Tuesday, April 24/2012

Our turnoff

The road to Cordes, Az

Stopping to smell the flowers

Lovely to look at - Nasty to touch!!

Cordes, now considered a ghost town.   This is the original gas pump
and remains at the original site.

The chrome looked like new

Love the coke signs. I can only imagine the antiques that are in this old store.

Carrying on

Welcome to Cleator Az.   Considered another ghost town.
Bar is still open and we did stop for a beer!!

inside the bar - antiques and paraphernalia

Gatorlope

Hogan relaxing on the bar floor

Bullet ashtray

Roadrunner

Off to Crown King

Going up into the Bradshaw mountains

This is an old rail bed 

The bar was awesome!

A million memories caught on film

The Mall!!

This saloon was brought to Crown King in pieces on mules after a near by
town was abandoned.   It was put back together and once again, used as a saloon and brothel.

Tacky Tourist

Another Tacky Tourist

We headed back and Marie got pics of the various flowers

Hedgehog Cactus 

Some sort of thistle

When we got back we found Vultures roosting on the tower next to us

Reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"

They truly are masters of flight

A great day!

When life hands you lemons, you have two choices.  You can whine about it and wish you had oranges or,  you can make lemonade.  Today, John and I choose to make lemonade.  We can't get the belt here any faster than what Fed Ex can (add another million dollars for overnight service!) so we might just as well do a four wheel drive trip and see some more of this incredible landscape.
We are currently sitting at the Agua Fria National Monument.  I googled it and this is what I found out.
It is a 70,900 acre parcel of land, created on January 11/2000 by Presidential Proclamation.   Over 450 distinct Native American structures have been recorded in the monument.  Some of the large pueblos contain more than 100 rooms each.  It is believed that these structures were built between 1250 and 1450 AD.  Thousands of petroglyphs are spread across the ruins.  Several thousand Native Americans known as the Perry Mesa Tradition inhabited this region.  They were both farmers and hunters.  The Yavapai  also inhabited the area after the Perry Mesa Tradition Peoples.
It has a wide variety of wildlife including bear, cougar, and the usual desert dwellers.  Today, I looked out the window and saw a little cottontail bunny hopping around enjoying life.
We got the jeep loaded, then set out on our day's journey.  The first town site we came to was Cordes, Az.  Considered a ghost town, it was first established in 1883 by John Henry Cordes.  Originally destined to be called Antelope Junction, the name was denied because there already was a town called Antelope Station in the state (later changed to Stanton - which John and I have visited several times).  With the denial, John Cordes used his own name and it was approved.  The town's post office closed in 1944 and the town was abandoned in the 1950s.  This however, is not completely true as members of the Cordes family still live at the site with the population standing at 11 people.  It is a town filled with antiques and a million memories - Oh the stories those walls could tell!!
As we continued down the road, I must say it was rather rough as there were several patches of "washboard" in the road.  Oh well, I guess that is why they call it a "primitive road"!!
We entered the town of Cleator which once again, is considered a ghost town.  It lies along the road that replaced the "Murphy's Impossible Railroad" which travelled between Cordes and Crown King, Az.  The railroad was abandoned in 1926.  Cleator was established in 1864 as a placer gold site.  Once called "Turkey Creek", Cleator was renamed in 1925 after James P. Cleator took possession of the town.  He renamed the post office after himself and it closed in 1954.  Cleator's population fell in the 1920s as mining in the area declined and the town was put up for sale in 1949.  John's son Thomas bought the town and lived there until his death in 1996.  He kept the small bar open for most of the years he lived there.  The town was inherited by Thomas's sister Eleanor and her son.
The bar is still open today and is a favourite place to stop along the dusty old road that leads to Crown King.  John and I stopped for a beverage and Hogan was even invited into the bar.  He had to be friendly in order to gain entrance though!!  Dog water was in a bucket by the front door!!  I could not help but think how Lorne and Marilyn would have loved to partake in a brew here in Cleator.  I even  chuckled when I saw the sign on the bathroom door that said "don't flush" as they were short on water!!  I wasn't brave enough to go in - better to wait and pee along the side of the road!!  Marilyn would have loved that!!
While sitting out on the patio, John noticed a road runner on the road.  He had something in his beak but by the time I got the camera ready he was quite a distance away but I did manage to get one shot before he disappeared.  We chatted to the present owner who asked us where we were from.  When we said Saskatchewan, he asked "where".  As it turned out,  his daughter lived in Saskatoon and his son lived in Regina.  He had married a girl from Lampman and they had lived outside of Estevan for several years before they eventually divorced.   He returned to the USA after the divorce and his family remained in Canada.  It truly is a small world!!
Our journey continued on,  climbing higher into the Bradshaw Mountains along the old railroad bed.  There were several signs along the way heralding "one lane traffic".  This was where the railroad had to blast its way through the granite rock of the mountain making a path big enough for the train to pass through.   It is still only big enough for one vehicle to pass through.
We negotiated several switchbacks climbing the mountain and finally made it to the town of Crown King.
Nestled in the Bradshaw Mountains at an elevation of 5771 feet, Crown King is a former gold mining town with a population of 133 residents.  The town was named after the Crown King Mine.  The name was shortened to Crown King in 1888.  The mine was closed in 1950 after an estimated $200,000.00 in gold was mined out of it (can't imagine what that would equate to in today's market).  Today, tourism is the only reliable source of revenue for the town.  Of course John and I had to do our part for the town as I came away with a T-shirt and another Koozie!! (Like I needed another kookzie)  Murphy's Impossibe Railroad serviced the town until it was abandoned in 1926 thus "paving" the way for the road that we traveled today.
Of the buildings still standing in Crown King, the Crown King Restaurant and the Saloon are the centre of activity today.  Of course John and I had to go into the Saloon where we enjoyed one of the best homemade hamburgers to date.  The beer tasted pretty good too.
Soon, it was time to head down the mountain, back to the bus.  It seemed that it took less time on the trip back although we did stop to get a few pics of the wildflowers along the way.
Once back at the bus, we took a few of the trails out of the parking lot and decided that they were good quad trails so perhaps tomorrow we would do some exploring with it.  We will see though, as we must make a trip into Mayer for the belt.  Hopefully, the belt will arrive early.  We did see another road runner while exploring these trails so that made two for the day.  Charlotte would be so jealous!!
There was no need to make supper tonight as that burger was enough.  We sat outside, had a few more beer and watched the buzzards (turkey vultures) as they came to roost on the power lines by the bus.  They truly are masters of flight.  By the end of the evening, there were probably 25 birds all lined up on the metal structure holding the power lines.  It totally reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".  It was awesome.  John and I did feel compelled to keep moving though - after all - they are buzzards!!
We received a text from Keith and Charlotte who said that they had noticed the bus sitting in the parking lot and had stopped on their way by hoping to visit with us.  Unfortunately, we were gone and missed them.  It was good chatting to them and we just might stop in Cottonwood to see them before we head further North.  They too were experiencing a bit of an issue with their jacks.  They won't go down so the trailer has to remain connected tot he truck until that can be fixed.  Damn Mechanical Problems!!
What an awesome day we had and I was glad we chose to "make lemonade" as we saw so many incredible things today.  Life is good!!