Southbound through California and Arizona (A foodie recap)

Wednesday January 13. We slept at a rest stop south of Redding, and rose early to cruise down the Sacramento Valley. The misty dawn revealed flooded farmlands with birds everywhere: an avalanche of snow geese on the ground; roiling Vs high in the sky; wheeling hordes of winged ones mid-air; twittering, flitting critters in the median; a few large hawks cruising; and assorted crows. Then we entered orchard country with row upon row of carefully groomed and grafted trees, glistening in the warming sun. Then full rainbows over the trellised vines in wine country.

    Arrived in Oakland mid-morning to visit Misha and Nicole. Spent several hours repacking and organizing the van. With care, it all almost fits, and is mostly accessible, with just a few large items left underfoot in our small living space. The highlights of the day were the dog-walk with Nicole in the Berkeley Marina–a former garbage dump now rolling green open space by the bay–and the sumptuous dinner Misha cooked for us that evening, with succulent squash soup, mahi mahi and black-eyed pea stew, and winter vegetables. 

Thursday January 14. Said goodbye to our friends and headed up through the hills, transitioning from maritime to desert. The forests of wind turbines populating the dry summits are an impressive sight. The winter sun cast dark shadows in the verdant cleavage. We stopped in Mojave, which Mike had not seen since he lived there as a baby. Beyond the salt flats and runways were more hills, green, sinuous and littered with granite like cow pies in a pasture, rising toward snowy mountains.

Our destination was Joshua Tree National Park. Unfortunately, it was dark by the time we arrived, so we saw not much more than intriguing shadows. Drove half way through the park before we found an empty camp site--in the group camping by reservation only area, where two other VW vans were parked nearby.We are eager to see what the morning light reveals.

Friday January 15. The morning was glorious indeed! Like a sculpture garden of granite. After breakfast (old-fashioned oatmeal cooked in the van on our two-burner Coleman, with golden raisins, chopped pecans and honey) we scrambled up the 500-foot extrusion at our flank (see pic). From that windy summit we were lured to wander through washes and over ridges heading toward Mt. Ryan, then circled back down to the campground. We returned for lunch (sardine and tomato sandwiches with stone ground mustard on whole grain bread), then enjoyed ourselves in sun for a while before moving down the road.

Scrambling in Joshua Tree NP

   What is particularly interesting about this national park is that it includes two quite different desert ecosystems. Above 3000 feet is the Mojave desert where the iconic Joshua Trees live (they are actually yucca, not trees), and the lower elevation Colorado desert where the ocotillo and cholla live. The road through the park gradually descends through the transition zone, from the granite mountains to the broad gravelly washes. Interpretive signs abound, and at the visitor center we happened upon a short naturalist talk about uses for the different plants.

   We arrived in Phoenix for a late dinner at BJs (the chain restaurant and bar) with cousin Barb and her brother-in-law Bob.  We followed them home for a hot shower and comfy bed.

Saturday January 16. A leisurely morning full of good conversation (political economy mostly) and good food (scrambled eggs with mushrooms and cheese). We admired Barb’s art and garden, and were duly rewarded with a sack full of fresh lemons and grapefruit; the oranges are a bit woody this year. They admired our van and all Mikes handiwork. We rolled out at noon headed for Tucson. That stretch of highway is unremarkable. Spent the rest of the day orienting ourselves to the city and running errands. Parked the van for the night on a quiet residential street.

Sunday January 17. After tea and chocolate croissants at a trendy bakery, we walked through the college street scene to the University of Arizona to enjoy the comforts and wifi at the main library. The campus is quite attractive, with architecturally harmonious old and new buildings and interesting sculpture. Mike spent the afternoon at the Tucson Art Museum downtown while I worked at the table in the van finishing up my article for Medscape. We rendezvoused with Mike’s niece Daisy and her partner Scott and baby Peter at the Downtown Kitchen. The food scene in Tucson is interesting for cultivating and cooking with heirloom native foods. We ate cholla bud escabeche with tepary and green beans, queso Oaxaca and amaranth shoots in a jalapeño orange vinaigrette.

Blackett's Ridge hike with the Retzlaffs

Monday January 18. Monday morning we rendezvoused with Jerry and Barb at their condo near Sabino Canyon. They took us up canyon for a short hike to the ridgetop before we drove south to Bisbee AZ. Enroute we were appalled to see a border patrol checkpoint in the north bound lanes and a blimp overhead monitoring who knows what. The highlights were seeing a herd of peccary in the road below Lew and Julia’s house, the organic chicken and green chili enchiladas that Julia made for us, and a great bottle of New Mexico Gruet wine.

Tuesday January 19. Julia and Lew live at the end of Wood Canyon Road. After admiring their beautiful main house with Saltillo tile floors, we checked out their second house-in-progress up the hill, where the view of the canyon is spell binding.

View from Lew and Julia's new front porch

The beauty of the place is deeply furrowed ridges and valleys covered with oak and manzanita chaparral. The town has a rich mining history, with elegant historic buildings, owners’ mansions and miners’ houses, turned into restaurants, brew pubs, and art galleries. The highway runs along the brink of a huge open pit copper mine, rich with toxic color. Our driving tour of funky downtown Bisbee and environs sealed the deal: Mike is in love with this place and wants to buy property and live here. Sharman said sure--after we finish the barge and rent it out and spend a year in Spain. A sunset hike/bushwhack up the canyon was gratified with more views of ridges, valleys, and distant plains and snowy peaks in Mexico, plus the requisite scratches and tears from the cat’s claw bush. We capped the evening with Arizona wine and Screaming Banshee pizza downtown.

   Tomorrow we drive into Mexico. We spent several hours today making travel arrangements, including buying the required auto insurance.