Traveling Through Southern Arizona

After Saguaro National Park we drove to Eloy, AZ- Pilot parking lot to spend the night. There was a large irrigated grassy area where we released some energy playing tag, Duck Duck Goose, racing, and rolling down the hill. Shannon visited with a Hispanic road worker that was sleeping in his truck for the night and I fixed supper.

Sunday morning we tried the GPS church listing again. The apostolic church we drove to 1st was a Mexican congregation who's services started at 1pm. Plan B was Church of Christ just down the way a bit that started a little earlier. This predominantly black congregation filled up their little church house with bodies, interjecting praises, and inspired singing! The people here were very warm, free to confess, requesting prayer, and enthusiastic.  The pastor taught on "Who Jesus Is"...The Word, The Rock, The Creator, The Sustainer. We enjoyed another dose of cultural learning!

We ate right across the street from the church, a simple lunch of reuben sandwiches and carrot sticks since we were sitting still. (It's much easier to prepare, assemble, and eat food while not swaying , jerking, and generally being jostled!) Then we hit the road again for a few hours until we reached a nice rest area just pass Sentinel on I-8. Spent some more time walking, running, exploring, and watching another magnificent sunset. There was a rocky barren area where previous visitors had formed names & other words with rocks. Also a gravel pile that became a nice sandbox substitute. Riley spied 4 Gambels Quail scurrying across the ground. There was a nice historic state display under a shelter. We read about the Southern Pacific Railroad that ran through this area to Phoenix. (Later this was part of our history lesson in the form of a journal entry in school notebooks.)

eating (or wiggling a tooth) outside is always more fun

quesadillas with fresh tomatoes

Monday, March 18 we started out again toward Yuma, AZ. One stop on the way was Dateland where grew towering date palms and loaded citrus trees. The building was rather touristy, like a gift shop, but we watched a short video of the harvest, then walked over to the orchard/grove.

What a lovely oasis!