Greetings
“Where are you? How come we haven’t seen a BusRoads Buzz
lately?” Many of our loyal followers have been asking these questions. Indeed,
our annual travels are well underway for the season and we are eager to bring
you up to date. As for our trip to Italy last fall, it was monumentally fun, but just too big to
put into the Buzz, so we hope you can be patient until the proverbial (and
actual) movie comes out. Since November, we have toured our way down from
Washington through Oregon and all the way to San Diego. We now join the snowbirds
who winter in Tucson and for several weeks we will play concerts for the local
retirement facilities while calling Davis Monthan Air Force Base home. Thanks
for reading our Buzz and bringing a little slice of our travels into your own
home. ~ Brian and Andi
Wish You Were Here
If you drive south from Tucson you might find yourself in
Patagonia, however we do not mean the one at the bottom of South America.
Patagonia, Arizona is a small, dry town that happens to have a big Native flute
manufacturing operation, but we’ll save that for another story. This year we
skipped the flutes and made our way to Patagonia Lake State Park, about 11
miles outside of town. The lake is long, man-made reservoir with a jagged
coastline of rippling hills covered with dry, yellow grasses and sparse desert
shrubs. That may not sound too inviting to you, but migratory birds love this
lake, and so do migratory bird-watchers. There are mesquite and palo verde
trees, creosote bushes, cattail rushes, cactus, and 265 acres of actual lake,
so the both land and water birds enjoy the area. Fish ripple the surface of the
lake while deer, coyotes, and even mountain lions roam the hills. We set an
alarm clock for sometime-before-dawn and carried a thermal cup of coffee
through the cold, morning darkness to a picnic table by the waterfront just so
we could listen to the songs of the birds as they greeted the day. The
campground is much improved since our first visit several years ago and
features a visitor center, hiking trails, marina with boat rentals, nearly a
hundred RV sites plus designated tent camping spots, a small but diversified
general store, and one of the largest bath and shower houses we’ve ever seen!
Funny what makes an impression when you live on the road.
Arizona celebrates more than Valentine’s Day this February
14th. That is the day that our 48th state officially becomes
100 years old. Happy birthday to the Grand Canyon State.
Coffee Chat
We will always remember our first visit to Casa Grande Ruins
in 2003 when a park ranger told us a favorite answer she had received when
asking visitors for theories as to why such a big structure had been built at
this particular location. Someone had replied,
“Because there’s a WalMart right across the street.”
Photo Collage: Winter Bits and Pieces