FOUND THE OLD MINING & GHOST TOWN OF SWANSEA ARIZONA

SWANSEA ARIZONA
How nice to see our morning dawn with clear blue skies.  I’m thinking our neighboring Dockers may even venture out of their hovels today…..and they did:))

PHEEBS ENJOYS THE MORNING SUN
Figured I’d get that whip aerial mounted on the Jeep bumper before heading out but the hole already in the bumper was a tad to small for the aerial bolt.  Wandering Willy & Ivan to the rescue again.  These guys are traveling mechanics with all the tools they carry.  WW’s Jobmate drill was low on juice but Ivan’s Black & Decker with WW’s bit in the chuck did the trick & soon the aerial was mounted & ready to rumble.  Good thing those guys are here or I would probably have mounted the aerial upside down or something.

DUELING DRILLS IN THE DESERT…..WANDERING WILLY & IVAN
Bit of a late start but Kelly & I Jeeped ourselves off to Bouse.  Headed out Yellowbird road to have us a look where the Rootin Tootin Bouse gang was holed up for awhile last winter.  Can’t remember who was all laying low out there but I think some of the desperados were JANNA & MIKE, JIM & ELLIE, JOHN & BRENDA, along with MIKE & PAT.

  
HOPE THESE PICS BRING BACK SOME MEMORIES FOR YOU GUYS
From Bouse we headed off east along a winding dusty desert road through sand dunes cactus & gravel heading for the old mining & ghost town of SWANSEA Arizona. 

 
A LARGE WATER AQUEDUCT CUTS THROUGH THE DESERT
 
SAND DUNES, CACTUS, OCOTILLOS & MESQUITE TREES
First 25 miles or so were fairly flat with the last 3 or 4 miles along a pretty twisty rock infested road with switchbacks and drop offs.  Love roads like that.  Great view of the valley ahead & below us.  Made our way down the steep grades until we finally spotted some buildings on the valley floor below.  We had reached Swansea.

  
 
One of the first things we spotted was a single white grave marker on the edge of town.  A few plastic flowers on it. 

A twin line of identical buildings evenly spaced is what we had seen from afar.  These were living quarters for the miners.   BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has taken over this area & restoration has begun on these buildings and new roofs have been added to prevent the structures from deteriorating any further.  Other stone and adobe foundations with crumbling walls are still there.

  
   
MINER’S QUARTERS
The seemingly bottomless straight down mineshafts scattered around the mining property are covered by huge steel grates to prevent man or beast from tumbling into any abyss.  This must have been quite a mining operation at one time back in the early 1900’s.  Definitely a real bee hive of activity judging from the ruins spread out over a large area.

 
 

LARGE STEEL WALKABLE GRATES COVERED THE MINE SHAFTS
I was aware of our gas gauge showing a little on the low side so figured we had better work our way back up out of the valley the same way we came.  Could have taken a second alternate desert road back to Bouse but figured we had better not chance it.  Noticed on one of the reader boards a map which showed another road heading towards Parker so that was our destination.

   
FOREGROUND WAS THE MINE’S ASSAY OFFICE BUILDING

HELLO TO THE FRIENDLY FOLKS IN THE WHITE SUV
A fast 35 minute hot rod ride through the desert took us from the quiet remote & hidden ruins of Swansea right into the crush of a Saturday afternoon in a Parker Walmart store.  Geeeezzzz, now how the hell did that happen!!
 
Only my second time in Parker but I have taken a liking to the little town.  I, like many others, love Palm trees so anywhere with Palm trees is a good place in my books.  First stop was for gas followed by a short bump & grind 20 minute Walmart stop.  People just seem to get crazy when they have a shopping cart in their hands.

Wandering Willy is a Chalupa hound.  When he & Kelly went to Parker a few days ago they stopped at Taco Bell for lunch & WW introduced Kelly to Chalupas.  They don’t make Chalupa’s in Canada & Kelly liked them.  Brought one home for me to try & I actually survived the Mexican flavored experience.  So much so that we headed right into Taco Bell this afternoon & ordered 4 of the darned things.  Didn’t take me long to ka-chomp down my Chalupas:))

 
We were late getting back this afternoon but I did make it in time for…..Happy Hour:))  Ivan & WW had my chair dusted off & we weren’t long getting into the whimsical topics of the day.  I enjoy my time with these two seasoned Dockers simply because we have a lot in common & our conversations pertain to each other’s interests.

Nearly 6 o’clock before coming in so I was really behind the 8 ball to churn out a blog tonight before becoming unconscious for 5 or 6 hours.  Usually I kind of poke away at the keyboard during the day slowly adding bits & bites to the blog.  But, not today.  Well, better go edit me the 100+ photos from today……….zzzzzzzzzzz.


NARROW ROAD WITH STEEP DROP OFFS….GROOVY:))
Our medical center back home in Goderich Ontario phoned a few days ago.  After receiving my Tucson Hospital medical report my Nurse Practitioner/Doctor has scheduled an appointment for me with a Urologist on April 10th.  Let the good times roll eh:((

THIS WAS THE GENERAL STORE
MARIANNE EDWARDS joins us today as our latest Blog Follower.  Thanks for dropping by Marianne & welcome aboard.




GROANER’S CORNER:((  A foreman of a factory was making his rounds inspecting how all of the workers were doing their jobs. “Well” he said to one blond worker, “I see you are doing a very diligent job stamping all of the boxes ‘THIS SIDE UP’. “Yes” the worker replied, eager to please, “and just to be extra sure I stamped the bottom also!”
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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of
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If one's thoughts are positive about the landscape, one's eyes will appreciate what they see......AL.
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