Five Months in Southern Arizona
As we arrived in southern Arizona in late October, we were surprised to see mountains. We knew northern Arizona had mountains but not in the south – that’s desert, isn’t it? Well, yes, but we learned there are actually four types of desert in in Arizona, the Sonoran, Mojave, Great Basin, and Chihuahuan. Despite the desert status, the geography has deep canyons and mountain ranges, in addition to the sandy barren desert we thought we would see. Most of the places we visited were in the Sonoran Desert but were considered high desert, meaning an altitude of over 2,000 and colder than a lower desert at an altitude of under 2,000.
We really enjoyed our time in the south-eastern part of the state. Jim’s love of history brought us to Tombstone first. Founded in 1879 and the site of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, this silver mining town had little physical history left as a result of two fires which destroyed 166 businesses in total. Some physical history remains, including Big Nose Kate’s Saloon, the Bird Cage Theatre, and parts of the O.K. Corral. We also visited Boothill Graveyard which as expected, was original. There are some rumors that the residents of said graveyard are not really buried there, but we are told by the locals the graves are accurate. In fact, the graves of Billy Clanton, and Frank and Tom McLaury, killed in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral are on the National Register of Historic Places.
While in the area, we also explored the town of Bisbee, another mining town with much of its physical history remaining. One standout from the old buildings was a cute French pastry shop (we may have indulged). Our favorite part of Bisbee was the all but abandoned town of Lowell (now considered part of Bisbee). This small town grew from the mining of gold, silver, and copper in the Lavender Pit Mine. Ironically, in the 1950’s the excavation of the mine actually absorbed much of the town of Lowell. Two hundred fifty homes and businesses had to be moved. Owners were either offered market value for their homes (which would later be demolished), or the property would be moved to a new site. New towns of Saginaw, Galena, Briggs, and Bakerville developed from two hundred of those houses. Left behind was one street, Erie Street. Today the street is maintained by a group of volunteers, making it an outdoor museum of sorts. We loved strolling this street and imagining what it would be like to live in this era.
Further travels took us to Ramsey Canyon to see the migrating hummingbirds, only to learn we were a just a few weeks too late. In fact, we saw a total of one bird through our entire hike! However, we had a great visit with the ranger and learned a lot about the canyon before heading out on our hike. Ramsey Canyon is the crossroad to an ecological habitat. The Sierra Madre and Rocky Mountains and the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts come together in this canyon. Animal and plant life is quite diverse, with tropical plants, such as agave, growing right next to pine trees. It was a beautiful hike with samplings of cabins left from the westward migration. The ranger shared how we could expand our hike to see a view from above where this ecological wonder comes together. We did just that and were not disappointed with the beautiful view.
Our journey continued through eastern Arizona, stopping at Roper Lake State Park and Picacho State Park where Arizona revealed more of its beauty. From beautiful sunsets to the majestic saguaro cactus, the topography and native plants were similar to what we thought we would see in Southern Arizona. Fun fact, despite growing slowly (in 10 yrs, only 1.5 inches tall), a saguaro cactus can grow up to 40-60 feet. You will notice in the photos, these saguaros are pretty old. During a rainstorm, one saguaro can absorb up to 200 gallons of water!
In mid-November we arrived in south-west Arizona, hoping to have found a place where we would stay warm for a couple months. Our intent was to stay until after the holidays and then turn back north to Lake Havasu and Phoenix until the weather warmed enough to explore the land we had most wanted to see, the Verde Valley.
As mentioned in our last post, We Took a Vacation, we ended up having to stay in Yuma much longer than planned. It seems the idea to live a less structured RV life didn’t partner well with the snowbird capital of the west. There were just no available spots to stay for the winter in the lower half of Arizona. It was slightly disappointing but we made the best of our time in the area. We were fortunate to find a beautiful RV park in Yuma that had a newcomer special of $400 per month. A great price for RV Parks these days.
We spent our time in Yuma enjoying the area holiday events, watching an electric light parade, attending a live nativity, seeing another geographical wonder at Imperial Sand Dunes, visiting the first prison built in Arizona before it even became a state, attending a rodeo, learning about the science of growing 95% of the country’s lettuce crop, visiting a date farm, exploring the best places to photograph birds with new friends, and even howling at the moon. At this unadvertised event, a band played, as hundreds of people, fire pit and dinner in tow, gathered in the desert to watch the moon rise over the mountains, and well, howl at it. Hey, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, right?
There were many blessings during our time in our temporary barren desert home of Yuma, AZ, but one blessing was something we had prayed for a long time. We shared last summer that I was able to find a part-time, flexible, remote job near our home town. After searching for a year, it was hard to believe finding the type of employment we needed to allow us to continue volunteering, was possible. As hard as it was, we remained faithful, trusting God would provide – and He did. My income helped in the journey but we knew we would need more to maintain what we were called to do. We are so thankful for the friends and family that stepped in to help ensure there would be a Season 2.
