Still nothing for this wandering gypsy down in Nogales, so we just cruised on through and picked up I-19 north to Tucson. Nice ride for an Interstate highway, but then again it is\u2026 No invigorating curves or ups and downs\u2026 just long, strait miles of pavement\u2026 scenic, however\u2026 and, of course, the ubiquitous Border Patrol check points\u2026 the K-9 gave me the usual thumbs-up\u2026 Then it was time to deal with Tucson\u2026<\/p>\n
I think I prefer Tucson to Phoenix, but just barely. Either one, I\u2019m sure, is a good place, it\u2019s just that they are both way too big and hectic to appeal this country-boy at heart. I did what I had to do to navigate through the maze of turns and traffic lights and found my way to HWY 77 north towards Globe\u2026 Once finally clear of the urban sprawl, that actually turned out to be a very nice ride! Yep, I\u2019ve been this way before, but due to the passage of years, probably a decade, it was fresh enough to really enjoy.<\/p>\n
For an easterner, no matter how many times I ride out here, I\u2019m still amazed at the beauty, and the difference in everything. The mountains in the east to me are warm, inviting, serene, comfortable. The mountains in the west are bold, stark, \u2018in-your-face\u2019, challenging you to venture forth and see if you have what it takes.<\/p>\n
The vegetation is also vastly different\u2026 cactus instead of palmettos, evergreens instead of mighty oaks\u2026 and rocks\u2026 Whoever named the Rocky Mountains didn\u2019t need much imagination to come up with that moniker! Dampness, too, is ever present in the east, but noticeably absent in the west. A couple of scientific reasons for that, but suffice it to say the humidity is half or less out here, and you don\u2019t experience \u2018air that you wear\u2019\u2026 Precipitation is far less, as well, so riding is almost doable any time\u2026 temperatures being the big factor there.<\/p>\n
About thirty miles or so before Globe in Winkelman, signs of a detour appeared\u2026 Great. Had to turn off onto HWY 177 to Superior, then over to Globe. Fifteen or twenty miles further that way, but\u2026 Ever notice how the detours, missed turns, wrong turns, the unexpected, often unwanted, can really be a prelude to serendipity? What a great ride!<\/p>\n
I\u2019d miss-remembered the route through the canyon\/gorge just out of Superior heading towards Globe, thinking it was on the other side of Globe\u2026 Well, there it was, and we were soon banking those curves, taking leave of the practice of good citizenship, and having a ball\u2026 Holy cow! No way I would have been on this route except for that fortuitous detour\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve learned to withhold carping about unexpected, forced alterations to a ride like this for precisely this reason\u2026 Fate, destiny, luck, whatever has a better idea of what I need far better than I do, so I just trust that things will work out\u2026 and they always do! Some health ailment or other will eventually get me, of course, but I\u2019m reasonably certain it won\u2019t be ulcers due to stress\u2026 Yep, that wondrous groove was most definitely back, and I was smack in the middle of it!!!<\/p>\n
I got a room in Globe\u2026 a really nice room, too. Pricy, but what the hey. I long ago advised my daughter there will be no need for an armored car in my funeral procession\u2026 Anyway, the Mexican restaurant I\u2019d been told about didn\u2019t have any lights on, so Subway became my fall back dinning option, since I didn\u2019t want to go in search of something else.<\/p>\n
I did walk into a bar the nice lady at check-in had told me of that was within walking distance of the motel\u2026 Several \u2018real riders\u2019 were standing around looking all macho, a few couples were shooting pool, and they all were wearing the \u2018uniform\u2019\u2026 I didn\u2019t see any colors on anyone, but they all had the look\u2026 I paused to make sure of my evaluation, then backed out the entrance and headed back to my room\u2026 Probably a low likelihood of finding a dance partner anyway\u2026 more likely to gain a knot or two on my noggin\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n
So, life is good again\u2026 not that it ever wasn\u2019t. I\u2019m just me being me, doing what I do. I got no legitimate complaints save possibly one\u2026 This huge goober grin on my face causes me to catch more bugs in my teeth\u2026 Oh well, nothing is perfect!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Still nothing for this wandering gypsy down in Nogales, so we just cruised on through and picked up I-19 north to Tucson. Nice ride for an Interstate highway, but then again it is\u2026 No invigorating curves or ups and downs\u2026 …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meanderings-by-ddt-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":804,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions\/804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}