Texas Bound

5-9 February

With the solar upgrade installed, we headed south out of Las Vegas. Since we wanted to test the new setup, we boondocked at Constellation Park in Wickenburg AZ.

Sign at the entrance to the campground

Campfires and hotdogs just go together

It's a small city park in the hills around Wickenburg that has both regular campsites and ones with small horse corrals. It's right across the street from a rodeo arena, hence the horse sites. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and watched a beautiful sunset turn into a star-studded night sky. We were very impressed with how well the batteries did. We ran the heater all night and still had over 60% battery charge left in the morning! I think I’m going to like this!

Sunset over Wickenburg

So many stars! Do you know what this constellation is?

Serafina has really taken to Denise. She sits with her all the time

The next day we headed out and had planned to stay at a campground, but changed our minds at the last minute. Denise had been wanting to go to Tombstone AZ and when we realized it was only 24 miles further from the campground, we decided to camp there instead. There’s the Tombstone Dry Camping RV Park which is basically a big gravel lot right near the courthouse where you can boondock for $10/night. There are no amenities;

however, the advantage to it is you’re literally just steps away from the OK Corral and downtown Tombstone.

We were able to walk to everything. We did the cheesy touristy thing and watched the showdown at OK corral reenactment and toured the town. It was pretty interesting and there’s a lot of history here.

After silver was discovered nearby in 1877, Tombstone quickly grew into one of the richest mining towns in the Southwest. The feud between lawmen and brothers Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil Earp and their friend, Doc Holliday and members of the Cowboy gang, Tom and Frank McLaury and Ike and Billy Clanton started soon after the Earps arrived in Tombstone. Virgil became the marshal and suspected the Cowboys were rustling cattle among other criminal activities and was determined to put an end to it. On October 26, 1881, the struggle between these two groups for control of Tombstone ended in the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral. Thirty seconds and 30 shots later, three of the Cowboys lay dead and Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday were wounded. Both the McLaury brothers and Billy Clinton were killed while Ike Clanton fled the fight.

Behind this wall is the OK Corral. Undertaker's tools of the trade and a picture of the three men killed at the shootout.

The darker side of Tombstone. I had no idea that Big Nose Kate was a prostitute/madam.

Geronimo was an Apache leader and medicine man best known for his fearlessness in resisting anyone who attempted to remove his people from their tribal lands.

He repeatedly evaded capture and life on a reservation. On May 17, 1885, Geronimo, then 55, led 135 Apache followers in a daring escape from the reservation. While on the loose, Geronimo and his band raided both Mexican and American settlements, sometimes killing civilians. In March of 1886, General George Crook forced Geronimo to surrender, but at the last minute, Geronimo and 40 followers escaped under cover of darkness. Five thousand U.S. soldiers—nearly a quarter of the standing army—and 3,000 Mexicans pursued the escapees. They held out for five months before Geronimo turned himself into General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon, Arizona on September 4, 1886. When Geronimo was captured, he was the last Native American leader to formally surrender to the U.S. military. He spent the last 23 years of his life as a prisoner of war.

Allen Street, Tombstone AZ

Tombstone Visitor Center

Tombstone Courthouse. The campground was down the hill behind the courthouse

Tombstone Epitaph, the local newspaper

Our next overnight stop was a Harvest Host. We stayed at Lescombe Winery & Bistro in Deming NM. We did a wine tasting and ended up buying 2 bottles each! It was delicious. Gable made a friend while we were there too!

After our relaxing night at the winery, we made our way down to the Wild West RV Park in Van Horn TX for another overnight stop. The best thing I can say about this place is the shower is hot…until someone flushes. Nuff said.

On Wednesday we finally completed our 1,000-mile journey to Terlingua TX, just outside Big Bend National Park. We made one little side stop though at a landmark that was unique and very out of place. In the middle of nowhere on Hwy 90 near Valentine TX is a place called Prada Marfa.

The plaque next to it says, in part, “Art Production Fund and Ballroom Marfa present PRADA MARFA, a site-specific, permanent land art project by artists Elmgreen and Dragset. Modeled after a Prada Boutique, the structure includes luxury goods from the fall 2005 collection. However, the sculpture will never function as a place of commerce, the door cannot be opened.”

The shoes and purses inside are real Prada! Crazy I know!

We checked in at BJ’s RV Park in Terlingua where we discovered two things. One, someone back at the Wild West RV Park is enjoying a free pair of tire chocks, and two, the cap to the sewer hose holder was missing and the sewer hose was hanging out! Luckily, we didn’t lose that too because the tanks needed dumping! I still can't believe I ran over the chocks leaving Van Horn and didn't even feel it.😳🙄

Being as resourceful as we are, we grabbed a couple of rocks in our site and used those to chock the tires. I ended up having to zip tie the hose back into the holder. At this point we’re used to the unexpected and just roll with it.

Lessons Learned this week:

1. Follow your checklist so you don't leave things behind

2. Carry spare parts

Next time we explore Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park!