Travis & Tara's Trip
Through Southern Arizona & New Mexico
March 16 - 25, 2001
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2001
Route: Lordsburg, NM - Bisbee, AZ - Coronado Cave - Tombstone - Willcox or Benson, AZ
Approximate mileage: 216 + side trips
Tara's Rand McNally map shows "Paramore Crater" alongside the route from Lordsburg to Douglas, AZ (on the Mexico border).
All transportation seems to go along the 10 corridor. Two trains were heading
for each other (there were 2 tracks, silly!), and one can also see an immigrant
laborer running to try catching the train. Overhead, the sky was full of
contrails of jetliners who travel the distance through such exciting land
at a much greater speed.
Here Travis is preparing to pass a vehicle racing towards the AZ / NM border.
(See the bugs?) We were hurrying to find that crater that wasn't in any of
the other travel books.
There were no side roads, and no sign of any crater
attractions. Tara was disgusted. Then we made it to Bisbee, and Tara was
even more disgusted
This is the Lavender Pit mine in Bisbee. The mining company seems quite proud
of this. Bisbee was a mining town that, after paying an exhorbitant price
to get into the museum, shipped striking miners into the desert once for
wanting humane treatement. Tara was ready to write to the tourist books suggesting
that they take Bisbee off the map. An unmemorable (and probably highy overpriced)
lunch was eaten in this town. We left for the Coronado Caves, a chance for
us to do actual splunking. (The guidebook told us the requirements for the
adventure, and we brought our requisite extra flashlights.)
On the way, we saw this huge mining dump truck being transported. They got a police escort and everything.
Here is half of Tara resting at the cave entrance. It was quite a feat to
get into the cave, but well worth the $1 fee. It was dark inside, and it
got pitchblack inside if there were no flashlights on. It would've been quite
scary to be trapped without a flashlight, as only a few people typically
would go into the cave on a given day. Tara's ankle was still hurting, so
Travis did most of the adventuring. Afterwards, we went to Coldstone in Sierra
Vista, then decided to try catching Tombstone before it closed at 5pm.
We arrived at Tombstone just before closing time, and were less than impressed
with its authenticity. It was full of commercialized jewelry and knick-knack
stores, and we agreed that Old Town Mesilla was much better. We then went
to either Benson or Willcox and checked into a brand new Holiday Inn, with
very nice room decorations! Dinner was okay, but the food choices were very
limited.
