<– Day 8 – Wednesday March 16th: More Earth Sciences | Beginning | Day 10 –  Friday March 18th: The Bullion Plaza Cultural Center & Museum –>

Doesn’t everyone gather around their jeep after dinner and read a good book?? Thanks to Joe and Jan for taking us to dinner.

Today we drove from Globe to Mesa and back (See yesterday’s post here).

A few folks asked why we are staying in Globe through the weekend instead of Phoenix. The answer is that the Phoenix basin is plagued by astronomic hotel prices this week. One-star motels were priced at $150. Two star places were over $200. One four star was $1000 a night. The high prices might be the result of baseball’s spring training, crazy college spring breakers, or the planet Venus in retrograde. Whatever the cause, staying in Phoenix or the surrounding cities was far beyond our budget. To provide perspective, my goal on our trips is to secure two to three star hotels for under $60. Using Priceline, I often, but not always, achieve that goal. Since we couldn’t afford Phoenix, the three-star Apache Gold Casino was more than willing to take our money for only $58 a night for two days. The two-star Days Inn accepted $61 a night for Friday and Saturday nights (regularly almost $90). Since gas is cheap, this was the most viable solution for us.

Wednesday’s trip from the casino, to Roosevelt, Goldfield, Mesa, and back to the casino.

Wednesday morning we left Globe and headed west on Highway 60 for Goldfield, Arizona, an olde time wild west town that now caters to tourists. We were maybe ten miles out of Globe when we discovered the highway was closed for construction and wouldn’t open for at least another hour. So, we turned around and took the backway, which also happens to be a scenic drive. We took this as a sign to enjoy said scenic drive, so off we went.

We didn’t make it far on Highway 60 before we were forced to turn around.

The first half hour went by quickly, gaining elevation on Highway 188 until we reached the town of Roosevelt. There, we took a left, turning onto highway 88, better known as Apache Trail. The road was opened in the early 1900s to the support the building of a nearby damn, however the road’s steep inclines and descents has kept it from securing money for modernization. Thus, it’s a winding, half dirt, backroad drive that requires at least a couple hours. That sounded perfect for us. Little did we know others had the same idea ….

Taking a photo of the longest 2-lane steel bridge span in the United States. That fact surprised us. This location is the eastern end of the Apache Trail.

Apache Trail quickly sheds its asphalt in favor of dirt. Any attempt to descrive the first few miles of the trail would be pure fiction, as the motorhome and the boat and trailer it towed left a trail of dust that made sightseeing a challenge. Eventually the motorhome took mercy on us and pulled over so we could pass. Chivalry appears alive and well in Arizona!

The dust wasn’t too bad at this point.

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<– Day 7- Tuesday March 15th: Rollin’ Like Bill Gates | Beginning | Day 9 – Thursday March 17th: Crowded Backroads & Exploding Beer Glasses –>

Behind Ann and inside that building is a rainforest!

Today we drove from Tucson to Globe. Along the way we saw some old technology and new. First the new, then the old. (See yesterday’s post here)

We started the day with a short walk to a nearby bagel place called The Bagel Joint in north Tucson. It’s slogan, if it ain’t boiled, it ain’t a bagel. Tucson yelpers seemed to like the place, so I thought it was worth checking out. While they were very good bagels, they still didn’t top the bagel I had at the Olde Brooklyn Bagel Shop in December of 2014. My mouth still waters in memory of that one!

With bagel consumed, we drove north for the day’s main adventure: Biosphere 2.

On our drive to Biosphere 2, we realized neither of us could remember much about the project. Our impression was that it was a failure at some level. We also wondered what happened to Biosphere 1. So, it was with this total lack of research that we entered the Biosphere 2 complex.

This is an overview of the complex.

I guess they are preparing us for seeing the future?? Is biosphere 2 the future? The biosphere folks have the marketing machine in motion. I’m just not sure what they were thinking.

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<– Day 6- Monday March 14th: Train to Yuma Prison | Beginning | Day 8 – Wednesday March 16th: More Earth Sciences –>

Sculpture in downtown Tucson

Today, we spent the day in the Tucson area (See yesterday’s post here).

A few weeks ago I wrote an email to the folks at ASARCO’s Mineral Discovery Center (AMDC) southwest of Tucson. I told them we were coming for a visit and wanted to join one of their mine tours. Their tour involves taking a bus through the working open-pit Mission Mine, then a visit to one of their mills. As most of you know, my upcoming book SLAG includes my great great grandfather’s role in co-founding the American Smelting & Refining Company in 1899, now known as ASARCO. I asked if anyone at the Discovery Center would be curious to meet with us and learn about the book I was writing that included the early history of ASARCO.

Vice President of Environmental Affairs Thomas Aldrich, a forty year veteran of ASARCO, wrote back explaining that, yes, they would enjoy meeting us. Moreover, after the exchange of a few emails, he offered to take us on a personal tour of the mine facility. I thought that pretty generous, so I snapped up the offer before he could change his mind.

