Pomerene and Cascabel

Sounds like the names I would give my puppies ... Pomerene and Cascabel.   If you look it up on the web, you will find everything from chilis to rattlesnakes.  Sadly, you won't find much information at all on either little town.  

But first, how about a nice little sunrise!  Unfortunately I was the only one to see it since Cyndae is a VERY late sleeper!  

A quick detour here for those that have not seen the Linear Garden outside of Tombstone, this is where to go.  Skyline Drive is the name and you can go either direction depending on whether you want to park heading DOWN the steep road or UP.  Either way, you cannot miss the garden.

On to the next adventure.  Cyndae has not been to a ghost town and was so excited to hear about Cascabel and Pomerene.  Trouble was, I knew nothing about either one.  Loaded down with extra food and water because you just never know, we headed off North from Benson.

Here is beautiful downtown Pomerene and the post office.  I'm happy to say their school was open and kids were being picked up by parents.  We drove around a little, but found no stores of any kind.  

In no time, the paved road ended and the gravel road began as we wandered around over hill and dale.  Cyndae's phone said something like 17 miles (on the gravel road).  Finally ... EUREKA!!!  We FOUND IT!!  I've thought many times I was in the middle of nowhere, but this time I actually WAS!

Here's where it gets creepy!!  Cyndae says she likes going places with me because she's rather naive and wouldn't know if danger was standing in front of her.  She thinks I will save her .... HAHAHA!!  Anyway, we saw this little park area and thought we would drive in.  There were no NO TRESPASSING signs.

What a cute little decorative fence!  On the right were a couple of tables and chairs.  I drove closer.

YIKES!!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  WHAT THE HECK????  I stared at this "thing" for 30 seconds trying to decide if it was real or not.  The only part that didn't look real was the hair!!  Ummmm I think this is a SIGN!!  But no ..... we drove a few feet further until I saw a trailer hookup.

No Cyndae, this is private property.  We need to get the heck out of here ... and we did.  Just at the gate however, I thought I needed a picture of the entire fence above.  I started to back up but looked in the mirror just in time.  SOMEONE WAS CHASING US!!

I slammed on the brakes just in time and rolled down my window as a nice looking lady came up to say we were on her property.  I apologized profusely ... we really did think it was a park.  We talked for a bit until she told us where her CEMETERY was. 

Wait .... YOUR cemetery as in you have dead bodies there?  Or Cascabel's cemetery.  She reiterated HER CEMETERY.  Okay then ... thank you so much and we were gone in a flash!!!  We laughed ... about three miles down the road!!

That's when we ran into these two eating a piece of cactus that had been run over.  

A face only a mother could love.  You usually don't see their snouts, but he was smelling to see what we were.

We were passed by two trucks, but other than that, saw no one nor any indication that anyone lived around here.  Weird.

Eventually the canyon walls began to come closer.  From a distance this looked like a castle and we were trying to figure out how to get there.  Turns out it was just a bluff washed by the San Pedro river that parallels the road.

Finally we came upon a sign that said this entire valley was a conservative.  Supposedly every owner here pays $1.00 a year to vote on what the conservative does, except for the guy whose fence sign was crossed off with a big black X.  Apparently there was a dispute about something.

Mostly we saw indications of certified organic cattle, meaning all they eat is grass.  Yucky poo in my book ... grass fed beef just doesn't taste good to me.    

We kept driving down the gravel road.  There were a few houses here and there that have definitely seen better days.  We were looking for the restaurant and store I had read about ... maybe even an Art Festival since that's all the information I could find.  Nothing .... we found nothing.

At last we almost ran into a little old lady on a four wheeler.  I asked her where Cascabel was.  You're parked on it she said.  This is the DOT on the map.  Hmmmm we chatted a bit more and were invited onto her property, sporting an old mobile home, a big dog and lots of bones laying on the ground.  Park outside she said, and walk up to the right, as she drove off to the left.

Hey ... I've seen plenty of movies .... Cyndae I whispered .... if she comes out with a knife and a gun, you run one way and I'll run the other.  Maybe one of us will live!  Cyndae's eyes got real big as she almost tripped over one of the big bones laying on the ground.

To be continued ......... yes there is more!!  The good news is we survived, as evidenced by my being able to tell you about it!!