Across the Great Southwest

February 2, 2008 -- Benson, AZ

My last post had us blowing into Deming, NM. As morning broke the next day, the 31st of January, the wind had subsided, was predicted to remain low the rest of the day, and had turned around so it was now coming out of the east -- a tailwind as we drive west! Since we already had everything pretty much in travel mode it was easy to make the decision to move on to Arizona. So with Dar behind the wheel we got back on the road and continued our trek westward.

Both we and the bus enjoyed the tailwind. The bus was getting over 8mpg and running smoothly, the roads were good, and the sun at our back illuminated the mountains ahead of us on this bright clear day.

By a little after noon, we'd arrived at Escapees Saguaro Coop Park in Benson, AZ. This park, like all other Escapees parks, doesn't take reservations. Arrivals are handled on a first come, first served basis. This is a very popular park and it can be tough to get in, but we arrived early and they had a site for us -- way up at the top of the hill. Once parked and set up, we had a chance to look around a little.

Benson sits in a valley with mountains to the east, north, and west. Depending on the time of day, the mountains are lit-up by the sun. For example, in the late afternoon, the low, red sun shines across the valley floor and shines on the mountain range to the east. Being up at the top of the park we have great views in every direction.

Since we're only about 35 miles from Tucson, we decided that we'd stay here for the next week and "commute" into Tucson on those days we needed to be there. That decision also fit with our objective of trying to avoid larger cities. You've probably figured out from previous posts that we enjoy the solitude and lack of congestion in more rural areas.

So here we'll be for a while. We have a number of relatives in the Tucson area and we're looking forward to spending some time with them.

That's it for today's post.

T