On the Road in Arizona

Since the delegation is cancelled I decided to be a tourist on my own. This first photo is of Mission San Xavier del Bac on an reservation for indigenous people just South of Tucson. It was one of the missions established by Father Kino in the middle 18th century. Quite old, and well restored. The most recent restoration was in the 1990's and the who place is quite beautiful.

I continued south and came to a the town Tubac just as I was ready for something to drink. What a pleasant surprise. It was an old Precidio town, in fact, the place from which De Anza set off for his epic overland journey to California and San Francisco. It has a state park museum and in that museum is a statue of San Xavier del Bac! So that helps complete my mental picture of the mission.

It turns out that Tubac is also an art colony and I want to come back again when I have more time. The place is really quite marvelous. Check out the website http://www.tubacaz.com/

When I was in the small local market I got to watch a little human drama in the parking lot. According to the clerk the Border Patrol had pulled over a young man because he was suspected of transporting undocumented immigrants. The young man became irate and so the Border Patrol called the police. So what you see in the photo is the police officer speaking with the young man and Border Patrol speaking with the clerk who asked about what was going on. Well, the young man walked away from the encounter without being detained by either law enforcement agency. He was agitated and talking on his cell phone. No lack of employment for law enforcement in this area.

Continuing on my journey I drove through the town of Patagonia. My seminary friend Dwight Sullivan served the Methodist Church in this town at one point. It was not a good fit for him because the town is small and in a remote area and he was single at the time. But actually it is a quaint little town and I had a burger at the Stage Coach Inn and Saloon. Turns out my waiter lived in Rock Island at one time! Small world.


I did walk across the border at Nogales earlier in the day. It was depressing - the hawkers in the street seemed desperate, and both the US side and the Mexico side seemed pretty economically depressed. More later.