So, I would be heading east on I-8 again. Yuma to Gila Bend, to the junction with I-10 and on through Tucson. I wondered if there was a way to change up that well-traveled route, to see a new place.
I checked the map. Hmmmm, the Sonoran Desert National Monument. State route 238. Is there something more interesting that way than along I-8? Something worth the extra miles at a slower speed? I won’t know if I don’t go.
And there are a couple of towns along the way. Shawmut. Mobile. Maricopa. Probably just wide spots in the road. Maricopa is a junction, so maybe there’s a gas station, cafe, farm equipment repair shop, a boarded up business. A tiny village hanging on by its fingernails. I mean, it’s out in the middle of nowhere. Farmland surrounded by desert. And its name on the map is small.
I was wrong. Turns out Maricopa is a modern, sprawling upper-middle class suburb with a golf course and all that. If I had thought to zoom in on the satellite view I would’ve known. Oh well. It just meant the expected brief roll through an impending ghost town would actually be a crawl from frustratingly timed traffic light to frustratingly timed traffic light down the main Lexus-choked boulevard, past Starbucks and all that.
Thinking of you on your birthday. May you find an idyllic spot to enjoy your day! In you ramblings around the southwest, stop by to visit us in St. George sometime. We are settling there part time for now, looking to be permanent when we sell our home in Oakley.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sis.
DeleteThe above from Karen, aka Grandmakaere.
ReplyDeleteI figured it out from "Oakley."
DeleteAl how's the van holding up? Any chance you could get a new vehicle and what would it be? Bigger Better.
DeleteOther than a few relatively minor repairs, it's still going strong. It'll need to be replaced SOMEday, but I don't know what with. I'll drive off that bridge when I come to it.
Delete