As some of you may know, I spend half my life in Arizona. It’s a love/hate relationship I have with this place, for many reasons that I will not go into here. What I want to do though, is give you a visualization of my travels there….
In Southeast Arizona I found myself thinking that this place is truly one of the last vestiges of the “Old West”. Endless open miles of desert landscapes, sparsely populated with the occasion smattering of tiny towns such as Willcox , Rucker , Dos Cabezas , and my ultimate final destination of Douglas .
I find both beauty and heartache in this land, and think to myself about the mindset of the people living here. Are they trapped in this existence, or do they find solitude and peace in the nothingness?
There are secret wonders to behold, such as the Chiricahua National Monument ,a little known National Park that I sometimes visit when time allows. ( the park below covered in morning fog)
But mostly I find nothing but desolation here. It reminds me of the feeling I have watching such films as No Country for Old Men, or even the Mad Max movies. Being a solitary person myself, I wonder why I do not relish this part of the country more? Maybe the stark reality of such an isolated place is more than I can handle….
Or maybe I am just road weary, as I travel two hours each day from my hotel to Douglas and back again. Two hours of the same blissful, endless scenery. I try to find different routes ( dirt paths) to break up the monotony, but even that has it’s consequences as I found out this last trip. As I was venturing up a lonely highway road such as this….
I found a Border Patrol car appear out of nowhere, following me. I was not speeding or swerving, being a perfect little citizen of our country. He proceeded to follow me for approximately 10 miles, then suddenly flipped on his flashing ” pull over” lights. I found this curiously amusing at first, wondering what was the reason ( tail light out on the rented vehicle, etc…). but my amusement quicked turned to irked irritation as I was removed from my car, patted down, and my body and car thoroughly searched. Apparently he thought I was smuggling drugs or people ( remember that I am about 50 feet from the mexican border in Douglas) . My biggest problem with this whole adventure was the apparent lack of PROBABLE CAUSE!!
Isn’t that still needed in America?
After 20 minutes of having my civil rights violated, I was released and continued on my journey. I had a 4 hour drive up to the White Mountains of Showlow . The best ( and only) good part about this drive is going thru the canyon to get to my destination. There is this spectacular canyon which divides the San Carlos Apache reservation from the White Mountain Apache reservation.
It really is something to see, and after driving thru it for almost 7 years now, I finally stopped to get out and enjoy the scenery.
Many people that visit Show low find it to be a quaint, beautiful little town. I find it to be a hole. Another place I find baffling that people choose to live in year round. Maybe these people are trying to escape or hide from society. If so, they have picked the perfect place.
So there you go. My little trip advisory if you ever find yourself in this part of the USA. Have fun with the Border Patrol…..
