Bill is up early having breakfast in the ho'tels breaky nook, we are leaving at the unheardof time of 0900 as we only have about 2 hours of driving. Its all on the Interstate so Google Maps says more like an hour-forty five.

I have bad news as well, I did some research as to taking the Davis Monthan Air Force Base Tour and late last year they changed the security clearance criteria to 10 days advance notice. Last time I was here, maybe 2008, you just needed your passport and they took walkons. That is what happens when you leave things to chance!

So I broke the news to Bill, its sad but we still get to tour the Pima Air Space Museum, which includes a SR71 Blackbird! Bill mentions an email my sister/his wife Agnes sent him noting a town in the general area of where we are, that offers tours of a defunct Copper mine. She asked if we were stopping to Smell the Roses once in a while, a vald question!

A little bit of research on Bill's iPad, which works from the nook, shows a minor deviation from our planned path will take us to Bisbee, AZ which has both an open pit and underground copper mine that operated from 1917 to 1975.

After departing the ho'tel we travel about 30 miles before turning south on NM80. It is a narrow shoulderless, sometimes twisty and hilly, sometimes laser beam straight piece of Motorcycling Nirvana! Posted speed limit is 65 MPH, (110 kmh) but we usually do between 120 - 140 kmh. Shortly after getting up to speed we pass a NM Statie sitting on the side of the road in a radio car, he does nothing. Then at regular intervals we pass Border Patrol vehicles, who I think lack both the jurisdictional authority and the idealogical state of giving a s***e about southbound speeders. They are all looking for northbound semi with trailers full of illegal aliens.

Ultimately the road ends up running between two mountain ranges and is one of the Top Ten roads I have ever driven. I still think the Seward Glacier highway Bill and I drove in 2016 the day we left Haines, AK was the best, but this was also very good. Not wanting to do it all at once, or having the Fuzzy Bears return we took advantage of a wayside shelter for a break after about 100 kms.

We also stopped for gas about 30 minutes later where a nice lady gave us turn by turn directions to the Mine Tour place. Unfortunately there were more than 3 elements to the directions so when the 4th was mentioned, the 1st was forgotten and so on. We smiled politely, thanked her and carried on.

After an another hour we pulled into the Bisbee area but the Mine Tour was not something on a big sign. On the road up to the townsite there was a wayside next to the open pit mine, which is about a mile in diameter and 850' deep. It represents a simply mind boggling large amount of materials removed. Signs also denote the prification process, called leeching, that used progressively nastier compounds to separate the copper from the tailings. They started with Arsenic!

The maps also show the tailings pile, which is a mountain next to the town, also representing a mind boggling amount of waste product literally dripping with poisonous waste.

I sorta remembered her directions, something about a roundabout and something about a hill, but nothing specific. We stopped to ask directions and were told to go here, do this, do that, at the top of the hill turn left by the RV park.

So we drove through the town of Bisbee, and while we did not find the Mine, it was a very cool drive. One street snakes its way up a hill with the cutest house on either side. It is so obviously a hippie community as there were VW Bugs and Buses abound. When we got to the top it was apparent we weren't going to find the mine, so we headed back down to the visitor centre.

The location of the center was somewhat ambiguous and even asking some locals did not help. I guess it moves around a bit, keeps people guessing. Ultimately Bill sniffed it out and the nice Tourism lady gave Bill The Definitve directions. Bill took the lead at my behest and drove us right to the spot in about 30 seconds. There was The Big Sign we had been looking for.

Maybe Bill should be the leader more often!

We parked and then changed into more touristy duds. I removed my schaps, jacket and changed my shirt. Bill did the same, but converted his convertable pants into shorts. It is important to note they are not at all baggy and actually make his butt look sublime.

It was 1315 and we tried to check in for the 1400 tour only to find that Arizone does not respect Daylight Savings time, so they did not Spring Forward this year making it actually 1215. Bill, as always, is in charge of local time, and you could see he was struggling with the new math!

Now with almost 2 hours to kill we went and found a funky lunch spot where we shared; dates stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon, Tuna Sashimi (Yah!) and a Charcuterie plate with various delicacies. As we would not be driving for several hours we also had a very nice, local, what else, Copper Ale.

