Visiting the historic Sahuaro Ranch during Social Distancing, April 2020


Ride along with me, and let's go visit one of my favorite places in the world, the historic Sahuaro Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. This is the time of Social Distancing, during the Coronavirus pandemic, and yes, it's perfectly fine what we're doing, and it's well within the guidelines of the governor.

The ranch, like all of the parks around here, is open so that people can use them to get outside, breathe some fresh air, walk their dogs, and just generally, well, be somewhere other than on their couch while we all wait for the Covid-19 vaccine to become available. No, no one really knows when that will be. In the meantime, the idea is to leave a fair amount of space between you and the next person, so no squishing together in stadiums, in parks, that sort of thing. And things really haven't changed all that much for me. I've never really been a squishing together kind of person. You wouldn't find me sitting in a stadium, or in a bar, or anywhere like that - you would find me in the wide open spaces, which I've always found nearby, even when I lived in Los Angeles.


In today's adventure, you're my little tiny wiener dog, and you rode over in your carrier on the back of my recumbent trike. We're sniffing around under the shade of some palm trees, and while there are some people around, they aren't coming over to us. Speaking for myself, I kinda like that - I go to these places for the peace and quiet, and if someone decides to walk over to me they usually start talking about how much they dislike the government, or something, and I have to smile and nod, and hope they'll go away. And there have always been people who want to come over and pick up my dog, and it's nice that that isn't happening today, either!

What a beautiful day! The air is so clear, and it's soooo quiet. We can hear the sound of mourning doves, and pigeons, and an occasional cry from one of the peacocks. The wind rustles the leaves in the cottonwoods. Off in the distance, back there by the Foreman's House, we can hear the sound of a child laughing, and the soft mummer of adult voices, some speaking Spanish.

If you go to the ranch, please practice social distancing. Find a quiet corner and imagine that it's 1899. There's no need to check your cell phone because they haven't been invented yet. Listen to the quiet, and breathe the fresh air.

The Sahuaro Ranch (yes, they misspell it that way) is in Glendale, Arizona, between Olive and Peoria Avenue, and 59th and 63rd Avenues, just north of Glendale Community College.
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