THE GHOST TOWN OF FAIRBANK & ANOTHER STOP IN BISBEE

We knew it was going to be hot to-day so we made an extra effort to get ourselves out & about earlier than usual. Had hoped to be the road by 9 but it was after 10 before we got ourselves mobile. Filled up the Santa Fe in McNeal & headed west on Davis Road to Tombstone. Our destination was the old ghost town of Fairbank located west of the San Pedro River on highway 82. The historic town of Fairbank used to be a very important transportation hub. Three railroad lines passed through Fairbank including the New Mexico & Arizona which connected Fairbank to Benson & the Mexican port of Guamas. In the 1880s, at the peak of the silver boom in & around Tombstone, Fairbank served as a central point of entry & exit for miners, prospectors, materials, & ore. Tombstone was not connected to the railway until 1903 so passengers had to take a stagecoach from Fairbank. Passengers who stepped off the train in Fairbank in the 1880s would have seen an elegant hotel and restaurant, a post office, railroad depots and several other businesses. And so it was that we pulled off the highway into a dirt parking lot & down around a short road to what was left of the once booming little town of Fairbank. Well, there isn't much left but a sign tells us that it is probably one of the last authentic places with some original buildings intact. The old schoolhouse has been restored & is now a museum but it was closed to-day. There were 3 wooden buildings of which 2 were locked. The small open building was probably for horses years ago. A handwritten sign on another building said for us to stay back because of rattlesnakes. The largest building is completely enclosed by a wire fence with a no admittance sign. This was the General Store, Saloon, & Jail years ago. Plans are in the works to restore this building & a new steel roof has already been put on to protect what's left of the interiors. The San Pedro River & old railway line run along a short distance west of the buildings. It was Fairbank's old cemetery located about a half mile north of the town down a narrow dusty mesquite lined road that interested us the most. The cemetery is located atop a rough & rock strewn hill with a narrow footpath leading up to it. As we walked up the path I imagined how many of Fairbank's residents had been carried up this rocky stretch to their final destination. I also thought of all the people who flock to Tombstone's Boot Hill & believe that to be a real authentic cemetery. Oh sure, there are people buried there all right, but anything you see above ground has been manufactured & jazzed up for the tourist trade. I wonder what people would think if they ever saw a real western cemetery, untouched by human hands for over a century. I'm sure a lot of folks would find it boring with it's piles of stones, brambly mesquite trees, decaying old wooden crosses, & rusting gates & fences. No fancy or humorous inscriptions on the tombstones, because there are no tombstones. Just piles of rocks & stones on the gravesites with a few old tattered & broken wooden crosses that have stood the winds of time. Anything inscribed on a piece of wood has long been weathered out by the Arizona sun. There are no flowers here, no manicured trees, no finely mowed grass. Just piles of rocks marking the end of someone's life. No one to remember, no one to care. And so we made our way back down the hill of forgotten dreams & walked the half mile back to our car for some much needed water. Tucson tied a heat record to-day at 91F which was first set back in 1910. We probably topped out somewhere around 85F in our area & by the time we made it back to the car from the cemetery Kelly had a headache from the heat. The sun just seemed to ignite your skin everytime it touched you. I've heard it called a dry heat down here but I think it's more like a fry heat. Thank heavens for A/C in the car. The heat must have been brutal in the old days in these parts. Hard to comprehend people out in the hot sun digging holes in the hardened ground searching for silver, gold, & copper, day after day. I'm sure it led many to early graves. From Fairbank's we headed west to Whetstone where Kelly had seen a pottery place advertised on TV. Browsed around in there for awhile & thankfully came away empty handed. Headed back down highway 82 past Fairbanks, through Tombstone & south to Bisbee. Stopped along the highway in Bisbee at a scenic look-out & took a few more photos of this picturesque little town in the mountains. And, it seems everytime we go to Bisbee it seems to expand it's boundaries. To-day we stumbled into a little town once known as Warren, but has been annexed by Bisbee so falls under the Bisbee name now. A couple of weeks ago we came across San Jose which is another little town also now under the name of Bisbee. So, for anyone going to Bisbee, be aware that it is made up of 3 separate little towns. Or is it 4. There is another little section on Erie Street that seems to be a whole street complex unto itself & if you find The Bisbee Breakfast Club........you have found Erie Street. The BBC - http://www.bisbeebreakfastclub.com/

Well actually we didn't quite stumble into Warren, I was directed there by someone who has a nose for values & of course an ulterior motive for searching out new places. Before I knew it I was hauled into & dragged through 2 Thrift Stores. Well ok, this time I went willingly.........sort of!! Of course Kelly didn't buy anything & I ended up with 2 Teddy Bears for .75 cents & a $5 lamp. Hey come on, we needed the Teddy Bears to sit on the dash of the motorhome & I was never happy about the reading lamp we had beside the chair in the rig. From the Thrift Stores it was over to Safeway for a few groceries. It was well past my 2 o'clock coffee by this time so grabbed a coffee at Starbucks. I should have known better because I've had their Charbuck coffee before & to me it's just about the worst coffee of ever. And then to add insult to injury they charged me $1.74 for a small cup. No wonder they are closing their stores across the country. Bad coffee & bad prices!! I'll be glad to get me a good old Tim Horton's coffee when we get back to Canada.

