Wednesday Nov 22, 2023 - City of Rocks State Park NM to Bisbee

 

It hit 28 degrees last night but the heater did its job. I cobbled up an outdoor thermometer since it seems to be the first question we have in the morning. The sun was just coming up after our 9 hour sleep last night.

We made coffee and tea, packed up, and took a lap around the park to see what the sites looked like in the morning. I think they hired an abstract artist to design this park. The rocks are big odd shaped boulders and they tucked a “campsite” into any nook or cranny that you could fit a picnic table and fire ring into. Not many have a flat spot to park your rig so you have to get creative with the leveling blocks here. With a little calculus we parked the van so the bed was close enough to level. There are pit toilets here and there and we discovered last night that there are showers with hot water in the visitor center bathrooms which are open all night. And they are free!

Back down Rt 61 and then out to Rt 180 which goes to Silver City. On Rt 61 is Faywood Hot Springs, which according to all reports is a funky hot springs resort where you can soak clothed or unclothed and you can camp or rent a cabin. Note for the future.

We found Adobe Springs Cafe in Silver City, where they have good old diner breakfast food. We had a short wait since the restaurant across the street was closed today, but we chatted up a local women named Linda and shared a table with she and her friend Vicki. Linda was delightful and grew up around here and was a veterinarian, semi retired. So we got lots of good tips on the best New Mexico places to camp. It’s wonderful to meet strangers.

Then a stroll through the downtown where we've been before. The town looks a little more tired than the last time we were here. There is a declining population so a lot of empty storefronts.

From Silver City we headed south to Lordsburg on Rt 90 and filled up with cheaper gas there. Then west on I-10 to the Animas exit which took us south on Rt 338, where we'd never been. A surprising amount of hay or cotton being grown down here but not many people. The last census said Animas had less than 200 people. But it’s been here since the 1700’s sometime.

Then west on Rt 9 to Rodeo and west on Rt 80 which takes us right back to Bisbee. Quick stop in Douglas to get everything ready to unload at home (Bisbee has very few flat spots).

Once home we unloaded everything in the driveway including the water tank, grey water tank (sink drain) and toilet (small is beautiful!!). I parked the van and “winterized” it (takes about 5 minutes, again small is beautiful) since we don't know when we will go out again, maybe January.

Tuesday Nov 21, 2023 - Pancho Villa State Park to City of Rocks State Park

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Today was another Pancho Villa day! Breakfast in the van and then walked across the campground to the museum. On the way we chatted up the park volunteer host and peppered him with questions. He was from Colorado but had been serving as a volunteer camp host for a few years and loved it. We found out later through another volunteer that they have 3 camp host couples at this park, which makes sense since they also have the museum to watch over. And with 6 people they can take off on trips here and there and there are enough to cover for them. They get free campsites and the state gets the parks manned for free. Win-win.

We also asked about how many illegal migrants they see here. He says none, other than a car now and then that goes tearing by in an attempt to run through the border crossing two miles to the south. We agreed that something doesn’t add up between what we hear on the news and what we see on the ground here.

The museum is small but has some great stuff in it. Because Pancho Villa raided the town of Columbus in 1916, the U.S. immediately sent General Pershing down with 10,000 troops over 8-9 months to chase him south of the border. And it was the first time the army ever used motor vehicles (trucks, cars, motorcycles) and airplanes in a battle situation. Pershing broke up the “Villanistas” but never managed to capture Pancho Villa. He came back from Mexico months later and then quickly left for France after the U.S. entered WWI. 

Mexico and the U.S. and Germany had a complicated relationship at that time. The U.S. had claimed neutrality in WWI and Germany was funding one side of the Mexican revolution and trying to keep the U.S. busy so it would stay out of the war. Germany was actually paying U.S. arms companies for ammunition for Mexico!

