<– 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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