So back in January, yeah, I know I'm slow, I teamed up with another old Suburban ('70 K20 pure stock) and went wandering (mine was the one that was not magnetically attracted to gas stations). We headed out from town up to Wickenburg where he stopped for gas upon entering town. We checked out a really cool museum up there and then proceeded down to Vulture Mine. We promptly found out that it was closed. We left there seeking a scenic lunch spot. We found one nearby and had our lunch.
After we left here we headed down old US60. This section has been bypassed by I-10 so not much traffic flows through here. While cruising low through small towns, stores can be found that make you wonder why stores like this aren't available in the metropolis where you live. Seriously, Ace hardware meets Macy's. Get your hardware and fashion in one easy stop.
Anyways, our destination was not Adolfo's believe it or not, but an old mining town called Swansea. There is some information on it out there,
this is a link to a little bit of it. Once we were close to Swansea, I was absolutely amazed at the scenery in the surrounding area. I have run Highway 72 from Vicksburg through Utting and Bouse into Parker many times. Always at high speed as there is really nothing to look at. That was the scenery I was expecting to see just a few miles north in Swansea, but I was very pleasantly surprised at the unbelievable variations in colors. Every hill, mountain, valley, escarpment was a different color than the one in front of it and the one behind it. Absolutely amazing. I took many pictures of it, but it is evidently difficult to capture on electronic film. This pic give an idea of what I am trying to describe:
So we got into Swansea and did some wandering around. There aren't any complete buildings, but there are some pretty good remnants and physical evidence of buildings that were there. This was a neat pile of machine filings:
Random studs:
This is an example of the signs that were at some of the more "important" locations:
This is what the building looks like today:
On our way back we found the pit that held a train scale:
Back at camp we had a very tasty steak dinner complete with shrimp for my boy all courtesy of Lance & Co. After dinner, we sacrificed Frosty The Snowman Peep to the Fire Gods to bless us with safe trail passage tomorrow.
So ends our first day of travel.