The airplanes were really crude made by Glen Curtis and they were used for surveillance and delivering mail down in Mexico during the “punitive war”. The first 8 planes, JN-3 or “Jennies”, only lasted one month. The next 4 planes, JN-4s, were a small improvement but the third plane, the R4?, were much better. The very first use of airplanes by the military.

Next stop was to drive to the border, park and walk across into Puerto Palomas, the small town south of Columbus. The big attraction is the Pink Store, which is a fun tourist trap one block from the border. It’s a huge place with every kind of Mexican pottery, clothing, jewelry, etc you can imagine. Half of it is a big restaurant with a big menu and $4 margaritas. And a live Mariachi band that strolled from table to table (we tipped them). Deb picked up a few things she wanted and we walked around town a bit and then back over the border.

It was 2pm so we thought we would drive up to Deming and on the way to Deming we decided we might as well go another 30 minutes to City of Rocks State Park and check it out. Somewhere along the way we realized that we might as well stay up here at City of Rocks since we had nothing more we wanted to do in Pancho Villa State Park. Deb got on the reservation site and they had 5 sites left, so we decided to just ask at the park instead of register on line (extra $4 fee). The park ranger said the only way to get a site was to use the online service, and there was no way to not pay the $4 registration fee on top of the $10 site fee. That’s one perfectly good margarita at the Pink Store for God’s sake!

He said if we drove to the top of a small knoll just outside the park we could get cell service and make the reservation since they have no WiFi. Yikes!

Anyway, we got a site, parked and walked the perimeter of the park. It’s a cool collection of giant boulders and the camp sites are stuck into any little cavity they found among the rocks.

So here we are tonight eating leftovers and reading our books.

Monday Nov 20, 2023 - Bisbee to Columbus NM

The van was lonely and wanted to go somewhere. I have been reading about Columbus NM and Pancho Villa, and a couple of people have told us about “the Pink Store” across the border in Palomas Mexico. We will be out for two nights so pretty easy packing. A couple days of clothes, passports, and some food in the pantry box. The van is ready to go so we do the usual pull up to the end of the driveway and shuffle stuff in. Our driveway is a little too small to pull the van into, so this is the usual routine.

There is a southern route and a northern route, both about the same time, so we’ll take the northern route to Columbus and return via Rt 9, the southern route. And I had researched Deming, NM which is on the way and they have a good sized museum we’ll visit.

Already full of gas we saw gas prices of $3.19 which is much less than in Bisbee. We’ll fill up on the way home.

The usual Rt 80 trip through Douglas, across the NM border at Rodeo, and on up to the interstate (I-10) at Road Forks, NM. Lunch in Lordsburg and then another hour to Deming.

Deming has a population of about 12,000 people and it was created when the Southern Pacific railroad drove the silver spike to connect the east with the west in 1881. This created the second transcontinental railroad. The was the “southern route” and it is also one of the reasons the United States obtained the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico in 1858.

Deming is pretty sleepy and is like a lot of old western towns, trying to find its next purpose. I had read that the Border Patrol created a training center in the early 2000’s that gave it a boost.

We found the museum, which is housed in the Armory that the military built in 1916. This period of time was very active in the southwest because the Mexican Revolution was going on and we were about to enter World War 1. The museum’s free but they have a donation box, and a volunteer couple were running the front desk and gift shop.

So this museum is huge, spotlessly clean, and the exhibits they have are very well put together with wood and glass cases. We got there around 2pm and it’s open until 4pm. Deb noted that we were around 5 people into the guest register, so not many people visit the museum.

They have lots of Pacho Villa stuff, Old vehicles, each war has its own room with lots of uniforms and bullets and kits. They have a whole room of dolls, a whole room of railroad stuff, old banking equipment, farm equipment (outdoors), various paintings, and quilts. And again, all beautifully displayed and not a dusty spot in the place. Even the bathrooms were spotless. Great stop.

Then south on Rt 11 to Columbus. Some (what I presume were) volunteer fire vehicles passed us on the way, but disappeared and we never figured out where they were going. There’s a little crop stuff going on with some irrigation rigs here and there, but not much.

