Prickly Pear, a food source for desert rabbits like the one mowing down the plant in my mom's yard.
I had another run-in with a cactus yesterday outside of Wickenburg. This one prevailed, and I learned that spines are nearly impossible to pick out of neoprene, and are now permanently embedded in my camera strap.
Between Wickenburg to Prescott, the Sonora Desert drops away on the Yarnell Hill, the saguaro forest disappears and, in less than 25 miles (and a couple thousand feet of elevation), ponderosa pines canopy the road.
Prescott is hosting a marathon tomorrow, and the place is crawling with people in t-shirts, shorts and fancy running shoes. Luckily, I checked the town website beforehand. Thus armed with information, I picked a motel on the far side of the activity, so I can make a quick getaway for my morning assignment tomorrow. If I get it done quickly enough (or at all--there are factors, like the correct placement of a bridge, which I can't control), I will race back to the finish line just about the time the leaders might arrive. Or so is my plan.
Not much went according to plan yesterday, so I'm trying to hang loose and not get stressed about it. Weather looks awful for the next couple of days too. But I have an invitation to photograph a classic car club tonight, and not much can be better than that. If I find wireless again before I get home, I'll try and load some up.
--After yesterday's dawn search for more short saguaros in bloom, followed by packing up my mounds of essential road junk, only to spend nine hours on the road making a 90 mile drive, ending up in a smoker's motel room, I am now resorting to caffeine. The iced mocha is delicious; the experimental outcome could be alarming. From the Prescott Starbucks.
