SUMMER SOJOURN 2019
And so begins our Summer Sojourn 2019. Usually, Perry would be writing; but this time he's doing a lot of driving, so I have taken over the roll of scribe and photographer (though I’m sure I’ll include some of his excellent images).
When Perry writes the blog, he researches things extensively, and we all learn a lot, about the history, geography, architecture, culture. I’ll try to do some of that; but this time you may read a bit more about how it feels to travel this way — to take almost four full months away from home and go wandering who knows where. How is it to move from place to place every few days or weeks, with no completely fixed schedule and few prior bookings? How is it to rarely prepare your own food, but to eat the majority of one’s meals in restaurants, hotels, from a roadside park? How is it to know that someone else — a responsible someone else — is caring for your home, fixing the leaky plumbing, watering the plants, and answering the knock at the door?
We travel like this nearly half of the time. (I love my home and feel a need to be there at least the other half!) When we decided to step into this mode over ten years ago, it was an agreement to do what we’d always wanted to do — get to know as much of the world as possible — for as long as we are able.
There is still so much to see and learn.
HEADED EAST TO SAHUARIPA
THURSDAY, JUNE 20
We began our trip with an overnight in Hermosillo at the classy Lucerna Hotel to decompress from all the hurry-scurry of getting ready to be away all summer. We weren't sure what kind of lodging we'd find in back-road mountain towns on our way to the border, so we indulged ourselves with a drink in the lovely outdoor bar area, followed by dinner in the hotel restaurant and a good night’s sleep!
FRIDAY, JUNE 21
Our trip would take us up the Ruta de la Sierra, a trip through the mountains east of Hermosillo and north to the border at Agua Prieta; so we accessed that route from the south end of Hermosillo. Before leaving the city, we stopped to pay homage to the 49 children who perished (and the 100+ who will deal with life-long consequences) as a result of a fire ten years ago at the ABC daycare facility. The families are still seeking justice, and there are indications that under the new federal administration, there may be some progress.
The southern route out of Hermosillo toward Mazatán found us in the middle of some heavy-duty road work. Seems like highways are being improved all over Sonora these days, thanks to the current Governor!
MAZATÁN is the first of a number of sweet and neat little towns we will visit. These places have history, many established in the 1600s; families have lived here for generations, and they take pride in their communities.
From Mazatán, we headed for EL NOVILLO, another small town on the bottom tip of a lake that is tucked in the mountains. We checked out the dam but didn’t manage to find the area known by fishermen. The roads were narrow and mountainous (I missed getting a shot of Perry’s white knuckles on the wheel!), and we were hoping to get to Sahuaripa before early evening, so we pressed on.
The drive from El Novillo to BACANORA involved still more narrow, sinuous mountain highways (two lanes with no shoulders) and took us another two hours.
The landscape is beautiful, but it’s dry season, and we were seeing evidence of smoke. Then we rounded a corner and found a burned out pick-up truck on the highway and smoke hovering over the surrounding burned trees and brush! It obviously had happened recently, and we crept on, hoping we wouldn’t find ourselves in similar circumstances!
But the air soon cleared.
We hadn’t managed to find a lunch place in El Novillo, so stomachs were beginning to complain. Entry to the town was marked by a colorful stone "sign." A drive around the place didn’t reveal many eateries, so we stopped and asked a young girl walking up the street. “Oh, si,” she said. “Allá en Bud Lite!” So we go looking for “Bud Lite;” and sure enough — a little place with a counter, three stools, and whatever was put on the plate — good Sonoran beef with peppers and onions, refried beans, and tortillas.
Then we went in search of Perry’s real reason for coming to Bacanora — some good Bacanora! The beverage, that is. We found a place that looked like we should be able to buy something, but it was closed. We were directed to a private residence on the plaza. It was the home of the owner, Manuel Chacón, and we knocked on the door. After a bit of a wait, he appeared, sleepy-eyed, at the door. He had been at his ranch, fighting a fire until 1:00 a.m. Turns out it was where we had seen the burned out truck, which had suffered a gasoline leak, starting a fire that threatened to destroy Manuel’s ranch.
In spite of all that, he was gracious and let us sample his bacanora. He proudly told us that his products, Bacanoras Mazot, are now being sold in Tucson and California. We bought two bottles!
Another winding half an hour drive through some dramatic country and past interesting road art, and we arrived in SAHUARIPA, where we would spend the night at El Molino de Don Pepe Hotel. We have Kino friends from Sahuaripa (actually, Sophia, who has worked for us for 15 years, is from there), so we were delighted to check it out. It was a Friday night, but things were extremely quiet for the weekend. It was a sizable town, and quite attractive, but we could find no restaurants except a taco place across the street from the hotel. A gal at the OXXO told us, no, that there were no restaurants in Sahuaripa! We would later learn that was not true, of course. But we bought Magnum bars (we had a late lunch in Bacanora) and a jug of water. She also said, though, that the real party would be the next night, Saturday — a big graduation ceremony for the Prepa (high school) students, with two live bands!
