An interesting day today. It was our second day in Wilcox, AZ in SE Arizona, not too far away from the New Mexico border. Before we left home, for several reasons, we decided to not do a lot of sightseeing along the way and take our time getting to the East coast with shorter daily travel trips.
Today was one of those days we decided to do some
sightseeing. The destination was the Chiricahua
National Monument about 35 miles south of Wilcox. It is an impressive area of rock formations and
the home of a lot of history. The area
was a major site of many battles in the Indian wars of the 1800s. This is Apache country and perhaps their
greatest leader Cochise, made his last stand nearby, marking the end of the
their fight to protect their ancient ancestral lands.
After a late breakfast at the KOA café (it was very good),
we headed South in the truck through open country to the national monument
visitor center in the mountains at 5200 ft elevation. After a short tour of the exhibits and gift
shop, we started the scenic tour drive up to the highest point on the drive, Massai
Point (6870 ft). The road is paved although narrow and winding. There was also snow on the side of the road
and slush/ice on parts of the road in the shade. It is a 6-mile drive from the visitors center
to the top.
About 2 miles from the top, things really got interesting. We got a flat tire on the truck. We apparently hit a rock in the roadway and
it slashed a cut in the sidewall of the right rear tire. Fortunately, there was a pull out about 200
yards ahead and we were able to get off the road. So, there we were on an uphill incline on a narrow road with
a flat tire. We did have a spare tire
and jack but were ill-equipped to change the tire without assistance,
especially on a unlevel surface.
As we attempted to call for assistance, there was no cellphone
service. We attempted to call 911 and
after several tries had a short connection and were able to generally tell them where we were before getting disconnected. Call back attempts did not work. We also stopped cars going up and down the
road to pass along our need for assistance to staff at the visitors center or
at the top if anyone was there.
About a hour later a park vehicle arrived. The park staff
member was looking for us. They had
received the referral from the 911 operator (who was in New Mexico) without a
good location. With her assistance and
two other park staff members who arrived, we were able to change the tire ,
chocking the wheels to prevent rolling. Since we were almost there we continued
on to the top for spectacular views of the surrounding area. The trip back to the RV park in Wilcox was
uneventful, but we now need to deal with a tire replacement issue. The
adventure continues.
Day 6 – Chiricahua National Monument
Here a link to more information about Cochise and the Apache Wars in the 1880's in this area. Very interesting history and reflective of the times regarding our relations and attitude towards Native Americans as we moved West and settled on their ancestral lands.
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