Found Erin, his sister.

We also ran into another graduate, Stacy, who was confirmed with Mark.

I did mention that Karen Graduated the night before Mark... She brought down her gown and we had them get together.

Before I headed out on the next part of my journey a couple of friends of Erin's dropped by, these are Megan, Mikelle, and Erin

I have been asked why I drive everywhere on vacation. Why not fly to a nearby town and drive from there........

Gila National Forest, New Mexico

I guess one reason is if I flew I couldn't change my mind as fast to make an unplanned detour......

My friend Dave at Gila Pueblo

Gila Pueblo turned out to be unplanned. The drive out to it slower than expected but I wouldn't have missed it. Only plastic bottles of water are allowed up to the pueblo but you actually get to go into it.

They have a well designed path so that you can go up to the pueblo and back down without retracing much. At the bottom we ran into this black tail rattlesnake. Twice as poisonous as a diamond back but very timid.

Saguaro... Cactus.... Found this wonderful hill of them on State road 70. Prior to seeing this we had only seen a few at a time.

Just as Dave and I were getting ready to leave I to another look at the hill and then grabbed my camera. This cloud just popped up making this picture possible.

About an hour and a half from Phoenix, with the sun going down, found a lovely hill shot.

My Uncle Larry and Aunt Dottie put up with us for a night's sleep. In the morning during breakfast a quail showed up in their back yard, but I wasn't fast enough getting my camera.