Arizona!

Monday, July 22, Day 91 (cont'd)

The storms we saw through here were amazing.  This is rangeland, high chaparral, and the storms hit hard.  We are passing by Quemada and Pie Town. Quemada 's claim to fame is a huge installation of "land art" called the Lightening Field, which consists of steel poles on a grid.  It is close to the Continental Divide at 7200 feet elevation, and the poles, because of the rolling landscape, range in height from 15 to 26 feet.  It is supposed that the name, The Lightening Field came because there were frequent lightening strikes out here, but the website says they are infrequent.  I think it probably happened today. The temperature dropped from 79 degrees to 53 in a matter of minutes as we went through one storm.

Pie Town got it's name because an unsuccessful gold miner ended up opening a store and selling

pies made from dried apples.  He eventually sold the business and there was some prosperity due

to farmers from Texas and Oklahoma coming here from the Dust Bowl.  There is a pie festival in September with lots of artists, musicians, etc.  

Also nearby is a very large radio antennae for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Frankly, we didn't see any of these things --- it just seemed like desolate, barren, high chaparral. But it's always amazing to find that there is anything out in places like this! 

There are signs that say watch for water, and watch for snow plows, and other signs saying watch for elk, deer, and bear!  Nary a sighting, though…

It was only about 70 miles later that we crossed into Arizona. 

And, for some reason, there was one lone yucca plant by the side of the road.  How did that happen?
Did someone plant it there to make sure we knew we were in Arizona?

This is really interesting country, with these volcanic uplifts on a smooth green plain.  Behind this hill

is a valley that goes as far as the eye can see.

As luck would have it, we got behind a road crew putting down lines. Maybe it was the same guy who lost the yellow paint we saw earlier.

But the slow down caused me to look for critters and I spotted this antelope on the hill. 

This is the valley behind that ridge.

There's mining going on here. This must be a copper mine, and there is mining for gold as well.

We spent the night in Springerville, AZ.  The loudest, brightest thunder and lightening storm I've experienced happened here.  It literally shook our camper, and the lightening was so bright I thought we had taken a direct hit.   Pretty scary but it didn't last long.