Saturday, March 9, 2019, AZ, NM

I sure slept good in this quiet little place.  We took our time getting ready to leave and just as we had the truck all packed up, the owner of the AirBnB called to offer us another night stay at no cost, just because it was a beautiful day and we had kind of missed out weather-wise.  We declined, as we were ready to hit the road at that point. Her next text offered a free night if we should come back and spend 2 more - a definite consideration for the future - we liked it there!

We had breakfast at the Bear Wallow in Alpine (Rhonda and Mike’s recommendation) and because Rhonda highly recommended their delicious pie, I ordered an egg and a slice of bacon and a piece of cherry pie and was quite satisfied with my choice, it was yummy. And the owner had made apricot pie (Rhonda’s favorite) today, so we bought a couple of pieces to take back home to her.

Plan B was to drive southeast on US 180 and 75 along the western border of New Mexico and it turned out to be a beautiful drive on a winding, scenic road through the Apache and Gila National Forests.  A side road led us to a scenic area called The Catwalk Recreation Area  (a man made structure along the rock cliffs), but when we got to the parking lot after a 5-mile drive, we learned that the Catwalk was closed. Originally, the walkway was part of an Ore Mining Operation.  Water from the river was pouring over the roadway and you couldn’t get back to the access point. We were heading to Safford where I had made a reservation for the night but when we got there around 2:30, we decided to cancel the reservation and go back to AJ. We got back home around 6:00.