Highway 93 2024
  
 

Day 07

June 23

  
   
   
  This is one of those 'short' days that I plan during my long trips. I have plenty of time as the local church I plan on attending doesn't start until 10 AM. Then it is only a 120+ mile ride to Mark and Chris in Apache Junction. And breakfast is easy since there is a Denny's right across the parking lot.  
   
  I start my day with a nice cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream of course.  
   
  Then I follow it up with my favorite 'traveling' breakfast - a cheese and pig meat omelet with some fried taters.  
   
  As I make my way back to my room to relax for a while, I notice a big tree (at least for this area) has fallen across the parking lot. If I had my old Stihl chainsaw handy I could make short work of that thing in just a little bit.  
   
  I take it easy for a while then I get BlueBelle all packed up and ready to go.  
   
  The church I plan on attending is meeting in some rented space in a shopping mall on the same road as the motel. So I head that way and pull into the mall parking lot alittle bit earlt. But I can find no signs to direct me to the gathering. I recheck the address and the church name and I'm sure I'm at the right spot. I wait a little past their meeting time and still see no one around. Now it's too late to attend somewhere else so I figure I might as well head on out to Apache Junction.  
   
  I could have taken I10 but I decide I'll stick with the two lane highways 77 then 79. As I've said before cactus fascinate me out here and I'm riding right through an amazing patch of them.  
   
  The I come upon a 'forest' of Joshua trees, another curious member of the southwestern plant 'family'. Yucca brevifolia as is its 'technical' name belongs to the genus Yucca. It is much a 'tree' as a palm tree though it somewhat favors a cactus to me.  
   
  Mark's instructions for finding their place are spot on and I soon arrive at their house. We get to talking and it seems like it's been over 20 years since we first met at a Grand Canyon ST event.  
   
  They make sure I'm fine and then they graciously offer to take me a 'guided tour' of the area in their nice air conditioned truck. Chris kindly tells me to sit up front instead of the back which is really nice since I'm not a very petite sort of feller.  
   
  They point all sorts of interesting sights along the way, including this incredible blooming plant in the midst of all the dryness.  
   
  Then they take me to their favorite viewpoint for star watching away from the city lights. I can only imagine how dark it would be this far out and how brilliant the stars would be.  
   
  The ruggedness of the area makes me wonder how anyone could traverse the land out here with no certain water supply and no shelter from the intense heat.  
   
  Off to my right is another classic example of a saguaro. They are a treelike cactus species that can grow to be over 40 feet tall. This one is about 20 feet tall so you can estimate it to be between 40 to 80 years old. They are native to the Sonoran Desert here in Arizona.  
   
  And in the middle of the dryness is this beautiful lake which just seems like a contradiction in a sense.  
   
 

When we get back to their house, Chris asks me -

"Are you hungry?"

And of course my reply with a grin is -

"I'm always hungry."

They usually buy a good portion of a 'fresh' cow every year so they have some great ground beef as part of it. Mark grills them out and boy are they ever good!

 
   
  As we are sitting around catching up after supper, they tell me to look out the window. It is the first time I've ever seen a road runner in the wild. He has dropped by to take advantage of one of their watering spots. They tell me they have sorts of animals strolling across their place in addition to roadrunners, including coyotes. But they have not seen a coyote carrying a box labeled Acme yet ...  
   
  When the sun goes down and the temps follow it, they take me upstairs to their roof which is a incredible observation post.  
   
  The sunset over the desert is so beautiful it is difficult to describe.  
   
  Across the road from their house is a nature park and preserve which also protects them from the crazy dense development which has overtaken so many towns these days.  
   
  And right off the edge of their roof is a blooming saguaro.  
   
  I get one more picture of the sunset and then we head back downstairs.  
   
  Tomorrow is a long day - 600+ miles - so I need to get up and out early to beat as much of the heat as I can. They are both early risers so we set a time and I bid them a good night. Once again this old hillbilly has been taken into someone's home and their hearts and for that I will be eternally grateful.