TO-DAY WE MET FELLOW RV/BLOGGERS LAURIE & ODEL AT BISBEE’S BBC

 

OVERLOOKING THE TOWN OF BISBEE, ARIZONA

Temps dropped to 22F overnight & the morning stayed on the cold side because of a cloud cover that had moved in from the southeast.   When we headed off for Bisbee at 10:30 our outside water hose was still partially frozen.

 

SOME OF BISBEE’S COLORFUL CARS

The Bisbee Breakfast Club was our destination this morning.  We were meeting for the first time another RV/Blogger couple whom we had connected with on the internet nearly a year ago while in Borrego Springs.   Their travels were interesting to us so we have been followers of Laurie & Odel's blog, SEMI-TRUE TALES OF OUR LIFE ON THE ROAD ever since.  Laurie blogged about our mutual friends connections this afternoon & if you read her blog she explains how those connections led in a round about way to our meeting at the BBC for breakfast this morning.  These are two very fine people & that is obvious when you see how they interact with each other.  They are laid back full time RV'ers who have successfully covered many miles criss crossing this country over the past number of years.  They are people who are organized, know what they want, know where they are going & make you feel at ease while you are with them.  It was nice to add two more real RV/Blogger people to our list of real people we have met.  Safe travels guys:))

 

LAURIE & ODEL IN THE CENTER

By the time we came out of the BBC shortly after noon the cloud cover had dissipated, the sun was out, & the temperature was up.  Because of the earlier cloudy weather we had planned on returning to the ranch but with the day looking so great we decided to set out on a Bisbee hike that we had heard led to something called, 'The Shrine.'  High on one of Bisbee's eastern hillsides stands a white cross that can be seen from most anywhere in Bisbee below.  We had heard there was a street leading part way up the hillside & then a narrow rocky & steep path led upwards from there to the shrine & large cross itself.  The street's name was 'OK' street & we didn't have any problem finding it.  Only wide enough for one vehicle we luckily made our way up without encountering anyone coming down.  Spotted a small space near the end of the alpine street to wiggle the car in & set off up a series of steep steps which led to some private property & a sign nailed to a tree saying, 'this is not the shrine trail!!'  Back down the rocky pathway to the steps & back down to the car to re-group.

         

(click on the photos to enlarge them)

Walked a short distance to the end of OK street & finally found the 'hard to find' trail leading up & over a rough rocky stretch & into some green shrubbery.  The trail from there is a steady steep climb & every foot forward is a step up.  The trail is rocky, hard to find in spots, & has many switch backs.  Attention has to be paid to keep from straying off the trail & at one point I knocked my hat off on a low hanging branch.   With each look back over my shoulder the view overlooking Bisbee just became greater & greater.  We huffed & puffed, stopped, caught our breath, puffed some more & steadily trudged upwards.  I was very aware of my overweight status by the time we finally approached the top about 25 minutes later.  This was a longer & steeper climb than our Coronado Cave hike a few weeks ago & some parts of the trail had a skiff of snow on it.

LOOKING SOUTHEAST TO-WARDS WARREN & MEXICO (notice the snow)

Before we reached the main shrine itself we began noticing small shrines along the trail.  A pile of stones, a small wooden cross, a fabric wrapped pole, a man's photo cemented into a rock with candles, jewelry, a Buddha, small figurines & prayer clothes tied in the trees.  The views of the surrounding hills & Bisbee far below were spectacular & the shrines overlooked hilly terrain.  We had no idea what to expect when we reached the top but it soon became apparent there was definitely some sort of a religious shrine up there alright.  When we finally reached it we had a clear unobstructed view over the whole town of Bisbee below plus we could see part of the old town of Warren to the southeast & Mexico to the south.   Rather than trying to explain the views I will refer you to the pictures I took from the top of that hill.  We spent about half an hour looking at things before we started our descent down the path of loose rocks, switchbacks, & steep sections.  It's hard on the lungs going up & hard on the knees coming down & chance of injury coming down a hill is always greater than going up.  But, we made it ok without incident &  were soon in the car & back down the narrow alleyway road into the heart of Bisbee. 

