Heading Home from the Gila

William catches me at Catalina

Catalina Sunset

Tecopa Sunset

After our extra day of rest at Silver City we headed off to Arizona to see friends in Tucson. Catalina State Park was one of the ones not originally scheduled to be closed. Nice park with quite a few people camped right at the edge of Tuscon.
Chuck and Kathe came out to pick us up and we went out for a very nice lunch at a restaurant which did not mind that we stayed there all afternoon and refilled our glasses numerous times. We had a great time catching up and they promise to come up to Nevada City in October.
On Thursday we headed out to another favorite haunt, Tecopa Hot Springs. William thought that a gray, other road, on the map would be a good shortcut from highway 15 to Tecopa.
So at Valley Wells we took what is labeled as Kingston Rd on the map. Although the road started out as a paved 2 lane road there was no road sign on the road when we started out. Some 20 miles along the road split and we took Excelsior Mine Road. The road was now one lane semi paved with large non paved areas. But we were committed and continued on. In another 20 miles the road was not paved and the only thing that saved us was the fact that the RV has a high clearance. This was almost a 4 wheel drive road and for us was a 5 mph road at times as we went up and down past old mines. I was semi cheered by the recent tracks on the road, but was sure that they were all pickups. If we were not passing old abandoned mines, we were stared at by long horn cows and their calves. After we got over Tecopa Pass after the Smith Talc Road and onto Furnace Creek Road and the road had improved to regular dirt not a mess of lumpy, bumpy 2 ruts that seemed to be a road, we passed a small school bus that had recently broken down. The road was paved as we passed the road to China Ranch Date Farm and headed on to the hot springs. I had entertained Wm on the way with my idea for importing some Afghanistan refugees and setting them up in this forsaken area. Nuevo Afghanistan could be a great tourist stop. I had lots of ideas about how this could work.
But we arrived at Tecopa and it was time to soak. As this is a no clothing hot springs, the men and women are separate. On Thursday there was no one but me in the women's side, but on Friday, I had a fair amount of company. One older woman from Trona shared a lot about Susie's Whorehouse in Pahrump. She said it is a great place to eat and the tours are very informative. The girls give the tours, show you the special rooms and you learn about the girls and even about the rates. Wm says Pahrump is on his list to visit someday. With me.
After a drive through Death Valley we are here at Boulder Creek RV Resort just outside of Lone Pine.