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Changing Plans
A refreshing aspect of travel and the freedom to stay out in the backcountry for extended periods, is to not plan each and every day. On this trip we allowed for open days. You bet we had lots of ideas on where we could go, but we’d let our location, the weather, and other factors shape our decision when the time came. An idea formed on this trip - a deeper dive into an area we’d only spent a short time in last year. As we poured over our maps and materials we realized we needed more data to help with planning. A book by a local expert could help and we spent a day trying to find a copy in stock locally. No luck. One place we looked for the book was the gift shop at Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. The woman there was very helpful with contacts for the publisher, etc., but they’d stopped carrying it in stock more than a year prior. We had to order it online and it wouldn’t arrive while we were still in Arizona. So we decided on foregoing that adventure until I could dig in with research at home - a change of plans.
The trip to the Desert Museum was well worth it as there is a Crested Saguaro beside the Visitors Center.
After Organ Pipe NM, we’d returned to our cousins’ place in Green Valley for a couple nights as we’d planned a day trip to Whitewater Draw with them. They’d visited a few years prior and very much wanted to return. We also had a stash of frozen turkey dinner leftovers in their freezer - reason to return right there.
The Lady and I still did our walks in the night before bed. But the walks were so very much different here.
We decided we very much preferred saguaros out in the wild and definitely without artificial lights. We wondered if we should set some of these free.
Kathleen is an avid Word Bubble player. The Lady made a very capable partner.
It turned out Keith, the Big Guy, had tweaked his back. It was improving but he was not yet joining his buddies, the Desert Duffers, and swinging a golf club out on the fairways. A long car ride was not a good idea. Whitewater Draw was out. A change of plans.
Instead, Kathleen very much wanted to go to the art community of Tubac to pick out a statue of the Virgin Mary for the backyard. Now there’s something we’ve never done before. It was a very tolerable short car ride for Keith. With a very nice Mary tucked away in the back of the car, we celebrated with a delicious sit down lunch at Wisdom’s Cafe.
Now very well fed and happy, and in keeping with the Catholic Church theme, I suggested visiting the Tumacacori National Historical Park just down the road.
This mission also sits along the amazing Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.
We spent a very pleasant afternoon walking the mission grounds. I’ll let the photographs tell the story.
We said goodbyes to Keith & Kathleen the following morning and thanked them, once again, for their hospitality. We headed east for the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
We found ourselves on the Southern Overland Route.
And also, again, on the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail.
Those of you who enjoy Anza-Borrego in Southern California. You guessed it right, Anza is named for Juan Bautista de Anza. Borrego? It’s Spanish for sheep. In this case, the Desert Bighorn.
We stopped at an outcrop of granite and found old faded petroglyphs. We had no rock art data for this area. We were picking areas that just looked right to us.
We climbed a hill and saw this small outcrop of granite on the edge of a wash. Water runs in washes. Water’s important to people. An outcrop of rock can provide shelter.
With our experience, we had to check it.
As we climbed the Southern Overland Route, we arrived at the old Desert Station stage stop.
The old cistern at the station.
We continued on until we found a nice spot to camp.
This area, like Kofa, had received rain and the grasses were coming alive.
Whimsical and photogenic.
We were alone out here. The solitude seeped into us, rejuvenated and restored our souls. We wandered in the afternoon light until darkness came.
The next morning was whimsical with a half moon.
We drove further up the old route until we reached Butterfield Pass.
Changing plans had worked out fine. It was time to move further west.
Our adventure continues in the upcoming Part Five.
