June 08 travels
These webpages cover travel during the last half of June, 2008. The main purpose of the trip was my usual need to get away from the college environment and to spend some quiet time out in rural/non-urban America so as to refocus/rethink life. I violated the quiet part of that somewhat on the first part of the trip, though. Because I had discovered last year that Bisbee, AZ had a gay pride event and that the town seemed quite unique, I went back this year to spend some more time observing that and exploring Bisbee. After that, I wanted to spend a little more time discovering New Mexico and to re-explore some parts of southern Utah that I hadn't visited in many years. So, the trip was basically a big loop of about 2500 miles.
Finding campgrounds on this trip was more of a hassle than on many other trips and I comment on it below, so I decided to put a note in here about my 'campground philosophy'... I enjoy camping and sleeping in a tent when traveling -- somehow when camping it's fairly easy to hook up and talk with other people in the campground, or at least with the campground host (who are almost always interesting people). Sleeping in a tent is also just a little more roomy than sleeping in my Honda (which I can do), but more important is that you hear the sounds of nature more easily in a tent. BUT, finding campgrounds is almost always a hassle and is more of a hassle in some areas than others -- mainly because my criteria can be somewhat problematic. Since I travel alone and enjoy going to local restaurants and hearing what the locals are talking about, I don't cook at my campsite. Thus the campsite needs to be within about 15 miles (preferably via paved road) of a town where there will be at least one restaurant. Also due to traveling alone, I usually won't stay in a campground where I'm the only camper. Not only do I prefer that there's a chance to at least chat with other campers, but I don't feel safe when there's no one else to hear or help if an intruder (animal or human) becomes a concern or problem, or a storm comes up and wreaks havoc. These characteristic end up ruling out a number of places, but the more common problems with campgrounds are a lack of a level place to put a tent or the lack of working bathroom (outhouse) facility. There's often the option of commercial RV resorts that have space for tent camping, but these are often not very relaxing due to being too tightly packed or too close to busy highways.
Note that this webpage is temporary, the material in it will be incorporated in other pages sometime later in the summer. Since these aren't final webpages, all of the photos connected to these pages are large.
Getting to Bisbee
Since driving the Interstate is very frustrating for me, particularly when on vacations, I'm always looking for at least some diversion that may be of interest. The Pinal Pioneer Parkway (AZ 79) between Phoenix and Tucson is one such diversion. It's a two lane road that was, in the 1960's, the main route between the two cities. When the state created it, they bought 1000 feet of right-of-way on each side to keep it scenic, thus the area feels unspoiled. The route is known for its desert wild flower display in the Spring, though by mid-June that was no longer in bloom. But, the cacti were interesting, the mountain backdrop dramatic, and the lack of heavy traffic a relief. Getting to the road on the Phoenix end was not a hassle, but the Tucson end requires many miles of driving through heavy suburban traffic -- though still worth doing.
One thing that may not be obvious from these pictures are how high the cacti are. The very tall cacti in the first picture (saguaro) are probably about 15' tall. The cholla are also much taller than what I've usually seen in California, where most have been under 4' and with no separate visible trunk. I'd never seen cholla that looked almost like a tree, but the cholla on the left side of the second picture is about 7' tall at the highest point.
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Bisbee/Bisbee Gay Pride
Bisbee Gay Pride felt like a mix of historic and very contemporary gay pride events. In some ways it was like a 1970's gay pride event that focused on providing community and resources for people who were just coming out or lived in places where they didn't have any gay resources, while in other ways it felt like a contemporary gay pride event where diverse identities (e.g., assimilationist, bear, bisex, drag, lesbian, leather, political, sex radical, transgender) are vocally open and sharing space. The people seemed to be generally more friendly than at major urban area gay pride events, and thus it was easy do discover quite a bit about their lives. The attendees I met fit fairly well with what was just described -- a mix of those who led largely discrete lives in rural areas or in the military, and of those who had reached the point of being very open and comfortable with their sexuality.
Bisbee itself also proved to be as interesting as my first impression from a year ago. As a former mining town, there is quite a bit of old and often vacant space. Much of the preservation that has happened seems to be from artists and writers who moved there and the town has a feel that I would describe as live-and-let-live libertarian with some fairly strong radical leanings. Unlike some older towns that get discovered and become popular with tourists, the town doesn't come across as cutely commercial.
Since a friend was in Bisbee at the same time and is a much better photographer than I, there are no pictures here from Bisbee Gay Pride and only a few of Bisbee itself. At a later point when I integrate these pages into my other webpages, I'll add some of his photos.
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This was taken late in the afternoon and I had to excessively lighten the photo to get the detail on the rose to show. |
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Southeast Arizona
Bisbee is very close to the Mexico/U.S. border and so I spent some time driving around and looking at what is happening with border security. There are no pictures of the tall fencing that is being built, the ominous watchtowers, or the very numerous border patrol vehicles and officers -- mainly because I felt threatened by our border forces. In three different instances, large SUV's with light bars on top came up very rapidly behind me and rode so close (about 2 car lengths or less behind) that I could not see any insignia on the vehicle. In all cases they rode very close for a mile to a couple of miles, not passing even though it was possible. In one instance I pulled over so they could pass, but the vehicle just pulled behind me and sat, then continuing to follow me when I restarted. In all three cases the vehicle eventually passed or turned in a different direction and I could tell that it was INS. I assume they thought I was near the border for illegal activity, but it would have felt much less 'police state' if they had simply stopped me and asked me, rather than harassed me. Interestingly, all of this only happened when I was near the border and alone in the car. When a friend and I were in the same car together, in similar situations, none of this happened. That difference could be just coincidence, or it could be related to the fairly common fact that men are treated with suspicion when by themselves.
Between Bisbee and Douglas is Bisbee-Douglas International Airport! This somewhat preposterous sounding name is not really quite as odd as it might seem. The airport was built early in WW II as a training base for American military bomber pilots, and at one time there was actually commercial service by Apache Airlines from the airport to Tucson and Phoenix. The airport now is very quiet, apparently used infrequently by general aviation. The WW II area hangers remain in relatively good shape and the ones that we could see into appeared to be still used in some way. Below are just two pictures I took of the area; I'll post a friend's pictures when they're available.
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About 60 miles north of the airport is Chiricahua National Monument, a seldom-visited park with dramatic rock formations and good hiking opportunities. When we visited it was very hot (in the high 90's) and we didn't have much time, so he only took pictures from the more accessible spots. Pictures from him will be posted when they're available.
Near Chiricahua is the Cave Creek Canyon area of the Coronado National Forest, which I visited on the next day when leaving Arizona. It appeared to have good hiking trails and relatively empty campgrounds. The picture below is from the area.
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