North of the border, down Mexico way

The road across southern Arizona from Tucson to, um, pretty much nowhere, is really okay. State Route 86 is, however, kind of bumpy and lonely. We were glad to have filled the gas tank in Tucson, as it was uncomfortably close to empty when we trundled into a small casino gas station in Why, Arizona, near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

(Why is named, I am told, for the intersection of routes 85 and 86, and is home to nearly 200 human beings. There is (or was) an Arizona law requiring town names to be composed of three or more letters. So they couldn’t name it Y, I guess. So, Why.)

After fueling — and traversing our second Customs and Border Patrol checkpoint of the day — we rode into Organ Pipe and found a really, really nice campground waiting for us.

The Sonoran desert is anything but barren — it seems almost lush. This, the Twin Peaks campground, is about as appealing as they come.

You can see two kinds of cactus in the photo above. On the right, an Organ Pipe Cactus, with its array of parallel pipe-things, nestles up to a (taller) Saguaro, and more Saguaros stand sentry behind and to the left of the mighty Toto. (You know you’re on holiday, perhaps, when you take the time to learn about cactus.)

From the south edge of the campground, a view toward Mexico (I think the hills in the distance are across the border). Those fuzzy little cacti are called Teddy Bear Cholla. Imagine being called that!

Namesake of the Twin Peaks campground? Seems likely. That’s an Organ Pipe cactus in the foreground. We got to go on a hike up around these peaks (while the terriers napped). It was good!

You see what I’m saying about this place? It’s gorgeous. Everyone should go here. A few things to know, though: tons of pull-through and back-in sites, all paved. Nice (not fancy) restrooms (we heard the hot water can be iffy in the showers). No hookups! But there’s fresh drinking water available, and a dump station too. Part of the campground allows generators (during certain hours), and part of it does not. We brought a generator but did not use it. Sunshine (for solar) was abundant.

Yeah, about our furnace… it still only worked “sometimes.” I got pretty good at donning warm clothes and a headlight, going outside to remove the furnace access panel, and giving stink-eye to the sail switch. I also removed and re-installed it many times. And fiddled with all the wires going to and fro around it. One never knew what would make it work, but it did work, sometimes — enough to keep us from freezing, anyway. In my next life I will design a new kind of RV furnace, and it will not have a sail switch.

Early in our hike up and around the Twin Peaks: a look back toward the campground. Cacti and RVs. It’s really not a bad combination.

One evening, the moon rose (honestly, it probably rose every evening).

Morning, looking west. Pretty good birding here, featuring a few species I’ve never seen before. Liked it.

Look, a new-to-me bird right here. It’s called, I think, a Phainopepla. Perfectly pleasant bird.

And another first! It’s a Cactus Wren, and I think native Arizonan birders probably yawn when they see one. But for us, it was new and exciting. By the way, I am pretty happy with this photo. Bird photography isn’t easy, ya know. At least not for me. But now and then things work out well, and this was one of those times. Just my opinion.

There are some nice trails extending from the Twin Peaks campground. One goes to some abandoned mines; another up around the Peaks; another traverses a few washes (we have already covered washes, haven’t we?) on the way to the park’s visitor center, where one can view a video and learn about cactus and other stuff.

What the hell is this? It’s art. Because I say it is. Does that work?

Yeah, so, if it’s not apparent, this place made an impression on us. I don’t know if we’ll ever get back here; there are so many places we’ve never been. But even with the dodgy furnace, it was a singular experience to visit.

I leave you with another new-to-us bird, because I know you crave it.

This is a gila woodpecker, spending a portion of its morning atop a Saguaro. That looks like it could be a little uncomfortable! Maybe it just likes the view from up there.

After this stay we headed further west, to do some camping on the Colorado River (actually, right next to it). Wait for it.