Ride to Wilcox

Hi all,
We started our work schedule this week, Monday and Tuesday were our maintenance days. Our first assignment was clearing the overgrowth along a couple path ways. There is a nasty fern like plant that grows fast and gets very thick. We also cleaned fire pits and did some trimming around a few sites. The second day was finishing up pruning and cleaning the walkway to the day use island.
 We found out one thing, we are out of shape! We have been walking quite a bit but bending and raking left us pretty sore, we both were hitting the advil. Oh well I guess it should be a good exercise plan for us as the holidays approach.
 Our plan while here is to at least once a week take an interesting drive to a hike or something. This week we headed to a drive we had done before that crosses Mt. Graham on the south side across the Coronada National Forest. We got a nice sunny day with a good breeze, pretty much the norm so far.
 We didn't get a chance to hike as there were quite a few hunters about so we thought maybe not a good time.
 We remembered an old cemetery that was a bit off the main road so we thought something to check out. It sure looked to need some TLC, quite a bit of tall grass growing about. Still it was neat as one of the areas was dedicated to a young girl and contained a swing set and many toys.

2013/2015

 Instead of returning on our drive the way we came we decided to drive towards Wilcox and circle back. The map showed the road may be dirt but we thought who cares. I had just cleaned the truck so that is about right. Turns out the road was all paved.)
 The area turns into a large flat expanse and a big agricultural area. We had seen large green houses from the mountain top and now got to see them close up.

greenhouses from top of Mt. Graham

Wow, more green house than we had ever seen we looked for a sign to see if we could find out what they grow. We found the sign said Nature Sweet Tomatoes and employ 700 employees with the biggest sell being the small cherry tomatoes you get in plastic containers. Wendy looked up the place online and found out it was 318 acres of green house, pretty impressive.

 We also saw groves of pecan trees, and fields of corn. I got excited and had to get a picture of the chili peppers in one field. I really had to resist just grabbing a bunch and running.) Not that I would ever do anything like that.

 After that we ended up in Wilcox and found a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. Wilcox is a small old looking town. Most stores were closed and we decided that we could explore it another day.
 Our drive home was back on I-10 and up 191 nothing exciting.  Overall we had a good day and enjoyed some new sights.