Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Today was a travelling morning. We left our site at Tucson at 7:45 am. The last two pictures were taken between Tucson and Benson, AZ Note the clouds in the sky. The first picture was taken on Hwy 90 just off I10.

Our destination was the Kartchner Caverns just out of Benson, AZ. It is a "live" cave, discovered in 1974 and is host to a wide variety of unique minerals and formations. Water percolates from the surface and calcite formations continue to

grow, including stalactites dripping down like icicles and giant stalagmites

reaching up from the ground. It was a 1.5 hour tour. We were not allowed to take anything into

the caves. It was dimly lit bec

ause they are trying to preserve the living aspect of the caves, so no pictures. At one point I ended up in the middle of the tour with people pressing against me, and I almost lost it. I pushed my way to the front where I could see a bit of an open space, and took several deep breaths to keep my sanity about me. I was glad it was nearing the end of the tour, because I don't know if I would have made it much longer. We purchased a DVD of the history, and it does show some of the beautiful formations. It certainly was the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. And because we couldn't take pictures inside I didn't get any outside because the camera was in the truck. The gardens contained some unique Agave and other plants we had not seen before.

Upon leaving the caves we drove to the Escapee's park just outside of Benson where we set up in the dry camp area. Doug & Phyllis could come in as our guests for a maximum of two weeks. We don't usually do RV parks, but we want to have a base to do day trips to Tombstone, Bisbee, Wilcox and other points unknown at this time.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, up early and on the road by 7:15, so it is good night to you all from the Arizona desert.