THE DOUGLAS-BENSON HIGHWAY IS VISIBLE AT THE FOOT OF THE MOUNTAINS

I was over an hour past my 2 o'clock coffee time so we stopped downtown & while Kelly went to a store of hand made crafts I slipped into the Bisbee coffee shop for a coffee to go.  Kelly was back to the car about 15 minutes later with a pair of hand made socks & half an hour after that we were safely back at the ranch.  All & all a great day.  Met a couple of great people, had a great hike with some great views & Kelly got herself a great pair of colorful socks.  Whewwwwww:))

I will post the rest of to-days photos in a separate web album shortly & a big welcome to our newest followers……MOTTI & PATTI plus I just noticed RUTH has joined us as well.  Hi guys:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  Did you know an unbreakable toy is always useful for breaking other toys!!

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.

STICKY BUNNED AT THE BBC IN BISBEE:))

It's 3:15 a.m. Sunday morning & as usual I woke up early so figured I'd take another crack at re-writing Saturday night's blog.  When the computer seized up last night a combination of failed back-up errors on my part led to me losing the whole blog.

OLD ERIE STREET JUST DOWN FROM THE BBC

Saturday November 21rst 2009

At this time of year the nights can be very cold here in the high desert region of southeastern Arizona.  Thermometer this morning read 27F again when we got up around 6.  By the time I'm out the door around 7 to unlock the gate, feed the chickens, one cat, & two dogs, it sure hasn't warmed up any & I'm glad to get back to the warmth of the rig.  I would say the cold night's are the biggest downfall of the southwestern high desert regions.  I think we are somewhere around the 4,000 foot elevation mark here & in the southwest temperatures are governed by elevation.

ANOTHER GORGEOUS SUNRISE AT THE RANCH

We were getting a bit low on groceries so right after our dog walk around 9 this morning we headed off for the little alpine like town of  Bisbee Arizona nestled in the Mule Mountains about 25 minutes southwest of the ranch.  First stop was the farmer's market located in Warren which is now a part of overall Bisbee.  Hadn't been to that market before so just wanted to mainly have a look at it.  Didn't buy anything but I did manage to candidly photograph some of the locals who frequent the market.  I will add those people pics to an upcoming blog shortly along with other characters I photographed in & around Bisbee itself.

AT THE FARMER’S MARKET

It's a short drive from Warren over to the BBC (BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB) on old Erie Street about a half mile south of historic downtown Bisbee itself.  As usual there were lots of people there & we were fortunate enough to get a table for two right by a big window at the entrance.  Kelly ordered up a big plate of something called Santa Fe Shrimp & I had my usual glass of water with a swatch of grass & a side order of parsley sprigs.....ya right!!  The BBC is well known for it's cinnamon sticky buns which it only makes & serves on the week-ends.  Kelly figured we should try one so we ordered a single sticky bun to split between us.  When that heated thing landed on our table dripping with melted butter I knew we were in big trouble.  This bun must have had a ka-zillion million calories in it because it just looked soooooooo good.  In anticipation of the yumminess we were about to consume I tried to take a picture of it but blurred the photo.  I think it was my happy tummy that made my hand shake.  No doubt this was probably the best sticky bun we've ever had & for that reason we most likely will not be having another one.  It was just too good & could become habit forming in an instant & I certainly do not need any more bad eating habits!!

BBC’S SANTA FE SHRIMP LEFT & A BIG STICKY BUN ON THE RIGHT 

I have blogged about the BBC & the street it's located on before.  We were here a week or so ago & also frequented the area back in February & March this year.  If you type BBC or Bisbee into the search box to the right of this post you can probably find those blogs plus there are photo albums for those days as well.  This old street is very photographic so once again after we ate I headed on down the sidewalk for a few more photos of the permanent yellow Chevy taxi that sits by the curb.  Noticed they have added a couple of old gas pumps behind the car as well.

GAS PUMPS HAVE BEEN INSTALLED SINCE LAST MARCH

The heart & main downtown section of Bisbee itself is located about a half mile from the BBC on the other side of the large open Lavender pit mine on the south side of the highway.  We rolled into the historic downtown & followed the narrow turning main street toward the north end of town where we made a sharp right hand hairpin turn onto a very narrow street heading up a very steep hill.  We were familiar with this part of town having driven through it before coming the other way.  Once you get off the main street & up the hillsides into the living part of Bisbee it is hard to call them streets anymore.  More like alleyways snaking around sharp corners & steep grades.  A lot of these tiny roads dead end & you have to back up & wiggle your way around a bit to get rolling again.  It's all part of the enjoyment & experience of Bisbee:))  Many of the roads are only wide enough for one vehicle & even then you have to keep your eyes open for porch's, sides of buildings, somebody walking, kid's playing, stone walls, iron gates, & countless stone stairways.  No matter how many times we come to Bisbee it is always a new experience for us & new treasures & surprises to be found.  The colors & architecture here are amazing not to mention the art of landscape living on the sides of what seem impossible hills & grades.  Man's ingenuity years ago is apparent in the many retaining walls, tightly packed houses, & how cleverly the thousands of stone steps inter-connect the whole mountain goat like terrain.  No fat folks living here that's for sure.

