New Mexico to Arizona

When I arrived in Silver City, I was immediately enamored with it.  It was adorable, filled with cute historic buildings and funky shops. I couldn’t wait to check it out.  I had hoped to get there several hours before my massage appointment, but… that is not how Rita rolls…between the stops to walk around, and buying a bag of rocks at a trading post, and the fact we just go so damn slow…I had barely an hour and I was starving.  I got some food that was so-so, from a diner where the waitress was super friendly.  Afterwards, I stopped in an ice cream shop and got the most amazing flavor ever – rose, pistachio and cardamom.  Despite the cold temps, I sat in the sun and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I decided I was definitely coming back to roam around this town again before I left.

My massage was AMAZING.  Marshall is a very charismatic guy who listened carefully to what I’d been through, and we decided on a very tailored therapeutic session, rather than the “spa bliss” type massage.  It was exactly what I needed.  He did all kinds of intense things to my hips and low back and even gave my poor neglected neck some great attention.  He definitely pushed me up a few more notches on the healing path.

After the massage, I was able to walk a bit more and stopped in the local food co-op, to get the chicken I had somehow neglected to order with the previous day’s grocery delivery.  I wanted comfort food chicken soup!  We made our way up to Bob’s home, about 4 miles out from down town. It had beautiful mountain views, right on the edge of the Continental Divide.  I was finally on the western side of it!  I spotted Bob’s house up on the mountain as I was driving – it was definitely the prettiest one in the sparsely populated area.  I had read about other boondockers’ issues getting up his driveway. It was narrow and steep, but Rita had zero issues powering slowly up it.   Bob came out to greet me like an old friend.  He is the sweetest guy ever! He helped me get parked just right and showed me around a little bit.  He offered water (which I needed) and power (which I did not need).

I was ready to settle in for a bit with the heater cranking, excellent wifi and a very safe, worry free spot.  I briefly met Ashton, a yoga teacher in town who lives in her camper on Bob’s property, with her sweet and chatty daughter Sonora ( maybe 9 years old?), and the most overly affectionate dog ever.  They had a hot tub and invited me to use it anytime, which somehow I did not manage to do (despite really needing something like that!).

I was still moving quite slowly and experience pain and stiffness, but I knew I was on the way up. I hoped I could be well enough for a more cushy massage before I left town.

I cooked up my chicken for the first night and was looking forward to making soup with the bones the next day.  I mentioned to Bob that soup was happening, and offered to share if he wanted some.  I gave him an hour head’s up when soup and salad were going to be ready and he offered to bring over some wine.  For some reason, in my weird little introvert-mind, I had imagined him bringing over a couple bowls to take soup and salad back home.  I realized I was actually about to have my first dinner guest! I pulled out the little folding table and tidied up a bit, hoping it wouldn’t be too awkward to try to eat like civilized people (rather than me just curled up on the settee, watching a movie or something as usual).  The heater was going full on, I hoped he didn’t mind the heat.  We had a lovely chat and it was nice to have some good wine (he admitted it was a gift from another boondocker).  I was worried I was going to do something clumsy and spill soup everywhere, but I managed not to.  Bob regaled me with stories of his travels and of his 3 marriages (which sadly all ended in making him a 3x widower). Despite this, he is a very positive and cheerful person.  He owns 12 telescopes, and showed me the inside of the building he designed where the roof slides off, so he can make use of his biggest ‘scope).  He takes some amazing photos of the stars and galaxies.  Unfortunately, we were coming into a full moon, which is not great for observing the night skies.  He knows all the mountain ranges within view and lots of history about the area.

I had ordered a part for Rita – the NSBU switch (neutral safety back up) -which based on a lot of advice from my skoolie group, seemed to be something I should definitely replace.  Despite the new battery terminal connectors, I was still having random starting issues in Park (but she would always start in neutral – a clear indicator this switch was going bad).  It was only a $25 part, and it arrived to Bob’s address before I did. I was grateful he had no problem with receiving it and was more than happy to offer help on the replacement.  With my back feeling as it did, I couldn’t even bring myself to watch a how-to video on it yet, but I suspected it wasn’t super difficult and I was sort of looking forward to my first diy mechanical job.

