angusmccoll

The mighty Mississippi River.

I had planned to go from Phoenix to New York but have changed my plans to cut costs. Instead I fly directly to New Orleans, well, via Dallas.

Both American Airline’s flights go as planned and I arrive in New Orleans just after 5 pm. The hotel I booked on the Internet is in a great location, just outside the popular French Quarter. The first thing I do is head down town to say g’day to the great Mississippi River.

A great river for me can be just as emotive as a huge mountain or a grove of giant trees. And the Mississippi River is easily one of the great rivers of the world. It’s not just it’s sheer size but it’s influence on humanity in this country. I’m not the only one taken by this great river. It is the heart of half of this nation and so many times imortalised in songs, stories, poems, paintings, photographs and the psyche of anyone who comes in contact with it. If you were to take a drink from the river here you would be tasting about 30 US states and two Canadian Provinces, such is the enormity of it’s catchment area. But it is the enormous area of wetland and boyous that the river supports that is so important to the sustainability of the region. Building levees along the river prevented precious fertile soils brought down by the river from feeding the wetlands and channels dug to increase boat accessibility to the wetlands let saltwater in. Consequently huge areas of stabilising vegetation died off leading to erosion. Precious land gas been lost and the natural protection from storm surge has been reduced.

From where I stand, close to the mouth, it is about 700 meters wide and about 70 meters deep. Ports well inland are accessible directly by boat. This river now is busy with great container ships, barges and large tourist ships. I can imagine it alive with paddle steamers in years past transporting human and agricultural cargo up and down the river.

I met Richard Bushong today. He is 88 years old and done his fair share fir his country. He served as a pilot with the American airforce through WW2, Korea and Vietnam. At the age of 19 he was flying B-17 Flying Fortresses over Germany and he finished his career with the airforce flying Phantom jets over Vietnam. What an amazing life. I met him at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson.

This museum is one of the largest air and space museums in the world. To enjoy this place it helps to be a bit of a plane nutter. I’m not extreme but there are I few planes I wanted to get close and personal with and you can do that here. The beautiful F111 is one and I believe Australia, until recently, was the only country in the world still flying them. To me they are a beautiful plane and have been an effective workhorse for the Australian Air Force.

Do you remember the U-2 spy plane. It’s photos first revealed the missile sites on Cuba that sparked the Cuban Crisis and one was shot down over the then Soviet Union in 1960 I think. This revealed to the world that America was spying on the Soviet Union. Well there aren’t any of those left but the amazing SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane that followed the U-2 is here.

The sinister and beautiful ‘Blackbird Spy Plane’.

This plane could travel at Mach 3 (three times the speed of sound) and higher than any airplane has ever flown. It’s shape is like no other and it looks both beautiful and sinister at the same time. Surprisingly it’s tyres are no bigger than your average car tyre but made of special materials to withstand the extraordinary forces on landing. To manage such speed it’s engines used scramjet technology. It was so specialised for speed and altitude it’s travel range was incapable of reaching the Soviet Union so they developed a drone that piggybacked the Blackbird and went the rest of the way. I don’t think it was ever used. Of the sixty Blackbirds produced, only 30 survived. Anyway I could go on and on.

The B-52 Bomber is here. Its wing span is so large it has a wheel at each wingtip to stop them hitting the ground. They were developed in the 1950s and use extensively during the Vietnam War to bomb the supply routes and jungles of Vietnam and Laos. Their terrible legacy is still being felt today over there with many of the bombs dropped still remaining unexploded but dangerous. Surprisingly some of these planes are still in service and hold the record for being in service longer than any other military plane. Three generations of pilots have flown these things.

Not far from the museum is what used to be known as ‘the boneyard’. It’s a place where disused military aircraft were brought to be scrapped. Today it is a place for military planes to be mothballed or recycled. Why here? The desert air keeps the rust away and the soil is a type of clay that doesn’t allow water to penetrate, so no bogging. Planes to be stored for possible reuse are flown in, washed and coated in a special latex-type coat to protect from the sun. There are thousands of them here. Then in another section the planes are set up for recycling. Parts are removed and sold. This place is run by the Department if Defence and sale of parts is a serious money spinner for them. There are F111s here that are broken up and parts sold to Australia. The area here is huge and there are planes of all sorts everywhere. Parts and whole planes are sold over the Internet.

I return to Phoenix by bus to fly out tomorrow for New Orleans.

