4/25 - Chiricahua National Monument in AZ

Saturday, April 25 – Camping at nearly 7000 feet, the hot desert day quickly turns bitter cold. Tyne gave up on our tent at about 5am and went to the car. I couldn't sleep much after that, and I got up just after dawn to start back up the fire. I reheated the leftover potatoes in the fire and woke Tyne up to a hot cup of coffee.

Camp all set up, we continued up to the mountain pass with our next destination being Chiricahua National Monument. Unfortunately, the mountain driving was killing our gas mileage and we were down to about a quarter tank from the top. We let the car roll in neutral down the other side (just as steep and windy) and crossed our fingers that we would make it, We came out of the forest with an 1/8^th left and pulled into Chiricahua National Monument.

This amazing and little known National Monument is a pretty small park. But what it lacks in size, it covers in terrain. The entire park is covered with standing rock pillars. We decided to go on a long hike, see the park, burn some calories and tire out Dazey.

We headed in past a bunch of the rock "pillars" then up over 1000 miles to "Inspiration Point." Seeing a panoramic view of the valley we soon would be descending, we certainly were feeling pretty inspired too. We then continued walking; past the balanced rock, duck rock, kissing rocks, arches and countless other amazing features. We couldn't walk 50 feet without saying "Wow." All and all we hiked about 10 miles and tired ourselves out just as much as we tired out the dog.

Heidi called from Sierra Vista. She is getting out of work at 5 and wants to go out to dinner and then out to have a few drinks. I knew Heidi from elementary school and we got really close in High School. She lives in Sierra Vista now with her Boarder patrol husband, Jerry.

We came out of the park just as the fuel light came on. The lady at the ticket booth said it was about 25 miles to the closest gas station, which was about what I could manage before running out. We ended up making it somehow. I think I heard it cough and sputter as we pulled in, but we did it!

The road took us down some pretty old roads through a couple of Ghost towns. The town of Gleason had an original one cell jailhouse that looks like it's straight out of Bonanza. There was a couple other really old buildings, but I did see several new homes with new cars out front. That kind of ruined the "ghost towns" for me.

Another 10 miles and we came into Tombstone. At first I was pretty excited, then I found out it was mainly just a tourist trap now. They did have a couple really cool historic places, but everything cost an arm and a leg to see and I felt I was at an amusement park more than I felt like I was in the old west.

Spending very little time in Tombstone, we soon came into Sierra Vista just in time. It was 5pm and we meet up with Heidi at the mall. After helping her pick out a new shirt, we met a couple of her friends and went out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings. A spicy chicken sandwhich made me feel so good. We collected all the leftovers for Dazey who was waiting outside in the car. Heidi is too nice and insisted on taking care of the bill.

We headed back to Heidi's place for a drink before going out. Her husband Jerry came home. He is a border patrol officer and we talked with him about what he does and all the fun stuff her gets into.

Heidi's wanted to go to JR's, but her friends boyfriend had a couple buddies at the VFW, so he convinced us to go there. In order to enter the bar, you had to ring a bell. After looking at his military ID, we all had to sign in. Walking into the bar, it was all older people, many of them in their 60's or beyond. Looks like it may be an interesting night.

A guy in his 40's got up for karaoke and started singing "Because I got high." We took a jager bomb and I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, the oldest guy in the place was staring at me with a shit eating grin on his face. "I know what that means," he said, reading the back of my shirt. "What happens in the mountains, stays in the mountains. When I was your age, I would go hiking all over the place."

After this incident, Heidi couldn't take it anymore. She told her friend and her boyfriend that we were going to JR's and to come over when they were down playing with the old people.

Fifteen minutes later, we were at the dimly lit JR's club and bar. Heidi has the hookup with the bartender, so she went and got us three drinks. Her drink of choice is a ________. It's a mix of 8 types of top shelf liquor, with a splash of sour mix over it. After two of them, I was done. We stayed at the bar til about 130am, talking with people, making friends and generally enjoying ourselves. There was this guy making a fool of himself, dancing on the tables and spilling drinks. He called Heidi a stupid bitch, so she used her power of knowing the bartender and DJ, and got him kicked out.

Heading back to Heidi's, I barely remember lying down. I was happy, tired, full, drunk and comfortable indoors. Thank you Heidi!

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