Day 25 – April 28

We were on the road early, once again winding down from the heights of the ridge of the Continental Divide. The 35 proved to be a much more driver challenging road even though the slopes in places where just as attention grabbing as on the 15.

At one point up ahead we saw what appeared to be some sort of open pit mine. As we approached we were amazed at the size of the operation and pulled over to have a closer look. It was a copper mine that had been in operation for over 200 years. Looking to the far side of the excavation you could see puffs of smoke, indicating some sort of activity. I returned to the BRT to bring back my man sized binoculars. These aren’t your average ‘let’s take a look at that bird – binoculars’ they are for star gazing and would be better described as ‘you better put on your neck brace bubba before strapping these bad boys on – binoculars’. I have been accused of some compensation issues.

Upon closer observation we came to see that these little puffs of dust were caused by some monster excavators and 80 ton capacity trucks. Only then did we realize the scale of the hole we were looking into. The interpretive panel at the observation point noted that after the mining operations ceased New Mexico law required that the site be ‘restored’ but that signs of mining activity would always be present. As I looked at the tiny trucks moving around the bottom of the pit I imagined that would be the case.

Our next stop was Silver City. There is also a town called Vanadium and another called Radium Springs, which probably glows in the dark – part of the reason we decided to visit Silver City instead. Signs along the road had promoted Silver City as having dozens of galleries and shops. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective, most of these shops were closed on Sunday and we were kept from temptation. We did have a great lunch at a restaurant interestingly named ‘Diane’s Parlor’ and luckily for us their cooking lived up to that name. Diane had what she declared as the best Eggs Benedict (other than mine of course) that she had ever had.

As we left the mountains and began driving across the desert heading for Phoenix we noted several plumes of dust on both sides of the road. At first they looked like what you would see from a vehicle driving along a dusty road but we soon realized that they were dust devils, little wind vortexes, sort of mini tornadoes. Now these aren’t the ‘I’m going to blow you and all of your stuff to Oz’ scale but they form the same kind of funnel and sometimes you could see two of them colliding and combining forces. I had had a close encounter with a much smaller one a couple of days earlier while driving the BRT and it gave us a pretty good shake so I kept a close eye on any of those whose path looked like it was going intersect ours.

We passed another milestone as we crossed into Arizona. The landscape and vegetation continued to change and we began to see our first Cowboy Cactus. Now the official name is Saguaro Cactus (pronounced suwarro) but we call them Cowboy Cactus because they are the ones you seen in Cowboy Movies and cartoons. They grow tall, and have several branches that look like up stretched arms. As we drove further we went through areas where entire hill sides were covered in these cactus.

We wanted to get close to Pheonix and were prepared for a late arrival at a campsite but around 6:00 we were pleasantly surprised to find that we must have passed through another time zone and had just picked up another hour, we were now 4 hours difference from home. The clock that came with the BRT reads home time. I could say that it was a sentimental gesture but to be honest it is so hard to change the monstrous little digital device that I gave up rather than drive over it with the BRT, which would have been the natural outcome of continued fiddling, so lets go with sentimental.

We made it to the Lost Dutchman State Park, which fortunately was must easier to find than its name suggested. Just east of Pheonix, situated right in the desert in the middle of the Cowboy Cactus Country. The camp host drove by to welcome us but returned several minutes later to apologize for failing to warn us about the rattlesnakes which, according to him, had been very common of late. He warned that any nocturnal trips to the washrooms should be made with a flashlight. I passed the information on to Ike who immediately stopped any liquid intake.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset, silhouetting the Cowboy Cactus, as we had supper. Of all the spectacular scenery we have seen so far there was something about that scene that brought home how far we have travelled.

Day 26 – April 29

We awoke to what promised to be another hot day. We have arrived in the middle of an unseasonal heat wave with temperatures of 100 degrees. And dry heat be damned, 100 degrees is stinking hot no matter what the humidity. We are all making an effort to stay hydrated, gentle headaches being a reminder for me if I fell behind in my intake.

Our plan today was to split up with Family #1 for the day. We were planning a tour of Taliesin West, the winter studio of Architect Frank Lloyd Wright and as riveting an adventure as that sounded to Jane and Ike they opted to try and get their 12v electrical system fixed, which has continued to give them sporadic service, and to find a laundromat. We agreed to rendezvous at the Dead Horse Ranch State Park that night. I don’t know who has the job naming these parks but they could use a bit of training in marketing. I am on the watch for the Break Your Leg and Die in the Desert with Vultures Picking Your Bones Clean Park. It has to be around here somewhere.

Our tour of Taliesen West was great, although far from a pilgrimage, having appreciated the works of good old Frank Lloyd since my student days it was meaningful to see this work first hand. Originally located in the middle of the desert this site has now become engulfed by Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix. It was intended to be FLW’s winter camp where he, along with his ‘apprentices’ continued work on their architectural projects. These apprentices were really a mix between labourers, students and acolytes to the high priest Wright. Working only with natural materials at hand, stone and sand from the desert, redwood from the lumber yards of Pheonix these apprentices built the roads and structures that now form the core of this facility which still operates as an accredited university. Students must live on site and master students can build their own unserviced structures in the desert at their own expense if their design is approved. Tuition fees are $30,000 per year and like FLW each year the students migrate between Taliesen West and Taliesen East, as the seasons dictate. FLW lived to be in his 90’s and some of his original apprentices, themselves well into their 90’s still live and work here, sort of a living display of the long reaching impact of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work.

The guided tour took 2 hours and afforded a chance to see all the interior spaces of the facility, unlike the typical tour where rooms are cordoned off, this being a operating facility, every space was open and you could sit in the Wright designed and built furniture. A unique opportunity indeed.

After a stop for liquid and solid provisions we headed out on the 87 and 260 towards the enticingly named Dead Horse Ranch State Park. We had decided earlier to take this route rather than the faster interstate for the scenery and we were duly rewarded. As we climbed the mountainside, yet another mountainside, the vegetation changed from flat Cowboy Cactus country to pine forest mountainside. There were times when we felt that we could have driving in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, except for the mountains of course.

We arrived at Dead Horse Ranch about 7:00 to find that conveniently Jane and Ike had arrived about an hour before us and had reserved a spot for us next to them. They did not have any success at Camping World with their problem except a promise to look at it in 3 weeks but they did score on a laundromat which by their description had an atmosphere more like the bar in Cheers than you might expect in your typical laundromat.

A late-ish supper of barbecued chicken and wok fried broccoli I ended the night.