ANOTHER QUIET DAY FOR THE BAYFIELD BUNCH

THIS WAS OUR LAST BOONDOCKING DAY NEAR DARBY WELLS ROAD WEST OF AJO ARIZONA ONE YEAR AGO TO-DAY

If I thought Friday was a quiet day at the ranch, I hadn't met Saturday yet. The temperatures have really come up the past couple of days so we spent the biggest part of the day staying out of the sun relaxing & reading. Kelly went into Elfrida this morning & brought back some books & DVDs.

A year ago to-day we were spending our last day boondocking just west of Ajo, Arizona near a place called Darby Wells Road. I'll include a picture of that. We then went to Hickiwan Trails RV Park http://hickiwantrailsrvpark.com/ in Why for a night before heading over to the town of Truth or Consequences on the first leg of our long journey home. But, that was a year ago.

HEY, DON'T FORGET ABOUT US GUYS

It took me a bit of looking with my tri-pod & 7x50 binoculars to-night but I was finally able to locate Comet Lulin. http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/highlights/35992534.html Thanks to the Hermit in Kitchener for jogging my mind in an email a few days ago to step outside & have a look for it. If I didn't know any better I'd say they sure have a lot more stars down here in southeastern Arizona than we have up there in southwestern Ontario Canada. But, I do know better:)) Beautiful night skies here. MAKING GOOD USE OF AN OLD BATHTUB

To-night's DVD was "Traffic" with Michael Douglas. Not the kind of movie I would normally pay to go see in a theater but on a free DVD it was OK. A little hard to follow in spots so you couldn't doze off for a second because you would soon become lost in one of the movies many twists & turns. It did win some awards & it did keep us entertained.

Hard to believe we're entering the final week of February already. A month from now we'll be watching the weather closely & formulating a homeward journey plan for an arrival time somewhere around the first week of April I think. I'm always sort of glad to get home but it doesn't last long. Within a week I'm itching to be back out on the road again heading for places I've never been before. I have always had the travel bug in me but these past few years it has really begun to bite. And not working full time or hardly even part time anymore doesn't make it any easier. So, some decisions have to somehow be made over the course of the next bunch of months. With the economy the way it is, everything is up in the air for everyone & it is a harder time than ever for decision making. AFTERNOON CHORES ARE DONE SO HEADING BACK TO THE RIG

Well it's nearly 11 o'clock & I've been sitting here spinning my wheels for something to write about long enough. Time to pull the plug on another day. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz:))

No photos for the web album to-day.

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

A QUIET DAY ON THE RANCH

BISBEE'S COUNTY COURTHOUSE


Didn't end up taking any photos to-day so I'm going to go with the pics I took in Bisbee yesterday. While taking some of those photos a couple of ladies walking by stopped to say hello when they noticed our Ontario license plates on the car. I asked the lady where she was from & she said Mississauga. (near Toronto Ontario) I said we were from Bayfield. Her face lit up & she said, "we own a house in Bayfield on Ducharme Street." Had we talked further I'm sure we could have come up with some mutual friends back home, but as it was the ladies husbands were somewhere up ahead of them & they had to hurry to catch up. I figure the boys were probably in a gift shop browsing around for some nice things to buy their wives. D'ya think:)) Once again though, what a small world this is.

Our temperatures are slowly warming up so the water troughs in the corral had a thinner crust of ice on them this morning but we're still dressed in our winter gear until the sun starts warming things up around 10. The usual convoy of bird watchers slowly flocked by this morning, binoculars glued to their faces while hanging out the windows of their slow moving vehicles. Curly, the local game warden guy figures some of their spotting scopes cost more than his pick-up truck. I figure Curly's right. THIS IS A TOWN OF NEVER ENDING STAIRWAYS

Worked away on a little garden project here in front of the ranch house for most of the day. What I accomplished to-day would have taken me less than a couple of hours a few years ago but for some reason the shovels & rakes are getting old & just don't seem to move as fast as they once did. My shovel gets tired more often than it once did & my garden rake seems to take more breaks. Even the little wheelbarrow here on the farm seemed a tad pooped. Luckily Ray has an ATV with a trailer & I have been using that for getting around. That ATV must be a young whipper snapper because it always wants to get right up & go like nuts so I gotta keep a tight rein on it. Aw youth, you were such a fleeting young thing when I knew you well years ago.

