Queen Mine Tour, Bisbee, AZ with the NOMADS

Here is the NOMAD team, minus Joe who is still working some and was on a conference call, heading into the Queen Mine in Bisbee, AZ.  This is a copper mine - over 6 billion tons were extracted from this mine over the years.  Bisbee is a real Wild West town with lots of amazing characters, steep stairs, mining houses all with front porches (made out of wood) and also a pit mine which mined lower quality ore.  It is huge and I will put that on my next blog. The couple next to us is from Florida, then Don and Mary are from Sun City, AZ, and Joyce and Joe are from Little Hocking, OH.  Wonderful people and HARD WORKERS!  (not in the mine!)

We will head into the mine on a train rail, spending about an hour with a gentleman who mined all his life.

Here we go!

There were thirteen levels to the mine and we went in on level Ten about 1400 feet.  It was 49 degrees inside.  This is a rail car from level Nine from which they brought up the ore.  Miners were paid by the railroad car amount of ore each day...the faster the team worked, the more money they obtained!

Trinity Methodist Church sold pasties one day...ground sirloin, potatoes, carrots, celery and onion, wrapped in a folded circle of dough - delicious.  That was what the miners took in their metal lunchboxes for their noon meal.  My grandfather on my mother's side was a miner superintendent in upper Michigan, and he took pasties for lunch every day.

Meet Analy, the Assembly of God's minister's daughter.  She met Rufus...having ALWAYS been afraid of dogs.  Now she walks Rufus when she comes and just got her own puppy!!!!

This unit was designed by Gary Prichard, head of the Western area of NOMADS.  We are RV4 and draw 1/4 of the 100 amps to our trailer.  So far, so good, although one motor home is huge and draws more electricity.  We have had no problems at all with it.

We are working at Trinity Methodist, First Methodist and the Y Thrift Store.  All proceeds from that store (almost $3000 a month) goes to low income housing!

I will show more project photos and details next time.  Happy Trails from the Old West where many women here wear clothes we've seen at the thrift store, the men hold on to mattresses on top of racks on pickups going up the steep hills, most men have long mining coats to wear and cowboy boots, and we just love this town!  Today we go to the Mining Museum.

  

The Allens in Breckenridge

Suzanne and Aida dropped by in the morning and Rufus loved Aida.  What a lovely four-year-old

girl who plays with Berlin, Diego's therapy dog when at home!!!  This is what Aida said, "My grandma (Linda) used to hold me a lot when I was a baby and she always had lots of pacifiers for me!"

This is Diego, adopted from Mexico.  We honor Suzanne, Rod and Linda for all the work they have done to help Diego with his autism.  He has had horse therapy and many other activites to assist him.  When he was a little baby, Linda used to feed his 2 tablespoons of milk every two hours.  Probiotics in milk each night have made him a very healthy boy!!! Linda does lots of problem solving with him.  Rod loves to take him to the top of the gondola and treat him to ice cream. Suzanne has been a very active Mom, researching autism and doing everything she can for and with him.  He is now in Kindergarten and doing VERY well!!  What a gift to the family and that family has been such a blessing to this little boy.  Notice that this handsome boy likes his catsup with a little macaroni and cheese!

Aida does not care for ketchup on her macaroni!

Here's the whole family after we went swimming and had sherbet at our campsite!  Rod and Linda are pretty well settled in Hamilton, Montana, but Rod is finishing his contractor work on a three billion dollar house Suzanne designed.  We traveled through it and it is absolutely amazing!  The foundation had 58 corners!  Rod has done a spectacular job and you just know his workers honor him.

I will put photos on the blog of the house.  Rod sent me lots of pictures so I will go through those and then show you some.  Six bathrooms, six bedrooms, family room, living room. etc.

Camping in Boise; mostly remembering new friends

Lee was one of our friends in the Boise "On the River" campground...lived in Alaska for 20 years!  He raised two children by himself there, bought both of his children houses when they graduated from college, is thinking of buying a home in Boise, and travels in his Springdale!  He had a martini and cigar every night.  His dog, Pete, was the best obedient dog in the park!

Dave is a doctor still practicing, and Suzie is a nurse.  Rosy was our "love" - loved treats, loved petting, loved his plastic squeaky doll!  We camped right next to them for most of our stay, until we moved into our trailer furnished by Nelson's RV.

We then were camped by Diane and Dennis from Atlanta, GA.  We admired them so much for their simple lifestyle while camping.  They had a 16 foot Scamp and stayed in it for six months in Boise during the summer!  They cooked simply, and loved the simple pleasures of watching the sun set, the moon rise and especially the Harvest Moon.  She retired from teaching and Dennis worked for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.  They had Townie bikes which we finally purchased for ourselves.  We would bike ride on the Greenbelt which followed the Boise River for miles!  Nice times in the ol' campground.

This was taken in Rocky Mountain National Park on Monday, the 27th.  You can see our trailer looks just like new!!!

You can't even see the gouge at the back of the side of the trailer - the fiberglass man was fantastic!  There is a stripe at the top of either side to cover the holes we drilled to put in eyehooks to ratchet the back in as tight as we could!

More photos soon of the orange aspen trees on our 2 mile hike....and hopefully some photos of the male elk as they are in rutting season here...hope to hear lots of bugling tonight!

Earl's First Accident in Whitefish, Montana-a lovely town

We rounded the corner watching for the pole, not seeing the roofing that came out to the street.

We caught the corner of the roofing, and it first gouged the trailer side, then pulled the back end away from the frame.  It made such a little sound we were astonished when we got out of the pickup.

After we left (having the police file an accident report), we traveled to an RV dealer.  Pierce RV took off our canopy for free.  First blessing!

I loved that reading light by my recliner!!!  How do we close the back so we can travel from Kalispell to Boise for repairs at the Arctic Fox dealer/RV repair shop?  Pierce RV had the ticket!!  Earl drilled holes on each side near the back - holes went into the cupboards at the back of our trailer inside.  Then another blessing!  Ron, a camper from Florida who used to own boats, suggested ratcheting it closed.

Then Earl fixed another ratchet strap from the luggage rack to the fender.

Now we are on our way to Boise for an estimate, adjustor talk time, and repairs.

We have learned that the gouge can be fiberglassed so now whole new side panel will not have to be installed.  A cap (the end piece) will be purchased from LaGrande and shipped up here.  It will take a week or so once the adjustor approves the estimate, the parts are ordered and it goes into the shop.

Another blessing - the Arctic Fox dealer here will LEND us a trailer while it is in the shop!!  And we are staying at a campground for $13.00 a night (monthly rate).  There are quilt stores and shopping galore.  Earl is now learning how to carve a little Santa Claus and there is a bikeway 10 feet from our campground.  So all is well and we will head to the Fair tomorrow!  Thanks for all your support!

This was on my bucket list-Mammoth Hot Springs in northern Yellowstone.  However, there is very little water bubbling up from the ground and most of it is white and dry.

Sue and George visited us from Klamath Falls and it was wonderful to see "old" friends from Klamath Falls!

Earl cooked a good ol' Low Country Boil from the South...chicken, corn, shrimp, potatoes, and sausage!

Lower Yellowstone Falls

Sue, George, Chris and Earl hike down to Lower Yellowstone Falls.  Shahela wanted a day off so we stayed at the campground, walked to town for lunch and relaxed!!!

523 steps to the bottom!  Sue counted 32 steps, then rested, 32 steps, then rested on the way back.  So did everyone else but young Chris!

Maligne Canyon and Johnson Canyon

Maligne Canyon in Jasper National Park.

Johnson Canyon in Banff National Park.