Stalactites, Stalagmites and Stalag 17

Day 18 - Lordsburg NM to Apache Junction AZ
300 miles

We left the almost deserted KOA, stopped for gas where the lady in front of us was complaining about the price of gas. She didn't feel so bad when she heard what we've been spending!

The traffic is practically non existent...so are towns, people, etc. There are hills and real mountains now, and rocks...lots and lots of rocks. Where there is a source of water it looks a little like the Imperial Valley in California, with different orchards and other crops - HUGE farms.

We decided to forgo Tombstone due to time limits and headed toward Tucson. Just before Tuscon we checked the guide books and saw that there were some spectacular caverns nearby. We like caves!

We drove the nine miles on a mountain ridge to Kartchner State Park (great views of the the valleys below) They have a small museum and amphitheater before you enter the caverns also a humming bird garden outside. My son in law is always making fun of how big my dog's nose is...we took a picture of a giant sloth to show him that there actually is a bigger nose than Rookie's!

We had a couple of hours to wait before we could get into the cave tour so we went back to the RV, took the bikes down and got our exercise. Forgetting that we're on the side of a mountain we take off on the park road. I don't know why, but it didn't look like we were going UPHILL. It was a long, gradual uphill, sheesh, I damn near killed myself trying to get up it. Jim took the picture of my at the top, I'm gasping for breath. He said, "Now don't go having a heart on me!" Men! It's always about them isn't it?

We went back to the RV, made lunch , walked the dogs (they refuse to go off the sidewalks now because they've been picking up burrs) and it was time for the tour.

These caves were only discovered in the early 70's and kept secret until the state took it over promising to do it right, and not let the fragile system be ruined. Therefore, you can only go in with what you are wearing, no purses, cameras...just you. They even treated our tour like lettuce in the produce section by misting the people down before entering. Why? Oh, just to keep the
explorers from 'shedding' hair, flaky skin and the dreaded LINT. Lint is a very, very bad thing for a cave. I'll bet you never knew that! You can't touch ANYTHING in there either. I stumbled and almost killed myself because I was afraid to touch the wall and regain my balance. A man sneezed and I heard his wife ask, "Oh my God...are you allowed to do that in here?"

Inside these caverns, or any caves for that matter, it always amazes me how quiet it is. You don't realize how much noise is around you all the time. We've been eating a lot of beans lately and I thought, if one of us 'slipped' it would sound like a cannon being fired!

It was a fun time spelunking. It was steamy in the cave, felt like walking into a bathroom after someone just took a long, hot shower...OR exactly like the summer weather in Charleston! We felt right at home all sticky...the Wisconsin people were miserable.

We drove to Phoenix area (we're just west of Phoenix) to the RV 'resort' we're in tonight. They're all the same type of thing here, almost all full time snowbird with a few spots designated for short term (tax credit) These places are funny. It's highly regulated...I found out I can only walk my little dogs on TWO streets and there's a list a rules a mile long, they lock the gate at 9:00pm. People latch on to you as soon as you park...weird. Poor Jim was trying to get us all hooked up and a guy was driving him crazy. I asked him who his 'little friend' was and he just rolled his eyes. I guess the guy is just lonely...

So that's why we've nicknamed this place Stalag 17. Actually it's nice, clean, quiet and secure. We went to a WalMart down the street and couldn't believe how HUGE it was! Phoenix has to be the shopping center capital of the world...

We're staying in Phoenix tomorrow and will leave mid day Thursday to.....Grand Canyon, maybe?