Late one afternoon, after far more work than expected, I was ready to give the part install a shot. I had watched a few YouTube videos and it seems pretty straightforward. I could see and easily get to the part by crawling just behind the left front tire area.  Bob had asked me to share the how-to videos with him and he was keen to assist.  He had all the tools, and suggested I pull forward onto the cement pad in front of his garage, rather than having to crawl around on the gravel where I was parked.  We got down to business and between the 2 of us, finally got the old part off and the new part on.  As I was replacing the bolts to attach the new part, I discovered the were not tightening as they should. They were just spinning and spinning.  This didn’t seem right.  I removed one and showed it to Bob – there was aluminum in the threads.  The part bolts to the aluminum transmission and the threads had stripped.  I wasn’t exactly sure what this meant, like, did I need to replace the whole transmission?? I knew that seemed ridiculous, so I didn’t completely freak out.  Luckily Bob took it all in stride and said “well we just need to retap the threads and put a bigger bolt in!” Easy peasy! It would’ve taken me a lot more time and stress (and probably a phone call or 2 to life lines…) to figure that out.  We washed up and hopped in his car, down to the Ace Hardware we went, with old part and bolts in hand.  We got a tapping tool and the correct bolts (2 lengths, just in case).  It was approaching sunset, so we put off completion of the job till the next day.  I would just have to stay parked blocking his garage until then. Luckily it wasn’t a huge problem and it was also level.  I got a quick little tour and history of the area and buildings as we were driving home.  Bob also offered to take me on the $.75 tour if I wanted to see the mines and a ghost town. Um. YES!

The next morning Bob did the thread tapping (which I was super grateful for, I imagine that is the kind of thing you get one shot at and I definitely didn’t want to be practicing now).  We got the new part installed snugly.  But…then Rita wouldn’t start at all!  A few moments of panic…and I crawled under and tried to troubleshoot. Put the old part back and she worked fine.  I finally realized that the electrical plug part was not plugged in tightly and was really difficult to connect all the way. I couldn’t get it to snap in, but Bob was able to.  Then she started right up.  Job done!   Felt good to have that completed. Rita backed up into her spot again and Bob and his housemate were able to get back into the garage!

I was excited for outing day.  Bob, and his sweet little dog Coco, took me all around to see the sites.  The mine was fascinating to me and the old abandoned buildings are always a draw for me.  I sometimes imagine making a coffee table book of just dilapidated barns and abandoned old buildings.  But then I remember I’m not that great of a photographer and would never actually follow through on that project.   We went through the old military base and up to another old town with historic buildings.  Finally, we needed some sustenance, and Bob suggested the brewery in town, knowing I had mentioned how I like to try local breweries.  I don’t usually drink alcohol in the daytime (I don’t know why, just a weird thing I’ve always stuck to), but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to try out the brews with my burger.  I managed to finish 3 out of 4 anyway (I always save the least liked for last, so it wasn’t sad to leave it).

I was supposed to stay 5 nights in Silver City, but with the day tour, Bob said it was fine for me to stay an extra night. He didn’t have anyone else coming for a couple of days.  He is considered a “Legendary Host” for Boondockers Welcome. He has hosted over 200 travelers on his property.  They even sent him a plaque, proudly displayed on his observatory wall.   Not only is he a legendary host, but also a legendary human being overall!  I was actually quite sad to leave the next morning. I can definitely see myself returning to Silver City again.  To be honest, this was the first time since I left Colorado last year that I have been someplace I truly would make an effort to return to… I’m a finicky one.

I had scheduled a massage for 10am with Marshall again. I was very excited for the ‘regular’ massage, not the ‘injured person’ massage.  I was definitely not 100%, but inching closer every day.  I was still in pain, but it wasn’t hindering my movement as much.  It was another incredible experience.  Usually, I don’t like to talk during a massage, but Marshall and I seemed to chat the entire time – and I didn’t mind.  It was so good, in the afterglow I actually had the fleeting thought of “why not just move to Silver City, so I can get a massage every week??”

My plan was to spend some time seeing more of the cute shops and art galleries in historic downtown part of Silver City, get some groceries at the co-op and hit the road for the 2 hour drive up to Gila Cliff Dwellings park.  Bob had mentioned there was a hot springs up near there as well.  I was hoping to get a camp spot and do some soaking that afternoon/evening/morning before hitting up the trail to see the ancient cliff dwellings park.

