RonnieAdventure #0195 - Arizona, 2016 Part VI

Little did I know that I would be back in Arizona so soon in 2016, but when you are retired you can just go the way the wind blows. And last week the wind was blowing southward!

I have always found the road (US Highway 93) between Kingman and Wickenburg (Arizona) to be an interesting drive, so on this trip I decided to stop at various locations along the road and take some pictures. (You have to be careful when taking pictures near the road because US 93 is very, very heavily traveled and also happens to be the alignment for proposed Interstate 11.)

The small, unincorporated community of Wikieup (305 population) is probably best known as the rocket launch site for Snoopy, Spike, Woodstock and friends. If you are a Peanuts fan, you probably know that Spike lives in Needles (California), which is not too far away.

Wikieup also has some interesting yard art in front of a restaurant that sells delicious homemade pies (highly recommended)

Nothing, Arizona, a short distance down the road, was always pretty much nothing; but things have gotten worse - the All Mart closed and the four people that lived in Nothing have moved. The community is now a ghost town!

There is a Joshua Tree forest located along one section of the road that is especially beautiful in the spring when the trees are starting to bloom. The flowers are pure white and grow in panicles, which are a contrast to the plant's dark green leaves.

To survive the harsh desert conditions, the plant has a "deep and extensive" root system that can extent downward 35 feet. Some Joshua Trees can live for a thousand years, but it is difficult to determine the age of Joshua Trees because the trunk consists of thousands of small fibers and lacks annual growth rings typically found in trees.

Anyway, the Joshua Tree forest is a nice change of scenery from the other desert plants.

File Picture

Wickenburg is attempting to be more cosmopolitan, so they have installed a number of traffic circles in and around the city. In order for tourist to distinguish the traffic circles from those found in Europe, giant spurs have been installed in the middle of the circle so that you will know that you are "out west." Of course, the circle design is flawed and trucks can not make it around the tight circles in one lane, so they tend run other cars off the road or drive over part of median.

RonnieAdventure #0194 - Quilt Shops, Nevada and Utah - 2016

Okay, Okay! This may be a record! I should probably report this information to Ripley's Believer It or Not, or, maybe even into the Guinness Book of World Records. I DID SIX QUILT SHOPS IN ONE DAY! I know that's hard to believe, but it is true! Before you think that I must not have enough to do in retirement, let me explain that I did combine the trip with other activities. Anyway, shown below are the six quilt shops.

I have not taken pictures of all the final products, but shown below are the results from some of the previous quilt shop visits. (The finished products represent several years of hard labor!)

RonnieAdventure #0193- Arizona, 2016 Part V

The boarder town of Nogales is partially located in the USA and partially in Mexico. It is always fun to visit the Mexican side of the town and barter for trinkets that your really don't need, plus you can purchase Mexican vanilla that is soooo much better than the vanilla that you get in the US. Of course, you probably don't want to know what additives they put is in the vanilla! 

The US side of Nogales is the only US town to ever be adopted by the State of Oklahoma. When they were filming the movie Oklahoma, the movie producers could not find a town in Oklahoma that looked like their vision of what Oklahoma should look like, so the State of Oklahoma adopted the town of Nogales in Arizona and the Oklahoma movie was filmed in and around Nogales. 

Lukeville is a small boarder crossing located about 100 miles west of  Nogales and is the primary boarder crossing that people use when traveling from the US to Puerto Penasco, Mexico  (aka Rocky Point). Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is located just north of Lukeville and is the only place in the United States that contains naturally occurring Organ Pipe Cactus. There are also 27 other cactus species that live in the area. Due to problems along the boarder, most of the park has been closed for the past few years, but boarder security has been increased and all roads and trails are now open. 

I have always wondered why they call the community of Why, "Why?" As I was passing through Why, I discovered why - Why Not!

The community of Ajo almost became a ghost town when the large open-pit copper mine closed a number of years ago, but then the US Boarder Patrol stationed 500 agents in the area and the community had a rebirth. 

It was late in the afternoon when I noted a strange cloud in the sky. Upon closer examination, I discovered it was not a cloud, but some type of extraterrestrial signal. Then, I arrived at Gila Bend, the home of 1,917 friendly people and 5 old crabs (the names of the old five are listed on a welcome sign at the edge of town). 

Gila Bend also proclaims itself to be "Arizona's Solar Capital, where Solar Panels outnumber people." Driving into town, I discovered the meaning of the strange cloud - Gila Bend is the location  of the Space Age Lodge and Restaurant. As I drove by the restaurant, I noted a flying saucer parked on the roof. We had planned to camp in Gila Bend, but decided to continue 33 miles up the road to Buckeye, only to find that the campground we had reservations at was next to a cattle feed lot! After one night of that smell, it was time to head for home!