Home Is Where The Thunderheads Are

 August 31, 2024

   When I was fifteen minutes younger I would drive to San Diego in one stretch—six-and-one-half hours—straight through, with a possible stop in El Centro for huevos rancheros. 

Zonie kids frolicking on Mission Beach

circa 1986

   These days, I have to split the drive into two parts with an overnight stop in Yuma, and even then it seems to be on the outer edge of my endurance.

Yuma Crossing 

where it's 110 in the shade!

   Yes, that is old Fort Yuma across the Colorado River, underneath the truck on I-08. Uno is not impressed but this is about the exact spot where Olive Oatman was brought over and given to the care of the Great Western in 1855. It is a sacred spot, to me, because the fort commander knew, the only person who could help guide the repatriated Ms. Oatman back across the divide was this giant woman with an even bigger heart.

Daily Whip Out: "The Great Western"

Daily Whip Out: "Olive's Dark Secret"

   From Yuma, we got out on the road by five this morning and caught this tequila sunrise at Mohawk Pass.

Sunrise at Mohawk Pass

(shot right out the windshield by Kathy Sue)

   We rolled into Cave Creek at 9:30 a.m. and it was already close to a hundred, but in the afternoon, we had the privilege to witness this.

Thunderheads Roll In Over New River Mesa

   Man, I really dislike the incessant heat, but I am quite partial to these massive thunderheads that only our southwest deserts provide.

"Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed."

—Homer, The Iliad