What lodging did you use in Bisbee? Chris' room looks like an apartment!

Where was this? What town? We are headed to the Tucson area in a couple of weeks.

Kelly

Hey Bill,
We are home! Traffic was light and easy all the way. People are respecting each other's health which is really fun to see. It's good to be home! Beautiful here in the Pacific Northwest! Take care. We head out to Idaho, Montana and Canada in August on another bike trip. Hope to keep a journal.

Yes, that's one reason I did not push to return... Wanted to avoid being part of the problem. I guess now the area is pushing 5 million. When we left in
Dec. '70 it was pushing half a million and I saw the desert being ravaged. We ran from the gym at ASU out to South Mountain Park for cross-country workouts. About 20 years ago, I was there for work, and could not find the eastern entrance to the park because it was solid housing.

Thanks Bill,
We will be using all universal precautions as we head back up to Washington. We had such a wonderful time on our trip. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you for posting the pictures! It was so good to go hiking in the desert again, if only by proxy.

I got started IDing things when a journal I was following passed through AZ a number of years back, and they asked if anyone knew what something was... Bingo! I followed their journal to the end, providing all I could identify. Only in the past few years I started digging out good websites with more info.

Journals are shutting off one by one with the virus. Looks like I may be "out of a job" soon.

Take care! Wash your hands, and your money and don't touch your face and stay 6 feet away from people. Looking forward to the next adventure, but this one was special.

Happy Birthday!

Western diamondback. Most common rattler in the area.

https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/Diamondback%20Rattlesnake.php

Nice find!

Bill,
I was just here in 2018 and it looks like more has been developed! I don't know where all the water comes from for drinking, watering, etc in this desert!

I miss the spectacular sunsets!

Tempe butte and built into the other side of it is the ASU football stadium, with ASU all over beyond that. The corner of a building sticking up behind the left side of it is Manzanita Hall, a women's dorm that was under construction and finished while I was there.

Phacelia and desert chicory again. This might be lacy phacelia.

http://southwestdesertflora.com/WebsiteFolders/All_Species/Hydrophyllaceae/Phacelia%20tanacetifolia,%20Lacy%20Phacelia.html

Don't let the non-spiny look of the beavertail prickly pear fool you! Each of those tiny bumps on the pads contains hundreds (thousands?) of tiny, almost microscopic barbed spines! As a kid, I found out the hard way, and also looked at them under my microscope. The flowers sure are spectacular though!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opuntia_basilaris

Variety! I love the amazing biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert!

Tree in the back is palo verde with its greenish bark.

http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=1412

And brittlebush, poppies, lupine and some barrel cacti on the upper right

http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=3016

Often called buttercups, these are desert golden poppies. Similar to California poppies, which are usually more clumped and have more orange in the blooms.

http://southwestdesertflora.com/WebsiteFolders/All_Species/Acanthaceae/Justicia%20californica,%20Chuparosa.html