December 17th, 2024: Today is the 2nd part of yesterday's road trip, where the wild donkeys of Oatman-AZ, the historic Route #66 through Cool Springs-AZ … and a delightful visit with Holland's Aunt Gaye in Kingman-AZ, was on the docket; and we managed all of it before sundown ;-)
December 29th is my Birthday, and we don't know how long we'll be in AZ - so, Holland is trying to cram as much of our combined Bucket Lists into our days as time and finances allow.
Despite our uphill marital battle due to his seriously faulty idea of marriage, he really is a good guy: a complicated guy that makes our 23-month-Life Together, a complicated quagmire - but he is really a good guy underneath all the bluster.
He doesn't know how to be a Husband because he has never had good husband models around him; all he has ever seen exampled was caveman mentality from male relatives, and subservient submission - or aggressive rebellious behaviors, from female relatives. He has never, ever, been exposed to a healthy, thriving marital relationship.
I am a confusing, and often irritating, eye-opening experience: I am agreeable to be a Biblically submissive Wife to Holland … however, I will never, e.v.e.r., be a subservient Redmill woman.
This concept is new to my new husband; in his mind, submission means being a bullied doormat - I disagree. The confusion generated, is creating chaos in our relationship.
Even so, he is still willing … and is going out of his way, to make this year's Christmas, Birthday, and incoming New Year memorable in good ways. I am thankful.
Life with Mr. Complication is never boring; and tossing the duffel into Betsy in the wee early morning hours, so we could reach our next destination point by noon … I had every reason to believe that today's happenings would be informative, fun, and enjoyable.
On our way to Wickenburg-AZ from Kingman-AZ, we traveled over desert terrain that changed significantly every 50 miles along the route: first, we drove over a Pass that was all rocky boulder piles (reminded me of the Joshua Tree National Forest boulder piles); then, the landscaped morphed into some kind of funky cactus block … that went on for miles into the distance; next, came miles and miles of sage brush, creosote trees, and giant prickly pear cactuses dotting the desertscape - I've never seen so many prickly pear cactuses since we've been traveling the State of Arizona! They were everywhere you looked, and the majority of them looked to be as tall, and as round, as I am - I'm a little over 5 feet tall … and I'm taking the 5th on my girth & weight ;-) Last, but not least, the landscape became barren again, with nothing but loose grit getting blown gently about. Every 50 miles the texture of desert terrain changes. It's nigh impossible to get bored with Arizona's Nature offerings.
I love Arizona, and I'm really going to miss it when we pull stakes.
Wickenburg-AZ from Kingman-AZ; 2 hr 3 m
Beautiful Sunrise on the road.
The moon was still visible …
There's no place like AZ
Wickenburg-AZ temperatures; AM
These are SO cool! Giant Black Metal Spurs; Wickenburg-AZ
Downtown Historic Wickenburg-AZ
Wickenburg-AZ History:
(https://outwickenburgway.com/about-wickenburg/history/wickenburgs-history/)
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More Christmas in the desert ;-)
Looking for 'The Tree' … this part of today's adventurous explorations, was on Holland Bucket List.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jail_tree)
Jail Tree Recording …
Jail Tree Recording (cont.)
Jail Tree Recording (cont.)
Jail Tree Recording (End)
Old West Mural, across from Jail Tree.
Passing through Phoenix, we drove through a very long tunnel. The Dean Lindsey Memorial Tunnel, better known to Phoenix residents as the Deck Park Tunnel, is a vehicular underpass built underneath Downtown Phoenix. It was built as part of Interstate 10 in Phoenix-AZ
Above the freeway tunnel, the "green space" Margaret T. Hance Park, was designed, and implemented, to sit on top of the Deck Park Tunnel.
Phoenix-AZ
Phoenix-AZ from Wickenburg-AZ; 1 hr 15 m
Deck Park Tunnel; Phoenix-AZ:
(https://azdot.gov/tags/deck-park-tunnel-i-10-interstate-10)
Phoenix roadways are never boring …
We were both congratulating each other on how well the roadtrip was unfolding … when two things happened simultaneously (1) a car on the right decided to change lanes at the same exact time Holland turned Betsy to the left for the same spot - we had had our turn signal on beforehand, no way the driver should have missed that blinking warning: it was a near hit before both vehicles swerved away from each other (2) a crazy woman aimed her car right at us, and stepped on the accelerator: her eyes locked on mine, and she wasn't slowing down - she didn't appear to be concerned in the least that she was going to T-bone us!
WTH!!
I'm beginning to think Betsy's cherry red color in traffic, is like waving a red cloth in the bull pen :-(
Woman drove straight at us!
