Not pictured [Arizona]

I dropped the students off at a butterfly place yesterday afternoon. When I went to pick them up, we headed over to a Oaxacan Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, where the internet told me they served tlayuda. So I tried one, and it was pretty good. Admittedly not my favorite Mexican food, but I appreciated the variety.

Then we took a somewhat random route back towards the homestead, except with a diversion over to Papago to check out the Hole in the Rock. In spite of how long I lived here and how close I've always lived to Papago, I'd never gone over to the Hole in the Rock before.

There were a lot of people hanging out in the Hole itself, so instead of trying to watch the sunset from there we walked a short ways over to a small saddle between the Hole and the hill at the south side of the Desert Botanical Gardens.

I didn't take any photos, but we picked a great night for watching the sunset, as well as the clouds from the surrounding thunderstorms. It wasn't even all that hot out.

The first student departed yesterday, with her mother. The second one flies back to New York this evening. The third one leaves tomorrow morning. I may breathe a small sigh of relief about not having to be in charge of other people for at least a little while here.

Next

My last night here is Friday, July 23, but from the sounds of things the Brompton I'm looking to acquire won't be ready until Saturday, July 24. I'm reminded of what it was like the last time I left Arizona, in 2018, moving to New York. Unsurprisingly, packing took longer than expected, so for our first day of driving we just drove the moving truck up to Payson for the night - enough of an elevation change to get out of the low desert heat, at least.

When I was down in Tucson visiting with my aunt, she happened to mention visiting Arcosanti, another Arizona destination I've never visited before. Apparently it's possible to stay there overnight. It seems like an appropriate destination as I start to head out towards California. I really don't relish the thought of setting sail towards Los Angeles and then winding up somewhere random along I-10 that evening. I feel slightly better about the idea of taking I-40 instead, and about staying somewhere interesting for the night.

We shall see how this all goes.