AZ hot as I thought...

So, I'm in Arizona. That makes 15 states and 4 provinces since June, 4 states and 3 provinces of which were new for me. And I thought I wouldn't get to travel much this year...

This is my first time to the southwest. I've had a layover in Las Vegas before, but that only counts so far as running through the slot machines at the terminals to make my next flight and seeing nothing but darkness surrounding all of the lights of Vegas as we landed and took off.

I landed around 10:30 PM local Friday/1:30 AM EDT Saturday after spending a sweet day in Philadelphia with a few friends. Mike kindly watched my flight status and was there waiting for me at baggage, even though I was half an hour early. We left the airport for our hour and a half drive back to where he's now living in Bullhead City, AZ, and I swear I felt like I was on the moon (a little bit tired, but really the landscape with nothing but headlights on it looks like the moon, hilly and rocky and sandy).

Mike had a blood-borne pathogens test to take at his school on Saturday morning, so I got to see his classroom and his school (there is NOTHING around it but desert and some far-off looking mountains) and met a few of his fellow faculty members. Other than that, I admittedly spent most of the weekend napping. I find it remarkable how much I love traveling, given the fact that I am terrible at time zone changes (not to mention excessive car sickness, which thankfully hasn't been an issue so far this trip). We did have dinner with a woman he teaches with and her husband, who live at the edge of a country club-- it's very weird seeing grass, but there are quite a few golf courses here in the desert (Mohave County at least borders the Colorado River, so they aren't pumping water too terribly far...)

While Mike goes to school, I've mostly sat around working on my Soil Science course online, or my syllabi for the three courses I'm teaching at William Paterson and Rutgers this fall. I have spent two days this week volunteering with the local NRCS office, which has allowed me to get out and adventure a little bit. I've mentioned once or twice on here that I've been volunteering with them since April, and I LOVE IT. Seriously. I just adore the things I've been able to see and learn about in the name of conservation all over New Jersey, and now in a small part of Arizona.

On Tuesday, I drove from Bullhead City through Union and Coyote Passes (~3500 and 3700 feet, respectively), through the Golden Valley and into Kingman to meet up with Erin, a rangeland specialist with NRCS. She took me to Peach Springs, in Hualapai Territory, via Old Route 66 for a meeting with some producers and conservationists about concerns and conservation practices in the area.


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It was a long day, but I got to see a lot of upper desert, into the mountains and across a plateau. I asked poor Erin about a million questions about Arizona vegetation, landforms and conservation, but she didn't seem to mind (she chose this as her career, after all). It has rained a little bit recently, so there are a lot of new grasses popping up all over the place, making the desert a lot greener than I expected.

Yesterday, I got to help Erin with a Natural Resource Inventory, which is basically taking note of every soil, rock and plant (and animals, which there weren't really any where we were) in a circle 150 feet in diameter. It took us about five hours, and we finished measuring and sampling just before noon. I was very grateful that there were some clouds and it was cooler at the higher elevation in the Kingman area, but it was a very cool experience getting to know the ecosystem pretty closely. Hopefully my Soil Science course will land me a job with these people in the future.

In the meantime, having a wonderful stay in Arizona!