We pulled into Columbus and found the Pancho Villa State Park and found our site. They have about 60 sites, with ramadas at each site since there’s not much shade. Our spot did have some shade but this time of year it’s nice to have the sun to warm us up.

We walked into town which is only ¼ mile at most and walked up 1 of the maybe 2 streets with any business going on. I had seen some YouTube videos of the town and it matched what I saw. Nice new sidewalks but almost no cars (somebody got some federal money).

We climbed Cootes Hill, which is a big pile of dirt with a flag and some benches, and watched the sun set.

Then a walk back to town to eat dinner at the Borderlands Cafe, which was surprisingly nice. Only one man there when we walked in, and a few more when we left, with some locals wandering in and out to pick up food. Staff was very nice and younger than I would have expected. Pizza and a chicken burger. Then we wandered back to the state park in the dark, found our rig, read for a bit and went to bed. Tomorrow we will go to Mexico.

Friday, Nov 10, 2023 - American History & Natural History

 

Deb still here. A gray and rainy day, and we all appreciated just hanging out in the apartment until later in the morning. On today's agenda was the Smithsonian American History Museum, and since it was raining we opted for an Uber.

What a building! Multiple floors with lots of families there (it was the Veteran's Day holiday) and so much to see. We wandered, visiting bits and pieces of the huge museum. I particularly enjoyed seeing the First Ladies' Dresses, the original American Flag, and the Greensboro Lunch Counter. Erick had tipped us off to look at the gunboat Philadelphia, which sank on Lake Champlain during the Revolutionary War, and that was fascinating as well. 

After a while we were all overloaded with people and info, so we went to find some lunch. We ate at a nearby deli called West Wing Cafe and sat for some time enjoying our delicious sandwiches. Tom and Kim took an Uber ride back to the apartment, and John and I headed off for the Museum of Natural History.

The Museum of Natural History is also huge, and it was overloaded with families. We had a primary goal in mind, which was to see the display in the gems and minerals section that featured Bisbee. Eventually we found it and weren't disappointed! Bisbee is well represented in this national museum for its mining history and the multitude of gems and minerals found. John and I both had some hometown pride as we told other folks looking at the Bisbee exhibit "that's our hometown!".

Once we left the museum we took a metro back to Georgetown. In the evening the 4 of us took an Uber to Silver, where we met Louise for a lovely dinner. 

Hung out in apt until late morning. Raining, so took Uber in to American History Museum. Late lunch at West Wing Café, then we split. John and I went to Museum of Natural History, and Tom and Kim back to the apt. Later Uber to dinner at The Silver with Louise, then she drove us back to the apt.

Thursday, Nov 9, 2023 - Library of Congress & Capitol

Deb here again. We had an exciting morning, since we'd learned the day before that Erick and Hannah would be passing through from the boatyard in Norfolk on their way to Greenport. We made plans to meet Hannah and Erick at Ruthie's All Day Diner in Arlington at 10 am, and Ginny would join us there. Tom, Kim, John and I took an Uber there and once again, so easy. We had a wonderful (but too short) time catching up with Erick and Hannah over brunch and then said our goodbyes. Jon arrived to pick up Tom for a noon tee time at his local golf course, and John, Kim, and I all took an Uber back to our apartment. 

Kim felt as though she needed an afternoon's rest (she's getting her hip replaced at the end of the month), and John and I decided we'd go into the city to check out the Library of Congress. This was another stop that hadn't been on our radar, but we wanted to check it out on the recommendation of our friend Keith Kennedy. 

We easily found our way to the Library of Congress via the metro and wow, we were blown away by the building. A definite must visit site when in Washington! A gorgeous building that included all kinds of tile work, a grand dome, magnificent reading room, and even Thomas Jefferson's Library. So cool.

