Road to El Paso

It's 44 degrees in Seattle, and raining.  In Tucson, it's 82.  And sunny.

Today I'm in Seattle.  Yesterday, I was wandering amongst saguaro cactuses in Tucson.  Such are the vagaries of life.

Back in January, I accurately forecast that by mid-March, I'd be needing a weather break.  A short one, perhaps.  But one where I'd see things I don't usually see.  Often, when feeling cold and wet, I plan a hike somewhere in the southland, but this time I decided to cover more miles and make it a road trip.

So Sunday, I flew down to Tucson.  Monday, I drove I-10 to El Paso.  But while still in Tucson, I received an email from Jim B. -- a biking aficionado with whom I'll be hiking in Scotland in a couple of months.  He wrote from Silver City, New Mexico, knowing nothing of my own travels.  He was with a biking group, and would arrive in El Paso on Thursday.  Today.  The coincidence was amazing.  (They plan to end their biking in St. Augustine, Florida, in early May!)

I actually made a bit of a detour off I-10 to Silver City, having never heard of the town before, to see what the attraction was.  And also to see if I might bump into his biking gang.

The answers were "not much" and "no."

I stayed Monday night in El Paso, checked out UTEP -- a beautiful university campus -- to see where this Sun Bowl was located: the bowl where my favorite football teams so often end up in post-season play.  I then returned to Tucson, not by I-10 but by a highway that skirts the Mexican border, under varying highway numbers in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, from El Paso to Bisbee.

Bisbee is the site of an enormous open pit copper mine, and the highway from El Paso follows the discontinued route of a railway built specifically to ship ore from Bisbee to El Paso.  The route is bleakly beautiful and oddly divorced from the 21st century.  In the few ranching hamlets where you do see men walking about, they look like extras in a 1930s Western movie.

Bisbee is also a well-preserved mining town, where one has no trouble finding Italian gelati and artisanal coffees.

A final night back in Tucson, and a morning spent hiking around in Tucson Mountain Park, and Gates Pass.  Wild West country, saguaro cactuses and all.

It was a relaxing -- despite the long drives -- and enjoyable four days.  Sadly ended at the Tucson airport by an email received from my veterinarian.

My cat Loki -- discussed in a recent posting -- has been diagnosed with a colon tumor which almost certainly is untreatable.  I'm waiting for a call from the doctor to discuss further.

A reminder, I suppose, that for cats as well as humans, life is short and should be appreciated.  Carpe diem.  Hey, even the Seattle rain in your face can be enjoyable if you want it to be!