The AMDC is just off I-19, about twenty minutes south of Tucson.

On Tuesday morning we arrived at 9:00am for the 9:30am meeting (Sorry for rushing you out the door honey, but I got my times confused!). However, we put the early arrival to good use by watching the Discovery Center’s movie about ASARCO’s mining and smelting process. I found it particularly interesting, given my work on the book.

Beautiful grounds outside the Discovery Center.

After the movie, Sandra Elizondo, director of the AMDC introduced us to Tom Aldrich and Tom Klempel, Mission Environmental Manager. Together, Tom and Tom were in charge of wrangling us (basically keeping us out of trouble I think — apparently our reputation proceeds us). The four of us hopped into Tom K.’s truck and he drove us to the Mission MIne’s overlook. It takes some time to reach the top of the mine, so we had plenty of time to chat about ASARCO, the book, and each other.

At the mine overlook, the Toms explained the details of open pit mining, from the removal of the overburden, to the removal and tracking of the valuable deposits, to its processing in the mills. The copper at the Mission Mine is so low grade that only about 1% of the ore mined is copper. Put another way, the mine processes about three hundred truck loads of ore per day (see truck below), which results in three truckloads of copper. But, that’s been the story of most mines. It’s a volume business requiring transportation, industry, and science to profitably produce predictable amounts of valuable minerals.

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<– Day 5- Sunday March 13th: Camels & Cones | Beginning | Day 7 – Tuesday March 15th: Rollin’ Like Bill Gates –>

(See yesterday’s post here) — Today we traveled from Yuma to Tucson, but not before I went to prison. It all started innocently enough. I went to take my shower in the morning. When I got out, I caught my wife surfing a jeep site other than eWillys!!! I thought about divorce, but it seemed like she’d get off easy. After extensive thought, I decided to tie her to some train tracks and let the train run over her. That’s reasonable, right?

The problem was, the darn train came to a stop a few feet from her. Who’d have thought that would happen? Not wanting to get caught, I tried to untie her, but that’s when the police showed up. It turns out that justice is metered out quickly at Yuma. The next thing I knew, I was hauled off to jail. First they photographed me:

Then, they dumped me in an old prison cell at the Yuma Territory Prison.

What a day! After a minute in the jail cell, I concluded I wasn’t ready to serve my full sentence, so I sought a pardon from my wife. Thankfully, the time apart had softened her hard heart from the brutal, near-death experience at the wheels of the train. We forgave and forgot, then we toured the Yuma Territorial Prison Historic State Park. It was a pretty interesting place.

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<– Day 4- Saturday March 12th: The Aliens Almost Got Her!  | Beginning | Day 6 – Monday March 14th: Train to Yuma Prison –>

Our first time in Needles, California

Today we drove from Laughlin, Nevada, to Yuma, Arizona (view yesterday’s post here). We began the day brilliantly, with a trip for ‘breakfast’ to Laughlin’s In-N-Out Burger. Ann and her gluten/beef intolerance forced her to spurn a delicious cheeseburger, but she did partake of a few of my fries. I, on the other hand, was quite pleased by my breakfast.

Map of our trip from Laughlin, Nevada, to Yuma, Arizona

We drove north out of Laughlin, crossed the Colorado River, and quickly reached Bullhead City, Arizona. One of our goals was to take a photo with the city’s large tortoise. Our mission was soon accomplished.

Next, I wanted to take a few photos of the Colorado River and the casinos of Laughlin across the river. Somehow, my wife thought that meant stepping into the cold river.

Laughlin’s Colorado Belle Resort & Casino

Ann freezing her feet in the Colorado River

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<– Day 3- Friday March 11th: Dining in an Ely Jail  | Beginning | Day 5 – Sunday March 13th: Camels & Cones –>

Good thing I was there to keep her from getting beamed up! I’d miss my travel partner.

Today we drove from Ely to Laughlin (see Yesterday’s post). We hadn’t planned to go that far, but hotels/motels in Vegas on Saturday night were expensive, while Laughlin was dirt cheap. And, since we’d never been there, we decided this was the opportune time!

We drove from Ely to Laughlin.

Our first objective of the day was a visit to the Ward Charcoal ovens. To reach them, we drove south on highway 50, a road that spans the width of Nevada and once called the loneliest road in America by Life Magazine. Just past Ely, we turned onto a dirt road and followed it for ten miles or so. As usual, when we arrived, we had the place to ourselves.

The ovens were constructed in the late 1800s to turn wood into charcoal for fuel in nearby smelters. When coke replaced charcoal, they were then used as, among other things, places to stay for sheep herders and cowboys. Finally, the area was turned into a state park. The ovens were much larger and in better shape than the one’s we’d seen yesterday in Utah.

History of the ovens.

How they make charcoal.

The six ovens all lined up. The setting was georgeous.

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