Gage Hotel Marathon Tx

Marathon is one of our traditional stopovers when we are headed home from a trip out west. We have stayed at the Gage Hotel several times over the years. The MP is parked across the street from the hotel. We will be in Marathon tomorrow but we are going to move a few hundred yards down the road to the RV park. One of the attractions here is the hotel restaurant. I have no idea how they attracted a chef out here but he or she is spectacular. Expensive but really good. We are close to Big Bend NP. Homeland security has been threatening to build a wall along the river through the park. No one here seems to be in favor of that plan. Not sure what we will do tomorrow. We are dragging our feet in order to arrive in SA on the 28th.

El Paso

Today was an interstate 10 slog. We have decided to have a hotel stay tomorrow, so we will be in The Gage Hotel in Marathon. The road behind the MP is the interstate. We are on the East side of El Paso. I'll post something from the hotel tomorrow.

Wilcox day 2

This stop is our last planned stop. We literally don't know where we are going to be tomorrow or the day after. We are shooting for SA on the 28th but that's the only thing we have on the calendar. I did the hike today that I mentioned yesterday. It was pretty grueling. There was a 1 mile loop at the top that wandered around those weird hoodoos. Jenny thinks her hip might be feeling better. She took that sunset picture yesterday.

Wilcox Az

We stopped here to do a hike in Chiricahua NM. We've been here before but didn't get a chance to do this one particular hike. The problem is that Jenny has been complaining about a painful hip and she doesn't want to aggravate it as it heals so I'm going to do the hike alone tomorrow morning. The Monument is otherworldly. It kinda defies description. On a weirdness scale it's a 10. More tomorrow.

Day 2 at the fool

The source of the name "Fool Hollow" is this: Right after this part of the Arizona Territory got settled, it was mostly ranchers. An interprising young man wasn't interested in ranching. He wanted to farm. He told everyone that he was going to establish a farm in the relative flat hollow where the lake is now. The ranching community considered him a fool. His farm became "Fool Hollow". The history behind the name "Show Low" is this: Two gambling men were interested in a large tract of land that was somehow available after the civil war in this area. The story goes that after an all night gambling session that was supposed to determine which one of these gentlemen would end up with the property, one of them wanted to end it. He said "If you want this land show low" in other words whoever had the lowest cards would win and the new owner of the property would be determined. One of the guys flipped over a 2 of clubs, the lowest card in the deck. He supposedly said  "Show Low it is". The name stuck. I'm sure that's some trivia you will never use. We are about to leave the cool, high elevation, pine trees for the hot prickly pair covered desert. We haven't had to use our AC for quite awhile. That will change tomorrow and it won't change until we get home. Our next stop is still in Az but not by much. More tomorrow.

Fool Hollow Lake

This is a Arizona State Recreation Area in Show Low. There are stories behind the names Fool Hollow and Show Low. I'll explain that tomorrow if I remember. The Fool Hollow Lake is supposed to be 150 acres. It's now just 55. That pic is the boat ramp. The Monsoon has followed us here. I took that picture of the black cloud just before I dashed inside. We are here for 2 nights.

Peach 🍑 Springs day 2

We drove into town to get our permit to drive into the Grand Canyon on the Diamond Creek road and we found out 12 miles of the road is gone. The creek bed is the road apparently. So, that's strike 2 on that adventure. I got on my bike when we returned to the MP and during my exploring I saw a disc golf basket. #5. Very interesting! Disc golf is not advertised or promoted in any way by this campground. After some searching I found #1 and I rode the entire course. Jenny was up for some exercise and I haven't thrown a disc on this entire trip so, you guessed it. I think I have mentioned that I suk at Disc golf. Nothings changed. We finally did the Cave tour. It was beginning to rain and there was a very, very dark cloud approaching. We just ended the tour and we are witnessing what I am sure is a biblical flood. Update: it wasn't a biblical flood. There was a break in the rain and we made it to the car and to the MP. The cave is the largest dry cave in the US. It was outfitted as a bomb shelter during the Cuban missile crisis and all the supplies that were stashed in the cave are still there. Kinda strange but not much surprises me anymore. We move tomorrow but we will still be in Az.