Putting the Road in Road Trip

For the last week we've headed ever eastward, though northern Arizona and New Mexico. Now, the time for Spring Break has run out, and it's time to get serious about putting the road in road trip.

Alamogordo to Bisbee Arizona

We got an early start leaving Alamogordo. Except for eating and gas, we planned no stops. After about an hour and a half, we picked up Interstate 10 at Las Cruces, New Mexico. Before we got on the freeway, we drove into town and found a place for breakfast.

I, personally, was burned out with green chile (I'm going to spell it like it appears on all the menus I've seen, even though Google Chrome spell check seems to hate it.) A Bite of Belgium offered a break from that. Kathy had quiche and I had a french-style ham and cheese omelet, with two Liege waffles.

The last time we went to Europe, I was able to purchase a special senior citizen train ticket which allowed us to travel through Liege, Belgium. We didn't stay there, but did stop for lunch, just to eat the famous meatballs, which I'd seen on an episode of Travels with Darley. We never got a chance to try Liege waffles, so I was surprised to find them in New Mexico. They were very dense. I think I prefer what we think of as Belgian waffles.

From Las Cruces to Bisbee, Arizona is about 250 miles, partly on the freeway, and partly on State Route 80, bouncing off of the Mexican Border at Douglas, Arizona. This is not (in my opinion) a very scenic drive. We weren't tempted to pull off every few miles for some new roadside attraction.

In the (ghost) town of Apache, we stopped and looked at the Geronimo Surrender Monument, the only point of historic interest we encountered on the trip. This monument memorialized the surrender of Geronimo and the end of the Indian Wars.

Apache is also the site of Apache Elementary School, a one-room schoolhouse with an enrollment (in 2017) of eight students 

We stopped for gas in Douglas (no pictures) and made the last push into Bisbee by 4 pm, where we checked into the San Ramon Hotel which is located just as you enter the old section of town.

We got the second floor corner room, which gave us a wonderful view of downtown. Of course, since we were on the corner of Main and Brewery Avenue, it also meant that groups of people were walking and talking right under our windows until the bars closed at 2 am.

Before eating dinner and walking around town, we walked under highway 80 to the Copper Queen Mine, which had a bewildering variety of minerals and rocks for sale. 

While we were there, the last three mine tours were assembling, putting on their vests, helmets and lights to descend for an hour and a half into the shafts. Kathy and I thought about going, but our limited time (and the 47 degree temperature down in the mine) convinced us that our time was better spent elsewhere. 

We spent the next two hours, first walking through the main section of town, and then climbing up and down the sides of the mountains on which the houses of Bisbee perch. 

It was a pretty exhausting hike (which seems to be a recurring theme for our vacation).

Around 6 pm we went looking for somewhere to eat. Surprisingly, for a tourist-oriented town, the pickings were very slim. The only open restaurant we could find was The Table, right in the center of town. The food was OK, but not exceptional. Now, if we just wanted to drink, there were a half dozen bars and breweries open within the four block area around our hotel.

When we got back to the hotel at 7 pm, I collapsed into bed even before I could write in my blog.

The 4.4 to Yuma

On April 4, Easter Sunday, I woke up at 5:30 am, completely refreshed (what with ten and a half hours of sleep). When we were at the Copper Queen's Lavender Pit yesterday, I had seen a sign for an Easter Sunrise Service in the parking lot. So, I threw on some clothes and headed down the road.

I miscalculated how fast I could walk and arrived a few minutes late, so all of the folding chairs were already filled. That was all right. It was a cool, but not cold morning, and standing was invigorating. The service was a multi-denominational, with churches throughout the town each supplying a reading or a song. I was surprised that I remembered all of the words to songs that I haven't heard for years, such as "Up From the Grave He Arose."

Sunrise was at 6:04 am, so as the service continued, the sun climbed down the walls of the Lavender Pit behind the speakers. Despite the ravages of the mining, it was strangely inspiring.

By the time I walked back to town, Kathy had got us packed for our long second day drive to Yuma.

We turned off the road at Tombstone and drove through town. There were a couple of gunfighters lounging around (really!) waiting, we assumed, for the daily reenactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. In was only about 8 am, and we weren't interested in waiting around. I did take a picture of Boot Hill, over the top of the fence. (It wasn't open yet either.)

Mule Mountain Highway 80 joins Interstate 10 in Benson, Arizona. We stopped at the Farmhouse Restaurant for a break and some much-needed calories before the freeway. The food was so good, that I forgot to take any pictures.

As we drove past Tuscon on the freeway, we decided to get off and take a look at the Saguaro National Forest. The eastern (Rincon Mountains) section features an easy eight mile (driving) loop.

Here's a picture of me with my "youth group". Saguaro cacti don't get any arms until they are about 70.

The cactus doesn't mature until it is about 150 years old. I don't know how long they live.

They are extremely susceptible to cold. At one of the turnouts, they had a photograph from 1935, when the forest was thick with cacti. Two years later they had a freeze, and a picture of the same area in 1945 seemed to have about half the number.

We saw only a few flowering plants. The brochure listed a wide variety of creatures which feast off the Saguaro, the other cacti, and their blossoms and fruit. Fortunately, since becoming a National Park, cattle and sheep are no longer permitted to graze in the park.

We left the park around 2 pm, and spent the rest of the afternoon on the long drive to Yuma, listening to Jim Chee still trying to solve the mystery of the People of Darkness. Home tomorrow.