Arizona, October 2018 Part 5 (Benson)
September 22, 2018--Drive from home to to High Plains Camping,, Oakley, KS, overnight, 345 Miles
September 23, 2018--Drive from Oakley, KS to Pueblo South/Colorado City KOA, Pueblo, CO, overnight, 297 miles
September 24, 2018--Driive from Pueblo, CO to Santa Fe Skies RV Resort, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 261 miles
September 24, 2018 to October 4, 2018--Santa Fe Skies RV Resort, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 11 days
October 5, 2018--Drive from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Albuquerque KOA, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 37 miles
October 5, 2018 to October 7, 2018--Albuquerque KOA, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 3 days
October 8, 2018--Drive from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Carlsbad KOA, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 278 miles
October 8, 2018 to October 9, 2018--Carlsbad KOA, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 2 days
October 10, 2018--Drive from Carlsbad, New Mexico to Boothill RV Park, Alamagordo, New Mexico 168 miles
October 10, 2018 to October 11, 2018--Boothill RV Park, Alamagordo, New Mexico 2 days
October 12, 2018--Drive from Alamagordo, New Mexico to Butterfield RV Park, Benson, Arizona, 309 miles
October 12-13--Butterfield RV Park, Benson, Arizona 2 days
October 14, 2018--Drive from Benson, Arizona to Rincon Country West RV Resort, Tucson, Arizona for the winter! 48 miles
September 23, 2018--Drive from Oakley, KS to Pueblo South/Colorado City KOA, Pueblo, CO, overnight, 297 miles
September 24, 2018--Driive from Pueblo, CO to Santa Fe Skies RV Resort, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 261 miles
September 24, 2018 to October 4, 2018--Santa Fe Skies RV Resort, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 11 days
October 5, 2018--Drive from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Albuquerque KOA, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 37 miles
October 5, 2018 to October 7, 2018--Albuquerque KOA, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 3 days
October 8, 2018--Drive from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Carlsbad KOA, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 278 miles
October 8, 2018 to October 9, 2018--Carlsbad KOA, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 2 days
October 10, 2018--Drive from Carlsbad, New Mexico to Boothill RV Park, Alamagordo, New Mexico 168 miles
October 10, 2018 to October 11, 2018--Boothill RV Park, Alamagordo, New Mexico 2 days
October 12, 2018--Drive from Alamagordo, New Mexico to Butterfield RV Park, Benson, Arizona, 309 miles
October 12-13--Butterfield RV Park, Benson, Arizona 2 days
October 14, 2018--Drive from Benson, Arizona to Rincon Country West RV Resort, Tucson, Arizona for the winter! 48 miles
October 12, 2018, Alamagordo, NM to Benson, AZ
We left the RV Park at Alamagordo around 7:30 am. Mike had done a few things to the RV already so it didn’t take us long to get packed up and on the road. It had already started sprinkling by the time we left and rained the entire drive today.
The drive was uneventful until we tried to take I-10 from I-25 at Las Cruces. There were several accidents so the police had blocked the interchange. We had to backtrack and of course ran into lots of slow traffic. It took us about an hour to get out of the mess and back on I-10 towards Benson, our destination for today.At the Arizona state line we gained an hour so it was actually an hour earlier than we counted on. It was 1:30 pm when we got to Butterfield RV Park, in Benson, AZ. Had we not had the time change it would have been 2:30, and we have to keep in mind now KC is two hours ahead of us.
Since we hadn’t eaten all day we went out for an early dinner to Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant. This was a little mom and pop operation located in an old, brightly colored home. At first Mike and I were a little concerned about eating here but once we walked in we were comfortable with the atmosphere. We were the only ones there but the restaurant quickly filled up. Our food was great and glad we trusted tripadvisor for this suggestion. I had fajitas and Mike had an enchilada platter. Both entrees were beautifully presented. We ordered sopapillas at the end of the meal expecting those wonderful puffy ones we had while in New Mexico. We were disappointed that the sopapillas here are the small, sugar and cinnamon, crunchier pastries. Oh how we miss those New Mexico sopapillas that are served with the meals!
