5 March ‘08
Wednesday
Our campground in Casa Grande the Western Horizon Resort and let me tell you, they constantly have something going on. As I was going to the rec room to pick up a freshly made muffin, I walked pass Greg and Doretta Oaklief. They were just about ready to make their presentation on 4 wheeling the Pinal County Box Canyon and I had to listen to what they had to say. Louise and I have had the Suzuki out in the mud before but if we were to go with Greg and Doretta this morning it would give us some time going over some “moderate rock and water” obstacles while trying to get further over the pass and into the canyon. Louise was in her exercise class while I was sitting through Greg’s lecture but I made the big decision that we were “in” for an afternoon of 4 wheel’ in. I through a quick lunch together, grabbed my camera and waited to tell Lou what our plans were for the day… She was as excited as I was to join in.
At 11am, Gary and Mary-Ann Tennent of “BC”, Greg and Doretta, and Louise and I headed out. The box canyon was about 40 miles northeast of Casa Grande. On the way we passed through Coolidge and then Florence. I’ll write more on Coolidge in the next couple of days but in regards to Florence…it is one of the oldest towns in Arizona and has the oldest courthouse in the state. A little note about the clock tower, they ran out of money when it came time to purchase the clock so they just painted the time of completion at the location where the clock would fit…11:40am is still painted up there and the plans are to just leave well enough alone. Another interesting note on Florence, they have 5 different jail/prisons here in this little town. The state penitentiary, a Home-land Security Prison, the city jail, 3 private jails that they contract to bring in inmates from outside of the state, and a juvenile facility...tough place but their economy is growing leaps and bounds !!!
Now a little about our drive through the canyon. The pavement continued for another 5 or so miles and then we made our turn off to the right…all dirt, rock, and water for the next 4 plus hours. There were times when the dirt was just about as smooth as the pavements we have traveled in California but that soon was exchanged for challenging rocks of all size and a little flowing water down the drying streams.
The scenery was excellent. Cactus of all type and size, lots of new spring flowers, and of course the mountains…it was “excellent”.