Monday, November 09, 2009

A RETURN TO BISBEE & THE BBC

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NO, THIS IS NOT A BIKER GANG…..JUST SOME MOTORCYCLE ENTHUSIASTS DROPPING IN FOR BREAKFAST AT THE BBC

Needed groceries this morning so it didn't take us long to get ourselves on the road heading for a small alpine like village nestled snuggly in the nearby Mule Mountains a short 30 minute drive from the ranch.  We first stumbled into & out of Bisbee Arizona 3 years ago on our way from Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus New Mexico to Tombstone, Az.  It was a nastily cold day & the mountains had seen snow.  We came into the east end of Bisbee, got spun around a couple times in a traffic circle, went past the biggest hole in the ground I had ever seen, & somehow right down into a packed little town with nary a space big enough to turn a truck & fifth wheel around.  I remember making a wide swing in a partially snow covered car infested parking lot of sorts, making a panic right turn which put us on a direct collision course with what appeared to be the lowest overhead bridge I'd ever seen.  But, there was no turning or backing up.  We both let out a gasp (ok, mine was more of @*!!*#^) waiting for the inevitable jarring, ripping, & tearing off of our trailer's roof mounted air conditioner, as we whooshed under that bridge around a tight curve to the left, saw an RV Park sign flash by (& parts of my life too) & somehow we were back up on the highway heading for Tombstone. The air was so 'blue' in the truck we had to open the windows to let all the swearing out.  Figured we had just driven through the town from hell.  Don't ask me how we got out of there without a scratch but we somehow did and that was our very first introduction to a town we would later come to love, but not see again until this past winter....3 years later.

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THIS STREET REMAINS SUSPENDED IN TIME

I have a lot of photos of Bisbee that I took this past March so I am going to include the blog links & photo sites here including a tour of Bisbee's Queen Mine:

BLOGS

BISBEE FEB 12/09

BISBEE FEB 19/09

BISBEE FEB 20/09

BISBEE BBC MARCH 19/09

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PHOTOS

:ALBUM 1

ALBUM 2 

ALBUM 3

ALBUM 4

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XKE JAGUAR PARKED ACROSS FROM THE BBC

Our first stop in Bisbee this morning was to the BBC.  No, not the British Broadcasting Corporation, but the Bisbee Breakfast Club.  This great little eatery was recommended to us earlier in the year & we have been there 3 times since.  If you make it to Bisbee be sure to eat at the BBC.  In the above photo albums you will see photos of our times there & I took a few more this morning when we popped in for breakfast.  The old main street where the BBC is located is like no other.  It hasn't been restored, refurbished, or re-done since the whole town seemed to just pack up & move away many years ago leaving this one street as a reminder to an almost forgotten era.  The street remains suspended in time.  And it is in this suspended time location that you will find the BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB  And it was here that we found ourselves this morning bellied up to the lunch counter because as usual the place was packed & the only 2 seats in the house were at the counter.  That turned out to be a good thing because we looked directly across at the very busy open kitchen.  Just watching the 3 fellows preparing the food was like poetry in motion.  They never stopped for a second as all three of them flittered about in the small space totally focused on the task at hand.  I was worn out from just watching those guys.  Kelly ordered something kinda Mexican on the menu that I couldn't even pronounce so knew right away I wasn't gonna have that.  Settled for one of my old reliable standards.....bacon & eggs.  Food was great, service was great, & as usual......the BBC was great:))  Always quite a cast of characters coming & going here & that in itself makes the place a really interesting stop.

