Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we got up at 4-25am, showered, packed up and went to catch the 5am bus for the 5 hour journey back to
Creel. Then we were shaken, rattled and rolled all the way back along the superb scenic road. The driver stopped in
the middle of nowhere so he could go to the loo. That's easy for the blokes who can just stand with their back to you
in front of a tree.
There are toilets on the way, about 2 hours outside Creel but we could smell them from so far away that we didn't
bother to use them. Unfortunately some of the Tarahumara women (the local indigenous tribe) decided to relieve
themselves where they were sitting - right on the bus! Of course we didn't realise until they got up to get off.
Then we had to watch in horror as other people got on and sat down on the wet seats!! Kirsten was nearly sick!!
We got to Creel at 10am and went to Winnie. We put our ski trousers on because it was bitterly cold! Then we dropped
off Marilyn and David's bag and went to the internet. We left Creel just before 1pm and drove for 4 hours. At one
point we drove through a swarm of bees. Unfortunately, Kirsten had her window slightly open, so we had to stop as one
bee was crawling up her T shirt and another had a mild concussion and wouldn't take long before he blamed us for his
headache!
We managed to get rid of the bees but there were still a lot outside, stuck in the gap between the driving
compartment and our alcove. They would have to sort themselves out though! We carried on and found a Pemex for the
night at 5pm. Quite early for us but then we'd had to get up at some ungodly hour and didn't want to drive anymore.
On Tuesday, we just drove and drove, heading for the border and Arizona. On the way, we realised that we could
actually make the border today and so we stopped to cook chicken and make a potato, carrot soup as we couldn't take
the uncooked food across the border and we wouldn't have time to eat it.
The whole border only took us 25 minutes and we were amazed that the Mexican side only took 5 minutes. We got to
Bisbee which is only 10 miles from the border, parked at Safeway for the night and got a Chinese take away! Welcome
back to America!
So why had we chosen to cross the border at Bisbee? Quite simple really - because we'd read a series of books by
J. A. Jance whose heroine (the first female sheriff in the area) was based in Bisbee!! So we thought we'd take a look
at this place of heinous crimes! The other reason is because our Church and Church guide said it was a good crossing
for RVs - true!
We strolled around the quaint little town on Wednesday and took a look at all the places in the books we'd read and
then we stayed at a campground overlooking the town. There was a lot to sort out but we also managed to write on the
computer.
On Thursday, we drove to Chiricahua National Monument and went for a super 3.5mile (5.3km) walk passing various
balancing rocks, rock formations and grottos. We will come back to do some of the other walks. Afterwards we drove to
Tombstone but we took a short cut and ended up driving 12 miles (19km) along a gravel road that wasn't very good. We
arrived well after dark and parked up at the famous Boothill cemetery for the night!!
On Friday, we wandered around the graveyard where people from the "Shoot out at the OK Corral" are buried. Lots of
others were murdered and there was even an apology on the tombstone of one man for hanging him when he was innocent!!
Apology accepted? - I don't think so!!
Then we went into the town and made our own "Shoot out" photos! Afterwards we drove to Tucson to find out about getting
our toilet fixed - its still under warranty. But they would have to order the parts which would take at least a week.
We don't have time for that at the moment as we only have 3 weeks in the US!
We drove further and stopped at the Ak Chin casino where we have stayed before and we won again! Well only $5 until
Kirsten got on the machine and lost it again! Oh well, we got free drinks and a free night for only $5.
On Saturday, we drove and drove. We got a real shock when we saw the petrol prices in California - $2-79 a gallon,
an increase of more than 50% in a year!! Fortunately we had filled up before leaving Arizona but it wasn't going to
get us far seeing as we want to see a lot of the National Parks in California.
Sunday would be our last day of good weather although we didn't know it at the time. We drove to just outside Sequoia
National Park before finding a Wal-mart for the night. We also found out that there was no time difference coming from
Arizona into California because Arizona doesn't have Summer Time. (We're getting quite confused!)
