My plan for the final few hundred miles of the 5000 mile road trip was to leave the historic Route 66 around about Holbrook in Arizona and navigate a south and eastern route through the Gila National Forest, past the Very Large Array (VLA) radio astronomy telescope site on the Plains of San Agustin to Socorro in New Mexico then south (on an interstate briefly) to compete the circle.
Up until this point I had been able to make my way through 6 states, on mostly secondary routes, navigating solely by my fruity phone’s Maps app. I plug in point A and point B (towns or addresses/stages of my route) then bring up the verbal directions, screenshot them and head out on the highway, redoing the process if I got lost - like in the Bay Area….and maybe a few other times…minor glitches. I still always got where I intended to be.
Problem: there was no cell signal when I was in a quandary at a fork in the road on this final scenic piece of the journey through forested mountains on poorly signposted winding backroads.
Fortunately I still keep a pile of old books of maps under the seat in the Red Pony. It seems that I haven’t forgotten how to read a paper map.
It was monsoon season cloudy with lovely stormy horizons as sunflowers and other blooming wildflowers danced me across the summer green bowl of the Plains of San Agustin and past the telescopes. It is certainly a beautiful season to drive through that landscape
Then, just like that, I am back in the garden with the birds having their way with the fruit outback.
Everyone and their cousin is currently enjoying a share of the fig and grape abundance.
The French doors give me a ringside seat on the feast. It’s a cooperative venture.
Little birds party in the branches, dropping fruit down for thrashers, robins and doves who are more comfortable on the ground.
A patient Inca dove waits her turn on the birdbath, keeping a wary eye out for the avian predator who might be skulking in the undergrowth.
This pesky little golden-eyed bird killer has been around a lot lately.
Sometimes I think I should define home as the place where other people’s cats like to hang out.
An epic journey