Wednesday, January 29, 2003
Caballo Loco Ranch, SW of Tucson - Jan 22-29
This place was listed in the Escapee discount cg directory; we would have never found it otherwise. It is about 40 miles SW of Tucson, with the last 8 miles being a fairly rough dirt road -- and an even rougher 1/2 mile to our campsite. Once in, however, it is a pretty nice place. I don't think we have ever met friendlier people. There are full hookup sites here as well as lots of lovely boondocking. The full hookup sites only have 30 amp electricity from a diesel generator from 7:30am - 10:30pm. People stay here without hookups for many months, some for the entire year. Most people have ATVs for running around the park, getting water and dumping wastewater. Again, you can buy into the organization & lease a boondock site for about $500-600/year -- pretty reasonable. The park is located in the foothills of the Sierrita, the sites are quite hilly, with a nice view of Kitt Peak from many of them. There are fun activities, though no organized bridge playing -- a disappointment to us.
We spent a day at Kitt Peak Natl Observatory, which has the world's largest collection of optical telescopes. It has 22 optical and 2 radio telescopes representing dozens of research institutions. Three of the telescopes have galleries for public viewing, with free tours each day. They also have the world's largest solar telescope, with daily viewing. We saw our first Mexican Jay up here, an added bonus. We went on a birdwatching trip near the town of Arivaca, led by the Friends of Buenos Aires Natl Wildlife Refuge at the Arivaca Cienaga.
There were many trails through the cienega (place of many waters), which had lots of flowing springs & standing water. After the trip, we ate lunch at La Gitana (the gypsy), home of the oldest bar in the oldest continuously inhabited townsite in AZ. Arivaca is a charming place, with many visitors from Tucson on the weekends. It was also home to another friendly branch of the Pima County Library, where we needed to stop due to receiving an email containing a photo that was too large to be retrieved using our cell phone.
PLEASE remember that we can't download photos over the cell phone! Not only does it prevent us from receiving your email, it "clogs up the works" so we can't download any more emails until we find a landline connection, often at a cost.
We visited the visitor's center of the Buenos Aires Natl Wildlife Center & drove the scenic nature loop. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the Desert Pronghorn but did see a herd of Mule Deer. A man we met here invited us to use one of their ATVs and took us out for a ride in the nearby desert. There are miles of roads throughout the whole area, so they never run out of places to ride. Doug quickly learned to drive the ATV. All Willie had to do was hold on and watch the scenery. We were out for about 4 hours and saw lots of gorgeous scenery, some old ranch sites, and an old stone wall, probably built by Native Americans or early Spaniards.
It was here that we stumbled on a family of illegal aliens -- probably waiting for someone to pick them up & take them somewhere safer. Willie actually saw the man with two children but did not remember enough Spanish to communicate. It was frightening to leave them there not knowing what their fate would be. I guess it's a common thing around here, but it's pretty sobering to be out "joy riding" and come across people at such a crossroads in their lives. It makes one wish for a more open system of work permits so that people did not have to risk so much to improve the quality of their lives & that of their children.
We head for the SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson on Weds and plan to be there until the end of Feb. The cats are well content & enjoying the warm AZ sunshine. They didn't miss the computer at all -- except as a warm place for a nap!
We spent a day at Kitt Peak Natl Observatory, which has the world's largest collection of optical telescopes. It has 22 optical and 2 radio telescopes representing dozens of research institutions. Three of the telescopes have galleries for public viewing, with free tours each day. They also have the world's largest solar telescope, with daily viewing. We saw our first Mexican Jay up here, an added bonus. We went on a birdwatching trip near the town of Arivaca, led by the Friends of Buenos Aires Natl Wildlife Refuge at the Arivaca Cienaga.
There were many trails through the cienega (place of many waters), which had lots of flowing springs & standing water. After the trip, we ate lunch at La Gitana (the gypsy), home of the oldest bar in the oldest continuously inhabited townsite in AZ. Arivaca is a charming place, with many visitors from Tucson on the weekends. It was also home to another friendly branch of the Pima County Library, where we needed to stop due to receiving an email containing a photo that was too large to be retrieved using our cell phone.
PLEASE remember that we can't download photos over the cell phone! Not only does it prevent us from receiving your email, it "clogs up the works" so we can't download any more emails until we find a landline connection, often at a cost.We visited the visitor's center of the Buenos Aires Natl Wildlife Center & drove the scenic nature loop. Unfortunately, we didn't see any of the Desert Pronghorn but did see a herd of Mule Deer. A man we met here invited us to use one of their ATVs and took us out for a ride in the nearby desert. There are miles of roads throughout the whole area, so they never run out of places to ride. Doug quickly learned to drive the ATV. All Willie had to do was hold on and watch the scenery. We were out for about 4 hours and saw lots of gorgeous scenery, some old ranch sites, and an old stone wall, probably built by Native Americans or early Spaniards.
It was here that we stumbled on a family of illegal aliens -- probably waiting for someone to pick them up & take them somewhere safer. Willie actually saw the man with two children but did not remember enough Spanish to communicate. It was frightening to leave them there not knowing what their fate would be. I guess it's a common thing around here, but it's pretty sobering to be out "joy riding" and come across people at such a crossroads in their lives. It makes one wish for a more open system of work permits so that people did not have to risk so much to improve the quality of their lives & that of their children.We head for the SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson on Weds and plan to be there until the end of Feb. The cats are well content & enjoying the warm AZ sunshine. They didn't miss the computer at all -- except as a warm place for a nap!
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 4:50 PM 
