coming tonight and a lingering cold spell. And we mean cold!

Arrived at Susan and Marc's in the sunshine. They are grand hosts. We have hiked from their back door, toured downtown Silver City, with it's art shops and a real food coop, met great crafts people and neighbors and eaten wonderful meals. Many thanks to them both!

After several days we are now headed south to Douglas and up to Bisbee for the night. Then on to Tucson.

Til next time,

Scott and johnney