Rising like a Phoenix

During the Depression (that would be the great depression, not the current one) my dad delivered new cars from Detroit to the west coast. In those days they actually drove each car in a convoy. They filled the back seat with cases of oil and every 500 miles they'd pull off the side of the road and change the oil... yes they just drained the old oil into whatever ditch lined the road. After delivering the car, he would send back home most of the $50 he earned and ride the rails back to Flint. One night, riding on a box car in Southern California, an experienced hobo told him they should get off before pulling into the freight yard because government officials would meet the train and force all the bums into chemical showers to delouse them. So they jumped off as soon as the lights of LA came into view. Much to their surprise they found themselves miles from LA. The lights they'd seen were lining miles of empty streets the WPA, or some such stimulus work group, had installed in anticipation of future growth.

The reason I'm telling this story is because, to a lesser degree, the same thing is true in Phoenix during this depression. The drive from Palm Desert, California to Phoenix takes about 5 hours if you're driving a rig that is a bit longer than an 18 wheeler... 55 feet! The desert this time of year is beautiful... yellow, orange, and purple flowers everywhere. The closer one gets to Arizona, different types of cactus appear... cholla, agave, saguaruo, ocotillo, to name a few (yes I looked them up). Other than a wide spot in the road called Quartzite, that looks like some sort of bandit hideaway or meth-hole, there's not much in the way civilization... just desert. Then suddenly, rising like a... OK...like a Phoenix or like a mirage, one sees a WalMart Super Center... then a K-Mart surrounded by all of the familiar Big Box boys. So what's strange about that you ask? First of all Phoenix is still 20 to 30 miles away and there are  no houses! "Build it and they will come" seems to have been the plan before Phoenix real estate took a 50% plunge. The streets are staked out and indeed there are a few developments with desultory wind shredded realtor banners hanging limply from light poles in the dry desert heat.

It's pretty sad to see the once hopeful signs of progress waiting for the world to catch up. I think it will be a very long time before these hopes become homes. If you're looking for a place in the desert, now's the time to come to Phoenix as long as you don't mind being surrounded by hundreds of empty dreams...  creepy huh?

So much for first impressions. We are ensconced in a small RV park outside Peoria (suburb of Phoenix). It's decent but a bit noisy as it's close to the Deer Valley regional airport. Good wireless here so we worked in the morning then played 18 holes at Rancho Manaña in a community called Cave Creek north of Scottsdale. Absolutely beautiful course. We tried to get on at TCP but it was swamped. Glad to report we both played well. We're back in El Gato after too much sun and too many gin and tonics wishing the damn sun would go down so we can go to bed!