Holland's eyes were darting all over the place (all mirrors, out each of the 3 windows he could see clearly out of, and up & down the freeway to see if any more lunatics were going to be showing up); I was screaming and grabbing the cab's side handles … poor Holland, his eardrums were probably on the verge of bleeding before he found an opening to calmly and fluidly move over, out of the crazy woman's kamikaze moment.
I'm glad Holland has a calm and patient attitude in dicey traffic situations.
I hate city driving - but I have to admit that Phoenix-AZ (which includes the annexed regions of Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert, Tempe, Sun City, Peoria, Apache Junction …) has one of the most beautiful freeway layouts I've ever been on - very colorful with the pink overpasses, and the overpass artwork keeps tedious freeway boredom at bay.
This peak in the heart of Chandler-AZ is near Firebird Lake, along I-10
Lizard & Turtle freeway wall art - Expressway #303; Mesa-AZ
Kachina figure, Rattlesnake, & Jackrabbit freeway wall art - Expressway #303; Mesa-AZ
Toltec symbolism freeway wall art - Expressway #303; Mesa-AZ
As we drove into Apache Junction-AZ, I told Holland that Geronimo was my favorite Apache - and laughingly said that every time my siblings & I played Cowboys & Indians (I sliced my right knee open to the bone on a hidden broken beer bottle, doing this in the sand dunes of Longbeach-WA, in the summer of 1966; my family's 1st year in WA) … I was always Geronimo; and I gave him my "Geronimo!" war whoop. Holland asked if I ever lost a {war}, and I smiled smugly, saying, "Of course not, I was Geronimo; I never lost a war. I was always a winner no matter what I set my mind to" :-D
He grunted as he stared straight ahead … but, I saw a secret smile tickling his lips. He knows I'm a Winner; and despite his flustered egotistical Redmill macho banter, he knows I'm worth keeping.
Geronimo; Arizona Apache Warrior.
Geronimo:
(https://www.nps.gov/chir/learn/historyculture/apache-wars-geronimo.htm & https://truewestmagazine.com/article/was-geronimo-a-terrorist/)
Geronimo was a mighty - and pretty much unbeatable warrior - from Arizona's Gila River region: my eyes are looking out on the same landscape, my feet was walking over land he may have walked over; my lungs are breathing the same air, and my skin is enjoying the same heat of the sun. Though my American Indian DNA is the Blackfoot strain, the native portion of my heart beat a happy note thinking about living in, and enjoying, this portion of Geronimo's Arizona ;-)
I finally got to the mountains I have dreamed of … it is beautiful to see, but I couldn't explore them! My feet could not walk up the steep mountain trails. My eyes could not view the landscape from lofty heights - my ears could not feel, or hear the wind's kiss as it blew past my body. My lungs could not feel the exciting burn of a strenuous climb up his mountain. My skin could not feel the hot sun's rays from a higher elevation.
My heart's Native tempo let out a sorrowful sigh.
There are houses literally built as close to the base of the mountain as they could be (no joke; if a piece of the mountain crumbled and broke off … it would fall on their roof) - and to add injury to encroachment assault, ALL ACCESS was cut off by private ownership :-(
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Apache Junction-AZ from Phoenix-AZ; 49 min (37.0 mi) via AZ-202
Entering Apache Junction-AZ
Apache Indians:
(https://mescaleroapachetribe.com/our-culture/)
The Superstition Mountains!
FINALLY HERE! New memory for me - old memories, for Holland.
I'm so grateful to be here, today.
Neither of us were happy to see homes built right up to the mountain baseline …
The Superstition Mountains-AZ from Apache Junction-AZ
Superstition Mountain Legend: The most well-known superstition surrounding the mountain is that of the “Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.” Named after Jacob Waltz, a German miner in search of gold in Arizona, the immigrant claims he discovered a vast surplus of gold in the Superstition Mountains.
Lust For Gold 1949 Glenn Ford & Ida Lupino: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_axXS28dPRI)
Fortunes have been made and lost in the search for the Dutchman's Lost Mine, however the mine has never been found. Some claim the majestic beauty and tranquility of the region is the only treasure man will find in the Superstition Wilderness Area.
The Origin of the Lost Dutchman Mine Story: (https://azstateparks.com/lost-dutchman/explore/the-dutchman, https://unsolved.com/gallery/arizonas-lost-dutchman-mine/ & https://www.ajpl.org/the-origin-of-the-lost-dutchman-mine-story/)
The Superstition Mountain Curse: Even today, four or five people go missing every year, according to George Johnston of the Superstition Mountain Museum. It's not surprising that some locals have come to believe that the mountain is curse — that anyone who tries to take its gold will anger the Thunder God and suffer his revenge.
