Current Location: Benson KOA, Benson, Arizona

Today we headed down to visit historic Tombstone, Arizona. We did a lot of walking and mostly avoided the pure tourist trap stuff. Our first stop was the historic courthouse building which offered a very informative and nicely done self-guided historical tour. There was a lot of interesting information about the area and its history.

Downtown Tombstone

We bought tickets to see the noon reenactment of the gunfight at the OK corral. It was well-portrayed and we enjoyed watching it. While waiting for the show, we wandered around and read signs about the gunfight and other interesting people of the area.

Mock-up of the gunfight.

Lots of nice historical signage

After the gunfight (and a narrative show that we watched beforehand), it was off to grab some lunch at The Longhorn. The food was good. We ordered margaritas and got souvenir glasses to take with us.

Drinks

After lunch, we took a tour of the town on one of the stagecoaches. It was a nice, informative tour and a fun way to get off your feet for a while. Malcolm took the opportunity to pose with the tour horses.

Our tour horses

We strolled through a few more shops and headed out of town, stopping at Boot Hill cemetery on the way out of town. It was interesting. Once back in Benson, we stopped by the grocery to pick up a couple items then headed back to the trailer for dinner and to relax. We were treated to a nice, southwestern sunset.

Sunset

Tomorrow we pack up and head up to Mesa for a few days.

Current Location: Benson KOA, Benson, Arizona

We were up early this morning and had pulled out of Van Horn, Texas by 7:30 AM. Little did we realize we were just miles away from the Mountain Time Zone, so we made up an extra hour along the way. It was much less windy today than the previous two days. Also, it warmed up quite nicely. Despite being 31 degrees when we arose, it was in the 70’s by the time we arrived in Benson.

Sunrise this morning

Rocks at rest stop in Arizona

Once set up at the KOA here, we headed into town to the WalMart to pick up a couple things, then back to the trailer. Dinner was fish on the grill. After dinner, we sat outside for a little while, but the setting sun cooled things off pretty quickly so we ducked back indoors.

KOA Setup

Malcolm relaxing

Malcolm took a walk around the campground, then took one of our propane tanks over to get it filled. The price was extremely good – $17 for a 30 pound propane tank. Best price we’ve had since we bought the trailer.

We’ll be here for two nights, heading out for some sight-seeing tomorrow.

Today’s license plates – 29 of 51 states found.

License Plates

Current Location: Railside RV Ranch, Williams, Arizona

Today we headed downtown with tickets in hand to ride the Grand Canyon Railroad train up to the Grand Canyon. We stopped in the station to get bus tickets so we could ride the bus around at the park, as well as eat lunch there.

Williams train station

Before we got on the train, they had a short western show down the tracks from the station. Several of the men in the group were the same ones from last night’s show in the streets of Williams. It was a fun diversion.

Trying to “rob” a “rich tourist”

The scene

Once the show was over, we all wandered over to board the train. We rode in first class which was price-wise, about the middle of the pack. The seats were very roomy and comfortable. We were served complimentary food and beverages on the trip up and back.

Sign in one of the train cars

For whatever reason, WordPress doesn’t want to upload the picture of the inside of our train car.

Once at the park, we headed to our bus which took us to get lunch. It was a pretty good buffet. From there, we rode to two different lookouts to get pictures. The second lookout didn’t have very many spots to get pictures from and, frankly, it would have been pretty much the same type of scenery. We pretty much sat in the bus at the second stop.

WordPress is pretty much done letting us upload pictures this evening for whatever reason. I’m sure you can Google plenty of pictures of the Grand Canyon if you really want to see some.

Once back from the train ride, we stopped by the trailer, changed clothes and headed into Williams for another gunfight on the street, a little shopping and dinner.

Tomorrow we start heading east again, probably stopping around Albuquerque.

Current Location: Railside RV Ranch, Williams, Arizona

This morning, we got everything all packed up, then walked over to the office at Oasis RV Resort. We met with the facilities manager to get some pictures of the various amenities for our friend Jim Beletti. Oasis is in the running for having the 2016 Heartland Owners’ Club national rally, so we offered Jim any assistance he might need before he visits with them later this year. He asked if we could go ahead and get some pictures. We’ll hand those off to him in a couple weeks at the Georgia rally.

Once that task was done, we finished hooking up and headed down the road. We took US 93 across the new bridge at Hoover Dam. The sides are so tall, we couldn’t see much of anything. Also, there were road signs indicating possible high winds and that tall vehicles should keep in the left lane, so we were in the middle of the bridge.

US 93 was an easy drive across the Arizona desert to Kingman. It was fairly hot, hovering around 100 degrees, but dropping into the low 90’s by the time we had climbed to Kingman. We took a quick break at Kingman, then hopped on I-40 east. A few miles down I-40, we decided to go ahead and take advantage of a truck stop parking lot to fix lunch.

Our site.

We finished the drive on into Williams around 2:30 in the afternoon and checked into the campground here. Once we got set up and the air conditioners running, we relaxed for a bit before driving to downtown Williams to check out the town. It was a lot of fun. Lots of interesting shops and great restaurants.

Downtown on Route 66

Great place for dinner

Photo op

At 7:00, they have a wild west show in the middle of the street. It was fun. One of the actors was from Alabama, so we made sure to get a picture made with him.

Whoopin’ it up

After the show, we drove around town a bit more, then headed back to the trailer. Tomorrow – the Grand Canyon. We’ve arranged something special for the day. Stay tuned to find out more tomorrow!