<– 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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<– Day 2- Thursday March 10th: We Forgot to Pack Our Maps?  | Beginning | Day 4 – Saturday March 12th: The Aliens Almost Got Her! –>

Ann doesn’t seem to mind being jailed. She’s enjoying her strawberry margarita.

Day three took us from Provo, Utah, to Ely, Nevada (See yesterday’s post here). We spent the night in Provo, because I got a deal on a hotel. The downside was that, in the morning, when I went down to the jeep I witnessed what appeared to be an odd transaction between two normal looking guys who could have been BYU students. Moments after I saw them exchange something in the middle of the parking lot, the police showed up. All this time I thought the best action was in Salt Lake City!!

Ann was trying not to be obvious, hence the blurry photo.

Day 3: Provo to Ely

From Provo, we drove south I-15, until we exited for Delta. For the next few hours we saw some sagebrush, some dirt, some mountains, and some snow. We even saw a couple flatties, too!! And, that’s about it. The Great Basin area is a desolate place and, if you like that kind of space, like my oldest son does, this is a bit of heaven. Here are some pics.

This cement factory broke up the drive.

These two kilns are located along Highway 50.

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<– Day 1- Wednesday March 9th: Oh, the Inhumanity! | Beginning | Day 3 – Friday March 11th: Dining in an Ely Jail –>

A self on the one-lane, crumbling, salmon dam located just west of Rogerson Service, Idaho.

We began the morning just north of Twin Falls (See day one of our trip here), We didn’t make if far before we realized that we, and by we I mean “I”, had forgotten to pack our Gazetteers (like this), those trusty, detailed maps, ones safely tucked away in my office. Sigh. But hey, who need maps when we have the internet … until that disappeared, too. Then we relied on hope!

Day 2 took us from Twin Falls, Idaho, to Provo, Utah.

Our first destination on a cool Thursday morning was the county park near Buhl, Idaho, called Balanced Rock. We followed Highway 93 through Twin Falls, then veered south until reaching E 3700 N Road. We took a right and encountered the strangest center line. After much discussion, we concluded it was a disgruntled county employee who’d had enough of life: too many straight lines.

Why the strange centerline? We’d soon find out.

Satisfied at with our arbitrary conclusion, we followed E3700N for what seemed like hours, but was more like twenty minutes. Suddenly, the flat lands gave way to a gulch. To negotiate the gulch, the road began to wind back and forth. Aha! That explained the wavy line at the beginning of the road: it marked the road that led to the park!

The road into Balanced Rock Canyon Park.

At the bottom of the gulch, a small sign guided visitors to the park.

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<– Beginning | Day 2 – Thursday March 10th: We Forgot to Pack Our Maps? –>

Zollie (a male) is a Shitzu Pomeranian. He’s more cat than dog, fearful of his own shadow. He’s most brave when camped under our bed. He tolerated the situation as best he could, even if his expression suggests he’s being tortured. Those are his Easter bunny ears.

Day 1 of our trip to the 2016 FC-Roundup started slowly (See our trip overview here). My wonderful, unpredictable wife decided that coloring Easter eggs and taking a photo of our dog Zollie was an important task to accomplish prior to our departure. While I was not amused, Zollie was even less enthused about the idea. I think his face said it all, “Oh, the inhumanity!” However, he’s a good sport and the photo session ended fairly quickly.

Today’s trip was a quick drive to Twin Falls.

Once we made it out the door, we drove for five hours until we reached Boise. There, we stopped at the new Boise Co-op in Meridian, which is a definite step up from the downtown location. It’s also much more convenient for us, because it is a short hop off of Interstate-84. We will be back!

Next we ate dinner at the Boise Fry Company. The burgers are good, but it is really the fries that bring you back. In the bowl is a large order of purple potato fries (they have 7 or 8 different kind of fries you can choose and something like 10 different dipping sauces as well). Next to the bowl of fries is a bowl of brussel sprouts that were very good. It was the first time we’d seen those on the menu and we’ll order those in the future as well. 

With full bellies, we waddled out the jeep and drove the rest of the way to Twin Falls.

Tomorrow, instead of taking I-84 (the fast route) to Salt Lake, we plan to drive south to Wells on 93, then cut east through Wendover, drive through the Salt flats, then on to Salt Lake City where we’ll dine with my two youngest kids. We’ll be spending the night in the Provo-Orem area. On Friday we’ll be heading back to Nevada and, after hitting the National Park & Ely (pronounced Eee Lee), will head south until we feel like stopping.

<– Beginning | Day 2 – Thursday March 10th: We Forgot to Pack Our Maps? –>

<– See Overview of Trip Posts | Beginning | Day 1: Friday March 9: Oh, the Inhumanity! –>

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who offered to read the book! I’ve selected a couple readers. I will do my utmost to get the book finished so everyone can get a copy.

On Wednesday afternoon we begin our drive to the FC Roundup. We’ll be on the road just under three weeks. We’ve got several tours, a giant fork, a wild west town, an art museum, a ride in a GPW, dinner on a plane, a photo op with a (mostly) naked book seller, lunch at 13,000 feet, and much more planned. Of course, we’ll also have a busy couple days of FC fun at Jesse’s.

This is a rough map of our planned trip.

On another note, I’ve printed seven “proof” versions of my next book. I plan to do one more sweep through the book to refine it, build an index, and look for errors. The book is a non-fiction 450-page book that has nothing to do with jeeps. I hope to have the book finished by the Fall of 2016.

1. Overview: 2016 Intermountain West / FC-Roundup Trip Summary
2. Day 1 – Wednesday March 9th: Oh, the Inhumanity!
3. Day 2 – Thursday March 10th: We Forgot to Pack Our Maps?
4. Day 3 – Friday March 11th: Dining in an Ely Jail
5. Day 4 – Saturday March 12th: The Aliens Almost Got Her!
6. Day 5 – Sunday March 13th: Camels & Cones
7. Day 6 – Monday March 14th: Train to Yuma Prison
8. Day 7 – Tuesday March 15th: Rollin’ Like Bill Gates
9. Day 8 – Wednesday March 16th: More Earth Sciences
10. Day 9 – Thursday March 17th: Crowded Backroads & Exploding Beer Glasses
11. Day 10 –  Friday March 18th: The Bullion Plaza Cultural Center & Museum
12. Day 11 – Saturday March 2016 FC Roundup Report
13. Day 12 – Sunday March 20th: High Plains Drifters
14. Day 13 – Monday March 21st: Food Testers
15. Day 14 – Tuesday March 22nd: Wind & Range
16. Day 15 – Wednesday March 23rd: Blizzards & Balloons
17. Day 16 & 17 – March 24-25th: Homeward Bound

<– See Overview of Trip Posts | Beginning | Day 1: Friday March 9: Oh, the Inhumanity! –>