Peg & I went to Kartchner Caverns about halfway to Benson. The cavern tour is $23 which is a bit steep for a state park site. The caverns are neat. They give you a little shuttle ride up a hill and then send you underground. There are some common sense rules like you won’t need a jacket because it is 80 degrees and 99 percent humidity once you go through their airlocks. Since the cave is still alive and they don’t want it to dry out they have installed three airtight doors with passageway sections of paving between them. Only one door gets opened at a time. They also mist all entrants to suppress dust. The first room we went into has a great path going in but the cave isn’t that amazing. The second room we went to had a big ornate column they have titled “Kubla Khan” but I don’t see any resemblance to any historical figures. This cave is nice and they give you a little show w/ music and great lighting but after this you are on the way out. It is a good place to see once but it is only a fart in the breeze next to Oregon Caves, Carlsbad Caverns or Mammoth Caves.

After the caves we drove onto the grounds of Fort Huachuca, a commingled facility for just about all government agencies but it is primarily an army base. Back in the day, this was the home to the Buffalo Soldiers. They must have been manly men to come here and fight Apaches, a notoriously tough adversary, in this terrain.

There is a spot called Reservoir Point (?) where you can see virtually all the the San Pedro River Valley and it is a big ‘un. Spectacular views. We got pix.