SATURDAY, JUNE 22
In the morning we had a good breakfast at the hotel – with pictures of Emilio Zapata and Pancho Villa on the walls. This is 'Pancho Villa country.' The old-timers who were part of his army are gone now, but the memory lingers.
We spent the morning exploring the town, and we found lots of people preparing for the big event. In the main plaza across the street from the Cathedral, a huge, covered space was being decked out with big round tables and white tablecloths. Over 300 students from the town of Sahuaripa and surrounding villages would be graduating. The entire community celebrates education!
It was mid morning and time to head on north toward the border…through TEPACHE and DIVISADEROS — tiny, single-story towns of colorfully painted, thick-walled adobe houses with shuttered windows, fronting on wide streets, few trees, and fewer people in sight. We try to imagine where everyone might be and what they might be doing at 11:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, but it's a hot desert and they're probably taking refuge inside those cool adobe walls.
This stretch took us through yet more rugged country and wind-carved mountains, and over the beautiful Yaqui River.
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Our next stop was MOCTEZUMA — a big place, comparatively speaking! We had lunch at La Herradura, a restaurant on one corner of the main plaza that looks as if it has been there for most of the last century! The walls are hung with aging photos of horses and local horsemen. Moctezuma actually has a bank with an ATM, and we were able to replenish our dwindling supply of pesos, enough to get us to the border.
The next places shown on the map were Agua Caliente and Los Hoyos, implying we might find some hot springs for a quick dip. But we never found a sign for Agua Caliente, and Los Hoyos was no more than a wide spot in the road!
Now came one of our major reasons for taking this route — NACOZARI DE GARCIA. Everything about Nacozari has to do with steel, metals, and mining. As you enter, you are welcomed by piles of tangled scrap metal and wrecked cars! And then the ancient mining structures mixed in with houses in various states of repair, clinging to the mountainsides. Like nothing we had ever seen before.
But we had learned of this town from a Sonoran folk song, “Maquina 501,” sung by the Ribereños de la Bahía, Chano, Chayo, Tomás, and Tito, who used to entertain at the Pargo Rojo Restaurant in Kino on weekend nights.
It is the tale of train engineer Jesús Garcia Corona, who in 1907 parked his engine in this mining town and went to see his mother. The visit was interrupted, however, when a worker came running from the train, reporting that there was a fire in one of the cars. The train, loaded with dynamite for the mines, would surely explode and destroy the town. Garcia, knowing it would mean losing his own life, rushed back to the train and drove it out of town in order to save the lives of the many townspeople. The center of this very convoluted town, strung haphazardly over the hills and around the mining sites, is now a linear park with a train engine and memorial installations dedicated to hero Jesús Garcia.
We had thought we might stay the night in Nacozari, but we couldn’t find anything that looked appealing, so we planned to stay in the next town, Esqueda. But we found there was a huge equestrian fair happening there, so everything was full. On we went to Agua Prieta. It was around 5: 30 p.m., giving us just enough daylight to make the two-hour or so trip. We would get a hotel there and spend the night before crossing the border in the morning.
Well, that didn’t work out either!
AGUA PRIETA had some hotels, but they, too, were all booked. There was a motorcycle convention in town, and everything was packed! Not only that, it was going to be very noisy!
This wasn’t great, as it was by now dark; and we don’t like driving after dark. But the Garita (crossing) to Douglas is right there, so we decided to go for it.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t see any signs indicating how to get to the Garita, so we started asking. Surely everyone would know! After several unsuccessful attempts, we found what looked like the crossing, with several incoming lanes. There was one lane, though, at the right, that was empty; so we assumed that must be the one going north. We headed into it, and suddenly we had half a dozen Mexican border agents running toward us with flashing lights, waving clubs, yelling… It was NOT the crossing into the U.S. That was on the other side of a wall, a ways away…and we were potentially in trouble!
But not in Mexico! We apologized profusely, explaining that someone had sent us in that direction, that we didn’t know where the proper crossing was, that we were SO sorry…where should we be? These gracious, uniformed border agents carefully backed us up, turned us around, took down a couple of barriers, and escorted us to the northbound lanes on the other side of the wall. And they opened a path that put us directly into a Ready Lane to the U.S. — ahead of a long line of vehicles that probably had been waiting for hours to get across! We had inadvertently and unintentionally “jumped the line” and saved ourselves a long wait.
Nice, huh? Don’t try replicating it. It could turn out badly!
