Neighbors

“You have a nice van but your dog has to lie in gravel,” the woman said offering a blanket for my poor suffering dog. I explained Rusty has always enjoyed hiding under bushes and lying on uncomfortable ground. She was not impressed. “Put the blanket out” I said, “he won’t use it.” She pulled back and disappeared into her lair without another word. The air was heavy with disapproval. I like living on wheels with neighbors like that.  

I didn’t mean to annoy her but Rusty is welcome inside, on the furniture, in his bed, on our bed, in the van on our bed. He just likes being feral. 

People who meet Rusty wonder how it is he is so laid back. Indeed they should. He lives a low stress life. It took a while to work out the details but he knows if I really need him to do something I put an edge in my voice. Otherwise he is free to be himself. I don’t put a dog bra on him to control him and I don’t call him unless I really need to…if he wants to be with me he can choose to; if he wants to slip his loose collar and go elsewhere he is free to be stubborn , pull back and slide it off. After six years we are closer than ever. 

I have come to terms with the fact that he must be middle aged by now, a stray has no birthday and I paid no ransom to buy him, rescue dogs are creatures filled with gratitude and mystery in equal proportions. There is nothing for him to bark about or beg for or any reason to demand attention. He is the laid back character I’d like to be! 

He likes the mobile home park where we are staying. He loves the smells left by other dogs and he leads me down the various streets several times a day and always balls at any suggestion we walk out into the street to extend our explorations. 

We had lunch in Clarkdale Saturday and my finicky companion was pleased to poke around the wide open spaces of Clarkdale while Kathy and Layne took outside tables at Violette’s and ordered me a Croque Madame with some of the best white bread I’ve tasted in a while. 

We had intended to leave tomorrow,Tuesday, but the shock!-horror!-drama!- of the broken toilet handle (details withheld today to avoid repetition) will keep us in town till Thursday thanks to Amazon’s expedited free delivery…and I’m not entirely sorry. 

I am antsy to be on the road and there is much to see in the four corners region, a stretch of high desert packed with monuments, canyons, Navajo, literary landmarks, scenery and history such that we could spend the entire summer around here. 

But if we have to wait a couple of extra days Clarkdale and environs have plenty to keep us amused. 

The weather is absolutely delightful here for now but July and August promise intolerable heat. I wake ridiculously early thanks to Arizona’s lack of daylight saving time and the mornings are cool and crisp with long shadows thrown by the 4:30am daylight. It’s hot by ten but afternoon rain (monsoon) chills the air and a sunset walk brings out no sweat and no insects either. The hills are green, traffic is sparse and the mourning doves drown out any human sounds. Kathy moved here from Big Pine and her neighbors settled from No Name Key. There is an influx of Californians seeking financial relief. I like all migrants they will seek to change the place that first attracted them, the fatal change that subverts the Florida Keys. 

I think the Verde river can support life here quite well for now but the desert is in the headlines for sinking lake levels even as the notion of conservation remains anathema in this lovely valley. Americans have never been good at husbanding resources and watering public lawns seems an out of date concept in world running dry. But this is perhaps Shangri La and sensible rules of moderation do not apply. 

An $80,000 dollar mobile home and $500 a month, no hurricanes, miles of winding highways, camping fishing hunting and wilderness, history and art, hospitals and old age care. Oh and our favorite Mexican beach just nine hours away by van.  I feel like Odysseus and the call of the sirens. Luckily I am hungry for more roads, for more surprising vistas, for more culture shock, for more life on the road. I am glad not to be productive. 

For those seeking a refuge from the turmoil of the headlines and are afraid to go abroad the Verde Valley is quite enticing. And that’s a phrase that comes unbidden to my lips: Arizona!

Parks And Rec

If you enjoy the outdoors the fearsomely named Dead Horse Ranch State Park can accommodate you.  I spent a morning there by myself as Layne was suffering a fever attack after her Covid booster shot (most unfairly I was fine) and Rusty was pleased to take advantage of expansive air conditioning instead of joining me on a photographic outing on a hot summer’s day. Smart dog. The park is on the Green River, and every outdoor thing around here has “Verde” in its name.

The state is connecting the parks and open spaces with a cross state trail through the Verde Valley which I first saw north of Benson as we took off to Cascabel. Here in Clarkdale the river is the source of outdoor recreation and trees and in Dead Horse State Park there are some big cottonwoods. 

