V4N3A

Coronado National Memorial

We wrote about Coronado National Memorial, which is located near Sierra Vista, AZ in a previous issue, but the story was not complete. On the previous visit with Len and Rose Schultz we were prevented from driving to the top of Coronado Mountain by a snowstorm which had hit a few days before. This day would be different.

After leaving the Visitor's Center we embarked on the "1 mile paved, 2 miles gravel" road to the summit. The day was sunny and bright and comfortably warm. The visibility was unlimited and it was genuinely a nice day.

As we started the climb, our Ford Escort took a deep breath and held onto the road for dear life. The road was a respectable 2 lanes wide for most of the trip, but it did narrow on occasion, making us wish that we were the only car on the road.............we weren't. Our little transport humped, and bumped, and groaned all the way to the top. The temperature gauge was about to red-line and its radiator cork was about to pop when we reached our destination. By the time we stopped in the parking lot, Walt had already displayed his dripping wet palms.

The views were spectacular, and with the visibility we enjoyed, we could see for what seemed a hundred miles. We enjoyed the vistas for about a half an hour and then readied ourselves for the inevitable..................the trip back down the narrow, curvy, gravel mountain road.

Up Hill, All The Way

Walt and Kathy had never been to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, in Pine Springs, Texas, so as long as they were going, we would accompany them. I remembered the journey as quite a trip "up hill." The Park is at about 5840'.

The drive up the mountain is a veritable "feast" of views. From the mountains on either side, to the distant haze-covered valley below, the scenes are breathtaking. The campground in the park is a blacktop covered parking lot with lines painted on the ground. The feature that makes the campground worthwhile is the animals that freely walk around the perimeter. The campground does have toilets but no showers and no hook-ups. So we were on our own for utilities. No big deal!

The Visitor's Center is a beautiful new structure with a theater and exhibit area. We spent time there our last morning before we left.

In the morning at 7:30 there was a knock at the door. Appearing there, was a gentleman who informed us that our generator was running during "quiet time." When we told Walt of our visitor, and the generator, he informed us that he was glad the guy hadn't been around at 6:40 when he was running his.

Is This Just a Little Weird?

This story begins in Forest City, Iowa at the Factory which manufactures Winnebago and Itasca motorhomes. Last winter we purchased a motorhome which required us to return to Forest City to have some of the systems on our motorhome worked on. We arrived there in time to meet a very nice couple from Great Britain.

Enter Norm and Sue Jones. They were there to have their motorhome worked on by factory technicians also. We spent 3 days with them and a few other couples, that would have been very boring, without their presence. We laughed and joked for hours on end, and generally had a difficult time turned into a joy.

We've kept in touch over the past 10 months through e-mail and knew by the time we got to Arizona they would be here near Yuma or Quartzsite. They attended a British Rally in Quartzsite and left for Yuma on the day that we arrived there. No Problem! We would be in Yuma in 4 or 5 days.

On the day we arrived, we decided to stop by and see if they were home. We had received an e-mail from them saying that they would be in and out that day because they were buying another motorhome. They were not home........so we left a note. No problem.

We had other friends from home to visit in Yuma and headed out to see them. Tom and Donna Brynick were members of our Good Sam Campground Group at home until last summer. They quit because they were intending to sell their motorhome and quit camping. When we arrived at their park we discovered that they were also not home..........so we left a note.

It was near time to eat so we went and had lunch and checked out a PT Cruiser for towing before heading back to the Jones'. They were home at last. We sat and talked with them, along with Walt and Kathy for hours, before they decided to tell us the story of the Motorhome they almost bought. Norm started telling the tale, with Sue filling in the holes, as they went along, of the motorhome they found and wished to purchase. The motorhome was a '93 Southwind and in a condition that they found attractive. As the story progressed there were vague references to the owner until Norm mentioned that he was from the "PI" of Michigan. With this, Sharon asked if he meant from the "UP" of Michigan. Still not making a connection, we listened intently as the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. A couple from the UP of Michigan.....A Southwind motorhome.....Westwind RV Resort......And then the name "Thomas" was mentioned. Could this be the Brynicks they were speaking of? As the story unfolded it was definitely Tom and Donna Brynick of Kingsford that they were talking about. Does the term "small world" ring a bell?