WHY

 What a title for a blog? Well we visited a town and the name is WHY. Why is located 10 miles south of Ajo, 27 miles north of Lukeville, (which is on the US Mexican border), and 100 miles south west of Tucson. There isn't much to Why, a couple campgrounds, some BLM land, three gas stations, and a casino.

The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is about 5 miles south of Why, and the visitors center is about 20 miles south of Why. The NM is a beautiful place, some very nice scenery, and the only place in the US the you can see Organ Pipe Cactus growing wild.

 Why being so close to Mexico and being sparely populated makes it a good place for smugglers to bring dope and illegals into the states. Normally these things don't effect the average person but it does cause alarm and you should always be aware of the things going on around you. It really wouldn't be good to get caught in the middle of these activities. Not that they don't have these things happening almost everywhere in the US, it is just almost a daily happening near Why.


This is where we parked the rig on the BLM Land just south of Why. It is a 14 day free area with plenty of vegetation all around, and winding roads cutting through and around the vegetation. A nice place to boondock for a few days.

The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument starts a few miles south of Why and extends to the Mexican Border with the Campground and visitors center about 5 miles north of the border and Lukeville.

One of the "don't miss" things to do at the OPNM is the 21 mile loop into the Ajo Mountians. Allow a couple hours to make this run, and carry water, or even a picnic lunch.

It is mostly a gravel road and awesome views.

You will see Organ Pipe Cactus, but not as many as you will see around the Campground area.

They are a spectacular cactus/

The 21 mile loop takes you into the mountains and across some flat areas.

Notice the arches, we had not seen the likes since we left Moab. It amazes me as to how these things form.

Once we left Why we headed to Tucson, one of our favorite places. Not so much Tucson its self, but the family we have here in Tucson. Aunt Arlene is always a lot of fun to be around and enjoys company,  Cousin Bill is handy with anything and is always willing to help out and I respect his opinion on just about any subject. Pam and Jon are just great hosts and if I didn't know better I would say Pam and Marcia were sisters they way they get along. Brian is always willing to do anything that needs done, but I have to be very careful remembering his girlfriends name, ( it changes almost every time were here ) but maybe this one will be the keeper. Andrew and keeps pretty busy working as a security guard at the hospital, and taking care of his two babies so we don't get to see him and his wife Mel very much.

Marcia is an animal lover, (maybe that's why she sticks with me) and has always wanted a dog. I'm not keen on the idea of having a dog in the house so we haven't had one since we let Major Duffas go a month after we moved into the Santara almost 5 years ago. This week that changed, I gave in and bought Marcia a puppy!!! Yes we now have a little puppy for her to care for. The agreement was she would do everything for the puppy, that includes walking it, cleaning it, cleaning up after it, and all the other chores involved with a puppy. I did agree to help her change the battery in the puppy when it needed changing.

One day here in Tucson we got together with several RV Friends that are in the area and went wheeling. Bob and BJ that we met in Key West, Bill and Priscilla that we met in Moab, Mark and Lydia that we met in Yellow Stone, and Marcia and myself met just south of Tucson and took off towards Reddington Pass.

We followed Reddington Pass Road which is a state maintained gravel road into the mountains. We enjoyed many great views and a few eyesores where people have gone into the mountains target shooting. The problem is they leave their trash, targets, and empty shell casings lay creating an eyesore for sure.

We took a road off the main road and got to use the four wheel drive on our jeeps. It is always fun using the four wheel drive as long as we don't bend or break anything.

It is nice to go where most people never get the chance to see.

Last night we met Bill, Arlene, Andrea, and Danny, (our cousins visiting from Ohio) at Club 21. Yes I too thought Club 21 was some kind of strip bar, but it really is a very nice Mexican eatery. We try to eat there once every time we come to town.

Today we will be rolling the wheels, all the way across town to a casino. Pam and Jon will join us for "an evening out" at the casino, and we will have our home there in case we decide to indulge in some adult beverages. Andrea and Danny will be taking Arlene to Los Vegas for a few days of rest and relaxation, or maybe a lot of sight seeing.

Until the next time...........................