Quirky Bisbee

I have been reading about Bisbee, Arizona, in various RV travel blogs for quite some time, so when planning this trip I had to include it on the itinerary.  Bisbee was founded during the 1880’s mining rush with the discovery of the Copper Queen Lode.  Bisbee mines have produced more than $2 billion in copper, gold, lead, silver and zinc. By 1900 Bisbee was the largest cosmopolitan center between St. Louis and San Francisco.  The town had several stock exchanges and was a major venue for rodeos, circus, vaudeville, theater and lectures.

This was the original stock exchange in Bisbee, now it is a bar.

By the early 1970s most of the mines had closed and the town was all but abandoned. The town was soon revitalized when artists and artisans arrived. Today the town is a blend of creativity, friendliness, and just plain fun.

Bill in front of the Inn at Castle Rock

While exploring the town we met a wonderful 93 year old woman who had lived in Bisbee all of her life.  Her husband had worked in the mine for 47 years and she was the town’s first woman mayor, nicknamed the “huggin’ mayor”.  She is Bisbee’s biggest fan and a wealth of town history. She was just adorable, I wish we had a taken a picture.

The museum

Not sure what business was advertising.

Every year in October the town sponsors a 5K race aptly named the “Bisbee 1000” because incorporated in the 5K course there are 1000 stairs. It is billed as the “5K that feels like a 10K”.

Throughout the town there are staircases labeled for the race, you find them everywhere.  Each staircase includes the number of steps.

The bottom of staircase #3, 181 steps

Another one of the staircases.

I decided I was going to hike at least one of the staircases, so I picked #5 with 151 steps. 

 
Bill said he would wait for me at the bottom.  I started up the staircase and was doing well; at about 50 steps I was slowing down; at 75 steps the air was getting thin (Bisbee is a mile high); at 100 steps my legs were burning; at 125 steps I was gasping for air, holding on to the railing and pulling myself up the stairs; and finally at 151 steps after I recovered from the trauma, I introduced myself to the lady who had watched me struggle up the steps.

See Bill at the bottom of the stairs?

She had lived in Bisbee for 40 years, came in “the second wave of hippies”.  She and her husband had raised 3 children here, one of whom had returned to Bisbee a couple of years ago.  She owned a couple of guest houses at the top of the stairs.  After chatting with her for a few minutes I explored the top and was rewarded with some awesome views of Bisbee and some quirky art.

Later in the day while exploring the town on the motorcycle Bill was rewarded with the same views without the pain.

Wandering Bisbee was great fun, there was always something unique and interesting around every corner.

Someone's living room?

 If you ever find yourself in southern Arizona, I highly recommend a visit to Bisbee.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. John Wayne was a frequent visitor to Bisbee.
2. The town was named for Judge DeWitt Bisbee, a financial banker of the Copper Queen mine. Judge Bisbee never visited the town.
3. I will not be entering the Bisbee 1000.

Kartchner Caverns

Our tour of Kartchner Caverns was well worth the wait and the story of their discovery is fascinating.  In 1974, Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts were exploring the limestone hills in the Whetstone Mountains.  They were looking "for a cave no one had ever found" and found it.  The two explored the cave in secret for over two years.  They realized that they had found a true treasure and that it needed to be protected.  In 1978 they contacted the property owners, James and Lois Kartchner, about the discovery.  Since unprotected caves can be seriously damaged by unregulated use, they knew the cave had to be protected. Late in 1984, Randy Tufts met with the Arizona State Parks office to present the site for consideration for future acquisition as a State Park.  On April 27, 1988, after years of secret negotiations with the state the bill authorizing the new state park was signed.

The caverns are located under these hills.

When developing the caverns they visited other caverns around the world asking the management what works, what they would have done differently, and any other recommendations. The development of the caverns cost over $28 million and is fully wheelchair accessible. Kartchner Caverns is now regarded as state of the art and other caverns come to them for advice.

Cameras, phones, backpacks, and purses are not allowed in the cavern.  You enter through an airlock chamber and are misted to reduce dust, lint and hair in the cavern. You are cautioned not to touch anything but the railings and if you accidentally touch or brush against one of the formations you must tell the guide so it can be flagged for the nightly cleanup crew to wash it down.

I have included some pictures of the caverns taken from the Arizona State Parks site since cameras are not allowed.

There are two tours the Rotunda/Throne Tour (which we took) and the Big Room Tour.  The Big Room is only open from mid-October to mid-April.  The rest of the year the Big Room serves as a nursery for a colony of bats. The tour was fascinating and I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in southern Arizona.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Over 200 bats will cling to the ceiling in only one square foot of area.
2. The cave is a constant 72 degrees and 99% humidity.
3. Patience and perseverance can certainly be rewarded.

Fort Huachuca

We arrived at Kartchner Caverns State Park for our two night stay only to discover that the cavern tours were all booked until the morning that we are leaving.  We went ahead and booked that tour (more on that later), but now we had a free day.  Suzanne's husband, Charlie, also an archaeologist, suggested that we visit Fort Huachuca (wa-CHOO-ka).  He spent several years overseeing the restoration and renovation of the officer's quarters lining the parade grounds.  So off to the fort we headed.

The fort was founded in 1877 when Capt. Samuel M. Whitside led a column of the 6th U.S. Cavalry from Tucson into the shelter of the Huachuca Mountains to establish a temporary camp. The location provided excellent views of both the Santa Cruz and San Pedro valleys which were the Chiricahua Apache escape routes into Mexico.

