Day 3: Green Valley to Nogales

March 29, 2016

Today I go southwest into a strong southwest headwind. It will be a long day so I got away from Comfort Inn Green Valley before 8 AM. South on La Cañada, cut over to Camino del Sol, then left on Calle Tres. Nearly every road in Green Valley has a Spanish name. Once again I'm amazed how little traffic is on the wide roads.

1/4 of the parking lot is handicapped spaces. Green Valley is definitely a retirement community.

The day started mostly sunny, warming to 70F (21C) before clouds built up. By 2 PM it was overcast and 65F (18C), with relentless wind.

Green Valley welcomes bicycles and golf carts. No golf course nearby.

Then south on the east frontage road of I-19. Noise wasn't too bad because the road was at least 50 meters away from the high speed traffic. I-19 is perhaps the only highway in the U.S. with distances and exit numbers signed in kilometers instead of miles.

Looking east at the observatory on 8585 foot Mt. Hopkins, the western peak of the Santa Rita mountains. The road climbs 5000 feet in 8 miles!

Back road parallel to I-19. Tumacacori mountains to the west.

I was hoping to stay on back roads all the way to Nogales. But I reached an area where the back roads have been removed to funnel all traffic onto I-19 for a Border Patrol checkpoint.

Border Patrol portable observation tower north of the checkpoint, where back roads end.

Border Patrol checkpoint on the northbound lanes of I-19.

Even the south bound roadway has many lights and sensors at the checkpoint.

I took the next exit after 1.5 miles on I-19 and cut over to the southbound east access road again towards Tubac. It quickly turns away from I-19 and becomes populated, eventually leading to the town of Tubac.

While flying to Tucson I sat next to a woman who lives in a rural area near Tubac. She frequently gives water and food and shade to migrants walking north who look like they might die otherwise. Sometimes families with young children. I asked if any of her neighbors call the Border Patrol instead. She said some do, but not many.

I slowly pedaled the two main commercial streets in Tubac, but didn't go into any stores. Two streets, each 3 blocks long and lined on both sides with arts and crafts stores. A few restaurants as well, so I had lunch.

Tubac is the oldest European settlement in Arizona. The first Spanish settlers arrived in the 1730's. Now Tubac is an arts and crafts village.

I stopped to look at St. Ann's Catholic church and the Tubac school. Old by Arizona standards, but built 150 years after the town was settled.

The foundation of St. Anne's Catholic church was laid by Franciscan priests in 1767. The present structure was built in 1929.

The 1885 Tubac school house is the second oldest school in Arizona.

I paid the $5 admission to Tubac Presidio State Historic Park. It was a disappointment. Tubac is the oldest European settlement in Arizona, but the park is mostly an archeological site. The location of the original building foundations are marked, but all the remains are underground because the nearby Santa Cruz river deposited sand during floods. One exhibit allows visitors to go underground and see a bit of the excavated remains.

Wikipedia:

Established in 1752 as a Spanish presidio, the first Spanish colonial garrison in what is now Arizona, Tubac was one of the stops on the Camino Real (the "Royal Road") from Mexico to the Spanish settlements in California.

Tubac's most famous Spanish resident was Juan Bautista de Anza. While stationed at Tubac (1760–1776), de Anza built the chapel of Santa Gertrudis, the foundations of which lie beneath today's St. Ann's Church.

Apaches attacked the town repeatedly in the 1840s, forcing the Sonoran Mexicans to abandon both Tumacacori and Tubac.

This press printed Arizona's first newspaper in 1859.

It was only 3 easy miles from Tubac to Tumacacori National Historic Park. The centerpiece there is the mission church. The mission was founded in 1691 but the structure was never completed.

Spanish priests established dozens of missions in northern Mexico, but their expansion into Arizona was far less successful because the Pima and Apache Indians were so hostile.

Inside the church at Tumacacori Mission.

Apache raids forced the mission and the town of Tubac to be abandoned in the 1840's. The unfinished church deteriorated rapidly afterwards. The National Park service restored the structure to about how it was before it was abandoned.

A military garrison defended Tucson and Mission San Xavier from Apache attack, but Spain and Mexico had no real control over the region and were unable to establish settlements farther north. The Apaches were gradually subdued after the U.S. obtained the region from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase of 1854.

The newest structure at Tumacacori Mission National Historic Park is a replica of a traditional Pima Indian sod house.

I pedaled many miles south on Pendleton road, a major local road with big rolling hills and increasing traffic. I'm sure I-19 would have been much flatter. Then I turned west on South River road, pedaling over a huge hill and descending to Old Nogales highway. Back along the Santa Cruz river once again, going upstream. And now it has water.

This ranch has extremely old water rights. There is very little irrigation in this area because the river is so small.

The area has a couple of irrigated fields and many large buildings that house fruit and vegetable packing plants. The produce is grown in Mexico and trucked in bulk to Nogales. The plants wash, inspect, and put the produce in retail packaging for trucking to the U.S. market. The packing plants and associated trucking jobs are a major employer.

Santa Cruz river, Old Nogales highway, and a fruit packing plant.

Eventually Old Nogales Highway leads into the city of Nogales, Arizona, population 20,500. Just across the border the city of Nogales, Sonora has 220,000 people! In a recently developed strip of shopping centers I stopped to get a room at Motel 6. Only $41. Dinner was at a fancy Italian restaurant next door. I only had 2 beers but managed to spend $39, offsetting the cheap motel.

Nogales seems to be prosperous but it's not at all charming. I appreciate that it's a "regular" town with a variety of sometimes chaotic development. A huge contrast from the planned perfection of Green Valley.

I started early and arrived at the motel at 5:15 PM. My speed was only 6 mph early in the morning with a direct headwind. Then 8 mph when my direction changed to improve the wind angle a bit. Then 10 mph near the end of the day with a strong side wind.

High of 70F (21C), but I wore tights all day because of the relentless wind and added a second layer on top after it became overcast. Tomorrow will be cooler still, but with a tailwind instead of a headwind.

I gradually gained 1200 feet elevation while following the Santa Cruz river upstream from Tucson to Nogales which is 3832 feet (1161 m) elevation.

Distance: 46.2 mi. (74 km)
Climbing: 1772 ft. (537 m)
Average Speed: 8.0 mph (12.8 km/h)

Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 111 miles (179 km)

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