Arizona - southeast to Benson again

Benson KOA, Benson

Monday, 14 February 2022

I heard on the radio that yesterday's high in Phoenix was 82°.  Definitely warmer than Flagstaff.

I also heard that AZ ranks last among the states for teachers' pay.  Not an enviable statistic.

today's route - the left line
the right line that goes north was from my trip north to Globe

I tried to stay off the interstate as much as I could today and ended up seeing a few things I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

I saw a highway department sign saying:

   Roses Are Red

   Violets Are Blue

   Buckle Up We LUV U

Can't say I've seen that one before.

When I turned onto AZ-87 I passed miles and miles of northbound vehicles.  So many of them that I started wondering if the interstate was closed and all these folks had to take a detour to Phoenix.  Never did find out.

I passed the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, protected since 1892 and the country's first prehistoric and cultural preserve.  It looks like these ruins would be worth the time of a side trip some day.

Not many miles south of them is the town of Randolph.  It's a historically black town, originally established for cotton workers, named for the railroad worker who founded it.  Now there are still a few houses but only very few, all of them in disrepair from the brief look I got.  If there are still folks living there, their poverty level is severe.  No businesses at all.  Such a shame.

All along the road I saw agricultural land with irrigation ditches alongside, some of them with water in them.

We stopped for a break at Picacho, where I saw a huge orchard (couldn't tell what kind of tree), and then joined the interstate for 92 miles.

Farther along I passed an ostrich ranch and a corral of emus (not at the same place).

I found more lying highway signs - these saying the right lane was closed ahead because there was debris in the road.  So I moved over, to the consternation of faster traffic, only to find no road closed anywhere and no debris.  These are electronic signs so they should be easy to update.  I guess updating isn't important in Arizona?

And at Benson I went to the post office to mail my absentee ballot.  I told the clerk what I really wanted was to send it return receipt requested, but Texas was being so picky about these ballot envelopes I was afraid it might cause trouble.  The clerk agreed that those RRRs required large labels stuck on the envelopes so people could sign and so forth.  As an alternative she printed out a stick-on postmark dated today and gave me a receipt to prove I got it in the mail before February 28th.  I can't help but worry that won't be enough, but the post office has 2 full weeks to get that envelope from Arizona to Texas.  Surely that'll be enough.