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Roy Kerckhoffs' Arizona Road Trip 2018 | Day 4

In early 2018 I went on a road trip in Arizona, driving from the Grand Canyon to Tucson, with stops at Monument Valley, Sedona, and Jerome

Thursday

Saguaro National Park is divided in a separate East and West part, on either side of Tucson. Not sure which one I should go to I used Google Maps, Google Earth and what people had to say about both on my phone to make a decision. Also, I had my van with me loaded with my art and booth, and did not want to drive over too many rough unpaved roads. Both have Saguaros so that wasn’t the deciding factor. But the eastern part is a bit more mountainous, a little more vast and thought I could possibly get some good scenic shots from that part too. So, the east part then.

The plan was to go there till about 3 pm and then head to Tucson where I was supposed to check in and set up for the Fourth Avenue Street Fair which was taking place that weekend.

I paid the entrance fee and entered the park. These cacti are so cool. From Wikipedia: “The saguaro is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea, which can grow to be over 40 feet (12 m) tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican State of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains and Imperial County areas of California. The saguaro blossom is the state wildflower of Arizona. Its scientific name is given in honor of Andrew Carnegie. In 1994, Saguaro National Park, near Tucson, Arizona, was designated to help protect this species and its habitat.”

I stopped at almost every pull-out that had an information sign, “educational moment stops” as I like to call ‘em. 

There were cacti in all kinds of states, from super healthy tall ones to damaged to completely dead. I thought the skeletons looked quite interesting too and looked very similar to me as the skeletons of cholla cacti I’ve seen before in California, just bigger. I took some shots of a cactus skeleton with a live one in front of it, their shapes very similar, as if it was the same cactus in two different states.

Moving on, after taking some saguaro close ups I was looking for some more scenic shots and found several perfect spots. One of these I turned black and white not too long ago and colored it with my Marshall Photo Oils and put the process of the hand coloring on YouTube as a time lapse and a tutorial.

One idea I had in mind was to create a “The Arizona Bus” photo, like I’ve done before with my “The California Bus”. In that latter one I put the California flag on the side of an old Volkswagen bus and stuck it on the beach. I had taken some shots of a first generation VW bus in Hawaii only a couple of months earlier. So I wanted to put that bus with the Arizona flag in a typical Arizona landscape. A Saguaro landscape that is. I took a shot of a saguaro with the sun right behind it with its shadow on the road. The bus would be put right in front of that saguaro and the Arizona flag would be perfect with its sun rays beaming out from the VW sign.

Then I took a photo with my iPhone of me taking a picture of a saguaro. That one I’d stick into the license plate as a little easter egg.

After completing a loop it was time to head for Tucson and check in for the street fair. I headed to the show’s headquarters and told them my name and that I was checking in. They had some trouble finding my booth numbers and told me to wait for a bit as they figured it out.

After a little while a lady called me and said “You canceled your participation”. I said “I did what?” and then it dawned to me…. remember how I had the flu and wrote on the first day of my Arizona Road Trip that I canceled the Fountain Hills show? Well, it turns out I had put my cancelation into a reply to an email from the Fourth Avenue Street Fair…. Meaning, I also was a no-show at the Fountain Hills show. Fortunately, this show in Tucson had some *real* cancellations and I was still able to set up my booth and take part in the show. And after sending an apology email with an explanation to the Fountain Hills show everything was good.

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