Mountains and Valleys and Goats!

Well, if you recall, I speculated that I might get a load of copper out of the copper mine at Tyrone New Mexico.  I was wrong on that, but I did get dispatched to the copper mine over at Morenci, Arizona.  So I got up at 3 a.m. and headed out at about 4.  I had three hours of driving time just so I could get there by six o'clock.  If that doesn't sound right to you it's because I crossed the time line and there's an hour lost in the transaction somewhere.  Yes, that's one more little piece of math work that a truck driver has to understand when planning out his trips.

So, this is a great job to get - 2,700 miles on this one.

I've been to this mine before so I kind of know what to expect.  There's a quaint little town called "Clifton" down in the Gila valley just before you make the ascent up the mountains to Morenci.  It goes back to the "Gold Rush" days when folks packed up and headed west to seek their fortune.  This whole area reminds me of my all time favorite movie starring Humphrey Bogart - "The Treasure of the Sierra Madres".  I like it because it illustrates human nature, that is also why I will endure watching those lengthy Jane Austin movies with my girls - Jane Austin was a great illustrator of human nature in her works.

The little community of Clifton is sort of a ramshackle looking place to this day - it still has the look of an "Old West" town.  I kind of expect to see Miss Kitty or Matt Dillon coming out of the store fronts every time I come through this place.  It's still an active community, but it has an aura of days gone by about it as it sits nestled down in that peaceful valley below this giant copper mine up above on the mountain tops.

Here's a few views of the town, I might could have gotten some better photos, but I really didn't have the time to stop at different places and take pictures like a tourist - I am working as I come through here.

Here's an entrance to an old hand dug mine in the side of one of the hills that I came across.

From there I wound my way up to the top of the mountains where the expansive copper mine is and here is the view looking down on to the community of Clifton while I am waiting in a line of trucks to get my "High Value, High Security" load.

Here we are waiting in line to get loaded - believe it or not we hauled several million dollars worth of copper out of this place today.

Just to give you an idea about the altitude and the wildness of this area as I was leaving with my loaded truck I was getting weighed on the scale by the security people and look what was right there in front of my truck as I was getting weighed - two mountain goats gingerly grazing around in the few scrubby plants available to them.

Okay, just one last thing for you from me today.  It's a test - can you spot the mountain goat in this picture?  Here's a hint he's looking right at you!