Snowtime....!!

Made a leisurely start to the day, leaving Safford about 10 a.m. in beautiful sunshine......and continued along the 191 North.

The first town I came to was Clifton followed by Morenci which is actually a mine rather than a town from what I could see. It is copper open pit mine and processing facility covering 60,000 acres with 5 pits. It is the largest copper mine in North America and one of the largest open pit mines in the world beginning operation in 1872.

The place is immense and truly a sight to see......must have taken 40 minutes to drive through it....the road starting to climb, twisting and turning every couple of hundred yards.......and slowly the red earth of the mine turns to the green of trees again.

you think they are trying to tell me something?

hee hee...

The road continues to climb and little did I know that I had the best part of a hundred miles of this riding before I would come out the other side. The hairpins and switchbacks were enough to keep you on your toes and with no guardrail there was little room for error.

There wasn't a great deal of traffic on the road but must admit I met a couple of pick-up drivers using both sides of the road without any consideration for what might be coming the other way (me!) which was a little scary at times! The only other thing to watch out for was the amount of dirt and gravel in some of the bends.....made for a few interesting moments as the bike struggled for grip mid-bend.......but no real problems.

There was a point in the climb where the heat of the sun disappeared and a distinct coolness kicked in........I thought nothing of it at the time.....and still the road kept going up......eventually reaching over 10,500 feet (according to the map). Soon enough I came across plenty of snow on the road side.......large swathes of forest still covered in white.....was lovely although I soon started adding a few layers of clothing as the temperature continued to drop. I have been out in a lot colder and it wasn't at all unpleasant.......just bracing.

Eventually came across a gas station in Alpine where the woman who served me suggested that I was about to ride into much stronger winds........and she was right......as I approached the towns Springerville and Eager the winds became really fierce and I struggled a couple of times to keep the bike going in the desired direction......the winds picked up even more as I went through Springerville where I was being blown across the road and was fighting to keep my head upright against the wind nevermind the bike so I took the sensible option of turning around and heading back into town to find a hotel for the night.......hopefully the winds will have subsided a little by morning.

looking back from Alpine

Nelson Reservoir just outside Alpine

Tombstone........Over My Dead Body!!

Another lovely start to the day....sun was shining, not too chilly...a little blustery but nothing to be worried about. I got talking to a couple of guys in the hotel this morning....they were both on Honda Goldwings and doing the reverse journey that I had done over the last couple of days....heading for Alamogordo and Carlsbad Caverns on a 4 day run out of Arizona.












I took Route 90 southwest, jumped on I10 for a short hop and then off onto Route 80 to Rodeo, New Mexico and then into Arizona. I started out with similar scenery to the last couple of days....but after heading towards mountains for a while and crossing I came out the other side to just flat land stretching for miles in every direction.






Not the most interesting of terrains I must admit as the road just seems to stretch for miles in straight lines with nothing of interest to see......but eventually I find myself in Rodeo. I thankfully find a gas station (from the dark ages) and can keep going into Arizona.













no need to pre-pay with credit cards here....









Apache Surrender Monument





Smoke from a wildfire......i think!







The wind starts to pick up a little as the day progresses and I am headed for Tombstone via Bisbee. Bisbee looks like some huge mine/construction site when you first approach from the south and after taking a couple of photos of the earthworks I had dismissed the place as just that and then around a couple more bends down in Tombstone Canyon is the town of Bisbee proper....a lovely old town full of galleries and coffee shops (not a Starbucks in sight) with lots of houses tucked into the hills. (for a good first impression....enter from the north!)
















the sign reads....'Scenic View' and points to this fence! The run-in to Bisbee.














And so, onto Tombstone.....famous for the lawman Wyatt Earp gunning down the Clantons at the O.K. Corral......well I was really looking forward to seeing the real thing but I might as well have have been in Disneyland.......in fact I wouldn't have been surprised to see Mickey Mouse acting out the gunfight to the delight of the cheering tourists.














some of the grave markers in Boot Hill

I didn't stay around too long and headed north to get on the I10 going east this time to hook up with the 191 (north) although the last couple of hours of the day were not enjoyable at all as I was fighting some difficult cross-winds all the way......was glad to call it a day in a town called Safford.