Roadsideamerica.com for the win! After a quick visit with my Great Uncle Arnie in Alpine, CA, Darci and I hit the road for Arizona. On the way to Tucson, we stopped in Gila, AZ to check out several roadside attractions that have made it on my favorite website. First up: a welcome sign:
And if it wasn't clear that there are five "old crabs" in town....they listed them below:
When we pulled into a side lot to park for some pictures, we noticed a large number of police and border patrol marked vehicles, some with lights and sounds blaring, pass us to enter the neighborhood behind the lot. We took pictures of the sign and a nearby cactus before deciding to wander down the street and see what was going on.
Two blocks down, a half dozen vehicles were parked outside a house with both officers and residents?? standing outside. Since the neighborhood ended right after that street, we turned, went down a block and found an alley to pull into for a moment to watch the commotion. The end of the alley was quickly blocked by two sheriff cars and we saw other law enforcement vehicles patrolling the area. Darci welcomed me to my first raid, as I snapped a quick photo that shows nothing:
And as one sheriff car rolled down the alley towards us, we made the wise decision to move on. We encountered a Border Patrol SUV as we pulled out on another street and I found it amusing to watch as the officer looked at my Virginia license plate and assessed us as they passed.
We drove down the road to see the Space Age Lodge with sparkly walls and on to the Dino and Snake statues adorning the front yard of a gas station.
Right outside of town are two fighter jets guarding what looks like an old, abandoned airport. But since a city official truck AND a sheriff car showed up in the time we were there....maybe it's not so abandoned. We took the hint that we were now attracting attention in this town of under 2,000 and headed on down the road.
Upon later reflection, it is hard to believe that we were not stopped or at the very least questioned. Maybe being a white girl holding a ukulele in a Rav4 is helpful for these days? We'll see what day two holds....
And as a side note: driving through Arizona at sunset is absolutely gorgeous!
Read More in the Arizona Series
Day 1: The Day We Probably Should Have Been Stopped By Border Patrol
Day 2: Settling in and Making Plans