Prayers have been answered

and we are headed back to College Station. As many of you know, Captain’s brother, Rex, has been on the kidney transplant list for over a year. Many of you have joined us in praying for a donor to appear. What we didn’t know, God apparently had another idea; the donor was already among us. Rex’s 29-year old son, Matt, has completed the extensive testing and evaluation and has been found to be a very close match. The transplant team found this to be most remarkable as Matt is adopted; never have they seen such a close match from non-blood related donors. We ask those of you that are inclined to continue to pray for a successful transplant and a speedy recovery for Rex and Matt.

The Wanderer is pointed toward Texas; we plan to be in San Antonio for the surgeries on February 27^th. We will stay in College Station for as long as we are needed.

The Wanderer has been parked at the base of Superstition Mountain in Lost Dutchman State Park.   

The weather remains unseasonably cool and windy here in Arizona but we did have a few days of sunshine and were able to do a bit of hiking.

Siphon Draw Trail in Lost Dutchman State Park; this is where ABN turned around, knowing she would have to slide back down on her backside. 

Captain continued on the trail up to the basin.

The Basin

We have had a good visit with ABN’s sister, Mary and husband Steve. They introduced us to Barleen’s Dinner Theater

and Queen Creek Olive Mill. After about a 45 min. lecture on olive oil, we “drank the olive oil” and came away with both dark chocolate and bacon flavors. What are we going to do with all this olive oil??? Tipsy Tuesday friends, be warned; there may be some interesting appetizers appearing on the porch this spring!

One thing of which we never tire is the beautiful sunsets in the west

Adios, Arizona!

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75 and Sunny

is what we would like to say about our Winter 2019 Adventure, but that was not to be. We have experienced a week of cool, cloudy, often rainy days here in our favorite bohemian town of Bisbee. On a couple of days it was so windy we didn’t leave our tiny home. But that hasn’t kept us from enjoying the quirkiness of this small town in southern Arizona.

Bisbee calls us every winter to return and embrace our free spirit. We started our week by attending the Covenant Presbyterian Church on Sunday afternoon; okay, actually the week started on Saturday evening at Old Bisbee Brewing Co. which was our first stop (love the Mayan Stout!), 

followed by listening to Cat Daddy and the 12 Barz Blues Band at the Grand Hotel. During the week we returned to The Grand to hear a favorite, Becky Reyes, and stopped by the Copper Queen to hear cowboy, Johnny Bencomo and his 18-string guitar. (Local music is one of the draws to return to Bisbee.)

We checked in with Rob at Bisbee Olive Oil Company

he introduced us to a couple of new flavors like Chocolate Raspberry Balsamic and Garlic Parmesan Olive Oil (yep, we have a couple on board.)

We popped in to Lunatic Fringe Luthiery to see what is new with Keith

The Wizzard has been busy! Loving his cigar box ukuleles and the upright wash tub bass!

Captain is nursing a strained knee and decided climbing the hills and steps would not be a good thing, so ABN set out on her own and found some new treasures.

Just one of the streets in Bisbee.

Of course, being by herself, she did a bit of shopping and discovered a new store that fed her artsy soul. Art Home requested she not take photos but directed her to their web site, Art Home. (be sure and scroll down to see the furniture.

Another new discovery is The Quarry, 

a made from scratch restaurant that had good reviews on Yelp. The food was okay but the most interesting part is the extensive description on the menu. Below are a few excerpts.

“We do not do things fast, we do things well. If you are in a hurry or have a bad attitude, please go elsewhere. No matter how many people Yelp about it, we are not going to change.”

“Our scraps go to a local heirloom pig farmer.”

“Our average food wait time is one half-hour to one full hour, please plan accordingly.”

“Happy hours are stupid, we are always happy.”

Our last evening in Bisbee was spent listening to Juniper Jazz Ensemble at The Grand.