 

 

(click on any photo to enlarge it)

If you come to Bisbee & drive by it or through it you will not experience the true Bisbee itself.  For that you have to get out & walk, you have to climb the stairs & walk or drive the higher narrow roads.  You have to get up into the hillside above the main street below.  At times you are only a few feet from the highest sections of rooftops as you look across the town to the mountains beyond.  No, you cannot just drive into Bisbee, park your car, browse a few shops, & then leave again saying you have seen Bisbee.  You have seen nothing!!  If you come to Bisbee be prepared to spend many enjoyable hours here.  Yes, you might get a little dust on your shoes but you will see great old buildings, colorful characters, old hippies, young yuppies, cowboys, old clunker cars, BMW's, Jaguars, bikers, art galleries, painters, minstrels, sculptors, hippy vans, & maybe a few folks wearing guns.  Saw a guy with a gun & holster in the BBC last March & yes the gun was real.  Don't see that kind of thing in Canada that's for sure. 

CHECKING OUT AN ARTSY STORE

Bisbee is an old mining town right out of the rootin tootin pages of the wild west.  A walk up Brewery Gulch takes you back to a time in the late 1800's when hotels, bars, saloons, & brothels lined the streets.  Not hard to imagine the late night brawls & gunfights that took place here.  The street & buildings are pretty much as they were back at the turn of the century & the town is not commercialized like some other popular western towns.  It's just kind of a folksy atmosphere with real people doing real every day things.

JUST A FRACTION OF THE TOWN ABOVE THE TOWN

Oh, & I should warn anyone thinking of coming to Bisbee for a visit.  There are no Wal-Marts or big box stores here, no vast parking lots leading to mindless shopping malls, no hoity toity big high end stores & no fancy schmancy over priced restaurants to feel uncomfortable in.  Like I said, it's a folksy/artsy kind of place so bring your camera, your sense of adventure, leave your attitude at home & enjoy the experience & beauty of Bisbee.

PART OF BISBEE’S OPEN LAVENDER PIT MINE

Our last stop for the day was my favorite little grocery store in Bisbee's San Jose section.  Kelly slipped into the store while I stayed in the car & rested my legs.  I did pop in for a burnt tasting Charbuck's coffee to go though.  I always think of you Doug when I'm occasionally forced to have a Charbucks because I remember you telling me how awful you thought our Canadian Tim Horton's coffee was & about the time you threw one across a parking lot.  Oh well, we are all a bunch of different characters aren't we:))

THE WALL OF MANY FACES

We were back to the ranch about 3 & I was in my chair & sound asleep by 3:01.  To-morrow we're heading out again but not sure where we are going.  Have a couple options up our sleeves but will decide in the morning.

ONE OF TWO SECTIONS AT THE BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB

I'm not going to try & cram all of to-day's photos into the blog but will theme them in over the next bunch of days or so.  Might also upload a separate Bisbee album to Picasa Web Albums as well.  Hadn't intended on taking so many pictures to-day but whenever we go to Bisbee I never come away from there with empty cameras!!  It's a good thing those old 35mm film days are long gone or I'd need a full time job just to buy film.  It's after 5 a.m. now so just about time to go back to bed & get up again.........oh dear:((

OVERLOOKING THE TOWN……JUST ONE OF MANY GREAT VIEWS

GROANER'S CORNER:((  If electricity comes from electrons... does that mean that morality comes from morons?

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

A RETURN TO BISBEE & THE BBC

 

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.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOTOS

:ALBUM 1

ALBUM 2 

ALBUM 3

ALBUM 4

 

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.

I WAS WORN OUT JUST WATCHING THESE THREE GUYS

View Full Album

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:))

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

 

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:))

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:))’

GROANER'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.......