After dinner we came back to the RV, tomorrow will be Kartchner Caverns tour south of Benson. We’re almost through with our travels before arriving at Tucson for the winter.
The drive was uneventful until we tried to take I-10 from I-25 at Las Cruces. There were several accidents so the police had blocked the interchange. We had to backtrack and of course ran into lots of slow traffic. It took us about an hour to get out of the mess and back on I-10 towards Benson, our destination for today.At the Arizona state line we gained an hour so it was actually an hour earlier than we counted on. It was 1:30 pm when we got to Butterfield RV Park, in Benson, AZ. Had we not had the time change it would have been 2:30, and we have to keep in mind now KC is two hours ahead of us.
Since we hadn’t eaten all day we went out for an early dinner to Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant. This was a little mom and pop operation located in an old, brightly colored home. At first Mike and I were a little concerned about eating here but once we walked in we were comfortable with the atmosphere. We were the only ones there but the restaurant quickly filled up. Our food was great and glad we trusted tripadvisor for this suggestion. I had fajitas and Mike had an enchilada platter. Both entrees were beautifully presented. We ordered sopapillas at the end of the meal expecting those wonderful puffy ones we had while in New Mexico. We were disappointed that the sopapillas here are the small, sugar and cinnamon, crunchier pastries. Oh how we miss those New Mexico sopapillas that are served with the meals!
After dinner we came back to the RV, tomorrow will be Kartchner Caverns tour south of Benson. We’re almost through with our travels before arriving at Tucson for the winter.
October 13, 2018, Kartchner Caverns, Benson, AZ
It started to lightly rain this morning before we left for Kartchner Caverns State Park. We arrived at 9 am as the visitor’s center doors were opening. We had tickets for the 10:20 am Rotunda/Throne Room tour. We had no idea what size the facility was so got there earlier than we should have. The staff volunteered to change our tour to the 9:40 am tour which was great with us.
Kartchner Caverns was a nice state park which included a small snack bar, a nice gift shop, and a small museum. There was also a campground nearby with cabins and sites for RV’s. It looked really nice and if we ever come back we might stay here. The sites were electric and water only. We hadn’t brought in any backpacks, cell phones, or cameras as none were allowed in the cave. To waste a little bit of time Mike and I watched the video at the visitor’s center about Kartchner Cavern. It was a really interesting film all about the men who discovered the cave, the lengths that they went to in order to preserve the cave, and the political process they went through in order to declare the cave a state park. This is one of the few caves that has been preserved so carefully. After we saw the film we understood more clearly why for the sake of preservation that all electronic devices, cameras, and bags weren’t allowed in the cave.
We didn’t really expect much from the cave as we had just seen Carlsbad Caverns recently but we were blown away. The tour was ranger led and this guy knew his stuff. He was very informative, interesting, and entertaining. We took a shuttle to a man made tunnel that took us to the entrance of the cave. Before we entered the cave we went through a series of air tight doors and water misters that helped preserve the cave’s atmosphere. The first room of the cave was called the Rotunda where the original explorers descended into the cave. They used the same path each time so as not to disturb the features of the cave. The second room we went into, the Throne Room, had a music/light show that highlighted all of the special formations. It was amazing and you could hear a pin drop while the light show played.
Kartchner Caverns was a nice state park which included a small snack bar, a nice gift shop, and a small museum. There was also a campground nearby with cabins and sites for RV’s. It looked really nice and if we ever come back we might stay here. The sites were electric and water only. We hadn’t brought in any backpacks, cell phones, or cameras as none were allowed in the cave. To waste a little bit of time Mike and I watched the video at the visitor’s center about Kartchner Cavern. It was a really interesting film all about the men who discovered the cave, the lengths that they went to in order to preserve the cave, and the political process they went through in order to declare the cave a state park. This is one of the few caves that has been preserved so carefully. After we saw the film we understood more clearly why for the sake of preservation that all electronic devices, cameras, and bags weren’t allowed in the cave.
