As further encouragement for people who either own old iron to go play with it in the dirt and for those who are on never ending builds to also go play with their toys I figured I would post up a weekend jaunt.
This is a tale of two old suburbans that hauled a couple of families out in the western part of Arizona in search of mine sites and good times. Much was found so follow along.
Nick (Mosesburb here) and I had been talking about getting our families together for a weekend of camping and exploring. Since his wife Sherry loves cool rocks and his son Leland likes any old stuff we figured a trip that hit some ghost towns and mines ruins would be just the ticket.
My wife Veronica isn't much in to the 4wd thing but she loves remote areas and cool history and tolerates the rig as a way to get there. My 13yr old son Martín has been at this forever and is a pro at navigation, driving and great company...plus there might be a chance to discharge firearms which always gets him to a happy place.
Of course highway is always a part of any outing here in the desert southwest. I love how much public land we have but when you live in the middle of Phoenix it take a bit of time to get anywhere interesting.
As usual I am the navigator guy...I love my laptop setup running Delorme Topo & OziExplorer. And for this trip I have a new 1 legged monkey friend to keep us company (free find at a thrift shop).
Here is my family minus my older son..he is an adult now which means more work than play
Our first stop was the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Wickenburg, my buddy Waymon had mentioned the place and was spot on about how much cool cowboy/western/ghost town/history stuff there was here. Plus the art collection is amazing. Well worth a stop for anyone.
Photo credit goes to them as I didn't think is was cool to take pics inside.
http://www.westernmuseum.org/
After that is was off to check out Vulture Mine. I have been there before but it has recently changed hands and they are closed for another month or so fixing things up. Oh well that just meant a lunch stop in the desert before treking onward.
