We are not wanted by the police just yet, but we did end up underground.. we also have been to some edgy places this week…

We started the week still in New Mexico at Caballo Lake.  We had a wonderful view from our pitch of the dam across the Rio Grande.  We cycled and walked as usual – it was gorgeous and very relaxing.  We seem to find it very difficult to avoid beer and tortilla chips…and last Monday was no exception as we cycled to a town called Arrey – we like to think named after Redknapp and consumed more of each in a local roadside shack.  Men came in wearing Stetsons and boots – we kid you not!

We were really off the beaten track at this stage – but superb scenery.  New Mexico is huge skies, mountains on all sides and great plains. The light is amazing and although windy as usual in springtime, it is not so hot that you cannot go out. 

After Caballo Lake we had a change of temperature and had our first underground excursion – although strictly speaking they were caves.  These were in the Gila National Forest.  In 1200 approximately some Native Americans found these amazing limestone caves and built walls and floors into them and lived in them for 40 years.  They are still standing now – so no one knows why they left.  They reckon about 80 people lived there – but they have not much more to go on than that.

It was an interesting thing to see – but the drive there was the highlight as we had to get through a twelve and half foot bridge. The man at the RV place said to me in a very sexist way when we bought Reg – make sure your husband does not go through anything lower than 13ft – so we were a tad nervous as you can imagine!  All ok – we still have the aerial on the roof.

Gila National Forest is as large as Wales – or it felt like it!  We camped up there – very remote and incredibly chilly due to the altitude.  On the way down I drove and we stopped at one particular spot to admire the amazing view and then noticed the twisted metal of a car wreck over the edge!  Not very encouraging… To give you an idea of how slow and steep the roads were, we did about 30 miles in two hours!  Or I have turned into Miss Daisy?!

On Wednesday night we drove into a town called Willcox as we were preparing for our next round of mountain edges – at Chiricahau National Monument the next day.  Willcox was charming in a very poor, abandoned way.  So many businesses were shut down – the empty lots had almost become a feature.  Some chap had posted on the net all these scenes of dereliction and then had been taken to task by the residents… I do not want to have the same thing happen to me – so I will stop there. Yet again had some beers and tortillas with the locals.  Willcox was kind to us so we will be kind to it.

Chiricahau was another out of this world experience.  The alternative name for these rock formations is ‘Standing Up Rocks’ and they are literally columns of rock in all shapes and sizes.  There was a duck, punch and judy, sharks, a gravity defying balancing rock. Please check out the pictures as you will not believe me as to how incredible these things are.  We climbed up amongst them and have taken at least a hundred photos – so get ready for our presentation!

After recovering from our steep climb up and down, we piled back into Reg and set off for Bisbee.  This is an edgy town in Arizona.  We know this as the flyer for the town features someone with blue hair… sadly we never got to see her!  A real old hippy greeted us at the site which was part of the Queen Mine complex.  On the way there we passed the most massive manmade hole – the Lavender copper pit.  Not named Lavender to reflect the amazing colours of the rock which were indeed orange, brown, purple – but no – just the name of the chef exec of the mining company!

In our pursuit of edginess in Bisbee you guessed it – we had more beer and chips.  Some of the IPA brews are very strong so we slept well that night.

Next day we went underground.  The Queen Mine stopped operating in 1974 but they have kept the train and shafts open as a tourist attraction.  We had to don hard hats, luminous vests and best of all we were each given a leather belt to attach the davy lamp on to.  Marvellous photo opportunity for everyone.  We then had to mount the train – you straddle it – and we headed 700ft underground and 1500ft into a mountain to see the traces of the copper and hear all about it.  It was very cold and dark as you can imagine, but the guide was a real joker and had a very wry sense of humour. 

We emerged into the blistering sun and then set off for another tourist attraction – Tombstone.  This western town is famous for the gunfight at the OK Corral between the Earp brothers and some cowboys. We were in full tourist mode now – so went into the saloon named the Big Nosed Kate – who was the prostitute lover of Doc Halliday, on the side of the Earps in the gunfight.  Inside there were an awful lot of fringed shirts, spurs, boots and hats… some people taking their trip down memory lane a little too seriously for our European sensibilities… – but we sat at a shiny bar and had – well you can guess!

At 2pm we went and watched the gunfight be recreated with some actors in a dusty facsimile of the buildings.  It was very loud and I thought I had been shot at one stage!  It was real pantomime stuff – but it is history and as ever the people we met were charming, proud and friendly. 

On our way to Tucson that night we passed the border patrol – now maybe our sixth time we have been stopped in Reg…but hold on it was 5.03pm and the border patrol had closed.  The signs for the roadblock were tossed to one side and it seems to be a free for all weekend! Welcome Amigos!

Tucson was our final destination for the week.  Got a taxi downtown and had dinner out.  Very proud of its food culture and we could see why.  Afterwards we went looking for edge again – not this time on mountains, but would there be an underground bar or place to go? If there was we did not find it!  Tucson is only half a million people and during Friday night we did keep seeing some of the same faces in different places.  Everyone seemed to be heavily tattooed and overweight – we felt old, thinner and sunburnt!  Far too much hip hop for our liking so we retired to Reg at 1.30am – not bad for people who earlier in the day had been down the mine.  Arthur Scargill would have been proud of our stamina. 

 Have a great Easter everyone.

A x