Tucson is a city of about one million people. Like Phoenix it is situated in the Sonora desert but there is something unusual about the buildings here. There is no guttering or any attempt to collect rain water, either on the residential or business buildings. It may be the same in Phoenix, I didn’t notice. How strange. Don couldn’t explain to me why. Tucson gets it’s water from a dwindling ground-water supply and the Colorado River.

We visit the Desert Museum today. It us an attraction just a short drive through the hills away from town. The name is a bit misleading because it is mire like a zoo than museum. It’s a great opportunity to meet some of the animals that make this extraordinary desert habitat their home. Mountain lions, bob cats, Mexican wolves, porcupines, javalenas (wild pigs pronounced havalenas), deer, beavers, freshwater otters (specialising in swimming on his back underwater while blowing bubbles), desert foxes, prairie dogs (too cute), and more. The most amazing would have to be the desert tortoise. Yes, that’s right – a tortoise that has adapted to desert life. It can go for two years without drinking water.

Not far from here is Old Tucson. It’s a film and television studio where they produced many if these well-known television western series that us older australians were brought up on. Bonanza, Rifle Man, High Chaparel, Little House on the Prarie and more. Many western films used the facilities as well so the town of Tucson is used to having film and television stars in it’s midst. Some bought real estate here and own luxurious houses on acreages up in the hills.

I saw a diamondback rattlesnake today – in the wild. Just awesome!

I plan to fly out of Phoenix for New Orleans (I’ve changed my plans to fly to New York) on Friday so decide to duck down to Tucson for two nights before I go. Tucson is about a two-hour bus ride south of Phoenix. Fortunately I will be staying with a friend of a friend there. Don has lived in Tucson for 24 years and is now retired after a variety of careers including maths teacher, hospital administrator and accountant. He picks me up from the bus station and takes me directly to a local nature park. We are still in the Sonora Desert as is Phoenix. There are spectacular rugged mountainous ridges all around and there are thunder storms about. It has rained and the air is fresh and clean and the late afternoon light is doing spectacular things with the huge thunder clouds and rain. This nature park is on the edge of town and has many walking trails popular with the locals. This part of the Sonora Desert around Tucson is just stunning and has been described as some of the most beautiful desert habitat in the world and walking through here for my first time, it would be hard to find anything better. And this afternoon’s weather display provides a backdrop that amplifies the experience. The variety of vegetation is impressive and those classic desert cactus, I now know are Saguaro (pronounced sowaro), are everywhere. But they are far from being alone. Other cactus varieties are here, with trees, shrubs and grasses of all shapes and sizes. And of course the animals. As well as the beautiful rattlesnake we also spot a jack rabbit but then there are all the ones we don’t see. They talk of coyotes, bobcats, deer and even black bears coming into the outer suburbs. This desert is rich with life.

Just down the road from this nature park is a ‘dude ranch’ where you can get your giddy-up fix in style. It’s quite a sophisticated setup with comfortable accommodation onsite. A horse ride through the desert does have it’s appeal, even for me whose horse-riding days are best forgotten!

Phoenix is not really a tourist town. The public buses aren’t user friendly and there aren’t any serious tourist attractions here, ones you could visit mid summer anyway. The population of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area (of which Phoenix is the anchor) is around five million people but that also includes the other municipalities of Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Glendale and others I think. None-the-less that is a lot of people in the middle of a desert, the Sonoran Desert. Can you image Alice Springs with five million people? It’s hard to image a thriving agricultural district in the surrounds. The Roosevelt Dam is the main water supply and open canals cut through the city.

Today a find a bus that takes me into the Phoenix city centre. It’s Sunday and the streets are deserted but it is more because of the heat than the time of the week. People find things to do in the air-conditioning. A stroll through the high-rises brings me to the Arizona Science Centre. There are plenty of people here. I hope to learn about the history of Phoenix and Arizona from an advertised history exhibition but it is closed today! Wouldn’t the weekend be a good time to be open? I go through the Science Centre anyway and pick up a bit of history but it is mainly a place for children, and there were plenty of them!

I continue to cruise the streets and I literally have them to myself. It’s like a ghost town except for the cars on the streets.

