May 29, 2023 – Icon of the Western Desert

“It seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life…” Edward Abbey

With no AC and sitting on vinyl seats covered in old beach towels, mom and I drove my car from northern Michigan to Arizona where I would begin my graduate studies in the summer of 1986. We had a routine – start driving before sunrise and stop at a motel no later than 2 pm. The only stop we made that I remember was near Denver, Colorado where we made a collect phone call to my dad because he had received that day the results of my biopsy. It was benign.

I could finally take a breath and enjoy driving into the brilliant blue and red western horizon illuminated by the rising sun behind us. Bisected by the paved straightaway highway, the endless sky unfolded before our eyes leading us to boundless territories. The land became stranger with each mile. One by one, we passed buttes and mesas that I could not stop looking at, those icons of a land so unfamiliar and distant from Michigan. Green tones were rightfully replaced by brown and orange – an unforgiving landscape filled with fierce animals.

It was a new beginning for me. For the first time in my young life, I was going to live far away from home. Mom came with me to make sure I started off on the right foot. I was glad she did for many reasons, not the least of which I knew she would enjoy as much as I the homemade cassette tapes of Patsy Cline and Hank Williams Jr, music to accompany the western scenery. This is how I romanticized the southwest, cowboys and cowgirls living large, and big space that gives a reckless wanderer infinite possibilities. After a week or so, mom flew back home to leave me in Tucson – alone and feeling the excitement of newness. I wanted to explore the grassless landscape, eat Sonoran Mexican food, live in an adobe house, hear the crunching sound of hard ground under my boots and more so than anything, touch the symbol of the frontier, the Saguaro Cactus.

Fast forward to 2023, I felt a subdued nostalgia for those years long gone as I drove Vivian and I through Tucson toward the western side of the Tucson Mountains where our home base for six days awaited. I held back my excitement of being in a place so special to me because I was certain Vivian would be nowhere near enamored with the desert as I am.

Tucson with its unassuming one-story adobe buildings looked sleepy, weighted heavily under the sun’s heat and incessantly dusty blue skies. We arrived at the hottest time of the day, 90 degrees and give a few. As we performed our set-up duties for our stay at Western Way RV Resort, in no time we were parched. It all started coming back to me.

I lived a short four years in Tucson, yet the essence of the desert planted itself in me so that when I relocated again and again, the desert came with me, ingrained in my conscious. My time in Tucson amounted little more than graduate school and bicycling, a narrow focus occasionally interrupted by road trips to other areas of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah or California. But somehow, the desert had a profound effect and revitalized my love of the wilderness. This affinity for wild places followed me to a place so unlike, yet so similar to the desert in many ways – the Everglades; and surprisingly or maybe by design, where I met Vivian.

I gave Vivian a tour of some of the places that stood out most to me, but now with a deeper appreciation. The Sonoran Desert was always the draw, although I never admitted it as such when I lived there. Soon after moving to Tucson, I took up bicycle racing and discovered that training allowed me to wander endlessly though the desert. Looking back on it, it wasn’t the feeling of power in my legs as I climbed the notorious Gates Pass that motivated me, rather it was getting to the other side of the Tucson Mountains where I could be far away from the city and where long winding roads led me through the wild and isolated Saguaro National Monument that made me want to climb that steep pass. The bicycle replaced the horse and the cleated bike shoes replaced the boots.

I love the desert and when I left Tucson, I vowed to come back for good. I never did move back to the desert, but now our RV travels give me the chance to visit it and share a favorite piece of my past with Vivian. It comes with irony though– Vivian dislikes the desert, or more specifically, sand. And she’s not fond of Mexican food either. So, I put all that in the back of my mind and hoped for the best as I booked six nights at a campground located halfway between Tucson and Saguaro National Park – smack in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. And smack in the middle of May.

The desert is not a place Vivian is drawn to, in fact, she finds it quite challenging – dust, dryness, lack of shade and greenery, big rocks, and most of all, little to no water. Yet, there we were in the Sonoran Desert and minutes from a national park. Something unexpected happened while we were there amidst the oppressive dust and dry heat. If I didn’t know any better, I might think someone kidnapped Vivian and replaced her with a twin, because I’ll be darned – she likes the Sonoran Desert. I mean REALLY likes the Sonoran Desert, enough so that she inquired about staying through the winter months.

Vivian fell for this place and that made me very happy. We got into a daily routine, up and out the door before sunrise, back to the air-conditioned RV by noon or so. One exception was the day we drove to Mt Lemmon. Over 9000 feet in elevation, we found refuge from the desert heat and walked among the pines and the shoreline of a mountain lake while enjoying the cool air.

Together, Vivian and I experienced the desert. We both touched the Saguaro cactus and resisted the temptation to touch the ‘fuzzy’ teddy bear cholla cactus, heard the crunching sound of the desert floor beneath our hiking boots, pointed excitedly at the coyotes, and gazed at the brilliant orange of the Tucson Mountains at sunset. And we ate Sonoran Mexican food. The magical Sonoran Desert lives on and may find a place again in our travels.

So far, we have experienced two great deserts on this trip – the Chihuahuan and the Sonoran. For now, we leave the Sonoran and head to another great desert, this time in California. As we continue driving west, the desert tugs my heart; only this time, I am not alone.

A side note: National Parks are a big part of our travels. Please check out these previous blogs from some of our favorite parks.

Arches and Canyonlands

Capitol Reef

Yellowstone

Big Bend

Badlands

Teddy Roosevelt

White Sands

Mesa Verde