Tuesday October 15, Jila Bend, Arizona

As always it is hard to say good bye to friends that we make on the road, never knowing if we will see them again, but feel sure we will catch up with Liz again when she is visiting her daughter in NZ. It was so nice to spend time with her and relax in her home.

Just out of Oracle is Biosphere 2, which was built in the late 1980’s , an amazing glass enclosed construction that covers over 3 acres. In the 1990’s 8 people were locked in the building for 2 years, they grew all their own food to sustain them during this time and did many studies on the effects of a controlled environment on humans and plant life.  It is now run by the University of Arizona.

Liz has a friend in Oracle, Jane Poynter, who was in fact one of the original 8 who stayed in the building so learnt quite a bit about the project before we went. She wrote a book “The Human Experiment” which I must like out for.

We visited Biosphere 2 and took the guided tour, thoroughly enjoyed seeing the different ecosystems including rain forests, desert and ocean environments, as well as all the equipment required to keep this closed system working.  The highlight was the “lung” which controls the air pressures within the building.

Interesting though, as the guide was talking with our group deep in the pump area, Ian spotted a small snake about 45 cm long slithering in behind a cabinet. He asked the guide, who hadn’t seen it, if it was supposed to be there. He immediately got on his phone watching the snake the whole time and in minutes a guy arrived with a tool and managed to pick it up….think it was a garter snake. He said that in all the years he had been there it was only the 3^rd snake that they had found, and they certainly didn’t want them there.

Ian entering the Biosphere

A tiny lizard carrying his lunch...a cricket.

Then we were back on the road again, heading west, through more desert land with many of the wonderful  saguaro cacti and then a large area of irrigated cropping land growing mainly cotton and some alfalfa. The last stretch today was through the Sonora Desert before arriving in the small town of Jila Bend where we found a great RV camp to overnight in behind the Shell Service Station, power, water and other facilities for $13.50 a night…just fine.

The sun was just setting, and I don’t think I have ever seen it so big and orange..a real desert sunset.

Seemed to be some mechanical problems with this cotton harvester.

One for Aidan...at the RV Park tonight.