I'm a little behind on my DVD movie reviews. Keep in mind, these are just the views from a cranky old cursmudgeon.
"Return To Me"....David Ducovny & Minnie Driver. Forget this one guys, it's a girl's movie!!
"Woman In The Water"....This one started out not too bad, got weird, & finished up with a tacky ending!!
"The Da Vinci Code".... Tom Hanks. We turfed this one after half an hour & that was too long. I'm sure this piece of Hollywood junk has to be a major embarrassment for director Ron Howard!!
"After The Sunset"...Pierce Brosnan, Woody Harrelson. We sent this one to the trash bin in less than 10 minutes!!
Like I said.......just my opinion. Not sure what we're up to for to-morrow but next week we hope to get over to Cochise's stronghold. Geronimo's place of surrender in Skeleton Canyon has been closed to the public so we won't be going there now. Still a few small ghost towns in the area to check out. And for sure we will be going back to Bisbee a few more times............... AL'S ABSTRACT PHOTO

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

BISBEE & THE UNDERGROUND QUEEN MINE TOUR

ALL SUITED UP & READY TO GO

We had to get ourselves moving a little earlier than usual this morning because we wanted to have breakfast at the Bisbee Breakfast Club before taking the Queen Mine tour at 10:30. A cloudless sky made for some heavy frost in the night but the weatherman tells us we're right on the doorstep of a healthy warming trend. That would be nice!! WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE BISBEE BREAKFAST CLUB

It was a relaxing 25 minute drive to Bisbee despite the Border Patrol helicopter flying at tree top level on Frontier road with boots on the ground beating the shrubs for rabbits wearing sombreros. The land is flat here on the valley floor but we were soon into the foothills of the Mule mountains heading for the fascinating little alpine like town of colorful Bisbee. This is a town like no other and I must say that it is probably the most interesting little place I've ever been.

INSIDE THE BBC

We found the Bisbee Breakfast Club located in a very old part of Bisbee that we had not seen before. http://www.bisbeebreakfastclub.com/ It has one mainstreet & most of the stores are vacant. Looks like everybody just dropped everything & left one day many years ago & never came back. It's almost as if the town decided to move about a mile to the northwest on the other side of the big open pit Lavender mine where the heart of Bisbee now lives. It's nice that the Bisbee Breakfast Club is located in this 1940's section of town because that means lots of easy parking. Even so, there were a lot of cars on the street around the restaurant. We hear that people are lined up to get in on the week-ends. As soon as you walk into the BBC the open spaciousness, creative designs & warm breakfast smells make you feel at home. Didn't matter if they brought me a stone on a plate, I was still going to like it here. Breakfast was great & the staff was friendly. Be sure to have a look at to-day's web album because I even took a picture of my breakfast. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/ AN OLD SECTION OF TOWN

We arrived at the Queen Mine building near an RV Park about 10 & got our tickets. $12 each. http://www.queenminetour.com/ The building is large with a big cozy fireplace in the corner. Lots of mining displays & exhibits here. About 10:20 we were all summoned up to a counter where we were outfitted with raincoats, mining helmets, and a battery pack with a light attached to it. There were about 40 people suited up for the tour. Lots of picture taking because we all looked like a bunch of yellow hard hat penguins or something. Outside the building everyone boarded a train like affair unlike any other train like affair I've ever seen. Pulled by a small orange iron engine of sorts it's 10 cars or so had to mounted much the same way as you mount a horse. You stepped up & swung a leg over a raised but cushioned board or something. Some folks raised their leg better than others, if ya know what I mean. Two ex-miners were our guide tours. The main fellow said his Grandfather & Father both worked this mine & he had worked here for 30 years before retiring in 93. ALL ABOARD FOR THE MINE TOUR

