When old highways die

Ther is something very sad and lonely about roadways that have been decommissioned. Northern Arizona is full of bits and pieces of old Route 66 and older SR89, if you are on the lookout for them. And they are accessible, being on federal and state land. Not so this old section of 89A recently replaced by a spiffy new 4-lane speedway between Prescott north and Prescott Valley. It's scheduled to become a part of a huge real estate subdivision one of these days when the market picks up again. And it's locked off. Twice.

Yes, that is the old railroad crossing, now the Peavine Trail, which means that if you walk long enough you can access the old road. Of course, you'd be trespassing.

What always shocks me is just how quickly the grass takes hold in abandoned asphalt. That white stripe is still pretty dang clean and yet the forces of nature and life are already breaking up the pavement, which gets other visitors, as well (below).

Really old, original road markers (above) and fairly new ones (below) are still in evidence out old 89A.

There are even remains of older roads (above). The two-track is strictly local, but the heavy cut is part of old Rte. 79, the earlier Prescott-Jerome highway, built when, of the two towns, Jerome was by every measure the more important and larger. Below, the latest version of 89A is visible in the distance.

The old road passed closer to our local volcano (Glassford Hill). Is that a blowout on the side of the mountain; I'd never noticed it before. And it offered a terrific view of Granite Mountain as you headed into Prescott.
Way lonely, right? This is the picture from my neighbor that piqued my interest in revisiting the old highway.

Heading downhill toward the Dells, the railroad crossing is barely visible in the background. Below, the road curves as it approaches the bridge across Granite Creek in the Dells. But travelling this section is a no-no, blocked completely off. Too bad.

There are times I really hate change!

Prescott Scenes: Foolsewoode and Jarart both photographed El Dia de Los Muertes; Tombo has found another of those low-key critter graffiti works, this one a squirrel; PrescottStyle is all about the great zombie celebration; an out-of-town grandmother took pictures on Mt. Vernon Street Halloween night, and Catalyst collected costumery on WhiskeyRow the same night.

Street Corner Gardens

Victoria BC is bedecked with hanging baskets of flowers -- not only on front porches and eaves of houses but on almost every lamp post in the business district. That is my first image of the city. Here our city fathers weren't thinking horticulture when they proposed the little street corner gardens that bracket the parking margins on downtown streets. No, they wanted to slow down drivers speeding through the center of town -- and give pedestrians a bit of protection as they edge out into the street. The gardens are the frosting on the cake.

But the result is, I think, rather pleasant. As soon as the first tulips and daffodils emerge, our street corners come alive with color.

The greenery is special in the middle of summer when the Arizona sun beats down. Don't forget, we're nearly one mile closer to the sun than folks down in the Valley.

If our city fathers decide to expand their street corner gardens to a few more intersections, I'll vote for that! But currently, city council members are more enamoured of roundabouts to replace major intersections and traffic lights north of the center of town. This proposal is as controversial as the little gardens jutting out into the street were when introduced. Q: will the roundabouts eventually evolve from bone of contention into everyday fixtures?

Notes: A new organization and weekend of programs suddenly emerged out of the blue, publicity-wise at least. The Chaparral Music Fest will present a series of programs June 4-9 at various venues -- unfortunately competing with the Tsunami on the Square on Saturday. Later correction: The TontheS is Saturday, June 16 -- I stand corrected! Find out more about the Fest by listening to the podcasts at Prescott Arts Beat. For a totally different treat, visit my friend k who took a lot of pictures of a small terrarium chock full of baby praying mantises. Talk of synchonicity -- I saw my very first baby mantid just the other day. The little fellow was only about 1/4" long.

Local Links of the Day

Before pharmacology, there was herbalism -- the study and medical use of plants. Most documented herbal know-how concerns Eurasian plants, with the most scientific study done under German auspices. However, in the Southwest and Mexico indigenous use of native botanicals continues. To learn more about uses of the plants around us, you can refer to these resources: Michael Moore's Southwest School of Botanical Medicine and the Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association.