I finally got to visit the one shop I was dying to check out – ZirYab’s Bodybrew – homemade soaps and the like.  This might not be widely known, but I am a soap addict.  I can barely ever pass up buying a homemade/natural bar of soap, solid shampoo or conditioner.  I have a large container filled with soaps…but they DO get used, all the time! As a harsh ex-professional organizer, soap is an easy thing to allow yourself to hoard.  You’re almost always just finishing a bar, so that means you can get another one!  Anyway, I LOVED the shop and the women who run it are so sweet. I was able to get a lot of fun gifts there, which sort of got me off the hook for over-buying things for myself.  I counted the shop as reason #3 to return to Silver City.

I ended up walking through Big Ditch park, a park built on what used to be the main street of Silver City, before it was totally wiped out by a flood and turned into a gorge.  Oops. It is the one area in this desert town that gets a wash of water during monsoon season.  The park was actually quite beautiful – running along behind the current main street, filled with cool sculptures and art along the way.  I ended up unknowingly exiting at the exact point I wanted to be – down by the food co-op. I decided to walk a bit more and get something to eat before entering the food shop. Usually I shop hungry, which everyone knows it a bad idea, and it is, but I still do it most of the time.  A shop with a lot of colorful stuff down a side street caught my eye, so I went to check that out. It turned out to be the most fun art gallery ever. I took my time looking at everything and then I had a really nice chat with the artist who was minding the shop.  He was sitting out front, engrossed in his phone, he didn’t even see me until I was exiting the shop. He was super nice though, and gave me some great tips on Chiricahua National Monument, where I was planning to go after the Cliff Dwellings.  By now I was starving – it was getting late and I still hadn’t eaten.  I ended up getting a slice of pizza at a small pizza shop – it was probably the best slice of pizza I’ve eaten since Italy – I went back into tell them so. I accidentally ordered a slice that had no red sauce, and normally I don’t like any pizza without red sauce.  This one was to die for…it’s possible also that it was so good because I was starving, but I think that only maybe added 10% to the amazing factor.  By the time I got back to Rita, I still had errands I wanted to do, but I had to take care of some work issues and that set me back another hour.  Giving Rita a bath would have to wait.  I wanted to get up to the Gila Hot Springs campground before dark.

It was a beautiful drive, with the last 20 miles or so being super narrow and winding. The way I was turning the steering wheel back and forth reminded me of when I owned a convertible and used to like to take it up through the winding mountain roads near Santa Cruz.  But, Rita is not a race car and we definitely had our very slow going moments.  I was proud of the way she handled overall, though!  The turn off down to the hot springs was a little on the terrifying side.  It was a sharp right that I barely made without having to back up and reposition (something I am quite familiar with on tight turns).  It went straight down, dirt road and very narrow.  It wasn’t far to the campground but what a wild path! We did scrape branches a couple of times – not a great sound to hear down the side of the bus.  When I arrived, I was a little out of breath and shell shocked! I was greeted by one of the sweetest and most welcoming hosts ever. He got me signed in, took my cash payment and gave me a rundown of the campground and set me up with the best spot available in the tiny campground. It was only $12 per night and that included unlimited use of the hot spring pools and they even had wifi.  I was actually looking forward to being unplugged, but it of course ended upcoming in handy (foreshadowing).

It was very close to being dark and I knew it was going to be a cold night.  I wanted to get into hot water as soon as possible (story of my life).  First, I had to deal with the insane disaster that happened inside Rita on the winding, bumpy roads.  My “in-basket” by the front door, has always miraculously just stayed put. So I never bothered securing it down.  Well, the entire thing slid and dumped onto the floor and stairs. It was full of all kinds of things, big and small, projects in progress, tools, etc. All my sweatshirts and jackets had fallen off the hooks, cabinets had popped open and things jumped out. It was a disaster.  I’m lucking nothing broke, it was just a mess to clean up.  I quickly picked up and put on my bathing suit and ran out to the hot pools just as the sun was going down.  I soaked for a few hours.  A guy came and joined the pool and he and I ended up talking for quite a long time.  It was dark so I couldn’t really see him, but in my mind, I pegged him as ‘old guy’ – turns out he was a year younger than me!  From Ohio and traveling around in his camper truck – he described himself as a ‘degenerate gambler’ and at least once mentioned the gun he carried.  He was on a quest to gamble in every state of the country.  He had some interesting stories and his 25 year old daughter sounded fascinating (and was also his best friend) – she was making videos in Spanish in Ecuador and apparently doing quite well.   He offered to take me up to the cliff dwellings the next day, so that I didn’t have to drive Rita the last 10 miles of winding road.  I was definitely not feeling like having to coordinate with another person, and I wasn’t sure if I could leave Rita at the campground after I was supposed to check out.  He claimed you could see the whole thing in an hour and it was just a quick thing.  There was also a country store along the way that was recommended - Doc Campbell’s – that was recommended and I didn’t know if I was going to want to stop/peruse that or not.  I said let’s see how things are in the morning, but I definitely wasn’t feeling like making plans with anyone at that moment.

