The Arizona Adventure
Getting out of Phoenix is a trick. The size of the place is impressive.
First stop was Casa Grande ruins, a rather large, mult-level structure build in the 1400’s by the Anza people. Most of the ancient dwellings in the Southwest are chiseled in the cliff faces, but this was build on the ground.
On a map, a circle tour on highways 15 and 86 to Tuscon looked interesting, but much of it was a long, straight and flat blow through the desert. However in certain places the vegetation was very diverse and lush and exotic and exquisite. Sequaro cactus stand like big, goofy gumbies with their limbs extending in crazy and sometimes comical poses. Within a couple of weeks many of the cactus species will be in full and spectacular bloom, but for now there are just tantalizing glimpses of the show.
On a couple of occasions I was stopped by a roadblock established by the U.S. Border Patrol looking for illegal immigrants. Luckily this grizzled Canadian alien was dismissed as being relatively harmless and allowed to proceed.
North of Tuscon on 77 near the town of Oracle one encounters the site of a very unique and ambitious experiment conducted by the University of Arizona. ‘Biosphere 2’ is a self contained little ecosystem, sealed off from the Outside World. A number of humans can live together in it with a bunch of plants such that their CO2 is converted by plant photosynthesis to produce oxygen, wastes are used as fertilizer, water is recycled, etc. and the whole thing, in theory, can support itself. It is a model which might be used in colonies established on the moon or other remote and unearthly environments. It sort of works, but not very well. But it is very interesting. Not willing to pay for the big gate to go through the tour, nor willing to spend two hours doing it, I climbed up a hill on the perimeter to catch a shot of the exterior of the thing. I think I was correct in assuming that it was cheaper for the administration to print a sign referring to video surveillance than it was to actually install the system.
Incidently, and in case you were wondering, ‘Biosphere 1’ is a term reserved for Mother Earth who was the first to perfect this exquisitely balanced and complex symbiosis of interdependent life forms that proves very difficult to duplicate.
The run from Globe to Show Low (a town named for the outcome of a card game of the same name over a century ago) was the focal point for the next leg of the tour. Salt River cuts a 2000 foot deep canyon through stratified and colourful sedimentary rocks and it is a medium sized version of Grand Canyon. Numerous tight and twisty curves made it a thrilling as well as a superbly scenic ride.
Climbing out of the canyon at over 5000 feet the air chilled and the climatic zone changed from a smorgasbord of cactus and shrubs to dense pine forests with short, teal coloured grass in the under story. Rocks were the colour of stained iron, ranging from yellow to almost blood red. Some cactus flowers were in bloom with their wild and gaudy hues ranging from ultra violet to infra red. Nature’s pallet is loud and flamboyant in these Arizona hills.
Highway 60 comes out at the evil I-40. formerly the iconic Route 66 now paved over with four lanes and billboards, and currently the flight path of a steady stream of high velocity freight trucks. The blood returned to my hands when I eventually reached Winslow from my entry point at the old cowboy town of Holbrook. I was in need of a stiff drink when I finally came in for a landing. Windy side gusts are one thing, but when these buggers blow by at over 75 mi/h they create a turbulence that follows them for several hundred metres. The Bruiser is not a small machine, but we had to work hard to maintain a straight line with this endless parade of semis that outnumbered family sedans by a considerable margin.
