Across The USA by Dodge
Chapter 14
Next stop after Tombstone was a little place called Bisbee, a former copper mining town. There's this massive "hole" on the southern side of town filled with black water. Bisbee's turned into something of a bohemian town with lots of artists and the like. Before I left Australia I happened to switch on the TV and saw a segment on "Inside Edition" about an old guy in Bisbee who owns a shop called The One Book Bookstore. He sells just one book, which he'd written in 1978 and has subsequently made a fortune selling it!
I went there and met the guy named Walter Swan (who's 76 years old) who was fascinating. I bought a copy of his book called "Me 'n' Henry" which is a collection of anecdotes about growing up in small town Arizona. It's not terribly well written but it was enjoyable reading all the same. He pointed out a number of letters he'd received from Australia.
He's written a number of other books since and has a second shop called "The Other Book Bookstore" nearby!
On the way towards New Mexico, it started to rain for the first while I was driving. The dark clouds came up quickly and the rain pelted down. I was on a dirt road by this time and stopped at a place called Fort Bowie Lookout as the rain stopped. This was an old stop on the stagecoach route from the East into California and you could actually see where a cutting had been made on the side of the mountain (which was off in the distance a few miles) which may even have been a rail track at one time. I would have hiked over along the trail but the weather was still threatening so decided against it.
Chapter 15
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