Apparently a Minnesota family came to the area and wanted to buy a ranch. After they checked out a few they settled on the one with “the dead horse” on it. When they gave the ranch to the state the Ireys family insisted the state stick with the name they gave their gift. Don’t be fooled, it’s a great park. You ride a bicycle, take your dog on the trails with you, ride horses…

…or mountain bikes on the trails. There’s fishing in the pond and a kids playground and RV and tent campsites as well as day use areas and a free RV dump station at the entrance, on your way out. I walked the river a little to check out the cottonwoods and the water which looked abundant in this desert.

Then I looked for the Lime Kiln Trail, which did not make itself immediately apparent. Shades of Mexico I thought to myself remembering the totally lack of signage which is the preferred style of Mexican enterprise.  I located a sign “to” the trail and blundered through the creosote and sage bushes on a subsidiary trail. Finally I found the correct intersection.

I stayed home with Layne until she was settled and able to ride out the side effects of the booster so by the time I was on this trail it was about 10:30 and the morning was heating up.

It’s started raining around here these past couple of days, an annual event over dramatized by Arizonans as “monsoon season.” I’ve seen monsoon rains in India where the term originated and I’m sure it will rain jus5 as hard here. Much like it has recently in the Keys. But it’s not rainy season - it’s (drum roll) monsoon season. The real monsoon comes on a wind from the Indian Ocean but around here the rain comes over the mountains with much clatter, dumps and disappears. 

The net result of all this meteorological drama is much cooler temperatures and Gannet2 was showing 81 degrees on arrival at the park. It got hotter and I was sweating as I climbed the switchback trails. 

Layne has found a new water bottle in her Amazon travels which keeps water cold for a long time but which, rather brilliantly you can drink from without upending the bottle. I get nagged about drinking more water so she got an iron flask for me and I am going to be good about drinking more water even when I’m not baking on a shade-free Arizona trail. Apparently thirst isn’t as apparent as you get older so you are supposed to drink more even if you don’t feel like it.  This getting old thing is getting to be a real bore.

I met the creator of the bicycle track when I heard a clanking noise coming down the trail.  He reminded me of me thirty years ago all bearded and standing on the pedals of his very modern bike. We exchanged greetings and he was gone.  I almost had time to catch a blurry picture of his front wheel. Other than that cheery meet and greet I was alone. I hope Rusty missed me as much as I did him.

At some point about an hour in it became apparent the scenery wasn’t going to change, the lime kilns were not making themselves known to come and there wasn’t going to be any shade. Later I figured out I turned around just before the Jumper Trail, an odd name for a path skirting many canyons and their abysses, but I was ready for lunch back at Gannet2.

I came back to the correct trail head in a parking lot around the corner from where I’d left my life support system and I got to study the trail map a bit. The entrance to Lime Kiln Trail is at the fishing pond at the head of the park in case you ever find yourself here, and you really should because it’s lovely. 

I had oatmeal (cooked) and forgot the life giving chia seeds so I’m glad Layne wasn’t there to witness my failure.  Part B of the day involved a visit to some ruins just around the corner and through the town of Cottonwood.

Tuzigoot National Monument reminded me a bit of the pyramid at Tzin Tzun Tzan at Lake Pátzcuaro in Mexico even though this Pueblo is much smaller, apparently accommodating about 225 people at its height in the 12th century.

For ten dollars you get to walk the ruins at your leisure after you check out the pottery and the historic photos of the original dig in the 1930s.  

The park people use current Hopi thinking here to try to unravel the past, identifying art and customs possibly through Hopi eyes in this place.  The Texas state parks did the same at their Pueblo ruins we visited last year. 

Apparently the residents of this place traded along the Verde Valley and used rocks for coins. Oddly enough they mined different colored stones here and traded them.  Of course when the United States showed up mining was on everyone’s mind.  So being a miner has been the way of life here for a very long time.

You are allowed to climb the tower and walk the roof even though it’s important not to touch the walls as they are delicate. Early archeologists used cement to build the ruins back but modern thought is to use the same materials as the original builders so mud mortar takes maintenance and is much more delicate than might appear.

I enjoyed my time here.

I got home and Layne was still feeling like crap.

Rusty was glad to see me then curled up in the cold.

I quite like central Arizona.