The Bisbee Breakfast Club

The wildlife area we spent the night in is renown for its Sandhill Cranes.  Part of the experience is seeing them all take to the air to go off to the corn fields to feed for the day.  So I peered out the bedroom window about 5:30 am and saw some cars starting to gather in the parking lot in the pitch black dark.  I went back to sleep until about 6:30 when it started to get noisy with the birds starting to leave.

They continued leaving in small flocks until about 7:00 when the helicopter that landed next to us last night, fired up and took off.

Then the whole flock took to the air and the noise was really loud.  It is hard to believe there are this many birds in one area at one time.  Although we are not birders, we have enjoyed watching how these birds spend the winter.  Kind of like snowbirds gathering at Quartzsite!!!

As the birds were leaving I looked out the other side and the sun was peeking over the hill.  It is very seldom that I witness one, so I am pleased to show you a picture of it.

An interesting thing here is that the lake here dries up in the winter so they have installed a large well which keeps the water at a level that will support the birds.  The pump was running when I went down there this morning.

One of the things on our bucket list for this trip is a stop at the Bisbee Breakfast Club.   We have heard great things about it and almost everyone who has eaten there, raves about it, and with good reason.  The food was 12/10 and the service was even better.  I likened it to Cracker Barrel, but everyone agreed it was actually better.

Bisbee Breakfast Club sign

We brought the whole crew along because we were going to explore the area today and needed our bellies full.

Harold, Ed, Lessie, Pat, Sue, Lorne

The breakfast was delicious.  The skillet I had was covered in white gravy.

And the biscuits were to die for.

Lots of neat stuff to look at in the restaurant.  The main part used to be a pharmacy, while the other part was a glass store where they sold all kinds of glass.

Good thing it was early or we would have had to try the delicious pies.  I doubt they have any calories.

After breakfast we headed out down the old street.  Although named the Bisbee Breakfast Club it is actually in the town of Lowell.  Lowell and Bisbee are only a couple miles apart.  There are a lot of nice old cars and buildings to check and I won't bore you with all my lousy pictures.  Here are a few.

I would love to convert this old cruiser bus into a motor home.  It would be very unique.

A little farther down the road was a place where you can stay overnight in an old model camper. They have lots of different kinds to pick from and this is the one I would choose.

Down at the police station there was a police car with Deputy Barney Fifes name on it.  How many of you know who Barney Fife is?

On the street we saw a UPS truck which is exactly the vehicle Sue and I want to get to make into an Ice Cream truck for CJ's Snack Shack and Mini Golf back home.  We could use it to pedal ice cream in the campground we are in and to take to special events like baseball games.  Anyone have one for sale?

After we finished there we headed up the road to Bisbee AZ.  The first thing we saw was a mine train that they use underground.  Of course I had to climb aboard.

We ran into an interesting character who lives in Bisbee and is very open to talking about all that Bisbee has to offer.  His name was Mick and his dog was named Penny.  He told us stories of his dog and the town for about 15 minutes.  These are the kind of people that give you a true sense of what the community is about.

Mick and Penny

The Catmobile

The town is very dog friendly and they even tolerate Hotties!!!

And a snicker for the day

One of the places Mick recommended we visit was the Bisbee Restoration Association Museum.  This is a fairly new museum and if you want to get an idea what the past was like in Bisbee, this is the place to visit.

A couple of the interesting exhibits were a collection of toasters from a local collector.  Apparently he has hundreds and they are displaying a few here.

Another exhibit that caught my eye was they old schoolroom they had set up.  It brought back a lot of memories of my years in a one room school in the country.  The desks were very uncomfortable as I recall, but fidgeting was forbidden even if the legs got a cramp.  When I went to school, the 5 1/2 inch floppy disc computer wasn't invented yet!!!

One of the features of Bisbee was that many houses were accessed by long flights of stairs.  Can you imagine hauling the groceries up here??

After an afternoon of touring it was time for a coffee and a sit down.  We chose the Bisbee Coffee Co. and it was a good choice.

We took another group photo with Ed hamming it up for us.  We like to have our laughs.

On the way home we had a quick look into the Lavender open pit mine which is right beside the highway.  It is very deep to the bottom and it must have been a challenge driving those big trucks up those switchbacks to deposit the load at the top.

We had a fun day today and this is the view from our window tonight:

Our Location tonight:  Whitewater Draw 31.5614833 - 109.7220652  Boondocking
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