Bisbee & Douglas AZ

Sorry for not posting for awhile  — we’ve just been hanging out. After 2 nights in Tombstone, we ventured down the road for Bisbee & were thinking we’d like to check out Bell Starr’s Silvarado Ranch SE of Bisbee. Supposedly people can boondock there for a few days.  After driving thru Bisbee on the highway, we finally passed the Silvardo Ranch but saw the gate was closed & didn’t see any RVs or vehicles around. Hmmmm — now what?

We just continued south on Hwy 80 another mile or so while regrouping & suddenly saw a sign for an RV park. OK. . .let’s check it out. Wow — what a find! Twin Buttes Mobile Home & RV Park isn’t all that pretty, but somewhat roomy. . .& full hook-ups, plus free Wi-Fi, for $14/night, or $75/week or $185/month + electric. Rodger, the owner, is originally from Nebraska & has a great attitude toward people. His brother & parents even live about an hour away from my parents in MO. He hasn’t raised his rates since 2005, but sez he “has enough” & doesn’t want to take advantage of people. Other local RV parks are having problems keeping full but this park seldom has any openings in it’s 28 rv spots. There were a couple of outstanding sunsets.

We were fairly lazy there — except that I actually managed to defrost the freezer & clean the refrigerator, & Kira actually got a bath (shower) after months of laying/rolling around in the desert. She’s starting to shed her winter coat, so it’ll be a hairier time than usual for a month or so.

We finally got our 3rd (last) vertical cellular shade installed on the back window too. We really like the look of them, closed or open. Good thing since they cost way more than we’d normally spend.

We also had the cargo deck on the back of the trailer raised up & beefed up as the RV park has a welder. After cleaning off the corrosion on one of the 6v batteries & rehooking them, the problem of the batteries not charging while traveling seems to have been fixed.

We drove up, down, & around Bisbee one Saturday morning, & if there’d been anywhere to park, might have checked out a museum or coffee shop. But — we just drove all around (up & down) the unique streets & never got out of the truck.

We also drove west to Sierra Vista to get yet another (the 4th) screen door handle at the only RV supply dealer in the area. Nice town, lots of stores & great views of the valley & surrounding mountains. There was snow on the mountains southwest of town.

We managed to drive north of the Park to visit Whitewater Draw, a popular wintering hole for many bird species. It didn’t have too much water tho & apparently most birds have already started their northern migration. Boondocking is allowed for 3 nights in a small parking area next to picnic tables. We weren’t terribly impressed, but it would be a handy place to hang if we were spending days waiting & watching for birds & wildlife in the area.

Of our 2 weeks at the Park, it got into the 80s most days & the wind was the only thing that kept it tolerable. We did turn on the A/C only on the day of installing the shade, but otherwise an open window & Fantastic Fan kept temps comfortable. The wind was fairly fierce several days. It was great sleeping with the windows cracked at night too. Also had the sun screens we got in Quartszite on the east & south windows too so the cool, shady air came in thru the north window. At least we didn’t have cold, wet feet walking in white stuff like too much of the US. Boy have we ever enjoyed our southwest winter but it was finally time to leave AZ & head toward Missouri (by way of NM & TX).