VACATION - Bisbee and Tombstone on a day trip in the Tracker

(this post is about Friday, March 4, but didn't get posted until today) 

We are waking up to some frosty cold mornings here in the desert, but once the sun just pops over that mountain ridge, it's warm and sunny and not a cloud in sight!    

Some wonderful folks, Ray and Jeanie who kinda drew us all together here in some way or another, with knowing Al and Kelly, Rene and Jim and through their efforts we all kinda got to be blogging friends.  Now It was time to meet them in person!  

They popped over for a quick visit to where we were boondocking, and we chatted a while, with a promise to get together in a day or two. Plus Jeanie was coveting my socks, and needed to have a few pairs made up!   We met their friend Linda too, who kept Dukie busy with his frisbee, ball and sticks!   We knew we instantly liked these folks, as they seemed to like us too.  Such wonderful people we are meeting in our travels, and each time it's hard to say *goodbye* ... so we just say *See you Soon!*

After they headed out to do some things, we loaded up the Tracker with water, snacks and a map and took off to explore the area again.

First we went to Bisbee... my oh my what a quirky little town!  How fun!!!!   I lost the first 20 or so shots I took in the center of town... (drat)   hit the wrong button the camera!     But around Bisbee, it's quite artsy and there are some interesting studios and shops, street musicians all over, and the strangest tradition of The Bisbee Cars....  Article about the Bisbee Art Cars

 Take an ordinary vehicle, use a creative touch to paint it and decorate it with hundreds or perhaps thousands of items and what do you get? An art car.

 Even buildings are decorated in an artistic manner.....

It was kinda built into the hills, around the mines, and the houses are all tiny  things, willy nilly stuck into the hills!   They are right next to each other and share a lot of common walls.   We crawled all over in tiny alleys, twisty roads and interesting building structures arose outta the strangest places.

 Everything is just kinda slapped together in many of the places in the downtown.  You need to be a billy goat or have a tiny vehicle like our Tracker to get up and down and around ....

Along the major route, a deep channel was dug and cemented in, to let water rush through during a cloudburst.  Folks even had little bridges to get to their houses, across the wide *moats*

I had the address for the Bisbee Fiber Guild who has studio space in the lowest level of an old YMCA  building in Bisbee.  We found it and I managed my way in past a couple of *questionable* residents sitting outside, ummm with some rather aromatic smokes.  heh heh....  But I found the steps and went down to the their large guild room.  They had quite a few looms set up, some with projects on them.

http://www.bisbeefiberarts.com/

 I snapped a few pics in their little store area of ready-made items for sale.  Their rugs were on display as well.   The gal, Lynne Morrow was just finishing up talking with a few other customers, so I roamed around snapping more pics (I asked first) ....    Once she was done, we had time to chat about this and that, and later another weaver came in, Andrea,  who also chatted a bit as she was working on a rug.

We shared some tips and ideas, talked about things to see in the area, and then it was time to go.... Steveio and the dogs were waiting in the Tracker....

Next we drove up the road to Tombstone.  We are not very *touristy* people, so we kinda drove around, saw some sights, and snapped some pics.   The little trinket shops were overpriced of course and the idea of taking a stage coach ride didn't appeal too much since we had the dogs along.

We did see another Safari rig parked in a cramped RV park in town.  It was like Mel and Paula's but we knew it wasn't them because they are in Yuma and meeting up with us on Sunday in Gila Bend.

 Take a look at what you get for an RV park campsite in Tombstone?  They are probably paying in the $35-40 range for this spot.  I tried to look up the park for the fees, but they don't have a website. 2 cement slabs for the tire, a hose and a plugin, and not even enough room to put out a slide if you had one!   No thanks....

Where are our nice spacious green-treed, surround by shrubs and natural grass landscapes of Wisconsin?



From there, we hopped on Gleeson Road and headed back east towards our boondocking spot.  It was smack dab through the middle of the Dragoon Mountains.

It was all washboard gravel for about 25 miles but we found if we drove the Tracker about 35mph we didn't vibrate as much, and rode along in comparative comfort.  The dogs sure enjoyed the outing and we enjoyed the scenery.

We got back and wipe off the dust, showered and shined up, and then threw some salmon on the grill.  Just as the sun was setting, we were feasting on our good meal, and thanking God for a wonderful day!



no miles traveled in the motorhome
97 miles traveled in the Tracker