After leaving there we decided to see if we could get inside the Capitol Building. It turned out to be an easy process, and before we knew it we were in a tour group. Our 23 year old tour guide did a wonderful job, taking us into the Supreme Court Chambers and the Senate Chambers of the 1800's, the Rotunda, and the Statuary, giving us interesting tidbits of info along the way. Another highly recommended visit.

We returned to the apartment, and later on the four of us walked nearby to The Clubhouse, where we met up with Tom's bio sister Kelly and her daughter Lauren. We had lots of fun chatting with them, eating bar food, and having a drink. It eventually got really loud, so the 6 of us walked to The Bodega, a quieter spot that Lauren knew of, and followed up on more conversation and drinks before heading back to the apartment.

Wednesday, Nov 8, 2023 - National Archives & Air & Space

Deb here. We had breakfast in our apartment, and then made a plan to visit the National Archives. This was a stop not on our radar, but Tom knew about it so we all decided to go. It was an easy trip into downtown DC via the metro, with about a half mile walk to the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. 

The National Archives was amazing! We first visited the Rotunda, where we saw the original Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution, among other things. After these awe-inspiring documents we moved on to an exhibition entitled "All American: The Power of Sports" that was really well done, with lots of historical sporting moments and memorabilia on display. 

After leaving the National Archives we had a bit of time before we were scheduled to meet Pete for lunch, so we all toured the National Portrait Gallery. John and I had visited the gallery two years ago, but it was a first visit for Tom and Kim. Really interesting to see the portraits of the presidents throughout the years, and how they chose to be remembered.
We then walked to the Hard Rock Cafe, where we met Pete for lunch. This was the first time us three siblings had been together in over 2 years, so always fun to catch up.

In the afternoon John, Tom, and Kim visited the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, and I headed to the National Gallery of Art. I'd been in this art gallery a few times, but not in many years. My favorite area is the Impressionist wing, and I filled my soul once again with the portraits of the old masters. Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Manet, and so many others.

Later in the afternoon the four of us regrouped and returned to the apartment. At 6:45 we walked to Farmers, Fishers, and Bakers for a wonderful dinner with family. Pete, Louise, Char, Michelle, Jon, Ginny, and the 4 of us at one long table. What a treat, the perfect end to a first great day in DC.

Tuesday, Nov 7, 2023 - Bisbee to Washington DC

Deb here. We left Bisbee by 3 am for a 6:30 am flight to Chicago, and then on to DC. Easy check in (thanks, Global Entry for TSA precheck) and both flights were on-time and smooth. We'd been able to score a free upgrade to exit row seats on the flight to Chicago, so great to have some extra legroom.

Once in DC by 3 pm we grabbed our bags and called an Uber. It was an easy process and we were in Georgetown at our apartment quickly. We were able to get into our place before the 4 pm check in time, so we dropped our bags and then headed out on foot to the nearby Trader Joe's for some groceries. Georgetown is very quaint and charming, with lots of shops and beautiful townhouses. 

Tom and Kim arrived by 5:30, and we all walked to Angolo's nearby for a good Italian dinner. We were all exhausted, so in bed by 9 after our big travel day.

Sunday Nov 5, 2023 - Banamachi to Bisbee

Breakfast of yogurt and fruit this morning to try and purge our systems of Mexican food. Some of the riders were going back to the US but a lot were continuing south to San Carlos via Sahuaripa and some were going for another week west and up the coast.

But first the local priest had to do the annual Blessing of the Bikes.

We decided to continue south on Rt 89 and drive through the rest of the small towns on the Rio Sanora. In an hour or so we hit Rt 14 which took us back north another way. It was very curvy, narrow but very smooth and there were almost no towns for most of it. We then hit Rt 17, which is a bigger road that takes us all the way back to Agua Prieta and back across the border to Douglas. We stopped for a bathroom and drinks along the way and drove into A.P. the back way. We found the Banjercito again and they released our car so we could take the Sentri (aka Global Entry) back into the US. Then back home. Great trip and we think we figured the paperwork thing out. Next time will be pretty easy especially if we go to the “free zone” in Mexico.

