Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada

We made it to Tucson but we’ve experienced a lot since the last posting. The Chapter-8 Ralley ended in Guaymas and the group of 50 or so Rvers split up into smaller groups and either headed back to the states or continued on to other destinations in Mexico. Our last day at the campground in Guaymas was devoted to getting some dental work done. I needed a crown and a filling. The total cost with two visits came to about $170. Not bad. We departed the Hotel/RV campground in Guaymas and rendezvoused with friends at a boondock site on the Pacific Ocean beach between Guaymas and the resort town of San Carlos. Boondocking is just parking somewhere and living off of the systems in the RV – no outside power, water, or sewer hook-ups. Sandi and I can easily go a week between times when we have to fill up our water tanks and dump our holding tanks. At this site we were just a few yards from the beach. Lots of birds, dolphins, sun, sand and not much more. We were with four other RVs that had made the trip with us to Quaymas from the states. Every evening a local huckster would stop by with fresh seafood and vegetables. A kilo (2.2 pounds) of huge shrimp cost about $7US but came with handfulls of fresh beans, squash, and grapefruit. The next night it was kilos of picked crabmeat.

We left the boondock site and headed south about 150 miles to Alamos and stayed in a small but nice RV park within walking distance of town. The RV park was quite nice. We were parked under comquat trees laden with fruit. Blooming bugamvillas boardered the park and every morning an extravigant bird show kept us entertained. Streaked-backed orioles, black-throated grey and Lucy’s warblers were common. Hummingbirds were abundant but moved too much for me to get positive identification. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and it just happened that Saturday nights are family nites around the plaza in the center of town. Virtually every Mexican town has a beautiful plaza with the church on one side and the govermnent buildings on the other. This was required in the 1500s when Spain was in charge. Alamos is quite an historic town. It was the capitol of the province when Spain governed all the territory north to Las Angeles, CA and Albuquerque, NM. The first 28 people to settle Los Angles made the trip from Alamos. Some of the buildings in the town date back to the 1500s. We strolled the town, ate some great food from vendors on the street and marvelled at the ancient buildings and walls. Sandi bought a beaded bracelet made by one of the local indian tribes. One day a few of us travelled out to a reservoir for more birding and saw hundreds of crested caracaras as well as numerous kingbirds, flycatchers and more unidentifiable hummingbirds.

We departed Alamos and headed further south to El Fuerte. The most direct route required traveling 15 miles of dirt road so we opted to take a longer route on the hard surfaced roads. The RV park was little more than a parking lot beside a hotel. El Fuerte is named for an old Spanish Fort that was built in the mid 1500 to protect the Spaniards from the local indian population. We toured the town and walked through some beautiful hotels that charge about $55 US per nite. We stopped at a hotel that overlooked the El Fuerte River for a cervasa (beer) and found the platio swarming with hummingbirds. broad-billed, violet capped, and plain-capped start throats were everywhere. The proprietor was bird literate and was quick to recognize our birding interest. He helped identify the hummingbirds and was quick to set up his spotting scope to point out great kiskadees, social flycatchers, and assorted orioles from his tropical deck. He invited us to come back in the morning for a better experience and introduced us to his brother, the real birder, who offered to take us on a birding safari. We joined him the next morning for a great birding trip. He took us to several habitats and we added northern jancanas and bare throated tiger herons to our life lists. By boat we travelled to the largest blue heron rookery I’ve ever seen with hundreds of pairs of blue herons and almost as many great egret pairs covering the trees. We hiked into the brush to see rufus-bellied chachalacas and some old Mayan petroglyphs.

El Fuerte is also the jumping off point to go to the Copper Canyon of Mexico. Several times larger than the Grand Canyon of the US this is a major Mexican tourist area. The most popular way to get there is by train so we bought tickets on the first class train with a dining car and a bar car and rode it to the town of Creel which is tourist central for the Copper Canyon. Mexico’s Copper canyon is about 4-5 times a large as our Grand Canyon and is deeper. The train ride was awesome as we headed from near sea level to over 8000’ above. We went from desert through oak forests to pine forests. We crossed some scarry narrow bridges and passed through about 50 tunnels, some nearly ½ mile long. We stayed two nights in Creel. The manager of our hotel (also the rail station attendant) was our guide who took us to Tarahumara Indian, or now known as Raramuri (those who walk through life), villages, and showed us some interesting rock formations (Mushroom valley, and Valley of the erect penises), waterfalls and great scenery.

We caught the train south from Creel to Bahuichivo where we chanced to meet Albierto Ciacceo and his wife who offered nights lodging at his little inn for about $17/nite. The fee included transportation from the train station to Cerochui (about 36 kilometers on dirt roads) and also a guided hike into a local canyon to see the waterfalls and a chance meeting with more Raramuri Indians out gathering wood. The Raramuri are noted for their long distance running skills. They can run 20 hours straight while kicking and hitting a wooden ball the entire way. The Spanish forced them into the mountains and to this day some family groups continue to migrate from the canyon rim in the summertime where they grow corn to the warmer canyon valleys in the winter. Some still live in caves but many are settling in small villages. The women all still wear colorful traditional garb but the men all look like cowboys.