The parade grounds and view of the valleys below.

The original camp was canvas tents but a bid for permanent post status was made by Army officials in the early 1880s.  The General of the Army visited Fort Huachuca in 1882 and recommended to the Secretary of War that permanent buildings be erected. When the Indian Wars ended most of the stations in the Southwest were closed, but Fort Huachuca survived. The Old Post area has remained essentially as it was more than a century ago.  

During WWII, two African-American infantry divisions were trained on Huachuca's ranges. In the latter half of the 20th century, the post has been a proving ground for electronic weaponry, the home station for the U.S. Army's emergency communications units, the headquarters of the Army's major communications command, and most recently the center for all military intelligence training.

There are two museums located at that base of the parade grounds, the Fort Huachuca Museum which tells the story of the U.S. Army on the Southwestern frontier and the U.S. Army Intelligence Museum which explains the evolution of Army intelligence over the last 200 years.  Unfortunately, both museums were closed for renovations and are not scheduled to open until late spring.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Fort Huachuca was designated a National Historic Site and National Historic Landmark on November 20, 1974.
2. Fort Huachuca was the headquarters of the 4th Cavalry patrols that hounded Geronimo in 1886 resulting in his eventual surrender to Gen. Nelson A Miles.
3. The Intelligence Museum has WWII German Enigma machine and a piece of the Berlin Wall.

Titan Missile Museum

I was a child in the 1960's and clearly remember hiding under my desk covering my head and neck ("Duck and Cover") during the air raid drills at school. There were weekly tests of the Emergency Broadcast System, signs on local businesses identifying them as air raid shelters, and the ear piercing sounds of the air raid sirens. The Cold War was part of my young life, so I was intrigued by the Titan Missile Museum just south of Tucson.

The Titan II missile was the largest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ever built by the United States. The missile was able to launch in just 58 seconds, and capable of delivering a 9-megaton nuclear warhead to targets more than 6,300 miles away in about 35 minutes.

Titan II was a retaliatory, or deterrent, weapon. Its purpose was to stop an enemy attack through the fear of retaliation. To be credible the missile had to be able to survive an attack and still function, that is why Titan II was kept underground in a massive concrete and steel silo.

During the Cold War, 54 Titan II missiles stood ever alert in their underground silos across the country protecting the United States from 1963 to 1987.  This site is the only remaining complex of the 54 Titan II missile sites.

When the facility was active it took several phone calls at different checkpoints with the appropriate secret codes to enter the complex. There were four man crews (2 officers and 2 enlisted technicians) working 24 hour shifts. Once inside the complex they did not come back to the surface until the next shift arrived. There was also a 2 man rule, within the complex (except in the crew living area) you had to always be with another crew member.

The entrance to the silo.

The crew working and living areas were protected from the silo by several 6,000 pound blast doors that were so precisely balanced that they were able to be opened and closed by a single person.

One of the blast doors.

The living and control levels were designed to sustain a blast and were suspended by huge springs to absorb the shock waves and ensure the equipment would still function.

Our tour took us to the launch control center with all the state of the art equipment (by 1960s standards).

The order to launch the missile would come from the president in coded form.  The officers would decode the message, enter the target information, and initiate the launch sequence.  It required both officers turning the launch keys at the same time.  The officers did not know the final target for security reasons.

A member of our tour initiating the launch of the missile with the tour guide.

The final stop on our tour was the silo with the missile (minus the warhead) still in place.

All in all it was a fascinating look at the Cold War and the deterrents that were used to keep the peace.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. The facility's highest state of alert was November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was shot.  The keys were ordered to be placed on the tables at the launch consoles to prepare for a possible launch. 
2. There were three locations for the Titan II silos throughout the country (Wichita, Kansas; Little Rock, AR; and Tucson, AZ).
3. I really don't think "Duck and Cover" under the desks in our classroom would have saved us.

Sabino Canyon

Our last day in Tucson was spent with Maria in the lovely Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains.  During the Great Depression, the bridges over Sabino Creek and the Sabino Dam were constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation Corporation (CCC).

 

The canyon was originally open to cars but since the road was steep and the bridges very narrow it was closed to autos in October, 1978, and the first trams began operating in the canyon. The tram has nine stops along the tour with several restrooms and picnic areas along the creek and riders can get on and off the tram as many times as they like.

Ready to ride to the top of the canyon.

We rode the tram to the top and decided to walk from stop nine down to stop eight.  It was a beautiful day and the wildflowers were in bloom.  Apparently it is quite popular to ride the tram to the top and hike down the road because there were plenty of people hiking down and not many hiking up.

 

 

 

Can you see the face in the rock formation?

There are several swimming holes which are very popular in the summer.

When we passed this tram we actually scraped side bumpers on the narrow road.

It is time to say goodbye to Tucson and our sweet little ride that we rented for the week.  It has been quite different to have a car to drive to the wedding, run to the store, do laundry and make those all important In ‘n Out Burger runs.

The next morning as we headed down the highway we could easily see the San Xavier del Bac Mission.  It is easy to see why they call it the White Dove of the Desert.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:
     1.  In the 1870's, pony soldiers from Fort Lowell enjoyed horseback excursions to the "ol' swimmin' hole".
     2.  About 1,200 AD, irrigation dams were placed in the creek by Hohokam Indians.
     3.  When the trams scrap bumpers passing it is an ear splitting noise.