Pearces in Pearce!

We have been touring the small towns in southern Arizona. It is wonderful to be off the highway now and no more white-knuckle miles of "Caution - Dust Storms - Drive with Extreme Care". Truly I was the only one with the white knuckles, and one time as Rip was nodding off on a well deserved power nap, one of those gusts jolted both of us to snappy attention! So much for the nap.

We went out of our way to visit Pearce, Arizona yesterday hoping for a town sign at least to get a picture. The place was so small (located on Old Ghost Town Road -you get my drift!) there was only a sign for the "Pearce Cemetery" so we made do with that. It was quiet - I bet you guessed that already. We also took a spectacular tour of Kartchner Caverns in the state park by that name where we camped the night before. We thought it might be a stelactite-stalagmite repeat of Mammoth Cave, but not so. It was very different because these caves are "active" - geological delicacies inside growing at a rate of less than one inch per century! That gives new meaning to active. Those caves move at sabbatical pace.

At Bisbee we met a local and owner of a twin Westfalia, 1988, blue, and we chatted. He loves Bisbee so much it is his retirement town. The town is built on a hill and features many unique shops and residents and a great, old mine. All the buildings are old and it takes you back in time to be there. The next stop was Tombstone where we ambled the dirt streets (they covered the asphalt a couple of years ago to restore the "old", authentic look. Horse-drawn stagecoaches with period dressed characters take folks on a tour of the town. We stopped into an old saloon with dark wood and stained glass to hear "Mick" strum his guitar and sing a few great tunes.

Today we are off to the Sonoita wine region where special music and gourmet treats will accompany the launch of a new wine in the area today, and to Patagonia which has the "Tree of Life" Rejuvenation Centre. I wonder what church we will visit tomorrow? I wish it could be in Pearce, but it will have to be just the Pearces near Pearce!