Scenic Loop

Ajo, Arizona - Sunday, December 15, 2019

Didn't sleep late like I thought I would after my late night.  Awoke again at 8 o'clock and we had our breakfast and I read and responded to blogs.

We took our morning walk along an abandoned Jeep road around to Darby Well Road and back to the RV.  Yuma gets ahead of me and shows me the way.

It's starting out without a cloud in the sky and a little cooler today.  Only going to be a high of 62 with a cool wind out of the northeast.

Decided I didn't want to travel far today, so we took the Scenic Loop through the mountain pass behind Ajo on the western side.  Not a long drive but it is pretty.  If you like mountains.

We jumped in the Jeep around 1 o'clock and before I even got up to the main road, I had to back down to the RV.  I forgot my camera.  Yuma was giving me that "come on Dad" look.

By turning left to the west on Darby Well Road and follow it for several miles staying to the right at each intersection, it turns into Scenic Loop. 

That is the mountain we'll go around.  I believe it is "A" mountain that can be seen above Ajo on the other side.  I notice we now have puffy white clouds coming in from the north.

The drive continues around the west side of Ajo going between two groups of small mountains.  Didn't take long till we hit the sign telling us to stay right.  If we went left accidently, the road goes for miles out into the Sonoran Desert towards Yuma.  Not good.

Al, Kelly and Pheebs Travel With The Bayfield Bunch :) have stayed in their MH near this dome rock a number of times.  I met them there once and Al, Pheebs and I climbed on that rock.

Here's a picture without the zoom.  Hey Al, there is only one RV in the whole area.  Better hurry.

After traveling through several deep washes with signs warning not to cross when flooded, we were coming up to the "A" mountain.

Now I can tell because there is a Cross at the top of the mountain that can be seen in Ajo on the other side.  Can you see it top left center?

 Now you can.

It wasn't long before we came around the mountain to the north side and there was Ajo looking up at us.

We are heading right down to the center of town.  You can see the open mine pit to the right of the picture.  Beautiful view on a beautiful day.

Always like to take a picture of the lizard done in mason on this house.  It also has a history.  Al may remember better than me.  There was an artist living there and he had a lot to do with the mural on the Ajo Copper News building that I covered the other day.  

Anyway he was a blogger at one time with a name like Wolfman, but not sure.  Had a wolf in it.  Anyway, his blog was weird, but interesting to read.  More of an "R" rated blog if I remember.  He stopped blogging and I've wondered what happened to him.

Enough nostalgia.  Next I passed the Calvary Baptist Church.  There are a number of churches in Ajo.

Looking back to the west there is the "A" on "A" mountain.  If you look closely you can see the cross at the very top.  

Now we're stopped at the stop sign at the intersection of highway 85 that is the main drag through town.  Across the street is the mall with the palm trees and green grass.  Yuma wants to walk on green grass.  It is decorated for Christmas with a Christmas tree in the center.

Yuma walked on the grass but I didn't get a picture of him.  Across the way to the east is the historic train station that used to come through here.

The Tucson, Cornellia and Gila Bend Railroad.  It is a beautiful restored station.

A closer view with all the arches.  It is the main building with the two malls to the north and south.

Beautiful church right across highway 85 from the mall.

That's enough of Ajo for the day.  Yuma and I headed the four miles back to the RV and called it a day.

See you later.