Arizona Adventures Part III

I left off last time at the Coronado National Monument just below Geronimo Pass. The Nice lady at the visitor center and I talked for a while. She asked what my plans were and I told her that I was just out exploring for the day. She asked how I felt about birds. I told her that I'm not a bird watcher per se, but that they're okay.

She asked how I felt about Sandhill Cranes. I have fond memories of them when I was little, growing up in Roswell. The Sandhills would land in out fields every fall. I commented that I didn't think they would be here yet on their annual migration. She replied that there were several thousand in the area already and gave me directions.

I had to go through Bisbee, then on to the north and east of there. I was already planning on going to Bisbee, so decided, "What the heck, might as well." So off I went.

I left the park, til I hit Route 92 and turned toward Bisbee. The first little town is Palominas, AZ. I don't know what this domed building was originally built for, but it is deserted now. The sign at the entrance has only the word "church" on it, and that probably wasn't what it was originally anyway.

Several months ago, there was an article about Jimmy's Hotdog in Arizona Highways. I love hot dogs and when I drove past Jimmy's on my way into Bisbee, I made a u-turn and went back.

(Click on any picture to enlarge it.) I ordered a Chicago Dog and a Frito Pie. Both were very good.

That's Jimmy. He and his family are from Chicago and they "import" virtually everything they serve from the Chicago area to make sure it is as authentic as it can be. I love it. If you're now living here in Arizona and are pining for some real Chicago foods, go to Jimmy's.

After my tasty meal at Jimmy's, I meandered over to Central Highway. Passing this little house with a gallows with noose outside, resulted in another u-turn and a couple of pics. Is it left over from Halloween, or is it some kind of warning?

Are a couple more miles of dirt road, I found the sanctuary where the Sandhills reside for the winter. Most of them are out feeding for the day, but there were still several hundred here. They are impressive bird with wingspans up to 8 feet.

I had decided not to return to Bisbee. I checked out my map and saw to road that led back west to Tombstone. I had never been on either one and picked the one which appeared, on the map, to be a bit more windy. Gleeson Road was a few mile north of the bird area. I could return the way I came, but, instead, decided to follow another dirt road which went in a northerly direction. Not to bring politics into my blog, but I did come upon a couple of asses.

I passed this cool looking church on my previous adventure to the southeast corner of the state.

I turned on Gleeson Road and found this freshly dead rattle snake. It's just a foot or so long.

Gleeson is a ghost town. I don't know what this used to be, but it was pretty big. It had a nice pair of columns at its entrance.

The old dry goods store is still in pretty good shape.

Here is another one of the buildings. In the top right corner of it's front are the words "Joe Bono." I'm not sure what happened to Joe, but the building his business used to be in, is one of the few left in Gleeson.

The cemetery is very large. Surprisingly, there were headstones as new as 2002. I guess people who used to live here, wanted to buried here. Gleeson must have been a nice place where fond memories were formed.

Here's another view of the cemetery. Shortly after leaving Gleeson, the road turned to dirt. I continued driving toward Tombstone. I got the feeling that the van was making sounds it didn't usually make.

I stopped to look around and found that I had a flat. Well, I knew I didn't have a jack, because the one that came with the van broke the last time I changed a tire. Secondly, I was in the middle of nowhere, and didn't feel that I could get a service truck to my location. I decided to drive on it until I was close to Tombstone. Long story short, I drove til I hit pavement, the 3rd car that came past stopped, went and got a jaw and I put my spare on and started driving toward home.

I took Route 82 back toward Sonoita, because I didn't want to take the spare on 75mph interstate. Shortly after turning onto 82, you pass the ghost town of Fairbank. Quite a few of the buildings are still here, including the original schoolhouse.

I liked the late afternoon light. Look carefully and you can see the nearly full moon above this old building.

Here's the moon again above the hills.

I liked the way the shadows were falling on the sides of the hills.

Amber waves of grass with grazing cattle in the late afternoon.

This completed my little adventure. I got new tires a few days later so I'm ready for the next drive. My wife wants to come along next time. That should be fun.

I hope you enjoy the photos. If you want more specific directions to any of these places, drop me aline.

Ride on,

Howard

Off Road Scooting

I enjoy going on little adventure rides. The only vehicles I have to do this kind of thing are my scooters, so that's what I use.

The October issue of AZ highways' Drive of the Month, was a ride up and over Box Canyon, in the Santa Rita Mountains. It looked like fun, so I took off this morning to ride it.

Scooters are unlikely off-road vehicles, but I have found them to do well on dirt, gravel, sand etc. You must go slower than a dirt bike would go, but you can still get out and see some great sights and not be limited to what you can see from the pavement.

I started off going south on Scenic Highway 83 toward Sonoita, AZ. This first pic shows the Santa Ritas in the background. It was a little windy this morning, so there were times I was only going 45mph. This highway also has some decent hills, so nature was conspiring to keep my speed down, today. There was very little traffic on 83, so I had no difficulties with traffic.

I turned off on the Madera Canyon road. This is rough, two-lane asphalt, which gives way to dirt after 2 or 3 miles. The second photo is taken on the paved part.

The third photo is of a warning sign. I found it to be quite sobering. I was hoping my scooter didn't sound like a patrolling Boarder Patrol vehicle.

There were some of the worst wash-boards that I have ever ridden/driven, but over all, the road was in good shape, it's usually wide enough for two cars to pass each other and it's fairly well maintained.

A few months back, I rode up a fire road which goes up the northern side of Mount Lemmon. It wasn't as pretty as this, but the ride itself, was very challenging. Here is my post on Modern Buddy, where I talked about it. There are some pics, too: http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/

viewtopic.php?p=164608&highlight

=#164608

As I was coming down the west side of

the mountains, toward green Valley, I

saw a sign that said "Helvetia 8 mi."

Helvetia is a Ghost Town, that I read

about, so I decided to make a detour

and go there. I found the cemetery,

but was unable to find what is left of the

town.

I'm sure I was very close, but I began

running low on fuel. I knew I didn't want

to run out of gas out in the boonies, so

I headed for home.

I had a great time, and now that I have

a better idea where Helvetia is, I'll be

going back that way, before too long.

Scoot On!

Howard

ps - I apologize for the crappy formatting. I'm still

trying to get the hang of this thing. It's definitely

not WYSIWYG.