Finally made it home to the ranch about 3:45 & it was soooooo hot that the water coming out of the garden hose to water the trees was turning to steam before it hit the ground.
Well, almost....................................................................

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

GHOST TOWNS OF FAIRBANK & PEARCE, ARIZONA…..DEAD OR ALIVE!!

REMEMBER TO CLICK THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE THEM & HOVER YOUR MOUSE OVER EACH ONE TO READ THE CAPTION

The old tumbling down Adobe walls along the San Pedro river in the heavy Mesquite underbrush of Charleston Arizona marks the spot of a long dead ghost town.  A few miles up the road is the bustling main street of a town very much alive.....Tombstone.  And in the same general area are two other little western towns in various states of.....dead or alive.

FAIRBANK, Arizona was once a bee hive of activity along the banks of the San Pedro river complete with a busy 3 line railway stop, post office, saloon, general store, a school, & all the other buildings & business's that once made for a rootin tootin lively little western town.  The people are long gone now, the school has been restored, the remains of the old saloon, post office & store are fenced off for safety purposes & an old sign hangs on a sun drenched withered wooden building telling you to.....beware of rattlesnakes!!  We walked around the remains of Fairbank & it's old forgotten cemetery half a mile away on a craggy rock strewn hill back in March of 08 & you can read our blog of that day HERE & see our photos, HERE.

 

PEARCE, Arizona was another typical tough little  western mining town back in it's day & a few of it's buildings are still somewhat alive.  You can drive right into the town.  Gold was discovered nearby in the 1800's which resulted in a stampede of people from Tombstone.  Pearce's old mining remains are still very visible high atop a rocky outcrop southeast of town.  The lady in Pearce's OLD PEARCE POTTERY STORE on the southeast side of the intersection is very knowledgeable about the town's history.  My blog for our visit to Pearce is HERE & my photos of the town & cemetery are HERE. 

We will be returning to this ghost town area of Cochise county late next month when we head back to, 'The Ranch.'  We will once again be ranch sitting for RV friends Jeanie & Ray while they head off on a 3 week cruise with friends Rosanna & her Mother, Carol from the Paws & Hooves Ranch which we visited last March.  I will blog about & post some photos about our 7 week ranch sitting job & the Paws & Hooves gang earlier this year in a later blog.  And I will get Sergeant John & his Hudson Hornets in there too:))

 Picasa 3 has just released it's 3.5 version & I downloaded it last night.  Biggest advance is in the 'face recognition department.'  For you folks who take a lot of people photos this is probably a good thing.  You can read about & download it here.  PICASA 3.5 

Last night's video is only the 3rd video I've ever put in the blog in the past 2 years so just want to assure our 'air card' readers that it is not something I make a habit of.  We use an air card while traveling as well so know the frustration involved in watching those precious Gigabytes been chewed.  A Verizon store manager in Casa Grande, Arizona last winter told us he figured because of the evolving technology that Verizon would be taking the cap off the 5 Gigglebyte limit sometime this winter but I'm a little skeptical of that!!

Loaded up Max & Checkers this morning & we took the big wheels for drive up to Wal-Mart in Goderich & back.  I was lucky enough to get myself smartened up this time & stay with the rig while the engine was running.  Three weeks ago I started it up in the driveway, forgot about it & left it running for nearly 5 hours.  In my world, some days just aren't quite as forgetful as others....sometimes:((

GROANER’S CORNER:))  To-day I have an original groaner written by myself.  But, not to worry.  I won’t make this a habit. SANDRA over at the Nightly News had mentioned seeing spider webs a few days ago on her walk & that reminded me of something.   I wrote this following piece back in 1969 & it is called:

                INCIDENT IN A FOREST

The spider spun his silken vines

Back and forth in magical lines.

First he went up then he went down

Then he came back and went all around.

Soon it was done and paused in the breeze

Enchantingly silent among the still trees.

