Ajo, Arizona

Ajo (AH-hoe, Spanish for garlic) is a mining town located ten miles north of the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  It's the closest community to the park with amenities. (The town of Why, just outside the park, is mostly for residents and mobile home dwellers) I had never been to Ajo and wanted to check out the town.  I had read about its murals around the plaza, and its history with the open-pit New Cornelia mine.  But what else is there here?

The New Cornelia mine is on the town's south side.  Its white-mineral tailing are visible for many miles from the south.  The white runoffs aren't too attractive to the traveler, and one doesn't see anything of historical significance until one gets to the center of town and its Spanish plaza..

I did quickly find a nice niche.  Yes, the plaza and its palm trees are worth a visit.  An old school by the plaza is now a conference center and hotel.  The white Catholic church is across the street from AZ85, and a block away is the Curley school.  The town of just 3300 is easily traversed in a few miles.  I parked the Honda in the shade and walked around.  I got my dose of both Mediterranean Revival Architecture and art in the same mile-long walk.

I drove through town, noting the many colorful murals.   Most were very well done.  I always appreciate Native American depictions in our history, and there are many murals showing Native American, Spanish and Colonial contributions to the area history.

But what got my attention was an open coffee shop, the Roadrunner Java shop on the north end of town.  Restaurants of all sorts have been ordered closed for sit-down clientele, so seeing this place open after two weeks of closure was a surprise, and I stopped here.  The outside north wall displays the killer rabbits from a low-budget horror flick, "Night of the Lepus" that was filmed in Ajo and released in 1972.  I parked the Honda in the slim shade to keep the dogs cool and walked inside.  I was welcomed by a seated couple, Max and Sandra, who invited me to join them when I stepped inside, and the shop owner, an elderly woman running the business by herself, Millie.  I ordered a large cappuccino and a Boston Creme pie donut and joined Max and Sandra at their table.

I took Max up on the offer and joined him and Sandra at their corner table.  They are regulars here.  Max gave me the history of Ajo and his history with Sandra.  Both are in their 70s.  Sandra lost her husband shortly after she came with him from Wellington, BC to Why, AZ. Max and Sandra met at a local craft fair and have been together for ten years, traveling the country together.  I enjoy road trip stories, so Max continued telling me about their first road trip together, a visit to Graceland in Memphis because Sandra is a big Elvis fan.

Max is originally from Fort Wayne, IN, graduated from Michigan State and now is fully retired.  Like me, he loves to travel around the country and told me a few more fun trips he's taken: staying at a registered haunted house and stopping at quirky art shops.  Like me, he avoids shopping centers and big man-made stuff.

Millie closes her coffeeshop at noon, so we didn't have a lot of time together.  I finished my treat, said good-bye to Max, Sandra and Millie.  I enjoyed some human contact again.  My hour-visit in a dinky coffee shop with three strangers revitalized me.

I continued my drive back home, passing many road-side memorial for accident victims, passing Baboquivari Peak and Kitt Peak, before stopping at the Costco off Kino Parkway in Tucson which had a dry-erase wall with all the items they are out of.  It wasn't until I got to Tucson that I heard news again, after a 48-hour self-inflicted ban.  Cochise County got its first coronavirus patient.

There wasn't much of a crowd inside the Costco, and I made a comment to one of the clerks.  "People are staying away due to the shutdown" he said.  I got coffee, kibble, tangerines,. There was plenty of bottled water and beer, but no bread.  The best thing about stopping at Costco, though, was the $1.65 for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline.  Prices are finally dropping!  It was $2.19 in Tucson on Friday.