The Queen Mine goes straight into the mountain for 1500 feet unlike most other mines that would go straight down that distance. Temperature in there is about 48F at all times so we were all dressed warm. The guide might have told us his name but if he did I didn't hear him so from here on I'm going to call him Rocky. I will call his assistant, Stoner. Rocky & Stoner boarded the small orange engine & away we went bumping & rocking our way into the long dark mountain tunnel. First stop was at about the 300 foot mark where we all dis-embarked the straddling train & walked single file up a set of old wooden steps into a cavernous room. Reminded me right away of the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico & the Kartchner Caverns not far from here over near Benson. However there was a big difference. Those large caverns were made by Mother Nature & this small cavern we were standing in was made by man. Good thing we were all wearing miner's lights. Rocky explained all parts of the mining operations in this cavern & how it was done. He pointed out different mineral veins running through the rocks & an air shaft. Sparkling crystals could be seen in some of the rocks. So hard to believe that early miners only had candles to work with. WE WILL GO STRAIGHT IN THERE FOR 1500 FEET

Our next stop was at the end of the tunnel at the 1500 foot mark. Here we dis-embarked & Rocky led us on foot into another side tunnel while Stoner took off with the train to some unknown dark destination to turn it around. In this section of the mine were heavy iron cars used for hauling the tons of rocks. There were old elevators & chutes for dumping the rock into the small rail cars. A red car for hauling dynamite & a red emergency phone on the rock wall in case of disaster. 3 steel rock drills were set up & Rocky explained how they were used. He called one the widowmaker because of the dust it created which in turn entered the operators lungs, thus shortening his life. He also demonstrated how dynamite was packed into the drilled holes & how the fuses were all lit to set the dynamite off in a series of timed explosions. From the time the fuses were lit, the dynamite guy had a short 8 minutes to get himself over to the other side of Texas. Of particular interest was another steel car sitting nearby with two curious opened lids & two round holes on the top. Well wouldn't you know it......this was the miners toilet. A true dumper so to speak. Rocky said when this car was full it was pulled out of the mine by a "honey wagon" person & pumped out. Not a nice job in them days for sure!!!! THE MINER'S TOILET CAR

By the time we returned up the shaft, Stoner was back with the train. Everyone straddled up & away we went heading back for the outside world. Yes, yes, some people straddle better than others. We emerged about 5 minutes later out of the cooler dark mineshaft into the much warmer & brighter light of day. From there it was back into the miners building where everyone was helped out of their mining gear. All & all, it was a great tour & we enjoyed the hour long underground learning experience. ROCKY DEMONSTRATES THE LIGHTING OF DYNAMITE FUSES

From the mine we drove across the road & into the downtown section of Bisbee. We spent the next hour & a half walking & driving up & down & around the town trying to take in as much of this Bisbee experience as we could. For anyone interested in architecture, painting, photography, etc., this town is a must see for sure. Seems to be something here for everybody, especially if you are an arts type person. To see how the houses are built into & onto the hillsides is something else. The narrow little winding streets, the squeeze through alleys, and never ending stairways reaching for the sky just have to be seen to be appreciated. Multi-colored restored miners cabins, magnificent stone & brick buildings, stately Hotels, cozy bed & breakfast cottages, artsy cafe's, quaint shops, miner's museums, & the list just goes on & on & on. We even saw daffodils & pansies blooming to-day. I took another ka-zillion million pictures but I'm not going to include them in to-day's web album. Instead I will make up a separate web album with to-day's Bisbee pics & the one's from last week & put them all to-gether. I'm sure we'll be back to Bisbee a few more times before we depart the area next month & I will include future photos in one big Bisbee album so that they are all to-gether. I will start putting that album to-gether to-morrow. NO MAME YOU CAN'T KEEP THE MINER'S HELMET

We rolled out of Bisbee around 2 heading for the rig. Noticed a "For Sale" sign on a nice looking but abandoned ranch style house on the way back. Just for fun Kelly called the real estate number & got a recording. It said, "I'm up to my butt in alligators to-day but if you leave a message I'll call you back." She didn't leave a message but yep, we're out here in the old wild west alright where cowboys is cowboys & gators is gators. Butt grabbin gators that is...........................................................

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