We drove from Arizona to our California house today. I went out on the patio to find that the plumerias, the Kaffir lily, the Devil’s Tongue barrel cactus and an opuntia vulgaris cactus in bloom. The spikes on the cactus might be threatening, but there’s nothing ‘vulgaris’ about the flower. Click on the image to enlarge.
Wickenburg doesn’t get much in the way of big news, so this is probably going to dominate the next edition of the Wickenburg Sun. A tanker big rig rolled over on its side this morning on the south roundabout along the US 93 bypass on the east side of town (map).
Image: (top) US 95/60 warning sign south of town (bottom) the rolled tanker. Click on the image to enlarge.
We were on a couple of missions today, one to take an unscheduled drive to Surprise, AZ to return some defective hardware for the new house and another appointment to see a country & western show at the Del Webb Center here in town. We encountered the tanker crash drama all day long as we went across the Hassayampa via the south roundabout several times.
The tanker (obviously) came through the roundabout a little on the fast side and rolled onto its right side. Luckily, the tanks didn’t burst. Authorities summoned another tanker to the scene to begin transferring the contents from the capsized tanker.
Most of the folks I talked to today think that the roundabouts are too small for big rig traffic even though there is a lot of it up and down 93, the main thoroughfare from Las Vegas to Phoenix. One of the town folk told me this wasn’t the first rollover and the roundabouts have only been there for about a year.
The dogs usually get us up before we’re ready to wake up. They have to do their business though, so we get our slippers on and take them for a walk.
When I went out the door this morning, this nice image of sunlight streaming through a mesquite tree at the rear of the hotel property caught my eye. I stepped back into the room to get my camera and got this shot of it. Click on the image to enlarge.
I took a lot of images during our visit to Lake Pleasant yesterday. This is one of my favorites – a saguaro cactus back lit by the sun. Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: View the cactus in monochrome.
