My dad, who drives an old Land Rover modified for comfort and trail prowess at once, asked one of The Shirtless if he needed help. Shirtless’s response? “Range Rover, huh. You go on safari much?” He’s proud that his Rover gets that kind of notice. It might be silly that this guy’s question made me say to myself, “Damn! I’d love to go on safari.”
Ah! But safari! As long as we’ve got a music theme going, and similar to what James Taylor sings: I’ve never really been, but I’d sure like to go. He meant Mexico, but I mean safari. With these friends of mine, we plan out expedition-style adventures out in the pave-less areas of the Southwest and Mexico. They are safari at heart: we’re looking for encounters with wilderness. And when we can’t quite afford 3 weeks or 3 days, we’ll use up a Saturday night – like this one at Saguaro Lake – to take on a mini version of what we like best. I can’t call it ‘wheeling because there is more going on. I’ll borrow from my friend, Allen, and call it that scrumptious mixture of good people and bad roads.
Ah! But bad roads! These at Saguaro Lake might be bad on the surface, but look up. The Superstition Mountains, Four Peaks, mighty Weavers Needle stretching a thousand feet into the air. To see these things from Phoenix, you’ve got to look between power lines, over warehouse buildings, and try hard to forget you’re sitting in traffic. Millions of years in preparation, these metamorphic teeth on the horizon are a good reason to drive the roads. The earth took her time – she went slow – making those mountains and spires. An old joke goes like this: A young boy had a school assignment to write a letter. He wrote each word painstakingly slow. When his teacher saw this, she asked, “Why are you writing so slowly?” The boy answered, “Because it’s for my little brother, and he can’t read very fast.”
How is it that live music, good people, and bad roads are connected? No connection at all. Just a good mixture.
* Published by JPFreek Jeep Adventure Magazine – The leader in Jeep and adventure enthusiast publications.