The stars were overwhelming up there – not a bit of light pollution to be had. I would’ve stayed out to stargaze more, but it was so cold once I exited the pool, I raced back to Rita to get the heater going before I lost my warm glow.  I have a love /hate relationship with this diesel heater.  When it is working well, it is amazing, but it is so much maintenance and so tricky to keep it just so.  Every time I clean it out, my hands get black and I get a bruise on my right arm from having to reach in the tiny door to the fuel pan.  I say a lot of bad words to it.

I hung my bathing suit out on Rita’s mirror and came back in to get dried off and heated.  I didn’t clean the heater well enough, and / or it just wasn’t able to keep me toasty enough as it got down to 18 degrees that night.  I woke up stupidly cold.  I don’t think well when I’m that cold.  I decided to put my suit on and run out to the hot pools till the sun warmed things up a bit.  I went and got my suit, it was frozen solid! I had to laugh. Luckily, I have more than one (perk of having lived on a sailboat, wearing nothing but bikinis for a couple years).   SO, the side story here is that I had ordered a number of things I wanted to have before leaving the country – and shipped them to my aunt and uncle’s address in Arizona – where I was heading for Christmas.  Unfortunately, I shipped them to their OLD address.  With rickety wifi and zero cell service, I learned of my mistake.  I spent the morning in the hot springs, trying to see how I could remedy this disaster.  “Old guy” came back and we talked a bit, me mostly distracted by the slow process of trying to sort out the order mess.  I finally confirmed that I was not interested in having him take me up to the cliff dwellings, and I thanked him for the kind offer.  I just wanted to do my own thing on my own terms that day.  Well, most every day…

It was a good choice. The drive up wasn’t so bad. I passed the trading post store and decided I would definitely stop for a look on the way back.  At the park, I stopped at the visitors’ center and checked out the display and watched a little video in progress, along with a family. When they said they really weren’t sure why the Mogollon people abandoned the area after about 25 years.  There was no doubt in my mind why they would’ve gone 300 miles south to the Copper Canyon area of Mexico. Did you FEEL how cold it got last night?!?!  Imagine sleeping in a cave?! No, gracias.

I ran back out to Rita, excited to see the 750 year old dwellings.  I drove to the next area, where there was the parking at gift shop, and rangers awaiting.  The family and I were given a talk about the hike and how to behave in the dwellings (no touching the walls!).  They also had walking sticks available to borrow (partly to give your hands something to do so you'd remember not to touch the walls).  I loved that! I picked out a really pretty one, and it definitely came in handy, as this was my first hike after all the back issues.  It was just over 2 miles, but I was certainly feeling it on the way down and I leaned on that stick a lot.  The family, mother, father and 2 boys (one apparently in college or living on his own already?) were quite a lot of fun, and after passing each other and offering to take photos on the way up, we were all just one group finally.  Turns out they are traveling in an RV as well, but left it down in Silver City and took their car up for the day. They had lived for 4 years in the Dominican Republic.  It seems they had some sort of ministry – I only gathered that by bits and pieces – they didn’t try to convert me or anything. We had a lot of laughs and the boys were super polite and sweet.  We browsed the gift shop together at the end, and I wished them all well after I picked out my magnet souvenir.  I heard about some pictographs at a camp area a bit farther down, and wanted to check those out.  It was just a short hike and well worth it.  I stopped briefly at the trading post store and then hit the road.  I wasn’t sure how far I was going to make it, I was planning to stop somewhere between there and Chiricahua National Monument, where I had hoped to spend 2 nights at a campsite, so I could explore the park that weekend.

