Driving into the sunset on Main Street in Gila Bend, Arizona

Arizona sunsets make you feel like you’re in a movie.  After Buckeye, we drive down I-85 south until we hit Gila Bend.  I grew up in Phoenix for a bit and my mother still lives there, so there is something about this western landscape that feels normal.  Normal that is, in spite of seeing two concrete dinosaurs, a UFO themed hotel (complete with two-story UFO in the parking lot) and a field of old saguaros used as target practice.

We pull off the highway and onto Main Street in Gila Bend.

It’s the abandoned west I love.  We drive into a dirt parking lot where “Ben’s Bar” used to be.  I assume it was a cowboy bar because of the silhouette of the rodeo rider on the side of the building.

We walk down the street and I pick some creosote so I can bring the smell of  desert rain back to New York.  There are a few houses on this Main street. We see a man in a cowboy hat standing on his driveway holding his son.  We go up and talk to him.

“Hi! What’s going on here?”

His name is Jason and his son’s name is Drason.  Jason works for the railroad in Gila Bend, a lot of people who live in Gila Bend do.

“This isn’t much of a Main Street.  Just a few houses.  There’s a roping arena up the road where people practice once a week, but that’s about it.”

We drive up the road to see if there’s any roping going on.  Not right now, although  we see a few beer bottles on the ground.  There are some horses off in the distance creating the most typical Arizona landscape you could imagine.  The only thing missing are the howling coyotes.

We get back into the car and drive off into the sunset.