Day 17

We had tried to work our way west from the border to the Coronado National Forest but every gate we came to that would allow us to do that were all locked with "No Trespassing" signs posted. We ended up driving to Wilcox, AZ for the night.

The next morning we headed south toward Tombstone, AZ and stopped there for a walk around main street. There is a lot of history there but it is easy to see that it has been developed for the tourist trade.

After leaving Tombstone we drove south to Bisbee where we had lunch in the Bisbee Grill. Great place to eat. We did a walking tour of the old part of Bisbee and enjoyed the sights for a short while after lunch.

From Bisbee we traveled further south and west across Ft. Huachuca and up over the Huachuca mountains. We drove the border toward Nogales and found an old monument to Fr. Marcos De Niza who was the first European west of the Rockies on April 12, 1539. The border was onlt about 50 yards behind the monument.

The photo of the sign says it all, I suppose. The border was right behind the sign. This was on the San Rafael Ranch which was established by an old Spanish land grant. However, as we drove up and over another mountain range, we encountered no problems at all. We were on mountain roads that were rough and rocky while we were trying to outrun a storm that was brewing. We did not want to get caught on that road when it was raining. We hit pavement just as the storm hit and drove the rest of the way to Tubac in a heavy rainstorm. If we had been caught in the mountains by the storm, we would have had to stay there till the roads were passable again.

We arrived in Tubac, AZ in the afternoon and promptly went to the Grumpy Gringo where we met Matt Hickeys friend and owner of The Grumpy Gringo, Terry Kirkpatrick.

Tubac is a community of galleries and shops that will be fun to explore. I am looking forward to seeing as much of the town as I can.