The night passed on and gave way to the sun

But the spiders work wasn't quite done

For a passing fly in all innocence flew

Straight into the web & mornings still dew.

The spider advanced with caution and stealth

To claim his victim of bountiful wealth.

The fly in desperation struggled but knew

That for him this was his final adieu.

A struggle ensued in the morning light

A struggle that lasted on into the night.

First they went up then they went down,

Then they came back and went all around

Finally it was done and they paused in the breeze

Locked in death among the still trees.

Al Bossence 1969

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So there ya go……..told ya it was a GROANER!!

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

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

IN SEARCH OF THE THE OLD GHOST TOWN OF CHARLESTON, ARIZONA

CROSSING THE SAN PEDRO RIVER IN SEARCH OF CHARLESTON

We have always found the history of America's old west fascinating & it is one of the many things that draws us back to the southwest each winter's season. One of those interests we enjoy is searching out old ghost towns. Real old ghost towns & not the commercialized fabricated ones. Ghost towns can be disappointing if your expecting to find the Hollywood version. Sometimes it's only a pile of stones from an old wall like in Millville, other times complete buildings like an old crumbling saloon in Gleeson. Fairbank has some buidlings restored but the forgotten cemetery high on a ridge is the same as it was back in the mid 1800's. Some ghost towns are easily accessible & others can almost be almost impossible to find & hard to get to. Pearce, Gleeson, & Fairbank were all easy finds on paved roads but Millville & Charleston were much harder......especially Charleston!! ONLY CRUMBLING ADOBE WALLS LEFT OF THE TWENTY OR SO BUILDINGS

While boondocked just west of Tombstone, Arizona earlier this year we set out in search of the elusive old mining town of Charleston long hidden in the scrub & bush along the banks of the San Pedro river. We first hiked north along the San Pedro one morning from the Charleston Road but couldn't find anything. Found out later we were only about a quarter mile from finding the town. A few days later we decided on a different approach which actually began with another ghost town on the east side of the river called Millville. Click on our blog that day here..... FINDING CHARLESTON. Web album photos for that day are HERE & even more photos for the ghost town of Charleston are HERE Another thing that was very special about these ghost towns is the fact we never encountered any tourists. Tombstone is a good example of what happens to an old town when it is commercialized, but then again a lot of people like that razzle dazzle sort of Hollywood spin. We don't!! Walking through the site of an old lost ghost town & it's overgrown cemetery with only the ghosts of past residents to accompany you is quality time to us. Just the folks, your thoughts, & the desert wind. SOME OF CHARLESTON'S WILD WEST HISTORY

We later found the ghost towns & cemeteries of Gleeson, Pearce, & Fairbank in the same area. I will include those towns over the next few days. Also found the hard to find ruins of old Fort Rucker up in the Chiricahua Mountains as well & I'll include that blog & photos shortly. Our drive & hike into historic Fort Bowie through Apache Pass was another good day for us which I will also post shortly. THE CRUMBLING SALOON IN GLEESON WHERE JOHNNY RINGO WAS LAST SEEN AT THE BAR

Just so much to see & do in the American southwest & with every mile comes a new vista. No excuse for getting bored in this kind of country & the west has a real habit of growing on people & anyone we've come across traveling there.....love's it there. We met a fulltiming RV couple last winter in Yuma who are now beginning a trek across country to Florida for a wedding. They have just spent the last few months in Oregon & Colorado. This is an excerpt from DOUG & JOANNE'S blog about how they feel about having to leave the west for awhile. They were both originally Floridians.
(Quote)"Tomorrow we head out across the plains heading for Lee’s Summit Mo.(on their way to Florida) Neither of us want to leave the west and in particular Colorado. We know we are westerners at heart and love the wide open spaces and sheer beauty out here. To head back to the land of wall to wall condominiums, convenience stores at every intersection and big bill board advertising will be quite a let down for us but it will be nice to see friends and family." (Unquote)

SOMETIMES ONLY PART OF CRUMBLING STONE FOUNDATIONS ARE ALL THAT'S LEFT LIKE HERE IN MILLVILLE, AZ.

A few weeks ago or so I posted a blog about our solar system for boondocking. I had a few inquiries about that but didn't have the exact details in front of me. I came across that paperwork this afternoon so if anyone out there is interested in what you need to get set up for solar just email me & I will send you all the detailed nuts & bolts info including cost of everything. We had our solar installation done by THE SUN WORKS in Slab City, California in December 07. Solar Mike is the fellow you want to talk to.

Stayed tuned for more ghost towns in the days ahead.

