Bisbee, Az

Bisbee was founded as a copper, gold and silver mining town in 1880,





I hope you enjoy the pictures. The town reminded me of Eureka Springs, Ark. Build on the side of a mountain.



I was really eager to see Bisbee, not because it was a mining town, but because it is the home of Sheriff Joanna Brady. Joanna Brady is the main character in a series of mystery novels by author J. A. Jance, centered in Bisbee, Arizona. I discovered her books in Hawaii one year and have really enjoyed them. Another character is J.P. Beaumont, a detective in Seattle, WA.



Anyway, I fantasized that I would just walk up to the sheriff's office and ask to talk to Joanna.
O well so goes my fantasies.



We stopped at the "hole" that was The Lavender Pit and there was a turquoise shop by the parking lot. I had to check it out...Got to talking with the owner and told her of my fantasy and she laughed and said her friend had gone to school with JA Jance. I thought that was pretty cool.

on the road to Bisbee

We took Highway 9 to Arizona...it was narrow and very little traffic.


The border watchers came up so quick..we didn't realize they were there. Saw only two.

We also were surprised at the Playas Traning Center sign . Via the internet,learned it is an
anti-terrorism training facility. There is a lot going on out there in the wilderness.



Just never know what you will encounter on the less traveled routes.

Marathon, TX

Marathon is the gateway to Big Bend National Park. It is a small town; the railroad on one side and the town on the other of the highway. A step back in time.

There is a bakery (Shirley's) that makes great fruit turnovers. We rode our bikes down to have one for breakfast. Two bus load of college students were standing around eating goodies from the bakery. I didn't think we would get our turnovers, but there was one apricot and 2 apple left. The owner said he nearly collapsed when he saw the buses pull up.. made his day for sure.

We've stopped there before and there was always someone coming and going in the bakery.

A neat RV park that has a restaurant (breakfast only) has really improved over the years.

The first year we stayed there, we saw another vehicle with Washington license and went over to say HI. It turned out the lady was a client of Greg's. Such a small world.

No pictures, my camera batteries were dead.

Pancho Villa State Park

As we drive through the small towns, I've wondered how and why they were established and how they continue to survive. I check out the AAA travel book and sometime the town is listed and usually not. But Columbus was and after reading , we just had to stop and get more information. Amazing that so much history transpired in this small out in the middle of (what I thought) no-where.


Mexico attacked the United States on March 9, 1916.



Pershing's Punitive Expedition (click to see more about this event)

It was very dusty and Logan got cactus needles in his feet. He learned very quickly where NOT to go. There was a small rabbit that would drink the water from the sprinkler head just in view of the front window. As you can guess, Logan just about had a stroke because he couldn't get to him. And no amount of noise would distract the rabbit and make him leave. We watched several varieties of birds drink at the same place.

We enjoyed our stay so much we extended for another night.

And we got to visit Mexico.

A trip to Mexico

Have patience, I'm learning how to post by Picasa web albums to my blogs. Click on the pictures and you will be in the web album.....look to the right and click on slide show. To return to the blog..click on the BACK arrow in the slide show when you are at the first picture and then BACK in the web-album.

We have avoided going into Mexico for a variety of reasons....BUT the volunteers here at Pancho Villa State Park encouraged us to go and visit The Pink Store. They even gave us coupons for free margaritas. Well, how could you turn that down. WOW the margaritas were not the watered down you as usually except when they are free. Wasn't sure I could make it back across the border. :-))

We learned later the owners of the Store live in Deming (35 miles north in NM) and obviously do what they can to encourage traffic. The store was very clean, food and service excellent. The store had everything made in Mexico you could ever want to purchase.

We were just waved through the entrance.. The town was cleaner than our previous experiences. There were a couple of mothers with young children begging. We later learned that they were from an Indian Reservation on the Copper River. They bus in to beg. So sad...

Highway 9

Greg likes to avoids the blue and sometimes the red roads when we can. They are just too crowded.

So we chose the black Highway 9 West. You never know the condition of these black roads but usually they are OK. You will notice there is no shoulder (and rarely a rest area). We did have one pull off that came up at the right time.
We were on one of those black roads on the way to the Kickapoo Casino and it was so narrow that when we had on coming traffic we had to really slow down and sometimes have the tire off the pavement.

BUT, when you take these roads, you really get to see the real world. In Eagle Pass we would pass gates with a lot of signs, a RV or trailer would be parked next to the gate and the look of "don't even think about it" We never did find out what they were guarding.

Highway 9 was very uneventful. There is just nothing out there but cactus,rocks, dry grass, an occasional cow and ranch in the distance.
AND those piles of rocks. Have no idea what they represent . In Hawaii there are similar stacks of rocks and I believe it has some religious purpose.


The road runs parallel to the Mexican border. We could see some white markers which we assume was on the border.
Interesting enough, we didn't see any border patrol after we left the El Paso area.
After about 70 miles we arrived in Columbus and discovered the Pancho Villa Park and museum. It looked interesting so we decided to spend the day and night.

A day in El Paso

We spent too much time at Walmart and then taking care of some communications in Bellingham to get a good start out of El Paso...So we decided to stick around for another day.

The space is free, we have no problem dry camping.

So Greg took of to the Air Museum. This was my favorite picture he took. It is a P-40 War Hawk. I just like the paint job.

Well, as for me, I couldn't take a picture of what I did. They don't allow camera in the Casino. :-))

Greg spent his $5.00 for entrance fee......I lost my $3.00 on penny slots. I play high stakes....

Greg has nice fresh air and good conversation with other airplane enthusiast and I set in a smoke filled room with bells going off everywhere but on my machine.

A man sitting next to me had to have lost over $100.00 on the penny slot. :-((

The previous night I started with $2.00 and won about $10. :-))