My New Ford Flex

April 9, 2012

Thanks to Carl Schwind and Kathy Radina, I bought a new Ford Flex last Friday. I wanted a ride I could haul my family on road trips and up to trailheads, like the Spur Cross Reserve—Jewel of Cave Creek, north of our house. The many trails wind up and around the mountains we look at every day, so it was interesting to see them from a different perspective.

Here is a photo I took last week from the end of our street, looking north towards Elephant Butte and Sugarloaf Mountain. Yes, that is sunlight on windows making that glow and I took this for reference for my painting, "Last Light On Morningstar" (the name of the street the house sits on in the photo in Morningstar).

That's Sugarloaf on the right. Now, here is the view from the Spur Cross Reserve trail of being right up underneath Sugarloaf.

One of the main reasons I live in Cave Creek is because the elevation (2,200 feet above sea level) is ideal for saguaros to grow (Tucson has about the same elevation). Check out this stand of mighty saguaros on the Spur Cross trail.

Several cactus were blooming as were the ocotillos. Check out this shot looking across at Elephant Butte and Fortification Rock where the Sinaguas built a huge, three-foot-thick walled fort on the top of the prominent point at the right.

Of course, when you get down into Cave Creek itself (the water tributary, not the town) it gets quite lush. This is called the Jewel of Cave Creek and for good reason.

All in all, a good excuse to drive my new limo-toaster (see quote below).

"I don't like the Ford Flex. It looks like a toaster."

—Shannon Schwind's mother-in-law