Wednesday January 24th 2018

I don’t seem to have the magic decipher ring for the weather forecasts around here. I thought last night was going to be in the mid to high thirties so I wasn’t worried about the water pipes freezing. This morning the water hose to the RV was frozen. It wasn’t a big problem. I used the internal water tank and pump until the hose thawed. It got into the low seventies this afternoon and the heavy wind that I thought was in the forecast wasn’t very strong.

Early this afternoon I headed out to the east on the Interstate. When I arrived in Arizona last March 1st I passed through and area on Interstate 10 called Texas Canyon. It is located to the east of Benson in the Dragoon Mountains. I wanted to stop at the rest area on the highway and checkout the views. Last year, driving the motorhome, there wasn’t any room in the rest area. Since the same thing might happen on my east bound journey, I decided to drive out to the rest area in the car.

View to the southwest from Texas Canyon.

Granite rocks in Texas Canyon. Do you see a rock Dolphin ?

The canyon is more of a high pass through the mountains. It is at about five thousand feet. My location here in Benson is around 3500 feet. The interstate climbs to the higher elevation over about fifteen miles. The distant view from the rest area is interesting but far more impressive are all the granite boulders in the canyon that surround the rest areas on both sides of the highway. Many of them have eroded into very interesting shapes.

Some off the Rock formations in the Chiricahua National Monument.

Mountain peak through the forest.

From Texas Canyon I continued east toward Wilcox AZ. The signs announcing the Chiricahua National Monument drew me south from Wilcox like a Siren’s song. It turned out to be a bit longer drive than I anticipated. The terrain in this area is more high plains than desert. It’s cattle country. The road twists and turns while going up and down in rapid succession. Luckily I met very few oncoming cars because you didn’t see them until they were right in front of you.

The Chiricahua National Monument is in the Chiricahua mountains on the east side of the plain that separates the Chiricahua Mountains from the Dragoon Mountains to the west. It contains forest lands and rock formations resulting from erosion of volcanic ash. Since this wasn’t a planned visit, I got to the monument too late in the day to really explore the park. It would have been nice to hike some of the trails. All I really did was tour the visitors center and drive around some. A planned visit in the future is warranted.

Mexican Jay ?

Today was a day for the birds. I mean I saw a lot of birds today. Driving across the plains approaching the National Monument I saw several hawks circling and diving. In the park I was entertained by medium sized blue birds that I think are Mexican Jays. They seemed to rule the parking lot at the visitors center. Leaving the park, a Road Runner crossed the road in front of me. This is the first road runner I have actually seen running across a road. Later on my way home I saw a group of Sandhill Cranes in what I think was a Pecan grove.