Our friends in Tucson, Arturo, and Guadalupe, have three children: two young girls and their son, who is about to leave for college. While this young man’s name is Arturo, too, we call him Arturito, though, on occasion, I’ll call him Artoodeetoo. He’s known us since about 1998 and had recently voiced an interest in taking a road trip with us. So, seeing we were taking a day trip around the southern end of the state, we asked him if he’d like to join us today, and on the way through Tucson, we stopped and picked him up. Our first stop was some sightseeing at Coronado National Memorial in Hereford, Arizona, which is 90 miles southwest of Tucson, close to the Mexican border.

While I could be mistaken, I think we are looking at Mexico in the distance.

The kid is camera shy, and it took some serious cajoling to get him to join our photo. Now, at Chiricahua National Monument in Willcox, we are again about 90 miles from our last location. Do you see a pattern? Was it planned?

So far, our investigation into places we’ve not been before is suggesting that Chiricahua is a location we must come back to.

Oh well, we are only 19 miles from Chiricahua so I won’t be able to pull that one on you that all of our stops today are 90 miles apart.

Fort Bowie was opened in 1862 and abandoned not too long after that in 1894. The Fort played a role in the fight with the Chihuahuas, while its most famous prisoner was Geronimo himself. As you can see for yourself, there’s not a lot left out here.

Who knows the last time this old motel in Bowie saw guests? At one time, Bowie was an important stop on the American experience for people traveling across the states where the Yucca Lodge Motel on the corner of Lincoln and Highway 86 (now the 10 Business Loop) was competing with Home on the Range Motel just across the street on the opposite corner. Another block up the street, you could get a bite to eat at Geronimo’s Castle Cafe, which was shaped like a teepee; it’s still there, but it’s closed too. The town had one last hurrah when, in Rambo Part 2, it was divulged that John Rambo (played by Sylvester Stallone) was from Bowie, Arizona. Happy Memorial Day!