Yesterday we moved 70 miles from Willcox to Fort Huachuca (right next to Sierra Vista). We’re staying at the military campground which is very nice. All pavement and gravel so there’s not much dirt to blow around. Last night and today the wind blew so hard we couldn’t hear ourselves think. It must have been gusting at least 50 mph. When we were taking Lovie out for her last walk last night I got hit by a gust so hard it would have blown me off the steps if I hadn’t been holding onto the handle next to the door. It’s finally calmed down tonight so we should be able to sleep better.
On I-10 coming into Benson which shows just how flat this area is NOT. The town looks like it was built in a flood zone and should have been washed down to Mexico long ago. It probably isn't as bad as it looks but it was certainly a steep hill coming in.
Gigantic cottonwood, planted 80 years ago, at the San Pedro House in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Sierra Vista. The SPRNCA goes for many miles along the San Pedro River which is a huge birding area. About 350 species either use it as a stopping point during migration or stay there to breed. We saw lots of birds but unfortunately had not taken our binoculars so weren't able to see them well enough to identify them……not that we know that much about western birds. Walked about 2 miles on the trails where we saw lots of tracks....bear, bobcat and deer. The size of this cottonwood was unbelievable. They aren’t long-lived trees so must grow very fast to get to this size in 80 years.
A pile of tumbleweeds stuck in a
clump. If you didn’t know what you were looking at you’d think it was
just a bunch of dried shrubs. I didn't know until now that this is an
invasive species that apparently came from Russia in flaxseed imported by
Ukrainian farmers in the late 1800's. It was first reported in 1877 in SD.
Within two decades it had tumbled into a dozen states and reached as far as
California. The plant grows very quickly, reaching maturity by the end of
the growing season at which point it dries out and detaches itself from its
roots so it can go rolling off to disperse its 250,000 unwanted seeds
everywhere. No wonder it's become such a problem. I always thought
tumbleweeds were just a normal part of the west but they certainly are not.
Today's pictures are from our trip to Bisbee and Tombstone. Bisbee is a small town which grew up solely because of the mining industry. Houses are stuck on the sides of the hills, many in places which do not appear to have roads going to them. I'm guessing people have to climb up and down the hillsides to get from their houses to the nearest road. I had read that the roads in Old Bisbee are very narrow and difficult to get around so we didn't even attempt to take the truck on them. We had hoped to take the Copper Queen Mine tour but everything was sold out except the last one which would have prevented us from going to Tombstone so we didn't take it. I don't think either of us were too disappointed that we didn't get to go 1500 feet down into the mine in little narrow tunnels.
The Lavender Pit copper mine is hard to photograph because it's so big. It was named after Harrison Lavender, a mining engineer who was vice-president and general manager of Phelps Dodge Corporation. He came up with a plan for how to turn the previously unprofitable low-grade copper rock in the area into a commercially viable operation. It's a 900 foot deep open pit mine (obviously) which is right next to the Copper Queen which is a deep tunnel mine. Another mine with higher grade ore was on top of the Lavender Pit. All the dump rock had to go somewhere so it’s been spread all over the area which is now full of mine tailings. Another thing that came out of this mine was Bisbee Blue turquoise, one of the finest turquoise stones in the world.
Harley motorcycle display at the Bisbee Breakfast Club.
We ate lunch at the Bisbee Breakfast Club, having read a rave review on TripAdvisor. It was an old-timey place, playing music from the 50's which was great. The food was delicious and plentiful. Our order included one biscuit each which I believe Jim thought wouldn't be enough for him.......until he saw it. It was the size of a saucer. I could eat only about a quarter of mine. We were really glad we went there because we wouldn't have seen the street otherwise. It had vintage store fronts and vehicles from one end to the other. The restaurant took up two store fronts and the one next door to the entrance had four motorcycles in the windows. Further down the street was an old Gulf gas station, an old Chevy store and a Harley and Indian store across the street. I wish we'd had more time to walk up and down the street and take pictures but the wind was still blowing really hard so we just got back in the truck and didn't try walking.
The pick-up is a customized hotrod Hudson. The black car in front of the Gulf station is a 1958 Buick coupe.
After lunch we drove up to Tombstone, about 25 miles from Bisbee. The terrain is very different once you get out of the Mule Mountains north of Bisbee. Bisbee is planted on the sides of the mountains as that's where the mines were. It's not far down from the 6000 ft pass everyone has to cross to get into the town from the north or northwest. (There's a road coming in from the south/southwest which doesn't go over the Mule Mountains but we didn't go that way.) Tombstone is in much more level country although it's still in low rolling hills. The vegetation is much more like Texas than the grasslands south of Willcox. Lots more creosote bushes and mesquite trees.
Tombstone is a total tourist trap. Can't tell if any part of it is original. Being Saturday there were a lot more tourists around than we've seen in our entire four weeks on the road. Stores full of Western gear and Indian jewelry. People in period costume hawking tickets to see the re-enacted Gunfight at the OK Corral. They do the gunfight in a courtyard behind a wall so you can't see it if you don't buy tickets. A friend told us there's a similar gunfight re-enactment at Oatman, AZ, for free, so since we're going to Oatman in a couple of weeks we elected not to see the Tombstone fight. We certainly don't blame the town for charging to see the re-enactments.......they've got to make money any way they can because there sure isn't anything around there to support anyone.
Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone where the OK Corral gunfight victims are buried.
Victims of the Gunfight at the OK Corral
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