We had been brought to the restaurant by a guy in a golf cart who works for tips only, cost us $2 bucks a head and we asked for him to return to get us a 1315 (the real 1315 now). When we were done lunch and waiting outside for him there was quite a stir in DT Bisbee, someone had fallen on the sidewalk and scratched his head. This prompted the full deployment of Bisbee's Ambulance, Fire Department and Police. They even had a Bear in the AIr! They we fighting one another to see who got to treat this guy!

Nah, they didn't have a Bear in the Air, that is a line from C.W.McCoy's song Convoy, covered by Paul Brandt. I guess I am still seeing Bears in odd places! Favourite line from that song? .........and eleven long haired friends of Jesus in a Chartruese micro bus! But I am straying.

Golf cart guy was right on time, when he dropped us off and we paid him $4 bucks, he was pretty happy! The ride to the mine was prolly 45 seconds instead of the 30 it took to get to the bar. Bill paid him $5 bucks and the guy was elated! We checked in at the ticket wicket and received a brass disk on a safety pin as proof of purchase. We waited for more people and the 1400 departure time.

We were issued safety vests, I choose Orange, of course, a hard hat and battery pack with light. Then we got on a small train, running on a track guage of maybe 12"? The train was odd as we sat facing forward, straddling a padded bench. We entered the tunnel, which was barely wider than the train and put-putted in about 1500'.

The Docent had worked the mine in the 60's and 70's and was a drill and shoot man. Drill a hole, well, maybe 30 of them, 7' deep. Guess how much TNT to stuff in the hole having received no training whatsover. Trim the fuzes to different lengths using a small board with a notch as a guide. Run like hell and hide until the blast went off. Count the detonations to ensure there were no unblown sticks in the rubble. Try not to die.

When he was working he was making about $50 a day, 5 days a week, $1000 a month. Good money for the time, but also 1000 ways to die.

I shot some cell phone video of the train ride, perhaps one day I can share it? We stopped a various points while he regaled us with various facts and stories. Sadly his geological knowledge lacked the depth to answer some of my questions. I tried not to dominate the group with my questions, but everyone else was shy! During the mine's almost 60 year lifespan it produced, wait for it........8 billion pounds of Copper plus Gold, Silver and a host of other elements.

The tour was over all too soon and we were headed back out into the sunshine. The Docent also let it slip that he owned the Cemetary and had just buried a guy that morning! I was a grownup and didn't lay the 'People are dying to get in' line on him. Only later did I think we could have drawn some simularities between digging holes, but the opportunity was lost!

We changed back into riding clothes, checked the map for our run into Tucson and departed. We were about 15 miles from Mexico so we were finally Northbound, and will be for the rest of the trip! AZ80 turned into AZ90 and then passed through a lengthy metro area, a number of small cities strung together. The highway had traffic lights evrry 1000' or so, again timed to ensure through traffic had to stop at every one. Frustrating! Who is in charge if these? We need to talk!

There was a large rain system to the SouthWest of us, we were gonna get wet. It would be the first rain since our first day, all the way back to Edmonton! Hadn't seen a drop since! We were close enough I could smell the rain, when the road turned 90 degrees and we were headed towards the sunshine again.

Eventually we hooked up with I10 Westbound into Tucson, speed limit 75 MPH, actual speed, 90, 95+!? The highway is full of semis, all jockeying for position. You gotta have your head on a swivel and have the hammer down on this road, not to get run over from behind.

I know the Pima Air Space Museum is on Valencia Road and our exit is the Benson Highway turn off. I see a Valencia turnoff and decide to take it, we come to a T intersection I recognize knowing the Museum is to the right and mo'tel row to the left. Sadly our timing puts us into town right at rush hour. It is hard to find a mo'tel when traffic is heavy and you are just trying not to die.

When I Google Mapped the area there was a dense concentration of mo'tels about 10 minutes from Pima. We drive for 15 minutes and see only one. We stop for water, map check, Google Maps, Siri check and end up turn around driving right back to that one mo'tel. We book 2 nights for $65/night.

Front desk lady sends us to a Bar & Grill, which has an open sign, but is locked up firmly. As we are walking back to a Denny's it starts to sprinkle a little bit, there was T&L on the walk down. While we are in the Denny's it pours on a biblical level, but stops before we leave.

Tomorrow will be a mostly non riding day as we are going to the Pima Air Space Museum which includes many staic displays and also an outdoor boneyard.

Day Thirteen

Lordsburg, NM to Tucson, AZ via Bisbee, AZ

372 kms (6150 thus far)