Bob had told me to take a longer route up, which I did, and then I asked hot springs guy if he had come up the other way (shorter, not recommended) and if it had been worse than the last 20 miles or so? He said, no not at all, it was fine, definitely not any worse. Well…besides not liking going back the way I came from, shorter sounded really good to me as well. I was game to give it a go.  I’m not sure if hot springs guy had a bad memory or really bad judgement…but I took off down the ‘not recommended by Bob’ route and when I was far enough to not want to turn back, I came to a sign that said “No Center Stripe Next 18 Miles, Mountainous Road Ahead, Trucks and Trailers seek alternate Route” Ummmmmm GREAT!  Off we went!

It was mostly terrifying, with at least 4 complete U-turn, narrow, uphill, blind curves.  Luckily there was never a single vehicle behind me, and I only passed a handful of people coming the other way.  It was definitely not fun, and definitely far worse than the last part near the campground.  And of course at our speed, it dragged on for quite some time.  But eventually we were out of it, and I hooted with relief and told Rita how awesome she is.  I should’ve known better than to doubt a legendary man and trust a degenerate gambler… live and learn.

It wasn’t long before I was back on long, straight flat highways.  I was so relieved.  I wanted to stop in time to get the heater cleaned up and ready to keep me from freezing that night.  I made it to a Love’s Truck Stop in Lordsburg, NM.  Lots of truckers spend the night, and there was one RV nestled amongst the big rigs.  I parked behind the RV and thought, meh, I could maybe spend the night here?  They also had a weigh station, and I was pretty keen to find out how much Rita really weighs.  I decided to take all my heater parts into the bathroom and get them good and clean without wasting a lot of my water.  I tossed them all in a bag and headed in with my wire brush.  The place was really hopping, so much traffic and people.  After I got the heater parts cleaned up, I checked out the weigh station.  There was so much traffic and it involved a more complicated procedure than I had the patience for at that moment.  Another time, Rita.

I realized I did NOT want to spend the night there. I checked out my iOverlander app and there was a place just off the highway, on some water, with pretty mountain views and sunsets, just about 10 miles away.  Way more our style.  It was a great spot, with a gorgeous sunset and trains running (fairly quietly) by.  I got the heater going and had a nice peaceful night.   It wasn’t far to go to Chiricahua the next day, so I didn’t have to rush out early.  I wanted to have a look at my water pump, as it was making weird noises, and I didn’t want to just let it go too long (even though it was working fine).  I ended up disassembling it all and not really finding anything major wrong.  There was some weird plastic bits in the pre-pump filter. Not sure what that is all about, but now I know to keep an eye on that and clean it out regularly.

I was feeling good, the sun was shining and I soon passed over into Arizona – excited to be getting closer to Tucson to see my Aunt and Uncle.  I was also excited to see Chiricahua. I seemed to be packing a lot in… I had a fun, mystery play list going and I was off on deserted roads heading towards the park, even though there were no signs mentioning the park.

All of a sudden, the road turned to dirt.  Ooooh, we don’t like dirt roads! It was beautiful scenery, but a pretty hellacious 15 or so miles.  We were creeping along and everything felt and sounded like it was going to break apart. I apologized to Rita a lot.   When I started seeing signs for the end where I needed to turn, I was chanting “please be paved, please be paved!”

It was! What a relief.  We made the rest of the way to the park fairly easily.

I stopped in the visitor’s center to get the lowdown and secure my campsite.  I ended up having to book 2 different sites and there was in fact NO discount with my America the Beautiful card, as the website let me to believe (only the seniors’ version apparently…I’m 8 years too young to deserve a discount).  I went back and forth on whether I wanted to spend that much, or if I could leave the park and boondock for free outside.  I realized the distance, and the dirt roads made it worth just paying for the campsite in the park.   The park is not that big in terms of where you can drive, so I decided to just drive to the end and do some short hikes and stick around for sunset.  The scenery along the entire 6-mile drive was stunning. I had to be careful not to drive off the side of a cliff in some spots.  There were hardly any places to pull over, but everyone was fine going slowly to check out the views (and there wasn’t much traffic, but a surprising amount of people in the park, given how there was basically NO traffic the entire way there). I did some short walks to take in some of the scenery and went over to another area, where sunset was supposed to be nice.  I started out on a hike that looked like it might go around a mountain and have sunset views.  It didn’t, at least not very closeby.  I was in the shade, getting chilly, and realizing how exhausted I was.  I gave up and went back to the bus.  I still had at least an hour until sunset and I had to be honest, I was too tired to wait. Anyway, the sky was so crystal clear that it was probably going to be a bust of a sunset anyway.  I wasn’t keen on trying to find my campsite in the dark, either.  I just went back down to the campground, found my spot, and then spent at least 20 minutes repositioning myself to try to get level.  It didn’t happen. I was pretty cranky about paying $25 for a parking spot that wasn’t even level.  I’ve really gotten spoiled with all my amazing boondocking spots.  I finally turned Rita around, I know if she’s got to be on an angle, it’s best to have the right-side tilting away, because then at least my refrigerator will stay put, instead of sliding out into the walkway. I felt bad for the other campers who had to listen to me starting Rita up 4 or 5 times.  Some people stopped in their van as I was outside assessing Rita’s alignment -it was the woman from the information center and her husband, they stopped to tell me how cute Rita is.  I thanked them, but was in no mood for chit chat.

