Headed East (sort of 😀)

We are finally leaving the west. On Sunday we left the Sedona area and headed east on I-10. We stopped in Tuscon at the Desert Diamond Casino for the night... and yes, we actually won a little bit. 

They gave us $20 of free slot play and $20 toward food. We won $20 with the free play which with the $20 food coupon paid for our Mexican buffet dinner. So we stayed and ate for free! I am beginning to understand how this becomes habit forming, and yes I do have the number for gamblers anonymous 😁!

On Monday we continued east and for the first time since we bought the new RV, Cindy did the majority of the driving. She took us into New Mexico and most of the way to Las Cruces. When she got up on Sunday she wanted to learn how to hook up the Jeep behind the RV for towing. Then on Monday she wanted to drive. Should I be concerned? She sure looked comfortable behind the wheel 🙀😁 Could she be thinking the RV would be a great getaway vehicle after the murder? 😂

Anyway, on Monday night we stayed at a Cracker Barrel in Las Cruces. They have special spaces designated for RVs and encourage us to stay for free. It was a great stop for us with dinner in the restaurant and shopping next door at a Walmart. It's a really cool place for a quick overnight stay. And how about that sunset!

Today we crossed into Texas for the first time in almost a year, and the first visit for our new RV.

I-10 comes in to the state through El Paso and for part of the way through the city, it runs right beside the border. If you look close at the picture above you can see "the wall" and all the homes you see are in Mexico.

Our target for the night is the Marfa Lights viewing spot. But we couldn't miss a chance to stop at the Marfa Prada Store in the middle of the desert. It's actually an art project constructed by a couple of Marfa artists. You can Google it for the details. It is certainly unique.

Our next stop was in the city of Marfa which is quite historic. It is also the site of the filming of the movie Giant. Like many other cities on the SW, Marfa has become a destination for artists who are revitalizing the city and bringing life back to many historic buildings. We toured the Pasino Hotel which is a national historic site and the courthouse which was built in 1886. 

You can find more pictures of these and main Street in a 5 minute slide show on our YouTube channel at: Leaving Arizona

This picture is outside our window at the Marfa Mystery Lights viewing area, and they allow overnight RV parking here. Of  course our goal is to see the lights but it is very ovecast, cold and windy. We'll see what happens.

There is documented history of the lights being seen dating back to the 1800s. Some say they are lights from extraterrestrial space ships while others have determined them to be from car headlights in the mountains. We'll be sure to tell you what we think if we are lucky enough to see them 🛸👽👾🧞‍♀️ or 🚘🚚🚙🏍️😁

That's it for this post. Tomorrow we head a little further south to Big Bend National Park where we will have no cell service or internet. So no more posts for the next week ☹️

Be sure to check the YouTube link where all the pictures from this eastbound journey are posted in a short slide show. 

Thanks for reading!

Cindy and Terry

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The Next Hundred Miles

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Last Day In Sedona Area - Prescott and Watson Lake

On our last "play day" in the Sedona area we took a day trip to Prescott and Watson Lake.  The first thing we realized is that Arizona is much more mountainous than we had envisioned. In fact Prescott is at 5367' above sea level and we arrived to find snow.

The primary draw for the town is Whiskey Row which was historically the town center, and as it sounds, the place to go for a drink or a poke (the term poke is from Lonesome Dove 😁).

 

We stopped in to the Palace Saloon for a beer. As the story goes there was a great fire on Whisky Row in 1900 and some locals dragged the bar (above) out to the courthouse across the street. There they continued drinking as the town burned down. The Palace was rebuilt in 1901 around the original bar as it stands today. 

Many famous or infamous characters have been said to drink at this bar to include Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. 

The bar has been featured in films, including Junior Bonner, starring Steve McQueen; Billy Jack, starring Tom Laughlin; and Wanda Nevada, starring Peter Fonda and Brooke Shields. It is also said to be haunted by several of its past denizens, and has been featured on Ghost Adventures.

After visiting the town we headed a short distance to Watson Lake. This lake was formed in the early 1900s when the Granite Creek was dammed.

The area is called the Granite Dells. The Dells consist of exposed bedrock and large boulders of granite that have eroded into an unusual lumpy, rippled appearance.

The area is owned by the city of Prescott and has a campground and a wide array of hiking trails around the lake and the area surrounding it. There is a $3 per vehicle entry fee and you probably want to avoid trying to hike there after rain or snow. We found it very muddy when we were there, but still worth visiting.

You can find more pictures in a 3 minute video on our YouTube channel at:

Prescott AZ and Watson Lake

Next we are off to Big Bend National Park in Texas with overnight stops at a casino in Tuscon, a Cracker Barrel in Los Cruces (affectionately called Cracker Docking) and a night in Marfa where we will try to view the fabeled Marfa Lights.

Thanks for reading and feel free to share this with anyone who might be interested.

Cindy and Terry

Wanna see a map of where we have been?

