Drive Thru The Mountains

Today was my last day in Mexico.  In order to not have to drive in the dark as well as make my flight at 5:30 AM, I left at noon.  The way things work is we stay at a resort about 10-15 miles from the US-Mexico border and drive down to the border town every day to the company’s US warehouse.  A driver from the Mexican division will then come across the border to pick us up because he/they have a pass that allows them thru the border checks, sort of like TSA pre-check.  So when I got back across to the US side of the border, I was planning on driving right up to Phoenix.

The route I took down from Phoenix goes thru Tucson and then on to our resort in the town of Tubac.  However, since I had time to kill, I decided I would try a different route going back.  I would head back sort of southeast, before heading back in a northeasterly direction before turning back north to Tucson.  This route would take me thru the mountains, and I thought it would be some nice scenery as I drove.  I turned out to be right, the scenery was awesome.  I ended up driving thru/past the San Rafael Natural Area, the Sonoita Creek Natural Area, and the Las Cienegas Natural Area (I assume a Natural Area is like a National Park, or Preserve) and then finally the Coronado National Forest.  It was like being in an old western movie.  I could picture the cowboys driving their cattle, or the outlaws like Billy the Kid (yes I know he was in New Mexico, not Arizona) on the run from the law going thru mountain passes, and over the rolling hills.  And the mountain peaks were amazing.  The only thing that sucked is that there wasn’t any place to really pull over to take pictures, and I obviously couldn’t do it as I was driving.  Maybe next time if I go, I’ll take some extra time so I can look for places to stop and take some photos.