ABQ to Green Valley
Now that we have Internet access again, let me finish our trip blog.
We left ABQ (the abbreviation for Albuquerque that I’ll use throughout) early, at 6.28 am. Since we entered the Mountain Time zone, it was earlier on the clock than in our bodies. ABQ is high, and we drove through high desert landscape—mesas, buttes, creosote bushes and the like. ABQ is on the Rio Grande river and we drove south through the Rio Grande valley, crossing and recrossing the river several times during the morning. We saw mountains in all directions.
Sixty miles or so before Las Cruces, we turned southwest towards Deming and from there west towards Tucson. Between Deming and Lordsburg, the last town in New Mexico, we crossed the Continental Divide at 4585 feet.
As we drove west on I-10, we were paralleling railroad tracks much of the way. Passing us, heading east, were train after train of flatbed cars carrying containers labeled China Shipping, Hanjin, “K”line. Some trains were almost entirely Chinese red with shipping containers. Much of the inexpensive merchandise we get from China comes through Los Angeles and Long Beach and then apparently heads east on this southern route. It was quite impressive.
We drove through mostly flat desert much of the way. Just before we got to Tucson, we came though a pass where we descended over 1000 feet from an area of giant granite boulders to the relative flatness of Tucson, which is at about 2400 feet. We decided to take some smaller roads from I-10 to Green Valley and arrived here at 1:50 pm.
Since we got here, we’ve been setting up housekeeping: buying, in short order, essentials one usually acquires over months--spices to cook with; cleaning supplies; telephones; wastebaskets; picture hooks; all kinds of stuff. And then getting phone and internet service; putting together desks and other furniture from Ikea (up in Chandler, on the southern edge of Phoenix, about 120 miles and 2 hours away). And re-evisioning and rearranging furniture. Things are settling down now and the furniture seems to be in about the right places.
It gets quite chilly at night—32 degrees last night—but we have had nice warm, sunny weather during the day. Average seems to be in the mid 60’s. We put sheets over our grapefruit and orange bushes (too small to call trees) because of the freeze potential. Our neighbors told us to do this.
On Friday we went with our neighbors to Tubac, the art colony town south of here, for their Christmas weekend. The town, which has a very old Southwest feel even though many buildings are not old, has almost no outdoor lights, but it was full of luminaria for the occasion. (Several observatories in the neighborhood have helped keep outdoor lighting in this region limited.) Sunset was multicolored and dramatic.
So here we are on our current adventure.
We left ABQ (the abbreviation for Albuquerque that I’ll use throughout) early, at 6.28 am. Since we entered the Mountain Time zone, it was earlier on the clock than in our bodies. ABQ is high, and we drove through high desert landscape—mesas, buttes, creosote bushes and the like. ABQ is on the Rio Grande river and we drove south through the Rio Grande valley, crossing and recrossing the river several times during the morning. We saw mountains in all directions.
Sixty miles or so before Las Cruces, we turned southwest towards Deming and from there west towards Tucson. Between Deming and Lordsburg, the last town in New Mexico, we crossed the Continental Divide at 4585 feet.
As we drove west on I-10, we were paralleling railroad tracks much of the way. Passing us, heading east, were train after train of flatbed cars carrying containers labeled China Shipping, Hanjin, “K”line. Some trains were almost entirely Chinese red with shipping containers. Much of the inexpensive merchandise we get from China comes through Los Angeles and Long Beach and then apparently heads east on this southern route. It was quite impressive.
We drove through mostly flat desert much of the way. Just before we got to Tucson, we came though a pass where we descended over 1000 feet from an area of giant granite boulders to the relative flatness of Tucson, which is at about 2400 feet. We decided to take some smaller roads from I-10 to Green Valley and arrived here at 1:50 pm.
Since we got here, we’ve been setting up housekeeping: buying, in short order, essentials one usually acquires over months--spices to cook with; cleaning supplies; telephones; wastebaskets; picture hooks; all kinds of stuff. And then getting phone and internet service; putting together desks and other furniture from Ikea (up in Chandler, on the southern edge of Phoenix, about 120 miles and 2 hours away). And re-evisioning and rearranging furniture. Things are settling down now and the furniture seems to be in about the right places.
It gets quite chilly at night—32 degrees last night—but we have had nice warm, sunny weather during the day. Average seems to be in the mid 60’s. We put sheets over our grapefruit and orange bushes (too small to call trees) because of the freeze potential. Our neighbors told us to do this.
On Friday we went with our neighbors to Tubac, the art colony town south of here, for their Christmas weekend. The town, which has a very old Southwest feel even though many buildings are not old, has almost no outdoor lights, but it was full of luminaria for the occasion. (Several observatories in the neighborhood have helped keep outdoor lighting in this region limited.) Sunset was multicolored and dramatic.
So here we are on our current adventure.
posted by arthurandjane at 9:00 AM
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