Suruaro Desert, Ok Corral, killer bees

This Suguaro looked more like a dinosaur to me than a cactus.



Life is mostly good...and at times incredibly difficult. One of the small, but very good stretches for me is when I am on a motorcycle way, way out on the open road. That was the case today in the Suguaro National Park in the Sonora Desert. All, however brief, so good.



I had to go to Tombstone, who could skip it. I will have to go back and re-read my history, but they have actually sustained this place, for tourists or otherwise??, pretty much as it was when the "alleged legendary" shoot out took place in the OK Corral. I did notice that one of the signs validating the legend included a photo of the guy who played in the movie....Tom Beringer? Kurt Russell?? Tom Cruise?? Gilligan?? I know I know this and I'll look it up later this evening, but I am pretty sure whoever he was, he was not in Tombstone Arizona in the 1870's. Still, all in all, a pretty cool town. Their town sign reads "Tombstone....a town too tough to die" I think I saw the same sign on the parkway east from the Pgh Airport into the city in the 1980's.



I was determined to find a rattlesnake, or a scorpion, or one of the wild pigs that all of the signs warned about. I hiked a fair distance into the desert and the main thing I found is that all of the species of cacti, and there are about 40 of them, defend themselves with very sharp, very prickly needles that attach to anything that comes close.



The only real wildlife I came across in my 2 hour desert hike was this sign which was at the end of a long trail. I was, albeit against good nature, poking sticks under rocks trying to scare up a rattler, to no avail. When I read this sign carefully I realized that all odds were against me:

1. I was a mile from where I started.
2. Even if I followed the rules and ran to my vehicle, my vehicle was a motorcycle and there were no windows to roll up.
3. Who in their right mind is NOT going to swat at bees when they attack?
4. The ranger station was closed and entry was based on the honor system.
5. What does it mean, anyway, to "Africanize" a bee?