My hotel has an interesting charm about it. I found it on the web and it was cheap. There aren’t any hostels here that I could find. This hotel is a distance from town and my taxi ride here from the bus depot was expensive and exciting! A tyre blew out and the driver had some fun staying in control. I gave him a hand to fix it and got a bit of a discount. Anyway, back to the hotel. There are some unsavory types here and the police visit daily! One guy tried to sell me a camera so he could cover his rent. He obviously picked me as a tourist. There seem to be long-term renters here and there are sl sorts of carry-on through the night. I’ve had many a knock on the door from someone looking for someone who I wasn’t!

It’s labour-day holiday in the US but I don’t notice any difference in Phoenix, except the buses are running on a sluggish Sunday timetable. All the shops seem open for business as usual, which is good for me. I find a desert nature park that is accessible by the buses. It’s three o’clock and 111 degrees F is belting down. What a nice time to go for a walk up a few hills. Phoenix is a huge sprawl on the flat, with hills all around and a few splattered throughout. This desert park is fairly central. Views from atop the hill I choose to climb are of a city landscape all around. In the distance you can see the high-rise buildings of downtown Phoenix.

At last I get to see some typical desert plants. Cactus trees are everywhere and while the city is obvious all around, you can easily imagine how tough life would have been back in the pioneering days and before. How did the Indians make a life here? The heat is oppressive and the plants, though beautiful, are very cranky looking. the birds don’t bother with flying. They just flutter or hop from one bit of shade to the next if disturbed.

Gardens and landscaping in the suburbs is either done with fake grass or gravel. There must be a huge business in quarrying and distributing gravel here. The clever homes have a variety of colored gravels payed in patterns – quite effective. And good old eucalypts are here in abundance. It’s good to be with them in this foreign place.

The moon is hazed tonight. I think we are getting some effect (or is that affect) from hurricanes hitting the south. There is lightning in the distance.

I leave Las Vages without laying a finger on a pokie or gaming table! How boring is that! To get to Phoenix I decide to do an overnight bus trip for a change. It saves on an overnight’s accommodation and you do get a different view of the scenery. Not dull at all. The sky was clear of course and the moon and stars put on their own show. And passing through the casino-clad towns provided a colorful display as well, in typical casino style.

Traveling by bus is entertaining in itself! This trip is my longest and is fully packed – bugger. I spend the night with John who is sly drinking alcohol from a bottle of something in a bag at his feet (definitely not allowed to take alcohol onto the bus). The driver is a retired military man I suspect, going by his over-officious behavior and enjoyment for bellowing instructions. He runs a tight ship for sure but John manages to slip past his keen eye! John is in the meat business. He imports and distributes meat, including lamb and mutton from Australia. I now know why it is difficult to buy mutton in Australia – it comes here! It’s favored strongly by the Mexicans who use it in a traditional dish. It’s a soup like dish that used to be made using the gut lining from cattle but the gut lining is being replaced by our mutton – and it is very popular. He can’t get enough of it. John is about fifth generation American from Mexico and started this business from scratch. His father used to be a boxer. He lives in Phoenix where all his family is and spent the week with a good mate in Vegas, who at 48 has just had his first child to a 23 year-old girlfriend. John came up for the birth. John’s knees are buggered. He’s overweight and a previous life with football (gridiron) has eventually caught up with him. He needs both knees replaced but keeps coming up with excuses to postpone the operations. Having to dance at his daughters wedding was a good one. Fear is his latest excuse.

There are plenty of other characters here as well. A young lady managed to trick her way into the bus for free but instead of keeping her mouth shut, she proceeded to skier about her ruse to fellow passengers. Sargent bus driver got wind of it and the police escorted her off to jail in Flagstaff. Some love to broadcast their lives, particularly over mobile phone conversations. On my two-hour bus trip from Barstow to Las Vegas there was a young overweight Afro-American guy in front of me who spoke continuously on his mobile for the duration of the trip. When one conversation finished, he would initiate another – a chain caller! He has three kids and has done time in prison but is sensitive about people knowing that (well…the whole bus knows now!). The young lady across the aisle is trying to talk to her past boyfriend but the new girlfriend keeps answering the phone. ‘You’re a dumb-ass bitch. You’re as dumb as mud you dumb-ass bitch now put him on’. Of course she doesn’t but after several loud abusive attempts the old boyfriend does get on. ‘What are you doing with that dumb-ass bitch? She’s married you know. That’s sick’. And so it goes on. He’s supposed to be meeting up with her in Vegas but that seems unlikely now!

‘Sorry mate, you can’t bring your guns in here’.

