This is the third year our RV wanderings have crossed paths with Kevin and Jane Justis of Susanville, Calif.
We first met these nomads in November 2010 at a favorite Crops of Engineers campground, Eastbank, on the shores of Lake Seminole at the Georgia-Florida border. We then caught up with them a couple months later at Texas Goose Island State Park on the Gulf of Mexico. Since then they have twiced RVed by our summer gigs in Eastern Washington.
It was our turn to visit. They invited us to stop by their snowbird destination in Rio Rico, Ariz., about 17 miles north of Nogalas, Mexico.
While there, we stopped by Mission San José de Tumacácori, considered the “Mission to the Pimas.” Made of adobe, plaster and wood, “these ruins evoke tales of life and land transformed by cultures meeting and mixing.”
The Tumacacori National Historical Park is staffed by very gracious National Park Service employees and volunteers.
On the grounds, local artisans demonstrate traditional crafts which may include tortilla making, paper flower making, O’odham basket weaving, leather working or iron working. We sampled amazing bean-filled tortillas the day we toured the park.
The mission itself is fascinating. To read more about it, click on an item I wrote on RV Short Stops.com
Photos: (Top) From left: Julianne, Jane and Kevin Justis, and Jimmy Smith in front of Tumacacori Mission. (Taken by a friendly stranger.) (Bottom) Jimmy resting by the Tumacacori National Historical Park sign. (Julianne G. Crane)
