Cieneguita Campground to Casa Grande, AZ

Cieneguita Campground to Casa Grande, AZ

January 8-12, 2019

When we left you last we were going to go for a walk.  It didn't last long because when the sun goes down here it gets cold really fast, but we did get some sunset photos.

On Monday we went to Tombstone.  We toured the Good Enough Mine and then took the trolley tour around town.  History:  When military scout Ed Schieffelin found silver in what he dubbed the Good Enough Mine in 1878, his discovery birthed the town that would make famous men out of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in a historic shoot-out four years later. Schieffelin called the town Tombstone because, while searching southwestern Arizona Territory for mineral riches, he had been warned the only thing he’d find out in the rugged terrain—controlled by Apaches—was his own tombstone.  His mine was good enough as a silver treasure for almost 30 years—one of the richest strikes found here—until the ore played out.

The timbers in the mine are the originals, 130 years old.

The black rock is actually silver.  I was expecting something shiny, but the guide pointed out that silver tarnishes when not polished, so unpolished silver is tarnished and black.

We left the campground on Tuesday and stopped at the Titan Missile Museum on our way to Casa Grande.  It was fascinating to learn about how it was all built and what would happen if the missile had to be launched.  The 2 officers and 2 enlisted personnel would work 24 hour shifts, and had a minimal bunk room and kitchen.  They also trained constantly to know what to do if the time came to launch the missile.  Fortunately that time never came.  The missiles were built as a deterrent.  Other countries knew that if they launched their missiles at us and destroyed our country we would do the same to them.  The control room was built with springs, so if there was a missile hit from another country the room wouldn't shake.  They had enough supplies for 4 weeks, so after about 3 weeks the commanding officer would have to make the decision if they should leave not knowing what was topside, or even if they could get out through the hatch.  They had rendezvous points but the nearest one was 40 miles over a mountain.   

If you were over 6 feet tall you had to wear a hardhat.  Here's John sporting his.

On the outside there were more displays.  I thought their security system was interesting.

From the top you can see down into the missile silo.

If you are ever in Arizona this is well worth the trip to see.

While in Casa Grande we visited with Bill & Jan Mains.  They took us to the Dwarf Car Museum in Maricopa.  Ernie Adams builds running 2/3 scale size replica cars out of refrigerators, sheet metal, and fabricates his own door handles, dashboards, and whatever else he can.  Here are some of the cars.

Here is Bill & Jan with one of the cars.

This is Ernie and the car that he is working on now.

He had an old phone booth outside the museum so while we were there I dashed in and made a quick phone call.

It was a fun and quirky museum, and worth the visit if you're in the area.

When you're on the west coast there is one place (among many) that you must to go and we did!

It was good!  😋

We are at High Chaparral RV Park near Casa Grande.  It's a nice park (Passport America) and we would recommend it.  Today we stayed home and caught up on chores.  Even when you're away you still have chores!  Moving on to Quartzsite on Sunday.

Roving on...