FAIRBANK'S OLD FORGOTTEN CEMETERY

GROANER'S CORNER:(( What do prisoners use to call each other while in jail........Cell phones.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

WITH NO DESTINATION IN MIND

ANOTHER WINTER WONDERLAND OUTSIDE OUR DOOR THIS MORNING

It was a low almost inaudible hum I first heard moving slowly through our tall pine trees on this darkened early morning.   Lights partially obscured in what appeared to be a swirling gray fog first moving one way then coming back the other way sometimes stopping for a brief few seconds and again reversing itself.  UFO??  Nope, it was a large snow blowing machine doing our roads which in turn told me we must have received a snowfall overnight.  We had.

A COLD GRAY START TO OUR DAY

HAD TO BLAZE A TRAIL HERE ON THIS ROAD WHICH IS NOT MAINTAINED IN WINTER

A HOUSE IN THE WINTER WOODS

Although bitterly cold our mornings snowy white landscape appeared visually pleasing compared to recent Novemberesque dull browns and grays. I'm always up for a nice change of scenery whether it be here in southwestern Ontario or past winters in the great American southwest.  It is that constant unwavering change I always so much look forward to.

COMING INTO THE SOUTH END OF VARNA ONTARIO

ALMOST LOOKS LIKE WE ARE LIVING ON A DIFFERENT PLANET

Brewed myself up a decaff coffee, grabbed a few bran biscuits and out the door with camera in hand Pheebs and I went.  Locked the Jeep in four wheel drive and plowed a set of snowy tracks out our driveway with no destination in mind.

I BET THIS APPLE ORCHARD FARMER IS STILL LOOKING FOR HIS LOST LADDER

Gray skies and cold temperatures prevailed as we slowly wandered around a few of Huron Counties snowy country roads.  Most were plowed, one wasn't so we made some new tracks through the snow for anyone to follow.  With a stiff east wind blowing frigid temperatures around we only exited the Jeep once for about two minutes.  Took a couple quick pics and it was back into the warmness of the Jeep.  Turned for home about 9:15 as skies began to clear bringing rays of sunlight down to cast shadows across a cold snowy landscape.

OUR ONLY STOP ALONG THE WAY

SO NICE TO SEE SKIES CLEARING FOR AWHILE THIS MORNING

Home again I topped up our bird station with seeds, grabbed my snow shovel and commenced plowing out my winter pathways.  With a predicted snow storm due to arrive over our area within the next 24 hours I didn't want all that snow getting ahead of me making shovelling a chore later.

I THINK WE LIVE ON A NICE STREET

A FEW PHOTOS AROUND HOME

SHOVELLING MY PATHWAYS

I sure didn't feel like going out and trudging through the snow for a walk this afternoon but a certain little dog kept coming over and nudging my arm and looking towards the door.  The longer I tried to ignore her the worse my guilt became so it was on with my boots, hat, and coat, and out the door we went trudging through the snow.  At the far end of the pond I saw another walker headed my way also plowing along.  Turns out it was my old Tavistock buddy Gary Burton who moved into our Park about a year and a half ago.  Had us a chin wag for awhile until we noticed each other's face turning red from the biting cold.  We both had to make fast tracks for home.  I had an Archive post a week or two ago entitled 'My Dad's Car Is Better than your Dad's Car and it was Gary's Dad who had that other car.  No, we didn't talk about Fords and Chevs today.   

A COLD AND DULL AFTERNOON WALK

IF I EVER GET LOST I CAN ALWAYS RE-TRACE MY TRACKS

BUT IT'S MUCH EASER FOLLOWING PHEEBS TRACKS HOME

::Memory Lane:: We were ranch sitting near McNeal Arizona when on March 2nd 2009 we decided to drive on over to the other side of Tombstone and have us a look at historical Fairbank Arizona.  My post for the day is here at The Ghost Town Of Fairbank And A Stop In Bisbee.  My Photo Album for the day is here at Fairbank And The Cemetery.   

::Al's Musical Favs:: Melankoli by Lulu Rouge.  Another funky little number I liked right from the first time I heard it.  Both the voice and musical arrangement appealed to me.

GROANER'S CORNER:(( Question: What kinds of clothes are there?  
Women's Answer: Clean and Dirty.  
Men's Answer: Clean, Almost Clean, Sorta Clean, Not bad, Dirty, Really Dirty, Funky, Nasty, Biohazard." (Men will voluntarily wear all but the last classification of these clothes.)
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The latest poll taken by the office of the Governor of Texas asked whether people who live in Texas think illegal immigration is a serious problem:30% of respondents answered: "Yes, it is a serious problem."  70% of respondents answered: "No es una problema serio. "

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I joined a white church because white people get out on time. 
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