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Check out our YouTube channel:

The Next Hundred Miles

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@hundrednext

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Questions or comments email us at:

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Sedona, Montezuma, a Church, a Mountain and some Fish

We continue to enjoy our time in the Sedona AZ area. The above pic is a random sighting beside the road. Sedona is quirky 😁

One of the first things we did was a drive up AZ HWY 89A between Sedona and Flagstaff. This was recommended to us by the local visitors bureau. We were blown away by the vistas and scenary. We took a lot of pictures on this drive. If you are interested in seeing them you can follow this link to our YouTube channel for a 5 minute slideshow. YouTube Slide Show

Next we visited The Chapel of the Holy Cross. This church is literally built into the side of a mountain. The construction of the building was completed in 18 months at a cost of $300k. The cross in the second picture rises 90' and serves as both an asthetical and structural centerpiece. If you visit, parking is very limited. You can hop a tour bus in town  that will take you right to the top. If you are fortunate enough to find a parking space, there are courtesy golf carts cruising the parking areas that will transport you up the steep hill to the church.

The next day we visited an area that is unique in the world. It is a deep spring in the desert called Montezuma's Well National Monument. This was an amazing place to visit from both the geological and heritage perspectives. The spring never dries up and every day 1.5 million gallons of water bubble from the well. Montezuma's Well is 368 feet across and 55 feet deep; it sits at an elevation of 3,618 feet.

Around the rim of the well are several ancient Sinagua Indian pueblos. As you can imagine, the safety afforded by the location on the cliff, and the proximity to water made this a highly desirable homestead.  Interesting to note however that this area, and the castle below was misnamed and has nothing to do with Montezuma or the Aztecs.

A few miles away is another impressive site called Montezuma's Castle National Monument. Here we see much more elaborate cliff dwellings. The entrances could only be reached via a series of ladders up the cliff. This provided a great deal of security for the residents and a view of the farm and river lands below. The area was inhabited between approximately 1100 and 1425 AD. The main structure comprises five stories and about 45 to 60 rooms and was built over the course of three centuries.

This area is set adjacent to Beaver Creek, fed by the well, providing water, irrigation for crops and fishing. A few more pics on YouTube.

The next day we headed back to Sedona for some hiking. The whole area is filled with hiking and OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) trails. The area we chose is known as Adobe Jack and is an area of about 20 different trails in the Sedona foothills.

The trail took us through trees, red rocks and dry stream beds. It seemed as though we were miles away from civilization even though we were technically in what is considered the foothills of uptown Sedona.

In total we hiked about 5.5 miles and the scenery was amazing. More pics on YouTube

This is a very enjoyable hike with a lot of scenic variety. We would highly recommend this hike, but would advise caution if there is rain in the forecast or it has recently rained. We expect it would be quite muddy and slippery in spots, and the creek crossings could be a challenge.

Our final stop for this post was at the Page Springs Fish Hatchery. This was a cool stop where we were amazed by the number of trout hatched here, and that they were distributed all across Arizona. Again, this is a location in the desert, and where I would have least expected a hatchery.

There is an area outside called the Show Pond. It may not be apparent at first glance but the picture above is thousands of trout in an area where you can feed them. Wow!

I'll close out this post with a shot of the moonrise over the foothills. Believe me the pic doesn't do it justice.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share.

Cindy and Terry

Wanna see a map of where we have been?

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Check out our YouTube channel:

The Next Hundred Miles

Follow us on Instagram: the_next_hundred_miles

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Questions or comments email us at:

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Jerome Arizona and Tuzigoot

Today (2/6/20) we  visited Jerome Arizona, a famous copper mining town in the 1800s. If you Google it you will find it is referenced as a ghost town, but that is anything but true.

The town seems to be a thriving tourist attraction with lots of shops, restaurants and pubs. There are a number of old abandoned and decaying buildings, but most of the town is operational.

The town is situated on the side of a mountain with a 30 degree incline at about 5500 feet. History says some of the mine shafts under the town once colapsed and allowed the jail to slide 255', ending up in the middle of a street. That must have been fun for anyone along for the ride 😁. There are still over 800 miles of tunnels under the town. 

Because of the large amounts of money generated from copper and gold, corruption overtook the town. In the early 1900s it was labeled the "Wickedest town in the west". Dramatic fluctuations in copper prices and the great depression, the Jerome mines finally closed in 1953. Within 5 years after the mine closed, Jerome became the biggest ghost town in America.

During the 60s and 70s the town attracted artists who renovated homes and reopened shops forming the basis for the town as it is today.

One of the neat attractions is the Little Daisy Mine.

This site holds the remnants of an actual mine and the head frame that was used to pull ore from the mine and lower workers in. 

In the picture below Cindy is standing in the lift that was used to lower workers as much as 1900 feet into the mine. To put that into perspective, the Empire State Building is 1250 feet tall. Yikes!

After Jerome we visited Tuzigoot, the site of ancient Indian ruins.