Laughing and shaking just a bit, we showed our passports, crossed over, and drove the short distance into DOUGLAS, AZ. Then we headed for the old Gadsden Hotel, where we had stayed years ago. The place is known for a missing chip in its circular marble staircase, put there a century ago when Pancho Villa rode his horse up the stairs! We spent the night in an elegant, old room with period furniture and original subway-tiled bathroom — after unwinding over a couple of margaritas in the old bar downstairs!
SUNDAY, JUNE 23
Sunday morning. The drive out of Douglas had an eerie quality. The city was largely deserted, its broad streets in good condition, buildings painted and clean — even when boarded up. The level of care bespeaks an obvious, if wounded, pride. But so little is happening. We see almost no one. On the highway leaving town, one car passes — a white and green Border Patrol vehicle. The once thriving cross-border activity has ground to a halt, victim of the “wall” mentality that has put a barrier between people who grew up moving freely from north to south, living, working, studying, and doing business together.
We headed west toward BISBEE in thoughtful silence.
The entry to Bisbee passes Lowell and the old mine site that dominates the area, with its huge tailings piles, towering orange and yellow scarred mountains, and deep pits, all surrounded by cyclone fencing.
We had planned to find a breakfast place in Bisbee, but right there beside the old mine site was The Bisbee Breakfast Club; and by the looks of the packed parking lot, it was a good choice. Good coffee, huge blueberry pancakes, and a widely varied clientele set us up for the quintessential Bisbee experience.
We waddled out and made our way into town where we would try to walk it off, exploring the main commercial street scene and surrounding neighborhoods. This once, and still somewhat, funky town is looking a bit different than the place we visited about a decade ago. B&Bs and colorful lodges, edgy coffee shops, art galleries, classy restaurants, stores with everything from high-end antiques to crystals and oils, designer clothing, fine wines…it’s moving the way of Santa Fe, Taos, Sedona…all those places that are discovered by the artistic-alternative set, then picked up by the deep pocketed and the travel publications.
Our route west would keep us off the freeway, on the two-lanes through Tombstone, Elgin, and Patagonia. We made a brief stop in TOMBSTONE, just in time to see gun-toting dudes setting up for the regular Sunday afternoon reenactment of the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday shootout. It remains quite the story and surely continues to contribute greatly to the economy of Tombstone! Perry would point out, though, that there is much more to Earp's story, and what came after the shootout at OK Corral includes tragedy, scandal, and even legal proceedings that you never saw in the movie version.
ELGIN isn’t exactly on the main route from Tombstone to Patagonia, but Perry was bent on finding the old railroad station where the famous 'Kansas City' scene from the movie “Oklahoma” was filmed. (Not sure they have mountains like those around Claremore, OK! – PRW) We found it (at least according to a couple of locals); but we also found — in a deserted small town in the middle of nowhere — the Elgin Winery and Distillery. Well, what was there to do on a Sunday afternoon but stop by for a tasting?!
The buildings were surely not ostentatious, and there wasn't even a sleepy dog wandering the narrow road out front. But the walls inside were covered with medals and plaques listing this remote place as "The Highest Awarded Winery in the West." Inside, the Distillery boasted a broad range of award-winning products: gins, rums, whiskeys, brandies. I was stunned when Perry — who usually won’t touch a drop until just before dinner — bought two tasting tickets, entitling each of us to much-too-generous samples of TEN products. I made it through three very small samples! But they lived up to the reputation, and we walked away with a bottle of highly-rated gin and one of tequila. (Yes, they called it “tequila.” Not sure how that works, with the Mexican restrictions on the use of that name to very specific areas of Mexico.)
Then we walked over to the Winery! But did no tasting there. Enough is enough. We just checked out the list for good, dry reds, and bought a couple of those. We’ll taste them later!
The last leg took us through Patagonia and on to NOGALES, AZ, where we would spend the night, and visit the local Post Office to pick up our mail – we keep a P.O. Box there. On Monday morning we headed east on I-10 for Las Cruces to watch our nephew, Dominic, as he masters the nuances of T-ball.
TUESDAY, JUNE 25
There was one more important stop to make before Albuquerque — at ELEPHANT BUTTE LAKE. That’s where we kept our 25-foot sailing boat, Liberación, and where we sailed often with friends and family for over 12 excellent years. Many things have changed; the Dam Site Restaurant is closed; the water level is lower, but well up from its recent lowest levels. There are far fewer masts in sight. But it still brings back a host of wonderful memories.
It’s good, now, to be settled in ALBUQUERQUE for a couple of weeks in friend Helen's lovely home, with beautiful flowers in the garden.
We get to spend time with the grandkids (below), see family and friends, and take care of some business before heading north toward Alaska! Six days of driving reminded us of the importance of taking it easy, stopping often, and getting out to move the body and stimulate the circulation. This is only the first leg of our adventure, and we’ll report in again when we get back on the road in mid July. —CJK