Playing tourist in Bisbee, Ariz.

August 22—Arizona is an interesting state. I don’t think I would want to live here (too conservative), but I’m finding that there are places that are not as dry and desolate as Tucson and Yuma. Fort Huachuca and Bisbee are such areas. They are green! And the grass is almost “real.”

We decided to detour to Bisbee to tour the Queen Mine. When Jim and I were here several years ago (gosh, must be about eight or nine years!), we went to Tombstone and passed through Bisbee. It was November, however, which is the high season for tourists in this state, and all the mine tours were booked up, so we were not able to see the mine, which closed down in 1975.

We figured there wouldn’t be any problem booking a tour in August, and we were right. We were the only ones on the 9 a.m. tour this morning. Nothing nicer than having a private showing!

The tour was informative; I’m glad we went. Afterwards we walked up and down one of the main streets in Bisbee, which has become a haven for artists.

Bisbee was originally a mining town built on the mountainside. Houses are erected in places that most people would consider unreachable. We were early for the tour, so we decided we would drive down into the town. Well, we got stuck is some traffic (road work). When we were able to pull off and attempted to find the downtown area on our own, we found ourselves “distracted.” So we asked Garmina (our GPS) to get us back to our destination. She started to take us places I didn’t think we could navigate! Fortunately, we were only in the car, not in “Baby.” I would hate to think what would have happened if we had been driving her!

A side note: On the way back to the RV park, we stopped at what was labeled a “scenic overview.” It was a view of Lavender Pit, a huge open-pit mining operation that scarred the mountainside. I would not call it scenic.

This afternoon we played golf, an interesting experience in this altitude (4600 feet above sea level). It was about 94 degrees, with 27% humidity. Not at all bad! The fairways and greens were wonderfully kept, and although the course was not especially challenging, we really had a good time.

Tomorrow, we’re off again. The golf superintendent told us about a place to have lunch, outside of Deming, N.M. The town is Hatch, and restaurant is Sparky’s. Supposedly it has a reputation for having the world’s best chili.

If we are near there at lunch time, we’ll find out.

Until next time,

Your Reluctant RoVer,
Linda