Sierra Vista stopover

We are at the Elks lodge in Sierra Vista, Arizona (map), a familiar stop for us. Since last we were here, the price has gone up to $12 per night, but that includes water and 30 amps of power. After six straight days of boondocking it was nice to be able to top up the batteries (three hours of driving each day is not enough to fully charge them), and we really needed the water.

We had a beautiful drive yesterday past the Animas mountains and Chiricahua Peak in the Coronado National Forest. We did not have enough room in the fuel tank to justify darting across the border in Douglas for $2.90 diesel. Bisbee was its usual self, with loads of folks in the center of town on a nice weekend day, and plenty of motorcycles coming and going on AZ-80. Our approach to Sierra Vista could be gauged by the enormous Tethered Aerostat hovering over the city.

After getting squared away here at the lodge, our friend Julie picked us up and we had a wonderful evening at the house, where she served us a delicious meal and we just sat and conversed for nearly five hours. Early in the evening Glen called in on Skype from his International Red Cross assignment in Liberia, and so we had a chance to catch up with him as well. Glen and Julie were liveaboard cruisers for quite a number of years, and we met them through the Red Cross, so the conversation naturally focused on boats, cruising, and disaster relief.

This morning we mostly caught up on chores while we have the power outlet. At some point I took the dog out for a walk, and no sooner had I opened the door than a group of Elks walking to the lodge from their rigs started barking questions at me about the bus. Not even a "hello," "good morning," or introduction first. I'm more or less used to this treatment now (although one would hope that Elks, as a group, would be more congenial than the random strangers at, say, Walmart), but it usually offends Louise, who Tweeted it, eliciting a number of humorous replies that ultimately led to today's post photo.

After lunch we will get back on the road, heading north and west through Sonoita to Tucson, where we need a few items at Camping World. Depending on how that goes, we'll either end up at one of the Tucson area casinos, or a bit further along near Red Rock.