Steve is on a little adventure without us or the Jupiter Too right now. He's in Arizona helping with media relations for the big wildfire they have out there.
His trip does tie in with our blog, though.
Last night, before Steve left, I jokingly asked him if he wanted to take my "WPA Guide to 1930s Arizona" with him. It's a book I originally read for my aforementioned American Highway course in college, but which I've held onto and which has inexplicably been sitting on a counter in our living room for the past several months.
See, during the Depression the WPA commissioned travel guides for various states, and some of them have been reprinted. It's neat to read about what places (especially sparsely populated places) were like back then. Or at least it is for me, because I'm a huge nerd.
Steve declined to take the book, but I did look up the city he was going to--Springerville--in the index. Sure enough, there was a write-up.
At the time, the population was under 600. (I'm not sure what it is today.) Most of the write-up was about a guy who caught some horse thieves, but when I got to the last paragraph I squealed with delight: Springerville is the location of one of the Madonnas of the Trail statues!
Steve said he'd be sure to go by, and he took the above photo on the way to his briefing this afternoon. I'm a little sad I can't see it myself, but given the circumstances it's probably for the best.