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I WAS WORN OUT JUST WATCHING THESE THREE GUYS

TO-DAY’S BISBEE PHOTO ALBUM

Next stop was the Thrift Store.  Realized last week that I had forgotten to bring my short sleeve shirts.  I remember standing in front of my closet back home, picking out 5 or 6 summer shirts & laying them out on my bed & that was that.  I probably got busy with something else & it may have been a couple hours before I walked back into my room a few hours later, saw a pile of shirts on my bed, & while wondering what they were all doing there.........promptly hung them all back up.  Oh, & Rick, it's OK, there were no blood stains or bullet holes in the 3 shirts I got to-day.  I was very careful about that when I picked them out:))

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HAD TO CROP OUT THIS GUYS GIRLFRIEND ON THE GREEN BIKE BECAUSE SHE HAD SOME NASTY’S WRITTEN ON HER LEATHER JACKET:))

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The last stop of our Bisbee jaunt  to-day was to my favorite grocery store.  Yes, it's true, even men can have favorite grocery stores.  Can't remember the name of it  but it's across from Jimmy's hot dog place on the road that goes down to the Mexican border at Naco.  And why is it my favorite??  Well, strangely enough it doesn't have anything to do with food.  It's all in the lighting.  Instead of just the blatantly boring blast of neon lights from the ceiling this grocery store uses a lot of clever track lighting to highlight displays, food colors, & aisles, etc.  The store has a warm cozy feel to it, especially in the produce department.  Maybe it's my photographic eye that picks up on the soft colors, shadows, & highlights.  It's a very attractive way to display food & whoever did it is way ahead of his time.  Thank-you for making this my favorite grocery store Mister smart lighting guy or ‘ahem’..................girl:))

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I HAVE MORE PICTURES OF THIS CAR IN THE PHOTO ALBUMS FROM LAST WINTER WHEN WE WERE HERE

P.S. The little yellow Tweety Bird & purple Gooble Bear that sit on the dash of our motorhome are both  from a Bisbee Thrift store & that’s why we call them……’The Bisbee Kids:))’

IMG_1056GROANER'S CORNER:))  A thief broke into the local police station and stole all the lavatory equipment. A police spokesperson was quoted as saying, "We have absolutely nothing to go on!!

FACEBOOK READERS GO HERE TO SEE OUR ACTUAL WEBSITE COMPLETE WITH PHOTOS & MORE INFO.

BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS  http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/

The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now....AL.

I will include to-day's Bisbee photos in the following Live Writer album.......

9 comments:

  1. aw shucks! Here I thought that men's shirts from the Bisbee thrift store would be "real men" kinda shirts...ya know...with bullet holes...old blood stains and stuff like that! Gosh darn...I am truly disappointed!
    Cowgirl Annie
    aka Renee!

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  2. We've eaten once at the BBC, loved it. We don't go to Bisbee often, but we sure should. There are so many wonderful places in this area! Once more you have amazed us with your photographic eye. Will we see pix of the produce department?

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  3. OK, Al, we are starting to worry about you, first the tripod and now the shirts--don't you hate it when you get down the road and remember you left important stuff like the tripod at home. Six more weeks until we head your way.

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  4. Those thrift store shirts may not have bullet holes or blood, but they're still kind of "creepy" to me! We missed Bisbee for some reason when we visited Tombstone a few years ago. It'll definitely be on our list this year - especially the BBC. Can't beat those bacon 'n egg breakfasts!

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  5. Al, we didn't get to Bisbee until 2:30 in the afternoon. We were walking on the main street, and had lunch in the Cornicopia. We were in the book store a few doors North. Sleep eat read? Something like that. We drove up some of the back streets. Man are they narrow.
    Wish we had known you were going to be there, would have been fun to hook up.
    Rod

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  6. Love the history in those old town. I know Arizona has many with a lot of history...can't wait to get out there and see it for myself

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  7. And the grocery store is Safeway! By far the largest grocery in town. The Bisbee Food Co-op next door to the BBC is another good one if you are looking for some of the less traditional stuff (like miso).

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  8. We have been full timing mit for 15 years now, so its not hard to remember what we want to take....Take it all!! Then get a bigger truck to pull it...LOL

    Seriously, nice Blog. I especially like the cop joke...

    Oh, and we been to Bigsby and to Taco and the little town across in Mexico...a time or two...

    Travel safe!!

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  9. We just love that little town and we too missed our turn...I think 3 times. We turned round in the scenic overlook of that 'big ol hole' in the ground. I thought for sure we were going over....LOL!

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