Tuzigoot was built by the Sinagua people between 1125 and 1400 AD. It included an estimated 110 rooms of which some were 2 story and many had only ladder access through the roof. 

It was incredible to see what had been uncoverered from thousands of years prior. And it was not just the structures. There was pottery, utensils, tools and weapons unearthed.

The picture above shows the town of Jerome looking across the valley from Tuzigoot.

Interestingly, to the far right in the picture is an operating gypsum mine. As we were standing there we heard a deep, loud rumble. Then we could see the dust rising. This is an open strip mine and they had just blown another layer open. Very cool!

Our route home took us through historic downtown Cottonwood. This is another urban renewal project that has brought an old town center back to life. It is now hopping with boutique restaurants and gift shops.

We made a stop in a real 70s head shop. It was exactly as we expected it to be, filled with pot paraphernalia, incense, hand made jewelery and hippy clothes. They even had a section of vinyl records for sale. A real flashback.

That's it for this one. Feel free to share it.

Thanks for reading!

Cindy and Terry

Wanna see a map of where we have been?

We are starting a YouTube channel. We haven't really posted anything of value yet, but we plan to post short snipits of things stills can't do justice. We'll link those on the blog text to enhance the experience.

Our YouTube channel is the same as this blog: The Next Hundred Miles

Watch "Hummingbirds" on YouTube

A very short clip of our hummingbird feeder. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/_IlO5ad5lgo

Quartszite Part Deux

After we left the Next Exit location at La Posa South, we headed about 2 miles toward town to La Posa North. There we joined the 2020 Quartszite Winnebago View and Navion Rally - The Skinny Winnies.

These pictures don't do the scene justice. Here we are in the middle of the Arizona desert surrounded by 200 vehicles of the same make and model. Wow!

We had multiple pot lucks, and remember that's 200 vehicles with 1 or 2 people in each.

The first night there was a pig roast. These were pork butts roasted in the ground overnight. I mean does that sound yummy or what.

Winnebago brought in factory reps to do a tech talk and answer questions. They also sponsored the wine and brought along some trinkets and prizes. Not only did we drink our fair share of wine, Cindy won a national parks pass. Very cool!

We played desert golf...

With some unique holes 😁 (Tiger Goss)

Let's just say it was a lot of fun and we laughed a lot! One of my partners (the only real golfer in our group) was Grandpa Ron. He has a YouTube channel: On the Road with Ron

...and his video of the event can be found here...

Watch "Skinnie Winnie Quartzite Rally 2020" on YouTube

There were trivia contests, group bicycle rides and a "Coach Crawl" where everyone had a chance of to show off all the cool mods they had done to their rigs.

One of the highlights of the event was a very well done video night. Each attendee was asked to provide a couple of photos from 2019 RV travel. One of the attendees, Jim Doss took all of the photos, set them to music and created a wonderful video. Thanks Jim!

As the rally wound down, the rest of Quartszite ramped up in a big way.

The big tent holds about 250 vendors with everything solar panels to shower heads. In addition there are installers who can install just about anything you can buy. 

Outside the big tent is a sort of carnival atmosphere what where you can buy anything from deep fried Twinkies to turkey legs.

Surrounding all of that is the RV show with hundreds of new and used RVs of every possible description.

And there is more...

About half of the town of Quartszite is some part of a flea market or gemstone seller. It was a bit overwhelming, especially if you saw something and wanted to go back for a second look (speaking from experience here 🙀).

But there are also quirky bars and eateries everywhere. It's honestly a hippy feeling vibe around town, but very cool.

And speaking of quirky, you could see just about anything you can imagine. Converting old school buses to RVs is becoming quite common. New for us was seeing cars attached to these converted buses. The pictures show a mini van, a beetle, and a VW van on a bus. Who knew a car on a bus was a actually a thing. 😁

How about this RV utility pedestal in the middle of the desert. Some people have great imaginations.

I guess it's obvious we watch a bit of YouTube. There were tons of vloggers (video bloggers) there including many we follow. But we try not to bother them unless they are in a public place or have specifically invited us over. Understand that some of these vloggers have more than 200,000 subscribers. They are stars in a way and the number of people who want to say hi can be overwhelming.

The couple above are Kent and Lisa and their channel is Living Light RV. They are Canadians who live in a class  A motorhome full time, spending winters in the US and summers in Canada. They are an incredibly fun loving and interesting couple. They held a meet up where we got to spend an afternoon with them and other followers. I encourage you to check out their YouTube channel: Living Light RV

Sorry this was so long. This was the last in our effort to get caught up. After Quartszite we did the Desert Bar, then moved to the Blue Water Casino, and finally The Rock Springs Pie Company. Each of these has already been posted. If you missed them check back in the blog.

We are now in Cottonwood Arizona. Lots of cool stuff in this area so look for some more current posts from here on.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to share this with anyone interested.

Cindy and Terry

Wanna see a map of where we have been?