Border Patrol

Although I can't hug the border most of the time on this trip, the Border Patrol has generously extended its coverage to the routes I'm on. I passed through three checkpoints today, although because of the direction I'm going, I only had to stop for one of them.


10 miles from Ajo is a little wide spot in the road named Why. When I saw that I knew that a photo was mandatory.

Ajo is close to an Air Force bombing range. (The Barry Goldwater Air Force Range. You gotta love it.) Ten minutes after this photo, I was overflown by a couple of A-10s about 200 feet above the ground, weaving between hills. The A-10 is my favorite military plane, so that gave me a little thrill.

I spent over an hour going through the seemingly endless Sonoran Desert on the Tonoho O'odham reservation. Lots of beautiful scenery, great roads, modern facilities. I'm guessing this tribe has good income streams from the military and from the Kitt Peak astronomical facilities.

Speaking of Kitt Peak, here it is, as a backdrop to a nice stand of blooming ocotillo and palo verde. You can just make out one of the observatories on the summit.

Kitt Peak is one of the "sky islands" that rise thousands of feet above the Sonoran Desert. The plants and animals up there, completely different than their desert counterparts, are evolving apart from those on the other summits, because the desert acts as a barrier to mingling.

After the Kitt Peak junction the highway eased down into a vast plain and things got increasingly urbanized as I skirted the south edge of Tucson. Things got very urbanized, in fact, with rampant road construction that went on for miles and the unique qualities of Arizona drivers, who are so sociable that they like to drive abreast in every traffic lane. Preferably 10 MPH under the speed limit.

I left Greater Tucson and headed south to Sahuarita, then east to Highway 83. Prickly pear cactus, which I hadn't seen since the first day, returned in force. I turned south on 83 and climbed and climbed the hills. This was a landscape which, while vast, was kind of ugly. The only greenery came from thorn trees in the bottoms of gullies. The ocotillo and other shrubs on the hillsides looked brown and dead. As I finally crested the summit, the landscape changed in the blink of an eye and I was in oak savannas covering the hills. Around Sonoita, the oaks disappeared and all was rolling grass steppes to the distant mountains. Remember my claim of highest elevation for the whole trip on the first day? I may have been wrong. The steppes descended eventually to Huachuca City, at 4275 feet, so I suspect I was higher than the first day's 4400 feet at some point.

Now Let's Laugh at Mark

Hey, you won't be the only one. I've been laughing at me, too. Remember, on the first day, when I changed helmets after the photo was taken because I couldn't bear the slight scratches on the face shield of the original helmet? Well, here's a photo of my current helmet after a day's ride.

And this is just the Arizona desert! I can't wait until I get to some fertile farmland. I'll probably have bugs a quarter of an inch thick on the shield.