John was a healthy fit young man, a primary school teacher, training for his first marathon when suddenly his life was turned upside down. A car accident put him in a coma for three months and then he was sent home with enough drugs to end it all if he wanted. Maybe that’s what the system preferred, for him to no longer be a burden. He chose to live and after years of therapy and persistence he can now walk but has limited ability in one side of his body. He goes to the gym everyday to maintain and improve his abilities as much as possible. He cant teach anymore so the only employment option for him within the education system is to go into administration but money for the public service in Nevada, and other states, is pathetically short. They are currently talking about cutting the school week back to four days a week. Anyway, they are letting John go, retiring him at the age of 43. He has a story to tell and hopes to one day write a book. I hope he does. I discover John on another mystery bus tour to the suburbs.

According to the locals it is getting hotter and staying hotter for longer each year. Sensibly real lawns are rare here. Front yards are rock gardens with hardy plants growing in a gravel base, or they use a fake grass.

There is an elderly lady at the bus stop. She is anxious because the bus is late and she will be late getting to her job as a school-crossing marshal. She has lived here here for 32 years and of course has seen Vegas change a lot. There is a very multicultural population here amongst the locals and while that adds colour to life here, it does come with it challenges according to her. There are problems in this desert town. John says there are 61 languages spoken at the school he taught at. He only speaks English! The public school system is very tough here.

‘We need atomic testing to save democracy’. That was the cry post war to convince the American masses of the need to have an atomic testing program and it worked. I visited the Atomic Testing Museum today. In the early 1950,s, Nevada’s desert just west of Las Vegas was chosen from several proposed sites around USA and Mexico as an atomic bomb testing site. At the time about 26,000 people lived in Vagus and this announcement that atomic testing would be happening in their back yard was thought to scare people off and destroy the towns future. Graphic images from Japan demonstrated to the world the destructive power of atomic bombs and now they were going to test them here. Surprisingly the opposite happened. Employees of the testing site need to live somewhere and people flocked here to view the tests. One casino on Fremont Street prided itself in providing the best view in town of the test site. You could sit back and watch the explosions over a beer. Vegas flourished. Atomic themes flavored life in Vegas from burgers to beauty pageants. Yes, each year a Miss Atomic Queen was crowned.

Testing continued into the 1980’s. Even though the testing was done underground, mistakes were made (surprise, surprise) and radio active gases occasionally escaped. I can recall reading an article many years ago that the entire main cast of an old western movie shot in the Nevada desert eventually died of cancer, including John Wayne. Correlations between these deaths and the atomic testing were made.

I jumped on a bus and went where it took me, and that was Sam’s Town. This is a big casino and shopping complex away from the tourist strip and apparently there are plenty of these splattered around Vegas. Some casinos are designed for the locals, strategically placed near shopping centers for the complete shopping experience. Across the road is a giant Walmart. Yes at last I get to experience the heart and soul of American consumerism. It’s acres of air-conditioned floor space and there is very little you can’t buy here, although I couldn’t find a gun section. ‘What aisles are your guns at?’ no guns, only air rifles! The say the English are eccentric but America has its fair share and they seem to congregate at Walmart. How can the one species, Homo sapien, come in so many different shapes and sizes? They’re all represented here at Walmart. It’s an education just wandering around the place. And so many incapable people in electric carts. The shops especially cater for them. There seem to be a lot of damaged people in the US.

This is the Fremont Street Experience.

I spent the day checking out the ‘strip’ at one end of the boulevard and the old end of town on Fremont Street. After sundown I decide to checkout Fremont Street for the ‘Fremont Street Experience’. As explained earlier, a part of Fremont Street is now a mall with a special roof. The ceiling is a video screen, the biggest there is apparently and they are probably right. I’ve come back at night to see it in action. The nightlife in the Fremont mall is amazing. The Nancy Ragans are performing covers of 80’s hits and there are al sorts of performances and attractions for the length of the mall. There us a mix of locals and tourists an everyone seems in a relaxed and happy mood. Every second shop entrance it seems is a casino full of bright lights and gaming machines, waiting to lure in punters. On the hour all of the casino lights in the mall stop and the mall-ceiling comes alive with a colorful video display. This screen runs for several blocks so is very long. Music blares out to accompany the vision. It is very, very effective. I don’t know how they do it but it is spectacular. The atmosphere here is different to the polished glitzy ‘strip’. There is much more character here amongst all of the activity. It seems more genuine and is certainly entertaining. This has been a highlight of my visit here.