Wednesday, March 30
The little town
of Eloy (AZ) intrigues me. I say ‘little town’ but yesterday I realized it has 3 exits
from the highway and is spread out on both sides of I-10. It’s a growing
community but the growth isn’t isolated from the old…it’s an interesting mish
mash of old and new. There’s been a good
deal of investment in the infrastructure of the town: new, modern City Hall and courthouse area…a
park…well maintained 5 lane road through what I assume is downtown and through
the residential areas. However, the
homes look to be years old and in the lower income range…and I wonder if the
front yards of these homes were annexed when making that 5 lane road. But there’s no outright evidence of where the
money for the infrastructure improvements came from. No industry that I could see, although there
are huge tilled fields. Something will
be planted but certainly not enough to support the town. I’ll have to Google it when I get a good
internet signal.
**Wikipedia says this about Eloy, AZ: As of
the census of 2011, there were 16,964 people, 2,492 households,
and 1,988 families residing in Eloy. The median
income for a household in the city was $26,518, and the median income for a
family was $28,494. About 27.9% of families
and 31.9% of the population were below the poverty line
The largest employer is Corrections Corporation of
America (CCA), and those CCA prisoners are included in the census.[citation needed] CCA operates the Eloy Detention Center (opened 1994), the Red
Rock Correctional Center (opened 2006), the Saguaro Correctional Center (opened 2007), and the La Palma
Correctional Center (opened 2008).
As of 2010 the CCA-operated Saguaro Correctional Center, located in Eloy, houses the majority of Hawaii's male prison inmate
population.
It is also home to the world's largest skydive drop zone, Skydive
Arizona, and bills itself as the skydiving capital of the world.
From this description, I’d say the town is prospering from the presence
of the CCA, but perhaps the citizens aren’t. Corrections Corporation of America
employs 1550 people….next highest employer is the Eloy Elementary School
District with 175 people.
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We decided to
lay low for today…no riding, but geocaching and pizza were on the schedule. Hung around the camp for a while….found plenty of ways to piddle away the morning hours. Of course, when
you wake up at 9 a.m., that accounts for some of the time. J The KOA owners own chickens and offer eggs
for sale….one dozen for $2.25. So we had
fresh eggs and pancakes for brunch.
Decided to stay here an extra two days….not finding anything in the
Tucson area that has openings….and we’re quite satisfied with our setup here. So for the next few days we’ll use Picacho as
the base of our southern operations. Already
have reservations at the Holbrook KOA, which is north of here.
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This KOA has
lots of birds, but thankfully not crows!
They have hummingbird feeders around the office and those little birds
flit around the whole camp. Have seen
them go to cactus flowers, too, which
have a waxy look to them; I just wouldn’t think of them as being good
sources of nectar, but I suppose a hummingbird would know better than me. I’ve been wearing my blue purple fleece and
have noticed the hummingbirds buzzing me occasionally. They hover, dart in and
out, hover some more. I realized today
that the color of my jacket may appear like a big blue flower to them. So they gravitate toward me, but then can’t
seem to figure out where to get nectar.
Either that or they’re just really aggressive little birds. J
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 |
| I replaced as much of the name as I could find. |
Geocaching is a
great way to explore an area and that’s how we spent the afternoon. First up, there were two at a nearby
cemetery. The roads in the cemetery are
being improved and a worker came over to direct where we should park. When we told him what we were doing, he got
all excited and told us exactly where one of the caches was. Pointed it out and even told us what it was, in case we couldn't follow his directions: “Look down this road...see that big green
bush off to the left? Well, that tree right next to it has a rock in the middle
of it. The cache is in an Altoids box under the rock.”. So much for the fun of the search, but I appreciated his enthusiasm. We were on our own for the second one, which
we eventually found in an off to the side section. This is the notation the
cache owner posted on the cache site: “I place this cache because I felt that the
section it is placed close to didn’t get as many visitors as the main part of
the cemetery. So if you want, while you
are out at the cemetery, take a moment to walk among the graves in this
section, so these people are not forgotten.” And after finding the cache, we did walk
around. It turned out to be a ‘Potter’s
Field’, where unknown or indigent people are buried. Heard of the concept but have never encountered
one before today. Found several John Doe
grave sites…they were inscribed ‘John Doe #---‘ along with date of death. Two of them listed cause of death as ‘Found’
along with the date. Odd that the John
Doe markers were more official and looked to have cost more than most in that
section. John Doe had a stone set in
concrete where most of the other graves were marked with handmade crosses,
headstones, and other trinkets. The
worst were the graves that featured bedraggled stuffed animals propped up next
to an unmarked stone or stick. Those were heartbreaking. This was definitely the lower income section
of the
cemetery; and I’m glad the cache owner gave us the opportunity to walk
through and appreciate the lives that were represented there. One handmade marker had the name written in
puff paint, which had cracked and blown off.
Most of the pieces were strewn around the marker, so I took the time to
replace them, sort of like doing a puzzle.
I just kept thinking that everyone deserves to be recognized.
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Next geocache
was alongside the road. Kim is still in
search of scorpions and snakes, so he turned over a large board laying where we
stopped before we even started looking for the cache. I saw something scurry away…then two more
somethings followed. It took a heartbeat
for my mind to register what my eyes had seen….MICE!! I fear mice!!
They had run up a bush/tree and while I kept an eye on that tree, I
continued on….always giving it a wide berth.
The hint on the cache was ‘Under a bush’. No
way on earth I was going poking around under bushes knowing there were 3
rodents on the scene. I searched from a
distance and when I visually found the cache, Kim kindly reached in to grab it. Chivalry is not dead!!
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On the advice of
Ezra, we went to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa, AZ.
What an experience!! They have an
old time Wurlitzer organ…the kind that used to play during the silent movies…and
they have organists who can play that organ with great skill. J We could actually watch the music being
played. Every sound that was made…pipes,
drums, pianos, cymbals, trumpets, and more...was produced by that organist
playing that organ. And the various
instruments lit up as they played so you could see where the music was coming
from. Everyone, from young kids to old
timers, were enthralled! There were two
older gentleman sitting next to us that just watched the organist, enjoying the
songs. There were kids up by us also,
and it was fun to watch the their heads swivel around as they realized where
the various musical sections were coming from.
Bass notes and trumpets were behind us…that was music that we felt as
well as heard. In fact, Kim and I were
doing the same kind of head swiveling. So,
so glad we took the time to experience the music!
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There are
mountains that just sort of rise up out of the desert floor. And some of these mountains have so many saguaros,
that from a distance, if the sun is just right, the mountain looks hairy…like
it needs a shave. J
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We planned our
pizza journey to Mesa so that we would be back in time for Kim to set up the
telescope in daylight…if the sky stayed clear.
He also talked to one of the staff to see if a certain lightbulb could
be unscrewed so there would be less light to deal with. Telescope is up and light is out. He’s been gazing at the heavens for a while
now and even had visitors to take a look at Jupiter. Nearby campers have kids and earlier, he’d
talked to the parents, offering to let the kids take a look through the scope. Sharing his excitement with anyone and
everyone.
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So, the first
thing on the docket tomorrow morning is a phone call and then a trip to the
Tucson H-D dealership to have my back tire replaced. Rode the bike about a mile down the road for
a Kodak moment…just before I stopped I thought it felt wobbly but the road had
grooves in it, so I wasn’t sure about the cause of the wobbles. No doubt about it after I pulled into the
campsite. Aghhh! I just had both my tires replaced last August
before our Final Four ride. Only got
about 5,000 miles on them. Again, I say “Aghhhhh!”