Jim continued to search for employment as we journeyed to the southwest. Again it was hard to believe he would find the perfect job like I had. It seems crazy that we found it hard to believe, He had done it once – He would do it again. We prayed continually for God to provide, despite our disbelief. I guess that is where faith comes in. We may experience doubt but continuing to rely on Him when we have doubt is exactly what He wants.
One afternoon, Jim received an email from a previous supervisor asking if he would be interested in a part-time, flexible, remote job! No kidding – it happened! Knowing how difficult the job search had been, we knew with absolute certainty, God provided this job. We stayed faithful, despite our doubt and He answered our prayers. In the Bible it talks about saying yes to God, and when we do, He will equip you. Our journey is a continual example of that.
Knowing we would be in Yuma for so long. We expected to volunteer a lot. We chose Yuma, for warmth of course, but more importantly because we wanted to learn about the border crisis and hopefully help anyway we could.
We were situated in a perfect location to do just that as Yuma borders Mexico, and has two official boarder crossings. We anxiously reached out to a local organization in Yuma who accepts volunteers in migration services, and requested a meeting to learn more and discover where we would be a good fit to help their organization. We were excited to receive a response but after being referred to another person and numerous attempts with no response, we realized our plans would not play out the way we hoped.
We began the process of looking for other opportunities to volunteer and found an organization that was serving Thanksgiving dinners. As we arrived excited to serve, we found we didn’t really have a role and were there to engage with the people we were serving. That wouldn’t normally be a problem but most in the community of people we were serving spoke Spanish and we didn’t. We made the best of the afternoon, doing what we could to help out. We even met fellow RV’ers also volunteering. Despite being uncomfortable in the beginning, we ended our day grateful to have stuck it out and served the best way we could.
We decided to go back to that organization and volunteer in their kitchen. Their business was not a soup kitchen or food pantry per se but rather feeding residents who lived at the establishment. We enjoyed the people we worked with and those we served but found ourselves to be in the way. As it turns out, the residents work as part of their recovery so even though we were welcomed, it seemed to make their routine a little more difficult having us there.
Our last attempt was at a food pantry. This is where we faced our most difficult challenge in serving. We arrived bright and early one morning with a task of filling grocery carts with food for those in need. As we began to work, we realized there were prisoners also serving at the facility, some of whom were filling carts with us. We assumed this was likely a work program and quickly realized we had an opportunity to show the love of Jesus to people who may just need it most.
We began to strike up a conversation with one of the prisoners, I will call him “Joe”. He was from Illinois but had made a bad choice while in Arizona, and was serving time far from his family. We talked about his kids and what he planned to do with them once he was free. At one point Joe mentioned how he loved to come work because it gave him a glimpse of freedom. I wondered if he had regrets, how his children are handling the separation, what was his life like prior to prison, what would his life be like after prison.
Suddenly I was brought back to reality as we were approached by the person in charge who told us we were not allowed to speak to the prisoners beyond what was necessary. Actually, it felt as though she scolded us. I think at first I was embarrassed but quickly found my eyes welling up with tears. Embarrassment quickly faded away and was replaced with hurt. My first instinct was to run, to leave “that place”. We were volunteers, why were we being scolded? When we arrived, we weren’t told we couldn’t speak with prisoners, in fact we weren’t even told we would be working with prisoners. Sad tears were being pushed aside by angry tears.
As I grabbed a cart to continue filling it with groceries, Joe asked me, “I didn’t get you in trouble, did I”? I couldn’t even answer him, I just shook my head. I later learned that he also approached Jim and apologized. I felt like Joe truly felt bad and almost wanted to be protective of us.
The joy we experience when we serve had faded. I started to notice other prisoners weren’t talking to anyone, keeping their heads down most of the time. In fact, the volunteers weren’t talking much either. How unfortunate it was to not have fun while serving. How disappointing to no longer be able to speak to Joe.
Jim would have been willing to leave that morning, had I really wanted to, but he reminded me we were serving God, not an organization. He was right, and although it took time, the hurt and anger eventually subsided and I started to feel better and continued to work. We left that day without having the chance to say good-bye to Joe. Despite that, I walked away knowing we did just what we were called to do – serve others. I really didn’t need to wonder what would happen to Joe, but just to know he saw the light of Jesus that day and Jesus would take it from there, was enough.
I share this story because there are ups and downs to serving others. Often we tell the good experiences we have because that’s exactly what they are. However, we have now experienced something different. I do not know why serving this time wasn’t as good an experience as others, but I do know we were placed in that very moment for a purpose for which we may never know. Most importantly, we did not let the experience stop us from serving again, and for as long as God allows, we will journey on to serve wherever he leads.
