We live in forested mountains, visit beautiful lakes and rivers and drive to the ocean. The views we know are beautiful, so it takes a bit to truly appreciate a cactus plain. We have taken a couple of strolls through the cactus ‘forest” adjacent to the campground. There is a back drop of smaller mountains, scrubby trees, tall saguaro cacti, a few barrel cacti in bloom and a whole lot of chollas. I have come to appreciate their ability to survive the dry seasons and have noted the water flow patterns from torrential rains. It is not an environment I would want to live in full time, but it has been warm and sunny for the last few days. When its -16C in Calgary, the dry warmth feels better and better.
The Loop beckoned us again yesterday. We headed out for a long ride – almost 18 miles long beside the massive wash on the west side of Tucson. I am getting quite comfortable on the ebike, managing both the mechanical and electronic gear changes to get up the hills. It is still a workout for my knees and like any early season riding, the seat is pretty hard after a while.
Along the route there is a memorial to two kids who passed away in the area. It looks like bats flying or doing tricks on bicycles. We have seen it before and stopped again to have a look.
The campground runs a little three-room library of donated books. Ken found a couple of technical manuals for WordPress and one book that is right up his alley on the global economy.
I picked up a book of essays by Louis L’Amour discussing his education in life. I had always thought of L’Amour as a writer of oaters and spaghetti westerns. I have never read one, and have never seen one of the movies based on his books.
My eyes have been opened. He worked many labour jobs in the 1920s and 30s all over the US and on merchant boats, read whatever he could find, searched out more specific books when he could afford to, including histories of the eastern world rather than just western European history, and made a point of listening to people’s stories. He was old enough to have met people who knew the old timers in the desert states and lived through some of the troubles between the settlers and the indigenous peoples. He was very keen on getting to know exactly how people lived and survived.
I am going to find a few of his books now and look for those details and imagery.
I was surprised at how tall the cacti are throughout the region. The roadrunner and Wile E Coyote did not prepare me for that!
The cacti are amazing. Each one is so different. We saw at least 4 different types of cacti in the park and will post a few more pictures of the desert in the next while. Unfortunately, it seemed Roadrunner and Wile E. were more concerned with ordering from Acme (or now Amazon) than representing the desert.