A Low-Key Week

Two weeks after I arrived at my sister and brother-in-law’s house in Goodyear, I hit the road to continue my journey. Other than my three day trip to Joshua Tree, the time with Sue and Brad gave me a much-needed break from managing the day-to-day with one fully usable arm by myself and having people who could open a jar, pick up a heavy box or cut up vegetables for the salad I made for Thanksgiving dinner. I still had to put on my socks one handed, but I was okay with that.

I spent three days at Camp Saguaro (pronounced Swarro) in Tucson near Saguaro National Park West and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, both of which I visited. The campground was fantastic in many ways – fun lights in the trees, howling coyotes at night and saguaros sporting Santa hats throughout. The desert museum included “free raptor” and live animal programs – the raptor program was especially enjoyable as I learned about several raptors and saw them up close and personal –

At the national park I listened to a forest ranger talk about rattle snakes. I left the talk and went for a hike, feeling less fearful of rattlers based on what I had learned, but strategizing how I would fend off a far more threatening, albeit not very likely, mountain lion.

On my last day I visited the Biosphere 2 in Oracle, north of Tucson. Eight scientists committed two years of their lives to exist entirely within the Biosphere studying sustainability and relying entirely on farming within the sphere for their food. They made it through the two years, but the experiment was ended when it turned out that the work it took just to survive precluded the scientific research that was a significant part of the purpose. Now the facility focuses on research in different ecological environments with the goal of increasing the habitability of earth by addressing the effects of climate change and other degradation of the environment. It was interesting, but I wanted more. I learned afterwards that there’s a podcast that provides more information, including interviews with one of the “biospherians.” Hopefully I can still access it.

Next I headed south to Patagonia, AZ with a stop at the Madera Canyon. Having spent so much time in desert environments, it was refreshing to be surrounded by a variety of trees in the Canyon and hear a babbling brook as I hiked. The sound of the water made me aware of how long it had been since I’d heard that sound…not since I was in Moab and camped next to the Colorado River. As has been a theme in my posts, I was struck by the beauty of the natural environment – it was as if I could feel in the moment the health benefits of spending time in nature…a sense of calm, awareness of my surroundings, feelings of happiness and satisfaction. Nature is a powerful force for good.

In Patagonia I stayed at another great campground – TerraSol. This was a spot with lots of bicyclists along with hikers walking the Arizona Trail, a trail that goes from Mexico to the Arizona/Utah border, a whopping 800 miles. Sitting around the campfire with other campers one evening I heard about the travails of a young man who was four days from finishing. He would set out the next day after new socks arrived in the mail. A couple with a 13 month old baby was on one of many trips they’ve taken since around 2015, not living on the road entirely but spending many months traveling. Their destination was Mexico where they would spend a month.

I didn’t want to drive while I was camped at TerraSol so that meant checking things out within walking distance. I went on a hike to a viewpoint where mountains of various colors provided a lovely background to the orange and yellow cottonwood trees. Patagonia is a “sky island” area, meaning that the mountains rise high in elevation so quickly that many different habitats exist. It made for interesting and, to happily be repetitive, beautiful visuals surrounding the town.

The Paton Center for Hummingbirds (https://tucsonbirds.org/paton-center/) was nearby so I stopped by there. According to the Audubon Society volunteers, there was a remarkable dearth of birds of any type and had been for a couple of years…hopefully not indicating a trend resulting from climate change. The bar down the road had live music one evening; the musician had a terrific play set and I got a sense of the community spirit when I saw a table of folks making ornaments and decorating the holiday tree. Another group brought food for a communal meal, and children and dogs were plentiful. It was a great scene and made salient what I’d heard from people I’d spoken to – Patagonia is an inclusive, caring, and engaged community of about 1000 people.

I was in Patagonia as the moon grew to a super moon and took this snap the night before it was full. My neighbor’s green lights are an unnatural addition – I really like this photo!

That’s it for now. My youngest son Andrew is with me in Texas – I picked him up in El Paso and we are now camped at Big Bend National Park for four days. We’ll hit San Antonia for a brief visit, then a day and a half in Austin before he heads back home. What a treat!