January 12-16, 2015

We arrived at Queen Mine RV Park in Bisbee Arizona before noon on Monday. Bisbee is approximately 10 miles away from the Mexican Border.

We had originally planned to leave Tombstone and arrive in Bisbee on Sunday, January 11^th however as we were getting ready to leave we discovered that we had a flat tire on the RV. Time to try out our CAA RV road assistance coverage. Within an hour we had an AAA service tech at our campsite. As the tires on our RV had not been touched since new, it proved to be somewhat of a challenge to remove the lug nuts on the chrome ring on the tire due to rust etc. Finally, the tire was removed, the spare put on and all was well again. By this time though it was close to 3 pm so we decided just to spend another night there and headed to Bisbee the next morning.

Here is a little history of Bisbee: In 1887, a reconnaissance detail of army scouts and calvarymen were sent to the Mule Mountains in search of renegade Apaches. What Lt John Rucker and a civilian tracker Jack Dunn found instead were signs of copper. The first mining claim was staked in what would later become the City of Bisbee. This claim along with a multitude of others sent mining prospectors scurrying to Mule Mountains in hopes of striking it rich. The city was named in honour of Judge DeWitt Bisbee from San Francisco who was a major financial backer of the mine. During this time miners from England brought their 2000 year mining experience to Bisbee. They also brought legends of little people known as “Tommy Knockers” who were said to warn miners of danger by knocking on rocks.

Bisbee was a rough and tumble mining camp and in Bisbee’s famed red-light district, Brewery Gulch boasted nearly 50 saloons and almost as many brothels. It was once considered the wildest street in North America. (See pic) Bisbee’s mines closed in the 70’s but Bisbee has entertained millions of visitors since. It is a National Registered Historic District that chronicles the Old West.

Today, it has transformed itself into a quirky, artsy town offering historic lodging, fine dining, museums, art galleries and antique shops.

Naturally, the first thing we did upon arriving in Bisbee was go for a tour of the Queen Mine which was only a couple of hundred feet away from our RV Camp thus it was very convenient. (see pic) We took an original mining train into the mine until we were 1500 feet inside. We had to wear Hard Hats, miners coats and miners lights. There is 143 miles of tunnels in the Queen Mine alone and over 2000 miles of tunnels in all of the mines in Bisbee. The miners life was very hard. At the start of their shift they were each issued 4 candles which was their only light source originally. Miners were paid anywhere up to 36 cents per hour depending on their job and they were able to double their wages if they were more productive by exceeding their daily quota. Originally, the miners had to push 1 ton carts of Ore out of the mine to be sent on to nearby town of Douglas for processing. Eventually, they used Mules to haul the ore out of the mines and mules could pull 4 carts as opposed to only one that people could push thus significantly increasing productivity.

Bisbee’s mines produced more than 8 billion pounds of copper as well as gold, silver and zinc. It was one of the most productive mining districts in the world from the late 1800’s until it’s closure in 1975.

After the mine tour, we took Jazz for a walk around town and checked out the funky streets, shops, etc. The whole town is built on the mountains so the streets are up and down all over the place. There are many sets of staircases all over the town to allow access to the higher streets.

The following morning we learned from the RV Park Manager that at 11:30 pm the night before, there had been 2 EMS vehicles in the park attending to a park resident who had been cleaning his gun while in his little Bolar type trailer and his gun fired as he was doing so. He shot himself in the hand and the bullet continued on through the wall of his trailer and entered through the wall of the RV beside him. The bullet went right through the bedroom of that RV and out the other side. Fortunately the occupants of that RV were already in bed so the bullet missed them and just damaged the 2 walls of their RV. These 2 RV’s were just across the small RV park from where we were parked – about 200 feet away.  Too close for comfort!!

That morning we walked through town without Jazz and were able to go into the many artsy type shops and we of course had to check out a couple of the saloons in town as well. On Brewery Gulch, was a saloon called the Brewery Saloon. In 1914 due to prohibition, this saloon was forced to close its doors. A Brokerage and Investment firm moved into the vacated premises of the saloon. This firm joined the New York Stock Exchange and had a board installed and a ticker tape sent from Manhatten. The original board is still in the building and is the only board ever used and affiliated with the NYSE in Arizona. In the late 80’s the Stock Exchange Saloon opened in the premises. (See pics) and we enjoyed a pint in the 100 plus year old surroundings. As it turned out, we could have brought Jazz with us as this saloon was dog friendly.

We left Bisbee in the morning of January 14^th and spent the next 2 days driving between 350 and 400 miles each day on our way to our next destination, San Antonio Texas where we will spend 4 days. To get there we drove through New Mexico in which we encountered very cold temperatures and actual snow flurries as we drove. We got out of there as fast as we could but the cold temps stayed with us into Texas.

Yesterday when we woke up in the parking lot of a Flying J Truck stop in Van Horn Texas, it was 27 degrees F, outside. This is the coldest temps we have encountered on our entire trip. This morning (Jan 16^th) it was 31 degrees F when we woke up in the Walmart parking lot in Kerrville Texas. (70 miles northwest of San Antonio)  Brrrrrr!!!

Off we go searching for warm climates in southern Texas. Have a great weekend everyone and we will squawk to you next week and let you know about our adventures in San Antonio.