Notes on a highway

Road, highway, alongside, tentacles, spine and ribs, towns, cities, border, shopping, cowboys, Indians, Baboquivari, Patagonia, Santa Ritas, Tucson, A Mountain, Mt. Wrightson, observatories, stars, night sky, sunrise, sunset, mines, Titan II missiles, hidden silos, Tubac, Sunday morning coffee at the cafe in Tubac, old car show, Tubac Resort and Golf Club, Tubac arts festival, Santa Cruz Chile Co., Tumacacori Mission, the view of I-19 from the road in front of Tumacacori, the swearing-in ceremony, old ranches, the rims of empires, the Santa Cruz River, the railroad lines, Ford Focus, Hermosillo, Guaymas, container ships, Mexico 15, the border fence, Nogales as the shopping mall of its sister-city, duty-free shopping, Mexican car insurance, a Denver company closed down its maquila, a group of workers wait outside the factory entrance to make sure nobody steals the equipment they need to sell to get paid, the hills, the shopping mall in Nogales, Sonora, making the drive up to Tucson and down to Nogales, Walnut Street, tire stores, that shop on the corner of Grand and Arroyo that keeps changing owners, auto parts stores for Mexican drivers, the Korean and Jewish merchants on Morley Avenue, the strip clubs just on the other side of Morley in Nogales, Sonora, La Roca, El Tule, seis peso tacos, Pasaje Morelos, Mona Vivi’s in Rio Rico, the Pilot gas station, produce row, Madera Canyon, Continental Road, the largest pecan orchard in the world, the rail line that runs along Old Nogales Highway, Old Tucson Road, Chula Vista, the bridge is still out, Palo Parado bridge, Old Nogales turns into 6th Avenue in Tucson, the southern half of Tucson compared to Nogales, the Desert Diamond Casino, Tohono O’odham Nation, auto auctions in Nogales, Sonora, Kino Springs road, snow, my house, the GSA at NHS, White Elephant in Green Valley, the fake lake in Sahuarita, Border Patrol agents living in Sahuarita, the rock drawings in Sahuarita, the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19, the roving checkpoints, southbound checkpoints at the border, perros detectores, young men getting in trouble for trafficking in Nogales, old-school guys who used to smuggle loads, Nogales street workers arrested, the local and geologic history under Walnut Street, taco carts, Hollywood comes to Nogales, trucks taking second-hand goods to tianguis in Nogales, Sonora, the Walking Ambulance, the self-published author in Green Valley, travelers on the corner of Mastick Way and Walmart, vacationers to Mexico, Mexicans vacationing in Tucson and Phoenix, visiting relatives, Mexicans in Santa Cruz County federal parks, the family sitting on the stone benches at the picnic table next to Pena Blanca Lake, with a boombox and a little kid, Chinese Mounted Patrol, Korean merchants fly out to Los Angeles every week to get inventory, SB 1070, HIDTA, Metro Task Force, sheriff is no longer in charge of task force, Border Crosser Cards, SENTRI, DHS Criminal Investigations, blimp over Nogales, drones, National Guard, the scared Border Patrol agent guarding the fence the day after the shooting, the dogs of Nogales, 65 mph near Green Valley, the Sun Corridor, CANAMEX, NAFTA, migrant shelters, Mexican Chinese food, barber shops, the orange pool hall, tattoo parlors, motorcycle shops in Rio Rico, Arivaca Road, La Gitana, Nogales Wash, the IOI, two new coffeeshops, kilometer signs, Nogalians who work in the mines, Team Anonymous, Correo Federal, Mexicans order stuff online and pick it up in Nogales, Ariz., Lobos, Apaches, Hawks, Nogales National Little League, War Memorial Stadium, people walking around the track at Pierson.