A desert ride to Tucson

The day started out in laid back mode but ended with a flurry of activity that had me thinking I may be spending the night on a park bench.

The Motel 6 in Yuma was directly next to a Denny's (they're open 24/7 Brian!) which made the short walk to breakfast a snap. When I returned to my room I checked my e-mails and found that my bank wanted me to change both my user name and password because of suspected fraudulent attempts to log in to my accounts. It turned out to be Michelle but she was now locked out, and so was I. The on-line service that I was to access was requiring information I don't have with me, so it would take a trip down the street to Wells Fargo to straighten it out. So with time to burn I fiddled with my phone to see if I could figure out why it is no longer downloading pictures. I couldn't.

After visiting my favorite bank I hit THE road. I rolled onto eastbound I-8 about 10:30, bound for Gila Bend, where I would head south toward Mexico. I don't intend to cross the border but will come quite close on several occasions. Close enough that the English translation on bi-lingual signs is listed second.

The 100 miles or so to GB took until about 1 p.m., so when I jumped off the Interstate it was time for both fuel and food. While refueling I inquired with a local, looking for a non-franchise eatery. She said, "Well, there is that Space thing down the street". That just sounded like something begging to be checked out!

The Best Western was signed as the "Space Age Lodge", and directly next door was a uniquely shaped restaurant called The Space Age Restaurant.

The motif inside was all outer space/aliens/rockets. I asked if there was any local significance to the motif and was told that the owner was a member of one of NASAs programs back in the day. 

The town was named for a nearly 90 degree bend in the Gila River just outside town, so it was of little surprise that, in order to go from eastbound to southbound I had to turn left, through a 270 degree turn onto Az 85, toward Ajo (I'll let you figure out the origin of that name). While still north of town I stopped to see if I ćould assist a vehicle with a flat tire. It turned out to be a Border Patrol vehicle. The back tire came apart and took part of the fender with it! He assured me that he had called for help and was in good shape. He said he had a jack, but it wasn't for that vehicle!

About 5 miles north of Ajo I came upon a series of speed reduction signs, and went from 65 to 55, 45, 35, and eventually down to 25 mph. This was, mind you, in the middle of the desert where I could see nothing in the road for miles ahead. I glanced overhead to see if I could spot a candid camera helicopter as I putt-putted along at 25 for several miles before eventually coming to a sign telling me there was a flag man ahead. Another mile plus finally found a flag man standing alongside the road. At that point there was a row of cones placed along the center line for another two miles. Traffic was still driving on the other side of the cones and eventually there was a flag man on that side too, but the cones continued for another mile or so beyond his position. I have no idea what they thought they were doing unless it was a training class.

In the middle of Ajo there was a very large, very old adobe/white stucco style church, Our Lady of Carmel Corn, I believe it said. Actually it was Immaculate Conception. I didn't have my glasses on.

From Ajo it was another 10 miles to Why (not Where, that's next to Elsewhere). I then picked up highway 86 for a final push across the Tohono O'Odham Nation Reservation, passing just west of the Kitt Peak National Observatory, then into Tucson.

By the time I made it into Tucson I had traveled over 300 miles, was tired, saddle sore and running out of daylight. A call to a KOA confirmed they had tent site available but closed in a half hour. A mad dash across town got me there just as she was locking the door.

She very nicely opened the office again and checked me in, ran my credit card, gave me a Wi-Fi code, then showed me where the tent sites were. It was at this time, for no reason that I recall, I finally thought to ask "are these grass sites?". It turns out that they have only gravel-covered tent sites! Even on the ICT we had grass; sometimes mixed with logs, boulders, trees but never gravel!

I very apologetically asked her to cancel my credit card transaction and check me out. I explained that I am too old to sleep on gravel (and a motel was only $3.00 more).

So now, as the days last light slipped away I rushed back into town and found a Knights Inn. The "open" sign was extinguished but the lobby door was unlocked so I walked in and pressed the button next to the "night check-in" sign (or was that knight check-in?).

To cap off a long day of nondescript scenery and high mileage, technology issues kept me from posting this blog until I finally woke up at 4:30 and figured out my solution. So now it's late and I've got a weeks worth of desert fun ahead of me. I'm going back to bed!

By the way, the Cool Suit worked pretty well. Temps in the low 90's and I never got overly hot in my leather jacket.