March 1998

Yes, we know this is amazingly early for an issue of the Wanderings to appear "at your doorstep," as it were, but wanted to get bring you up-to-date before we lose the luxury of a telephone. We leave the bustling metropolis of Superior for Tucson at first light, March 31st. And you can believe we are most certainly ready to be on the road.

We delayed our departure until the end of March in the hopes of warmer weather but have had no such luck. Carol and Dave Rogers, friends from Seattle, WA, who came down to see their Marines play some preseason baseball, spent a very cold, rainy day with us visiting Scottsdale. The next morning we woke to the view of a snow covered Apache Leap. According to the local weatherman most of you are enjoying far warmer temperatures than we are in Arizona. Well, so much for hopes of a warm, balmy winter in Arizona.

One good thing about lousy weather - we had no distraction in completing our work on the National Forest web site. We tried to transmit faxes to each and every District Ranger Office visited so far during our adventure. That was 196 individual offices. Response to our request for up-to-date information was a little better than 50 percent. We are hoping next year the process will flow a little more smoothly, be completed sooner, and have a better response rate.

As we have mentioned before, there is very little of anything in Superior. To reach Mesa, the more urban community, we drive through Gonzales Pass, elevation about 2600 feet. Two pleasures of this drive are a panoramic view of the Mesa/Phoenix valley and the new green-velvet regrowth of the hillsides after last year's devastating fires. In the other direction, the route to Globe goes through the Queen Creek Canyon.

According to some earlier writers, Queen Creek Canyon was an amazingly lush oasis of nature with lakes along the canyon's floor. Before the turn-of-the-century the natural dams that formed those lakes were dynamited and Queen Creek's flow became seasonal. Soon, the vegetation got sparse. Today, the canyon contains only scattered rough-barked cottonwoods and sycamores with smooth, ghostly white bark. The texture and colors of these trees offer an interesting contrast to the millions of years old volcanic tuff so deeply craved by wind, rain and ice. The rock, or volcanic tuff, is not only of reddish hues but also projects varying moods. When the rock is dry (which we have seen on one or two occasions) it is a mauve blush color. When wet the color is more a dried blood color. The morning sun turns the red into a golden chestnut while at sunset the canyon walls take on a shade of purple like a fresh bruise. On occasion when the wind blows cold but the sun shines warm, the canyon walls even appear to be made of freshly plowed Georgia red clay.

On our drives through Queen Creek Canyon, Suzi enjoys the fanciful figures craved in the rock. There is Winnie the Pooh holding a pot of honey. Just after Devil's Canyon, E.T.'s hand beckons us over to his side of the canyon. The last sculpture is a first baseman's mitt ready to catch a cosmic pop foul ball. There really isn't much in Superior, AZ but we have found lots around it.

Be that as it may, we are more than ready to get back to work and see more of the country. Our first stop will be in Tucson for meetings with the Coronado National Forest folks and than we'll send a few days in Ajo (pronounced ah-oh) seeing that area of Arizona. Than back to the Coronado, hopefully minus the snow, and our work will begin in earnest for 1998 season. It is unlikely we'll be able to complete much more than this one National Forest before the installment of the Wanderings but that's the way it goes sometimes. Our hope is to finish eighteen more National Forests this season before returning to spend another winter in Arizona (unless, of course we find the "perfect" place before than). This will bring our total of National Forests visited to 88 with only 67 to go. Meaning, maybe, we'll be doing this for another five years. Anyone care to join for awhile and see why "five" years sounds just fine?

Well, as Willie Nelson said, "On the road again" and loving every minute of it.

Suzi and Fred