Vulture Mine

Ed, Brad (Ed's son) and I visited the Vulture Mine, south of Wickenburg. It is an old gold/silver mine that is not in operation at this time. Henry Wickenburg discovered gold here in 1863 and the mine was worked until WWII. It is said that there was at least $20o million worth of gold/silver taken from this mine during the 80yrs that it was in operation; and that there is at least 3-4 times that much still down there. The present owner doesn't work the mine, but as the price of gold increases, who knows what the future holds for this mine. You can find this mine by taking Vulture Mine road south out of Wickenburg, AZ. We had a great time taking the tour of the old buildings that are left around the property. They have not restored anything and we got to see the mine just as it was left when they closed it down. Life is Good! 

One of the buildings at Vulture Mine

Ed is standing in front of one of the buildings at the Vulture Mine. It was built in the late 1800's and is made from the rock that came out of the mine. They say if they crush the rock that is in that building they would get about $600,000 worth of gold. 

Vulture Mine shaft

 

We are back on our lot at North Ranch Escapee park north of Wickenburg, AZ. We will be here until the middle of March... just enjoying the desert and the company of the friends we have here in the park.

Fun in the sun

We thought we would visit this Solar Bar about 8 miles out of Parker in the desert. To get here you have to drive about 5 miles back a dirt road. There are no signs advertising this place, you only learn about it by word of mouth. They are only open on the weekends during the winter months. The serve hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, chips and booze. A band plays in the afternoon and the place gets packed. We wanted to enjoy some music, food and drink, but one of the lead guitar players didn't show up so we only had one drink and decided to go to the casino for the buffet. This place use to be a mine at one time. Pretty cool place out here in the desert! 

Solar Bar in the desert

 

2007 Parker 425 Desert Race

Today we drove over to Parker, AZ to watch a little of the Parker 425 desert race. The race started this morning about 7:30am in Parker and ran 3 laps around a 140 mile trail through the desert and ended over 9 hours later at the Blue Water Casino. We didn't see the start of the race, but enjoyed a little of the action in the afternoon before we headed to the Solar Bar for a little refreshment and then on to the Blue Water Casino for some food and gaming. We were at the casino when the first two winners arrived....dirty. tired, but happy. We had fun watching the action...life is good! 

Trucks, Hummers, Dune Buggies

We saw trucks, Hummers and dune buggies competing in this race. All making a lot of dust and having fun. We enjoyed watching them fly through this area of the 140 mile track. 

Kicking up the dirt

Another dune buggy rounding the curve on 1 leg of the track