Walking back to The Wanderer, we asked ourselves what exactly is it that brings us back each year.  For Captain, it is no question, the live music every evening. He questioned how a town of about 5000 can support such a variety of talented musicians. The answer to that is one of the things that draws ABN; most of the folks do not seem to be interested in making a lot of money. There is a feeling of contentment doing what they love, earning enough to live on. In other words quality of life over materialism. ABN also loves that, when in Bisbee, one can be their self without judgement. (And she really likes all the color!)

Our inner hippy has been inspired; 

if you are not familiar with Bisbee, you might want to see more photos from our earlier posts here. 

Today we are headed north to Lost Dutchman State Park. Once again we will be off the grid and most likely will not have dependable WiFi and cell service.

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Oh the places we go

and the people we meet!

Last week we had an incredible experience in Southern Arizona! As we have said many times, it is the people we meet as we travel that feed our souls. Our souls have had a feast!

Where shall we begin? How about with a complete happenstance? We were introduced to the wines of Sonoita last winter at a wine festival in Tucson and made a note to explore the region. As we were driving the rural roads in Sonoita Wine Country we saw a white event tent on a rural farm and assumed it was in preparation for a private event.

As we drove past, we saw a hand painted sign that said “Farm Brewery, open to public.” We made a U-turn! As we drove up the drive we heard a female voice calling to us from a nearby field. It was the owner; she stopped pulling weeds in the hops patch to come over and serve us beer.

That's Mel on the right.

As we sat at the table drinking our Nut Brown Pecan Ale,

she told us how she left the law business and, with her husband, bought 5-acres to create an organic farm to grow hops, make beer and distill spirits. You will probably hear more about Copper Hop Ranch Farm Brewery

as Mel invited us to park The Wanderer at the farm for a weekend next winter. (We really do like the Nut Brown Pecan Ale

and Mel is an absolute delight!)

The tasting rooms in Sonoita Wine Country were interesting. The tastings, usually around $7-10 each, were very scant but included a souvenir glass. The last thing we want to take up space in The Wanderer is souvenir glasses; however we did get a discount on the tasting if brought our own glasses, so that is what we did. We found some very good wines that suited our palates. Our favorite was a smoky malbec from Kief-Joshua Vineyards.

The most fun tasting room was Arizona Hops and Vines

May have to steal this cork/velcro idea!

Interestingly, the wines were paired with chips; pepper chips, kettle chips, Cheetos and cocoa puffs.

And then there was Rune 

with walls lined with brown paper which encouraged artistic expressions.

The Wanderer was parked at Patagonia Lake State Park, a short distance from the quaint little town of Patagonia. We did not have internet or cell service at the campground so we drove into town in the mornings and sipped coffee at The Gathering Ground

while we caught up on emails.

Camped next to us on one side was Mike from England. He told us he had been traveling the world for about 5 years, first on a motorcycle; when it wore out he bought a camper van. His travels have taken him to most of the continents. On the other side of our campsite were Vicky and Ric from Daytona, Florida. They too travel extensively both domestic and international. They are professional photographers; their stunning photographs can be seen at Ric and Vicky Kessler Photography. Having recently fished in Alaska, they gifted us with a jar of salmon, caught and canned by Vicky. Needless to say, conversation around the campfire was most interesting.

Earlier in the week we spent a few days in Tubac so ABN could get her art and shopping fix.

We parked The Wanderer within a short walking distance from town so ABN could come and go as she wished.

Sunflower Camp is an interesting campground; basically a field with full hook-ups. There we met Gayle and Keith from Boise, Idaho. Sitting around their campfire we learned they were regulars, spending the winter so Keith could hunt quail.

We want to give a shout-out to J.J. (short for Jesus Jose) at Quick Fix in Nogales. We, once again, had a problem with the left tail-light on the Ranger. J.J. fixed it in short order while explaining in detail the problem. We pulled into the parking lot without an appointment; a couple of hours later we pulled out with working tail-lights and not with a huge repair bill.

While in Nogales (which is on the border) we stopped for groceries at Walmart. We felt a blend of cultures as it was a large, very clean and modern store with at least half of the cars in the parking lot sporting Mexico license plates. The display signs were in English but overhead announcements were in Spanish.  

This week we continue to be near the border in one of our favorite towns, Bisbee.

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