Saturday Nov 4, 2023 - Banamachi

Late night last night so kind of a late start, but everything is late down here. We had breakfast at our hotel, scrambled eggs with refried beans and tortillas (of course). The first scheduled event was the mayor’s tour of the town. The mayor is a super nice guy and his father was the mayor some years back so this seems to be a family tradition. He showed us the town square, newly renovated a short time ago, and the City offices which had some nice murals inside that told the history of the town. Banamachi is built inside a big curve in the river and the ancients built the town here since it was higher than the river.

You can see the flat farm fields below the town where they were growing what looked to be hay. Next stop the church, which is beautiful inside. Then back to the hotel.

The next event was going to the bacanora still in the woods on the other side of the river. Bacanora is an alcoholic beverage that's made with agave, but only in Sonora. It's a cousin of tequila and mescal. It’s a mile or two over and a small group of us decided to walk there. The river is dry so you don’t need to remove your shoes. There are horses running up and down the road and river and it was a bit warm but not too bad. We were almost there when Tom stopped with his car and said Maria couldn't wait for us, so we all piled in and he drove us the remaining half mile or so where everyone was waiting at the long table in the shade of the big trees. The still is pretty rough around the edges but it does work. We did not sample any and we passed on buying a whole bottle.

Maria and her helpers started feeding us, Deb tried her hand at making a tortilla, and the traditional Sonoran food just kept on coming (course after course) until everybody was beyond full. The mayor was there as well of course.

The next event that Tom put together was a local troupe of traditional Mexican dancers. One middle aged man was the leader and there were 6 or 8 couples, all in their late teens. They are affiliated with a local college somehow and they obviously put a lot of effort into getting all the dances perfect. A dance floor was put down in the alley next to the hotel and they must have done 6 or 8 different dance styles with costume changes in between.

That night we had a pizza and beer party (the mayor ran the outdoor pizza oven) and we talked late into the night again, mostly about motorcycles of course. We were too tired to hit the balcony at our hotel and the Spanish speaking bikers stayed up after us and their joking and laughing lulled us to sleep. 

Friday Nov 3, 2023 - Bisbee to Banamachi MX

Walking across the border for lunch in Mexico is easy-peasy, but driving our car to Mexico is something new so it’s time to figure this out. There is a motorcycle ride every year to Banamachi and last year I opted out, but this year Deb signed me up. Three other friends were going to ride down but they all canceled at the last minute. Deb already made the hotel reservation so we figured we would both go down but in the car. But what paperwork do you need?

Deb asked our in-town insurance guy about car insurance and he said go online since there are a few choices, all comparable. Our friend Frank said the same, he uses Sanborne. So sure enough they all give about the same thing for about $60-70. So now we have insurance for the three days we will be down there.

The hotel sent a detailed description of the other two things we needed. The first is a visa for each of us and the second is a permit for the car. So we decided to just drive down to Douglas, walk across the border into Agua Prieta and ask the folks at the visa permit place. Once we got there, it took some searching and asking people that spoke no English, and we discovered that the visa people didn't speak any English either. Thanks to Google translate, we discovered that there is a free 7 day pass that you cannot get in advance and since we were leaving more than 7 days in the future, we would have to return. The Banjercito  rep did speak a little English and explained the car permit. I should mention we did not read the detailed instructions the hotel sent us, duh!

So we returned home, read the directions and returned 2 days before the trip. I had typed up exactly what we were doing and translated it into Spanish (Google Translate again) and drove back to Douglas, walked across the border to the visa place (we now knew which alley it was in) and sure enough, they now spoke English.

So you can get a free 7 day visa or spend $55 for a 180 day visa. We did the free one, one for each of us. Next window over you pay the person who speaks fluent English $2 for copies of the visas, and then the next window is the car permit person. They do not want you to drive cars into Mexico and leave them there. Must be some black market issue. It all kind of makes sense. You can choose a Sonora only permit which is $55 and you pay no deposit, or you can get an all-Mexico permit which is $55 and a $200-$400 deposit ($400 for our 2017 Toyota). You need the visa, car registration, car title and they make copies and hand you back a paper with a receipt which you must hand back in when you return. When you return they come out to the parking lot and take pictures of the car,  number, license plate, VIN number, etc. So very confusing the first time but the next time it will be less confusing.