I was pretty beat from the all the hiking, driving, and freezing I’d been doing. I got the heater fired up and decided to treat myself to one of my few remaining Porters from Maine.  I figured if I was going to be staggering around the unlevel floor, it might as well be legit.  Yes, one beer will do that to me.  I slept fine, even with all that blood rushing to my head, or maybe because of it? I had actually spent some time reading about all the hikes in the park and made my plans for the next day based on what I wanted to see and how far I could reasonably expect myself to hike.  Since the campground was in the trees, I decided to leave early in the morning and go up to the parking area where the Echo Canyon hike started.  It was nice and sunny up there and I could make myself some food and tend to some of Rita’s needs in the sunshine.  I let myself have an easy morning before making a sandwich and setting off on the hike.   It was supposed to be a 3.2-mile loop hike, but the way I run around, it ended up being almost 4.5 miles.  There was a lot of really amazing views and rock formations and side paths to check out.  I took my time and marveled at all the cool spots.  My uncle had sent me a picture of him in Chiricahua nearly 50 years ago, and said it was one of his favorite parks.  I was determined to find the same view and recreate the picture. It must not have been on that hike, or it’s certainly possible the landscape features have changed since then, too…but I did my best with what I could find!

Toward the end of the hike, I was definitely feeling it in my hip. I slowed down and rested a bit (something I’m not usually prone to doing on a hike. I should definitely try that more). Around the last mile, I felt like I tripped on something, and realized my hiking boot sole came halfway off and was now prone to flapping or catching on rocks.  Very annoying.  I realized my hiking boots are 30 years old…they were super expensive when I got them and they have been amazing. I don’t even think they make these leather/gor-tex boots anymore. They are definitely not for the trash just yet, though. I am going to shoe-goo that sole and see how much more I can get out of them.  I was dragging ass by the time I finished, I felt like such a wuss.  I was glad to immediately be HOME when the hike ended. I allowed myself to chill out in Rita for a while, and make sure the heater was ready for another night.  It definitely looked like a better day for a good sunset, so I stayed for that.  It wasn’t bad.  Also, I may be really spoiled when it comes to sunsets and sunrises.

My second campsite was blissfully more level.  I backed in just after sunset (and realized later just how insanely close I came to a tree – very lucky I didn’t rip off a solar panel! I made a mental note to be sure I pull sure I pulled straight out in the morning.

I couldn’t believe I was finally heading to Tucson that day- the magnitude of how far I've been to get to this point was not lost on me. It has been a long and action packed 6 or so months.  I was looking forward to celebrating with family and then going into a long-ish sort of retreat mode.  I stopped in the visitor’s center to find my requisite magnet or sticker – happy to learn they were on sale due to the holiday.  It was a fairly easy drive to Tucson, just a couple of hours on nice flat highway.  I had several errands I needed to get done once there.  We needed diesel, I had to return ship an item, and I was determined to try to stop at my uncle’s old address to see if I could possibly recover the mis-shipped items.

I felt like I hadn’t been in a big city in quite some time – and I guess I haven’t, not since New Orleans? My eyes were darting around at all the stores, buildings and shopping centers – not to mention the amazing mountains that surround Tucson.  It’s such a beautiful city!  I got confused and lost (and maybe a little braindead) and was unable to locate the old address and realized I was, again (still?), exhausted. So I gave up and went to Art and Lisa’s.  Their HOA was not Rita-friendly, so they has arranged for me to leave her in a very nearby shopping center lot.

