Tubac and Tumacacori (and farewell to Brunhilda)

This morning my GPS “Brunhilda” had a fatal stroke.  First she displayed nothing but vertical lines on the screen.  I didn’t see any signs of brainwave activity, so I pulled the plug on her.  Later I plugged her back in but she never regained consciousness. Rest In Peace, poor Brunhilda!  I am ashamed to say that within an hour I realized that I am completely helpless without a GPS.

I intended to go to the ghost towns Fairbanks and Charleston, plus Tombstone and Bisbee today.  But I got a late start and ended up lost in Continental. I stopped in at a farmers market there and took my map with me.  I asked directions from a guy selling bread.  Since he was so nice, I thought I should buy a loaf of bread.  I chose cinnamon-raisin and was very shocked to hear it cost $7!  That’s a first, I’m pretty sure I’ve never paid $7 for a loaf of bread before. But it does smell really amazing!

The shortcut road I wanted to take to Fairbanks turned out to be a dirt road and he didn’t recommend taking that.  The paved roads went WAY out of the way, and I decided that would get me home really late since it was already noon.  So instead, I went to Tubac., which is a trendy little art colony. Very cute if you have money to spend. A few miles past Tubac is the Tumacacori Mission, started in 1691 by Jesuits. The existing building was started in 1800 and finished in 1823.

On the way home I went to the WalMart in Green Valley for a new GPS. Got another TomTom with lifetime maps for $99. All hail Brunhilda II!  She’s busy getting all charged up right now but I feel better already. I really hate that I had to spend that money; I was feeling virtuous because I’d come in under budget on food, gas and camping fees this month.

I don’t know if we’ll get to those other towns now.  I really have to force myself to get out and go places; my nature is to just sit and vegetate., plus I worry about spending the gas money.  I guess it will depend on what time I get up tomorrow morning, as it looks like it would be an all-day trek.

I was wondering this morning if I’m supposed to be shaking the scorpions out of my shoes??  Or are they like the snakes and pretty much dormant at this time of year.  I guess I’d better find out!

And does anyone know what kind of tree this is? These are all over Madera Canyon.  I thought at first they were hollies, but then I noticed they have two kinds of leaves; the pointy holly type, and a plain vanilla version with no pointies. ???

And for the record, that $7 cinnamon-raisin bread was incredible!!!