Phoenix

Click the pics.

this unpretentious sunset didn't scream ''LOOK AT ME'' it quietly said good night, and slowly disappeared behind the mountains.

Another beautiful warm day today; as long as I'm located where the Saguaro cactus grows, the weather stays mostly sunny and warm.

Having done my running around yesterday, I didn't go anywhere today; I just enjoyed being out in the warm sun.

There's a Pioneer History Museum just down the road from me, which I've visited and will probably visit again in the next couple of days. The history of the pioneers in Phoenix is interesting to me because the desert wasteland that Phoenix used to be somehow attracted people who wanted to start a life here. Looking around me makes me wonder what on earth could have possessed anyone to create a home in this place.

Making a new home anywhere is difficult even today, but imagine the struggle of pioneers making a home where it's 120° outside, water is extremely limited, most vegetation is covered in needle-sharp spines, and many of the various critters are poisonous. I think the first question one would have to ask is: what kind of person would stop here in the first place?

When I visit the Pioneer History Museum, I'm sure it will refresh my memory about how Phoenix started, but I remember that gold had much to do with it.

The lure of gold will cause people to endure hardships, take risks, and put their lives on the line time after time. After all, it's not called gold fever for nothing.

My memory is that the Vulture Mine near the town of Wickenburg was the biggest Gold mine in this area. Since there were many employees working at the mine, and the town of Wickenburg was a mining town that was demanding more and more food be supplied, Phoenix had some available water, so Phoenix became the place that grew the vegetables and other things that kept the miners well fed.

It was a humble beginning for sure, but there must've been something else there that kept Phoenix not only alive but thriving.

Theboondork

I took this picture from my boondocking site at Ben Avery last night and know from experience that these hot air balloons are floating over the trust lands where I was camping the other day.

These folks floating over the horizon in a hot air balloon, are getting a view of the desert sunset they should never forget.