Now all this is for the part of Mexico we are going to but all of Mexico west of here is in the “free zone” which does not require any of this, just car insurance.

So on Friday we drove across the border at Naco, which is a tiny crossing and the border guys did not want to see passposrts or any papers or check the vehicle. They just asked if we had guns or more than $10K. 

We drove through Naco, Sonora, which we had only walked in before and being a small town we were south of it in about 10 minutes. We drove until we hit Rt 12 and the followed Rt 12 until we hit Rt 89 south which is the scenic road that follows the Sonora River (Rio Sonora).

The roads are narrow with no shoulders to speak of so you have to pay attention. The signage is sparse so you can’t really tell what the speed limit is half the time. People said don’t speed as it's an excuse to get stopped, but we did not see any police all the way down.

What they do have a lot of is speed bumps and the first one just about launched us. They were painted some time in the past but many are invisible and you have to keep an eye out. Every railroad crossing has a speed bump on either side of it instead of a gate, so there is a stop sign at every railroad crossing.

The desert landscape slowly gives way to more and more greenery as we traveled south and soon the road turned twistier and twistier and the small quaint towns began to appear. As we discovered, these towns were all established by the Spanish around 1639 and each one has a town square and a church. When the Mexicans kicked the Spanish out, a lot of the churches were damaged but most have been rebuilt.

This part of Sonora is pretty sparse population wise. Rt 89 hits all the towns along the Rio Sonora but they are pretty small towns and many are organized with the town and town square a couple of blocks from Rt 89.

We arrived in Banamachi mid-afternoon and checked into our hotel, La Posada, and there were a couple of bikes parked out front. The young woman who greeted us on the front steps spoke perfect English and as we found out she was from Agua Prieta, the border town next to Douglas. The place is beautiful and well kept. Classic Mexican adobe architecture with lots of handmade structural features. Our room was upstairs, #7, and it had hand made beds. As it turned out, this place has the nicest open air balcony upstairs so over the weekend a lot of the biker guys came over to our hotel in the evening. The town square is right across the street and was recently redone and the teens hang out there in the evening. A true town square.

The other hotel, Los Arcos, that actually hosts this annual motorcycle event, is only a couple blocks away and an American named Tom and his spouse Lynn are the owners and the movers and shakers in town as far as promoting tourism. These towns are off the beaten path so they try really hard to get tourists here. It seems that Tom and the Americans that own our hotel renovated a four block area and everything is in good repair and freshly painted with nice murals here and there in the streets. The streets are tidy which is a little unusual from the other hotels in Mexico as we passed a lot of towns that are kind of run down.

There were already a dozen bikes or so parked in front of the other hotel and there were another 8-10 still coming in. There seem to be three groups: one from Phoenix, one from Tucson, one from Bisbee and a few folks from Mexico. Mostly BMW’s, no Harleys, a couple of Triumphs and a couple of Hondas.

Both hotels have nice areas to lounge, talk and drink and that was already going on when we got there. The mayor seemed to be everywhere the entire weekend so he was a busy guy. I got a chance to talk with him and learned he is a rancher and a high school math teacher,  but is doing the mayor gig for one term or three years. His father was a mayor and I think he said his grandfather may have been as well.

The rest of the afternoon was spent kicking tires, swapping tales and getting to know each other. Great guys.

We did hear that one of the Bisbee guys went off the road, cracked a few ribs and was being transported back north to Douglas. Went too wide on a turn.

Tonight everyone met for a carne asada buffet with plenty to eat and the party continued into the night. We hit the balcony and swapped yarns the rest of the evening. Lots of new friends.