The Drive to Tucson

Thomas and I are in Tucson tonight and we are settled in the hotel after a pretty long day. A friend of ours, Louise, met us at our house early this morning and we were on the road at 6:00am. Louise tagged along with us so that she could get to Tucson to visit her mom. The first part of the drive was pretty uneventful. We made our first stop in Williamsburg at the Desert Haven Animal Refuge. We parked near the pet cemetery and headed out looking for Rainbow Bridge. I followed the clues, took my compass readings and did the triangulation. I seemed to be in the right place but didn't see the box. So then I started moving around and seeing if the degrees were right - but I kept ending up in the same place and still no box. So then I decided to head back to the beginning and start over and as I got back on the trail a man walking two dogs was coming around the curve of the trail. He asked if we were looking for a box. I said "Yes!" and he said "It's gone!". He told me that he walks everyday and knew about the box and that he checked on it one day and it was missing. Not sure if he knew that I was looking for a letterbox of if he was thinking of a geocache and I didn't think to ask until we were back at the car. So I decided to forget about that box and try to find a second box here called Reaching for Magic. This one was right were it was supposed to be and I found it quickly. I stamped in and then rehid the box and then I thought maybe I should look one more time for the first box but decided against it. I felt like I had been in the right place and I didn't see it. Maybe on the way home I can give it one more try. Time to get back on the road.

The plan was to get to Deming and find another box and then get some lunch. So we continued south on I25 until Hatch and then we took NM26 to Deming. Once in Deming we found the Dream Catcher RV Park and found the Dream Catcher letterbox. I took it back to the car to stamp in. This box was hidden in a magnetic key holder and I liked the way she cut the journal to fit perfectly in the bottom and then carved a small stamp to fit on top - it worked great. After I rehid the box we headed back into town and has a great lunch at Palma's Italian Grill. I had a wonderful bowl of spaghetti with marinara sauce and Italian sausage. After eating we filled the car with gas and got back on the interstate. There were no other boxes we wanted to find so we just drove on to Tucson.

We got into Tucson around 3:00pm and dropped Louise off at her mom's house. We were invited back for dinner at 5:30pm so we decided to get checked into the hotel (which is only about 10 minutes from Louise's mom). We freshened up and then we decided to do a little maintenance on a letterbox for a friend. Astro D got a note stating that her Saguaro Sunsets box was broken - well the latches for the lid were broken off. Since her letterbox wasn't too far from the hotel we figured we had enough time to go and change out the box and still get to dinner on time. So we drove to the box and I quickly found it and took it back to the car. I changed out the box with one that Astro D had given me and then walked back to rehide it. The box is now in a new box and is hidden well and waiting for many more finders and it is worth finding - a beautiful stamp in a great location.

We then went to meet Louise and her mom. We visited and had a little wine, then sat down to a meal of salad and shrimp fried rice. And for desert we had chocolate cake with mocha frosting and vanilla ice cream and coffee. It was a pleasant and relaxing evening. We are now settled in the hotel and ready for whatever tomorrow brings - see you then.