We didn’t really expect much from the cave as we had just seen Carlsbad Caverns recently but we were blown away. The tour was ranger led and this guy knew his stuff. He was very informative, interesting, and entertaining. We took a shuttle to a man made tunnel that took us to the entrance of the cave. Before we entered the cave we went through a series of air tight doors and water misters that helped preserve the cave’s atmosphere. The first room of the cave was called the Rotunda where the original explorers descended into the cave. They used the same path each time so as not to disturb the features of the cave. The second room we went into, the Throne Room, had a music/light show that highlighted all of the special formations. It was amazing and you could hear a pin drop while the light show played.
The part I always love about any park or monument is the personal history behind it and Kartchner Caverns is no different. The caverns were discovered in 1974, when cavers Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts found a narrow crack in the bottom of a sinkhole, and followed the source of warm, moist air toward what ended up being more than 2.5 miles of pristine cave passages. Randy Tufts, PhD, who at the time of his death was a geologist and lunar and planetary scientist for NASA, was first introduced to caving as a young boy by his maternal uncle, also a geologist. His uncle showed him caves in Arizona that had been vandalized in various ways including graffiti, litter, and the theft of stalactites and stalagmites. At the age of 13, Randy read an English children's adventure book entitled, "Five Boys in a Cave," and inspired, he decided that he wanted to find a cave that had not ever been vandalized and protect it. For years, Randy would take his friends out to the Whetstone limestone mountain range looking for caves, walking a grid, with no success until they asked a local miner if he had ever heard of a local cave. The miner pointed to the foothills below them. There they found, and nearly fell into, a deep sink hole. At the time, although they had found a sink hole and a small cave chamber, they did not think that the cave went anywhere. It was years later when Randy was on a picnic luncheon date, that he found another sink hole. He went home to get his caving gear and asked Gary Tenen to join him to explore the new sink hole. That new sink hole was also disappointing, but Randy and Gary decided upon a whim to return to the prior sink hole. This time they could smell bat guano, a hint that the cave might be much larger than they had originally thought. It was after crawling about the length of a football field, sometimes on their bellies, with only carbide lamps for light that they came to a very small bat hole. After chipping away at the hole for hours they entered the "Big Room". While there they realized that this discovery could place the caverns at risk. Hoping to protect the cave from vandalism, they kept the location a secret for fourteen years, deciding that the best way to preserve the cavern was to develop it as a tour cave. After gaining the cooperation of the Kartchner family and working with them for ten years, they decided that the best way to develop the cave as a tour cave was to approach Arizona State Parks. In 1985, The Nature Conservancy acquired an option to purchase the land. The discovery of the cave was finally made public in 1988 when the landowners sold the area to the state for development as a park and show cavern. Prior to its grand opening in 1999, the state spent $28 million on a high-tech system of air-lock doors, misting machines and other equipment designed to preserve the cave.
It was raining hard after our tour so we went back to the visitor’s center and did a little shopping in the gift shop and wandered through the small museum. It was a really nice museum that we enjoyed.We drove back to our motor home deciding if the weather cleared up we would go back for Kartchner Star Party which was a lecture and an outdoor star viewing.. We ate some lunch at Wild Dog’s Café and it was pretty good for hot dogs. Mike had the pastrami dog and I had the chili cheese dog. I don’t think I could take a regular diet of hot dogs but these were pretty good.
It was raining hard after our tour so we went back to the visitor’s center and did a little shopping in the gift shop and wandered through the small museum. It was a really nice museum that we enjoyed.We drove back to our motor home deciding if the weather cleared up we would go back for Kartchner Star Party which was a lecture and an outdoor star viewing.. We ate some lunch at Wild Dog’s Café and it was pretty good for hot dogs. Mike had the pastrami dog and I had the chili cheese dog. I don’t think I could take a regular diet of hot dogs but these were pretty good.
Tomorrow we’ll be driving to Tucson where we will stay for the winter……I know, who ever thought we’d be snowbirds ……