We spent a few days exploring Bisbee Arizona, a copper mining town (plus silver and gold) founded about 1880
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The town reminded me of Nevada City and Les of Virginia City.JPG)
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On our first day we walked around town and found the Stock Exchange saloon. It really was a stock exchange during prohibition. They had an open mic night on Thursday, so we grabbed some pizza and a seat at the bar. There was some really good local talent..JPG)
We took the tour into the Copper Queen mine, which was the original underground mine. Sonny, our guide for the mine tour, in his 70’s, had been a miner his whole life in Bisbee. He explained that the air in the Queen mine was all natural ventilation and the only toxic pockets were caused by the miners themselves. :-) The mine had 143 miles of tunnels on 7 levels,.JPG)
each level 100’ apart. It’s a constant 47 degrees in the mine. With the advent of modern machinery, the mining was done in 'open pit' style. This is the lavender pit, which was closed about 1974.This was the first spot that we got mail from home. We discovered that you could have mail sent to your name at General Delivery. It worked well for us and we will probably continue to use that method on our trip. We think the trick is to pick a very small town with only one post office.
There is also really cute, old style RV park, called The Shady Dell, where you rent remodeled trailers by the night. Fun.
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We took a motorcycle ride out to the border town of Naco (we had heard of this place from one of the campers in Tucson) and then on into Sierra Vista. There is nothing in Naco except a border crossing, a decrepit town and a dusty RV park with a small golf course across the street.
There’s a very nice museum in Bisbee (partnered with the Smithsonian), that focuses on the mining history. We spent a couple of interesting hours there.
There’s a very nice museum in Bisbee (partnered with the Smithsonian), that focuses on the mining history. We spent a couple of interesting hours there.
New Mexico
After leaving Bisbee, we headed out of Arizona into New Mexico and spent a day in the Las Cruces area. We especially enjoyed our bike ride through historic Mesilla.
This is a protected historical site with wonderful old buildings. It became part of the U.S. through the Gadsden Purchase. According to local legend, Sam Bean and his brother, Roy, had lived and acquired property in Mesilla, but lost their property after the end of the civil war. They were confederate sympathizers and in 1864 their property was confiscated for “armed rebellion against the Government of the U.S. and in all respects aiding and abetting said rebellion.” Sam stayed in the area but Roy left and eventually went to Langtry, Texas where he became the fabled hanging Judge and the self-proclaimed ‘law west of the Pecos’. The trial and sentencing of Billy the Kid was also held in Mesilla in 1881.
Into Texas:
Old El Paso
El Paso was a huge surprise to us. We were thinking a smallish West Texas town on the border and were terribly surprised to discover a city of over 600,000 people! The I-10 through the main part of town was especially hair-raising. It’s interesting to note that the I-10 between New Mexico and El Paso, has a speed limit of 80 for cars and 70 for trucks.
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I have finally (willingly) gotten behind the wheel of this behemoth. I’ve driven three times now (first day 30 miles, then 60 miles and today over 90!), on some wide country roads with minimal traffic. It’s good practice and good for the confidence level. Les is very supportive, but still sits on the edge of his seat. ;-}
We spent yesterday on the bike, touring through Big Bend National Park; beautiful, grand scenery. It doesn’t seem possible that today's very tame Rio Grande could carve all these canyons. BTW in Mexico, the river is called Rio Bravo del Norte.
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