Fall, 2016...Wisconsin -Two Guns - Rt 66 - Prescott 

Since I haven't been keeping up on our blog, I'll be doing some catch up.

We had a wonderful time in WI visiting family and friends. 
Beaver Dam Lake in Cumberland is one of our all time favorite spots, it's peaceful, beautiful and the water crystal clear. Nice sunsets too! 

Lambeau Field... a very special place for us Cheeseheads. 

WI Badgers - LSU game (WI wins!)

Iowa, Pikes Peak State Park - Our first night's stop after leaving northern WI.
Bluff overlooking the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers where they join together.
There's a very nice campground here.

While staying at Meteor Crater RV park near Winslow, we often walked old Rt 66, now abandoned and part of a ranch. Rt 66, (a.k.a The Mother Road), made it’s way from the midwest, thru Arizona, to the CA coast. 

The owner of the ranch allows people from the park to walk here. We found an old rusted headlight, the type that would be mounted on top a big fender. I was envisioning people traveling this rutted dusty road back in the 1930’s. It was a major pathway for those migrating westward especially during the dust bowl, later years more vacation travel. 

Ruins from Two Guns on old Rt 66

Businesses sprang up along the way, gas stations, diners and tourist attractions. About 5 miles from our campground on old Rt 66 is the ghost town of Two Guns situated on the edge Canyon Diablo. We rode our bikes to Two Guns, explored and again imagined what it must have been like back in the day. There’s a great deal of history here, some not so good. Dating back to 1878, the Apaches and Navajos had a very deadly confrontation here. Later years a trading post was built, then a lodge overlooking the canyon. With travel becoming popular, a make shift zoo was added to attract more tourists. Crumbling adobe buildings, busted wire cages, a faded Mountain Lion sign all remain. A gas station and campground were later additions, also in a crumbling state. When I-40 bypassed Two Guns (I think in the 60’s) and other small towns along Rt 66, these tourist towns dried up. Over the years, Two Guns had several people attempt to open new ventures, fires and other mis-adventures all led to failures, according to Indian lore it’s a haunted and cursed ground. There are entire books written about Two Guns and it’s history. We love this kind of exploring and learning about past history of these unique locations. What’s really cool about Two Guns is it’s a ghost town not a tourist trap, there are no signs, no paved sidewalks or souvenir shops.

As we're riding back from Two Guns, cattle cross old Rt 66.  One rule for using this road is if a gate is closed be sure to close it behind you. The trees on the far horizon is our RV park. 

While staying in Prescott, we found a great bike trail along Watson Lake, the Peavine Trail.  Beautiful scenery! I had to slam on my brakes when we came upon a large snake sunning itself on the trail. It wasn't a rattler, but the size freaked me out, especially since I didn't see it until my better half (riding behind me) yelled "SNAKE!" that's when I hit the brakes and stopped just a few feet short of it.  (Our son and wife might remember hiking here in the boulders a few years back when they visited us.)

We really like Prescott. It’s an old cowboy town that has maintained it’s feel of days gone by. Lovely quaint downtown with a courthouse square, huge white courthouse in the middle, very enjoyable place to walk. One side of the square is named Whiskey Row as it was back in the late 1800’s, it’s now listed as a Historic District. The street was lined with saloons. One in particular was quite famous, The Palace. In 1900 a massive fire burned the entire block of whiskey row, the wooden buildings had little chance of surviving. The locals knew there was no hope in putting out the fire so they carried the beautiful wooden bar and a large wooden ice chest out of the Palace across the street to where the courthouse sits today. Rebuilding started soon after the fire, this time using brick as building material. The original bar was put back into the newly constructed Palace which was completed in 1901. The Palace remains in operation today and looks very much like it did 100 years ago. Entering through the wooden swinging bar doors reminded me of the Gunsmoke shows we watched. On weekends there are people that (volunteer) dress in attire of that period. Civil war soldiers, lawmen etc. These guys greet patrons and talk history, they’re very knowledgeable historians and so interesting. We talked to an older “lawman” for quite some time, come to find out, he really was a lawman, retired police officer from Massachusetts. We learned Virgil Earp lived in Prescott. His brother Wyatt and Doc Holiday spent a lot of time in Prescott with Virgil, this was before they headed to Tombstone where the famous Shoot out at the OK Corral took place. The lawman/historian told us as we sat at the bar (eating our cheese curds), that Wyatt Earp, Virgil and Doc Holiday had all leaned on the very same bar. I just thought that was so cool as my mind wandered back 100 years. He also said they wouldn’t have been sitting on bar stools as we were, the patrons back then all stood at the bar. (I do remember watching the old westerns, most the cowboys did stand.) 

At White Spar, our Prescott Campground

Acorn Woodpeckers peck holes in the bark of these tall pines then fill them with acorns to store up for the winter. We have a couple trees by our campsite that must have a thousand holes in. They only penetrate deep enough into the thick bark to hold an acorn, it does not kill the tree. It was entertaining watching them as they fly back and forth filling the holes with acorns. Was quite the scene when a squirrel climbed the tree and tried to steal an acorn, the woodpeckers won, they chased that squirrel around and squawked like crazy. 

The  abandoned Senator Mine near Prescott

One of the longest operating mines in the region, 1860's -1918. Gold, silver and copper were all mined here. The tunnel leads deep into the mountain, a stream of water seeps out of the opening. At one time there was a small settlement here with a post office and other businesses. 

An steel skeleton remains at the mine site. 
It was a mill of some sort to process the ore before it was transported down the mountain. 

We continued on past the Senator Mine, the road turns into a 4 wheel drive road.
The views spectacular. 

A young couple at our campground in Prescott build this 5th wheel. They're very talented. 

The interior even more awesome. They've had such an interest in their "home" that they're considering building units to sell. 

Visiting Don Robinson's Gold King Mine Collection.

While in Prescott, we drove up Mingus Mountain to the old mining town of Jerome.  

Our destination was to revisit the long closed Gold King Mine located a short drive from downtown Jerome. We first visited this place when Ryan and Erin were with us several years ago. 

Story goes….about 30 years ago an interesting fella (Don Robinson) bought the closed mine and started his ever growing collection of old mining equipment, unique old trucks, tractors and whatever else. He opened the old mine grounds to the public to share his collection.

Being a master mechanic he kept many things in his collection in running order. He had a couple saw mills, one powered by a 1943 submarine engine he bought from a military sale. (The sawmills are still sawing wood.) He had a beautiful vintage race car, which he started up for us with the crank start. At one time he raced this car in vintage car races. He certainly looks like an old miner; hat, beard and all…he even had a  mule on the property, named Pedro. There are rows of faded rusted trucks, (he liked Studebakers), fuel tankers, dump trucks, old buses and firetrucks. I quickly changed my first impression of thinking this was a junk yard to thinking this is a vehicle heaven, where vehicles can die peacefully on a mountain top and not succumb to the crusher. 

There’s something about seeing an old rusted truck resting peacefully among the wildflowers and trees. On this return visit we were so looking forward to visiting with Mr Robinson again, but we sadly learned he had turned very ill and passed away only weeks ago. 

He charged very little to get into his wonder land, his enjoyment came from talking to people and showing them around. I don’t know how anybody can carry on as he did… we wonder what will become of his collection and gold mine. 

His vintage race car. 

Truck named "The Other Woman"

A sign along the driveway into this place says "Rust in Peace".