A few years ago, I was alarmed to see private homes being built in National Forest:, that used to be prohibited - and now I am justifiably angered to see that more and more greedy land developers are diligently paving the way to more restrictions to more scenic routes. I understand that homeowners do not want people tearing through their back yards (I have owned many homes, myself, and personally halted people from taking shortcuts through my backend properties) … BUT I do not understand how homeowners can get away with completely cutting off any and all access to scenic routes: there needs to be a Law drafted and passed, that stops the filthy rich from hogging natural scenic venues for themselves.
Access to the mountain was inaccessible; all roads led to a private dead end ;-(
A DIY earthen rock wall on private property.
There should be a Law passed …
It figures a LaBarge would be a culprit - the LaBarge's were always sanctimonious trouble >:-(
I have waited most of my adult life to get here: I am not happy that some retired self-centered CEO (or a rich man's gluttonous child) grabbed land and built their home up to the baseline of the Superstition Mountains & promptly gated road routes off: denying me an up close & personal exploration of one of Yeshua's beauteous creations.
I will just have to siphon a pseudo experience from my Native American husband's cached memories of his Superstition Mountain memories ;-)
Holland sharing memories … Holland used to hunt those peaks, in 1988.
Lucky Dog!
He has a picture of him and his friend gloating over their kill.
Holland, 27 yrs.; he hunted in the Superstition Mountains, with a friend - this is my half of the actual black-tail buck kill picture: the whole picture shows his friend holding the buck's head by the horns ;-)
Monument on our way out of town; Apache Junction-AZ
For as long as we've been road gypsying, Apache Junction-AZ is the only place we've passed through that actually advertises what people come here to experience: Old West History … "Superstition Boulevard, Lost Dutchman Boulevard, Geronimo Road, Tomahawk Road, Goldfield Road, Apache Trail, Old West Highway". When you come here, you feel connected to History. The other 20+ frontier counties we traveled through these past 23 months, did not advertise their History, at all - it was almost as if they were ashamed to say that their spot on American Maps were by and large founded (and sheltered) by outlaws (male & female), gunslingers (male & female), madams & their soiled doves, war connections (civil, ethnic, territorial), carpetbaggers, gamblers, ect. I was shocked when we passed through Jackson Hole-WY that there was no mention at all of the notorious Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch! The County could be making $$$$$ hand-over-fist by cashing in on historical county tidbits like Davey Jackson, the mountain man namesake who trapped in the area during the late 1800s; Jim Bridger - mountain man trapper, knowledgeable frontiersman & friendly with Indian tribes, military scout, pathfinder guide; & the outlaw bandits who periodically holed up there … instead, the elite sector of democrat liberals decided to grab as much land as they could, erase that important information, and cater to the Hollywood refugee's and yuppie ski-lodge sector of society. Jackson Hole-WY is a carbon copy of CA's ridiculousness. It's nutty thinking, and a national shame.
American History is important.
No one has the right to erase it.
That's why I want to see and experience as much of it as possible, before the arrogant anti-Americans ignorantly erase it, forever.
Superstition Boulevard; pink overpass freeway-AZ
A bit further down the freeway, Holland pointed upward and told me that "right above our heads is the roadway that took us into Apache Junction-AZ": we had completed a full loop drive, at this point ;-)
A redemptive 'Redemption' Road Trip ;-)
While waiting for our Carl Jrs. burgers in Casa Grande-AZ, we watched a cotton picking machine; a perpetual dust-induced haze hangs over AZ's landscape.
Crossing over "Telegraph Pass," which dropped us into the Fortuna Foothills located near the base of the Gila Mountains … and about 10 minutes from where Independence was parked, I reflected on Holland's redemptive Holiday Gifting to me:
Yesterday was great.
Today was great.
Tomorrow is laced with hope.
Happiness cannot be traded, bought, or traveled to … happiness is an inside job that can only be attained by entering into a love relationship with Yeshua; and it must diligently be honed by harmony in a 3-cord-marriage.
Trusting in Elohim's Plan is essential.
Telegraph Pass above Fortuna Foothills-AZ; similar to the KM Pass-WA
Telegraph Pass-AZ:
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraph_Pass_(Arizona))
It's a short Pass; not even a 5 minute drive.
There is a hiking loop trail, here, too; the Telegraph Pass Hiking Trail, is a 5.7-mile loop trail that begins near Wellton-AZ, looping back from the Telegraph Pass that drops down into the Fortuna Foothills.
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Fortuna-AZ from Apache Junction-AZ; 3 hr 30 min (201.3 mi) via I-8 W
*REDEMPTION, PT #1~Oatman-AZ: https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2024/12/redemption-pt-1oatman-az.html
