And we went Underground

We are here for a week at the Saguaro SKP Co-Op, with a beautiful corner lot and casita overlooking the valley in Benson.  There is so much to do in this area, so this will be our home base,while we do day trips.  Today we headed off to Tombstone, but it was very early in the day, so continued onto Bisbee, ( est. 1880 ) recommended by many rv bloggers!

We managed to catch the 10:30 am Queen Mine Tour.  Very fun and informative.  Having to wear the miner gear was a little goofy, but the little lamps we wore around our neck did help lighting up areas we each wanted to see.  It was cold in there though!

Mine entrance and 'engine' of our little train

The new camera was well worth it today as it was able to take some shots inside the tunnel.  The tour was about an hour long and we were glad to be back out into the sunshine and warm up. There were some guys wearing shorts and Tshirts..at least we knew to wear long pants and a jacket.

Yes, we got to handle some dynamite. " Pass it around, people, have a feel of that stick"! Ok. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the Bisbee Hotel and then drove out to the open pit mine.  What we found interesting was that even though there was an old town Bisbee, there is a new town just beyond the open pit mine with war time housing and further interesting architecture.

Corner of the Bisbee Hotel

Our final stop before coming back to the Eagle for a snooze, was to stop in St. David's at the Benedictine Monastery, where you can visit, and stay in their little RV Park! There were about 20 RV's there and they looked like they had at least water and power.  I guess that would have been one more different type of RV accomodation to experience, but the SKP Park is great, so we'll stay here.

Gift after the Windstorm

Well, the wind on our tour of Organ Pipe was nothing compared till after we got home, last night and most of today.  All the slides were brought in.  There was a bad wind night when we were at Imperial Dam LTVA and this was just as bad. We paid for another night, as there was no travelling today on the roads. About  5 pm , the wind finally died down and the neighbours emerged from their respective RV's to hunt all over for any missing mats or other things.


As so often with nature, there is a ying and a yang, and we were blessed with a double rainbow after a small rain shower.   Simply beautiful.

WHY are we blowing???

  Here in Why the winds started early in the morning, but did not keep us from enjoying our day.  We started on the way to Organ Pipe National Monument. First, we quickly ran down past the National Monument to Lukeville on the border, just 'cus. There were lineups to get back, since it was a Sunday and the end of school spring break.

The campground at Organ Pipe was great even for large RV's. Even though we are not staying there this time, it was good to check it out.

Organ Pipe Cactus

   The wind was blowing very hard with a cloud cover, so the skies were very dull today.  We stopped at the Visitor Centre and picked up a guide for plants and cactus in the southwest. The 21 mile Ajo Mountain Drive was still completed though, and wow! that road needs to be graded again.  It took us a couple of hours, and we stopped half way through to have lunch at Estes Canyon.  This little guy decided to visit us at the ramada

There were interesting arches that we perhaps saw yesterday on our drive through the nearby roads, and today from another side of the mountain.  The arches are created by weather action, not wind. Well, you would think it was wind today.

Yep, that's the colour of the sky today - see the 2 arches?

So many things just blend away into the desert.  An interpreter at the Ajo Museum said to look for the buildings that have melted into the desert. Animals are so camoflaged and so are the bones.

Thanks again to the Bayfield Bunch for their recommendation of an RV park here. 

Our view, Why, Arizona. Yesterday, No winds, Blue(ish) Sky.

We may stay here another day till these winds blow out.

Day Tour of AJO

Our visiting day in Ajo was very enjoyable.  Al from the Bayfield Bunch emailed us about taking the Ajo Scenic Loop, which is a 10.9 gravel road route.  It was recently graded and took us through a higher area outside of town, in the Sonoran Desert.  There were a few boondockers on Darby Wells Road. 

The first stop in the morning was to the Post Office to mail some parcels to the boys and get some more stamps, and of course, coffee time in the Ajo Plaza.  What a lovely spot, but too bad it is not busier with more businesses. We found out later the Library is one of the 'hotspots' of activity in the winter.

The nest stop was the Interpretive Center of the Wildlife Refuge, where we learned that a large portion is now closed to any activity due to the fawning season of the Pronghorn Antelope.   We picked up a book on Desert Cactus at the gift shop in order to identify and learn more! 

Next on the day's agenda were visits to the Ajo Museum, where there were at least 4 volunteer interpreters and townspeople, who were very proud of Ajo and it's history.  There, we were also encouraged to drive the Ajo Scenic Loop and were given the brochure to read along the way, explaining interesting points.  Of course, Ajo being a mining town, there was a room of rocks and specimens of all sorts.  We are not 'rock' people but volunteers at both the mine information building and the museum were - boy o boy those people love rocks. I probably should have paid more attention when the geology portion of science came up in High School.  See - you never know when you need that information, I always told my kids! 

Stained glass windows of the Catholic Church, set in hardened sand, rather than lead

Closed Mine

Imperial Dam LTVA to Ajo

Just before we left Yuma and the Imperial Dam area, we made a quick trip to a Verizon Wireless store to change the address on our account.  You can't do that online with a Canadian address.  It also seems we need at new wall plug cord, and of course, they do not stock anything at the store.  So, who knows when that will be arranged, as they are shipped UPS, but we are on the road with no plans for a longer stay anywhere.  The component is covered under warranty, so it just may have to wait for a bit.

We were too early for the opening of the Verizon store, and there was another store across the street open that somehow managed to get us to spend some moolah for a new camera. So far, it's a great little camera : Nikon S9100.  I haven't tried a night shot as yet.

Julie and Ed saying so long!

We drove from Imperial through the Dome Valley, rather than to Yuma, in order to catch I 8 East.  What a pretty valley of very busy farms.  Workers were picking lettuces and we also saw some fields of strawberries being covered by remay ( white cloth ) probably in order to keep the birds off.

The Desert Rat

A very warm day of driving, but tonight we are in Ajo, enjoying a night at Shadowridge RV Park.  They accept Passport America, so it only cost $12 tonight, and it sure was worth it for some air conditioners, and both were turned on full blast!  We drove up to the viewpoint to have a look at the closed down Cornelia Copper Mine and at the old railway station.

We will try to go back to the mine in the morning, to see if we can get some information and history.  It was way way down!

We look forward tomorrow to learning more about this little town and its beautiful architecture.  Some people have asked how our old cat is doing without her fur friend - she is fine, has turned very clingy, but she is most likely enjoying the air being on in the fifth and much cooler!