I unloaded my necessities. It’s always so weird to stay in someone else’s house when my house is RIGHT HERE… but it was nice to have a big room and bathroom all to myself – what luxury! And to wake up to family is priceless.  I told Art about my failed attempt at getting my failed shipment – he said he would go with me and we would see what would happen.  It was very closeby, so he hopped in the back of Rita (my first ever passenger!!) and away we went.

We parked just outside the gated complex and walked in.  I knocked on the door of the last condo I remember visiting them at… a young man answered, and I said “I’m really sorry to disturb you, but I accidentally shipped a whole bunch of things to your address”. He said “Oh! I was wondering what to do with all that stuff! It just kept on coming…”. Then he disappeared into the back to get it all!  His little daughter was standing there staring at us and just said “Who are you?”.  She introduced us to her cat while we waited.  He came back with an armload of packages. I couldn’t believe it!!! It was a Christmas miracle.  The one item I was most worried about/unable to replace or get a refund on, was the lifter arm for Rita’s roof fan.  That thing has been chasing me since before Thanksgiving.  I was beyond relieved to have that and everything else.

We left Rita in the most remote corner spot I we could find, and left my number with the store, in case anyone had any issues.  I took my bike (I wanted to ride, finally!) and we walked back to the house.

It was a lovely and relaxing holiday.  I got to do a great ride with Art (with a fun stopover to meet some long-time friends) and then soak in the hot tub.  We cooked my favorite meal of the year, Shrimpmas.  Christmas morning, Santa had brought us all fun little gifties and we spent Christmas day with their friends Larry and Ellen (with a super sweet dog), and their close friends Bryan and Linda. So much good food and company!  It was so nice just to hang out and relax, with beautiful views and zero stresses.

I discovered that one of my cousins also lives in Tucson.  I had never met Doreen, but I did meet her sister, Elaine, in TX when I drove up through in 2023.  Doreen and Elaine’s parents, Leah and Aaron, visited my family when I was little – and I struck up quite a friendship with Aaron.  He used to tease me mercilessly and called me Jefferson.  I was in touch with him for quite a while before he passed away, well into his 90s.  Art and Lisa hadn’t realized Doreen was back in Tucson and hadn’t seen her in many years.  We arranged to all meet up at the Mission Gardens – a neat park dedicated to creating sections of plants to mirror Tucson’s historical periods.  It was a beautiful day and so much fun to meet Doreen. She is a spunky adventurer and loves to have a good time, even in her mid 70s.  I am definitely related to this woman!  We went to the MSA Annex - built out of shipping containers that were supposed to have been used to build the border wall that never was. They have all kinds of food and drink and shops.  We all got a beer and sat to chat a while.

I then got a bit of a tour of the city, especially a lot of the murals I was interested in seeing.  We walked around a bit and tried to decide where to go eat.  Pizza was an option that I was into, but when Art mentioned Cuban food and my face lit up. I’d been craving Cuban food for YEARS…no joke…. So there we went.  It was amazing all the way around, I was so happy to get a big pile of Cuban pork and plantains.  A fancy mojito didn’t hurt, either! We rounded out a wonderful day with some gelato (because, what kind of perfect day wouldn’t include gelato?).

The next morning, I had a bunch of things to do to get Rita ready to roll.  She had waited so patiently for me at the parking lot. At least she had a nice view.  It was so flat there, I decided to climb up on the roof and see if I could finally install that fan part. I had been driving around with a strap holding it down and it still rattled a lot when I was driving. I was looking forward to finally having it work properly.  It had been so long since I removed it, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to easily get it all put back together.  I watched a quick video on it, and still had a few trial and errors (every part to put back in there could’ve gone at least 2 different ways, so I tried them all) and finally got it all back together and working! I was feeling pretty stoked on that.  I got the bike loaded back up and secured and headed to the house to load up the rest of my stuff and fill up Rita’s water tanks.   I said goodbyes, and off we rolled – to do some grocery shopping!  Art had told me there was a great bagel place near Trader Joe’s, so I figured it would be a smart move to eat before shopping again.

I was excited and a bit trepidatious about the next chapter.  We are heading to Mexico!!! My plan was to stay overnight in a spot not far from the border, so that we could do our crossing super early on a Sunday.  When we used to spend Decembers in Baja, that was always the best strategy to cross in Tijuana.  I hoped it would also work for Nogales.