Albierto took us all down to the town of Urique in the bottom of the canyon. The road literally hung on cliffs and followed switchback after switch back as we descended from about 8000’ to 1800 feet in about 18 miles. In the tropical-like canyon bottom, Sandi picked a fresh papaya, and I got to watch dozens of broad bill, violet-crowned and white eared hummingbirds before Albierto took us back up the mountain to the train station for our trip back to El Fuerte.

From El Fuerte we continued south, our caravan of RVs now down to two, as members each begin to head out their own way. Our travelmate is Randy Dolan from Colorado. We travelled to the resort town of Mazatlan and after a harrowing drive down crowded city streets, we finally pulled into a resturaunt (La Palapa) parking lot and received permission from the owner to stay there for $7 US per nite. We had a great dinner in the resturaunt and each had a tequila shooter, compliments of the owner. We strolled down to Senior Frog, a tourist souvineer outlet, and later the next day visited the Centro Mercado or marketplace where anything from avacados, to clothing, to seafood and meats, to spices can be bought. The place is an amazing kleidoscope of colors and an eclectic assortment of stimuli to the senses.

We left Mazatlan early Sunday morning to aviod the traffic congestion and travelled another 100 miles south to Teacapan. I thought we were in paradise. We passed through miles of palm tree plantations, saw many birds in the mangrove-surrounded wetlands and finally parked next to the Pacific Ocean at an RV park with a beautiful swimming pool, small cabins and a beach that runs north and south as far as the eye can see with no one else in sight. This is essential the ecotome between the tropical rain forest and the Sonoran Desert. Although staying longer was tempting, we packed up and after about a week on the beach, headed back north following the free roads most of the way. Back to Guaymas. I had a dental apointment to get my cap put on and while there we went to the market to get 50 kilos of rice and beans to drop off at the Catholic Church kitchen in Benjamin Hill. The priest was ecstatic and sent out for an interpreter who conveyed his appreciation. We drove straight through from Benjamin Hill to Nogales and then on to Sierra Vista where our car was parked. We remained there a few days then made the short drive to Tucson.

Tucson was supposed to be just rest and relaxation but we did some touring. We headed to the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area, part of the Coronado National Forest, and while I was out hiking and birding, Sandi met the Volunteer Coordinator and got both of us “hired” as volunteers for early fall. Sandi will work at the Visitor Information Center and I will run a Junior Ranger program. They will give us a place to park our RV for a few hours each, and we get to enjoy Tucson on our days off. We also headed to the Saguaro National Park (west) and the Saguaro Desert Museum. This is an awesome zoo and deserves much more time that we gave it. We’ll return again on our next pass through Tucson. After nearly a week in Tucson we began our trip toward Yellowstone. Sandi has been selected for a volunteer position at the Madison Junior Ranger station and I will be working s a seasonal ranger in the same district.

From Tucson we passed through Phoenix and stopped for one night at the North Ranch Escapee Park in Congress, AZ. This neat, not so little, community of Rvers has daily activities. We went to the ice cream social and learned that last week they had a woodcarving convention with about 100 carvers and this week is dedicated to beading and over 100 have signed up for those activities.

From Congress our route took us over the Hoover Dam. What a trip that was and it filled a lifetime wish of Sandi’s. We are staying at the FamCamp at Nellis AFB (Home of the USAF Thunderbirds) and it is wonderful. We took a day and drove to California and through the Death Valley. What a beautiful place. We have made a mental not to return and spend a week sightseeing and hiking. The salt flats at over 250 feet below sea level are intriguing and the colors on the rocks, especially along the Artist Drive and at Artist’s Pallet are almost un-natural. We followed Twenty Mule Team Canyon Drive and saw unbelievable rock and dirt formations and also visited the Parks’ visitor center at Furnace Creek and learned of the geologic and human history of the valley. The 300 mile drive made for a long day but the scenery we saw crossing gaps in snow-capped mountains and the broad desert valleys was breathtaking and made the trip very worthwhile.

Last night was our night out in Vegas. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas but we’ll admit that we went to Ceaser’s Palace and had a diner and a show. Seeing Elton John life was great. He is an awesome entertainer and the show with all the lights and videos was a real experience to say the least..

This rather long epistle brings us up to date. From here we will head north through a few National Parks in Utah, we’ll Spend a little time in Salt Lake City, and will fly back East for a much-needed Grandkids fix. After returning from our visits with family we will continue on to Yellowstone National Park, where we will spend the summer.