More of Hot Well Dunes and the Surrounding Area

For our next adventure, we drove into Willcox, Arizona, to visit the Rex Allen Museum.Unfortunately, the museum was closed, even though it was Saturday and the small downtown area was busy. We were able to see the small park dedicated to Rex Allen and his horse Ko Ko.

 Fortunately for Connie and I, the wine tasting room next door was open! The building was originally a bank. The ceiling still has the tin tiles and the floor was the original wood.

 Connie and I enjoyed tasting the wine while the guys waited.

 After our wine tasting, we decided it was time for lunch. We decided on Big Tex's Barbecue. Bob and Larry both got barbecue, Connie got a burger, and I had a chicken sandwich. No one left the table hungry!

 Across the street, was a mural for Willcox. Bob and I have found that many small towns have murals to celebrate their founding.

Before we traveled back to Hot Well Dunes, we stopped at the local Safeway to replenish some supplies. Bob and I also went in Beall's Outlet to look for warm slippers. Nights in the desert tend to be cold in February and March so we needed warmer footwear! 


The next day was a down day for Larry and Connie. They had work to do to prepare for their summer job. Bob and I decided to go geocaching on Mt. Graham near Safford. Instead of taking Haekel Road north to US 70, we drove Tanque Road, which Larry and Connie drove their rig in on! Yes, it is a dirt road.

Once we were on the highway to Mt. Graham, we picked up a couple of geocaches. Bob has an interesting story to tell about a prickly pear cactus attacking him when he replaced a cache.

When we reached the entrance to Coronado National Forest, we snapped a picture of the map for Mt. Graham. Mt. Graham is the snowcapped mountain we see from our campsite.

As we drove up the mountain, we collected a few caches and I have to say we really worked for them as they were above 6000 feet elevation.

We found one near Wet Canyon Bridge which was constructed by the CCC in the 1930s.

The views as we drove up the mountain were amazing! I think we saw our Sol in the distance on the desert floor!

When we reached a trailhead that was over 9000 feet elevation, we decided to turn around and head down the mountain--no way were we getting the cache 200 feet down this trail.

We had a great time caching, but when we returned to Sol, it was too cloudy and cold to go in the hot tubs--the solar run pump had turned off. It was a group decision to visit the hot tubs the next morning before we departed for Whitewater Draw Wildlife Management Area.  The tubs were just warming up, but we had a good soak!

 After showering and packing up camp we moved on to the RV park in Bowie to dump our tanks and fill our freshwater. Time to do some more boondocking at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Management Area.