Sure, I might have just gotten home a few days ago but if a friend needs a getaway, I can be the person to accommodate that. And this time that friend was Brinn who started his career as a nurse months ago and has been working hard without a chance for a quick overnight getaway. We finalized our plans last night, and then this morning I talked with Clayton over at the Simpson Hotel in Duncan, Arizona, to find out that he could have a couple of rooms made up for us. Well then, nothing more to do than wait for Brinn to finish dealing with another commitment before he could meet me for us to get on the road.
Perfect timing, we are pulling into Miami for, you guessed it, Guayo’s El Rey Mexican restaurant for our favorite carne asada ever. Charbroiled beef smothered in green chili and cheese from this place never fails to satisfy, unless they are sold out as they were when Caroline and I passed through here nearly a couple of months ago. If I were a smart man I’d leave out these references to my food obsessions, but like all things, either they will go away or I will and then all that will be left are these notes about either or both. It’s just like this long abandoned Motel Villa at 1640 Cherry Avenue and Highway 60 in Miami that I can’t find a lick of information about. Maybe if a traveler back in the days when their sign lit up along the highway into Phoenix had taken a moment to document their journey, photographed the sign when it shone brightly and shared their experience staying at Motel Villa, I’d be able to walk in their memories.
There are many abandoned properties to be found in Miami. While I ultimately learned from a real estate site that Motel Villa was built in 1951, that will never satisfy my curiosity about the rest of the town which has an incredible visual appeal to my searching eyes. The journey to learn about this one property did inspire me to consider revisiting these places such as Miami, Winkelman, Kearny, Clifton, Duncan, and so many others that are fading off the map, to capture what does remain in order to provide at least a visual reference for others that might be on a similar quest in the future to find out what they can about this part of our disappearing history.
If you knew the geography of this part of Arizona you’d know that Picketpost Mountain should not be showing up at this point in my post. You see, we are now traveling west having just passed through Superior which is east of Miami. Why might we have turned around? Because relationships are complicated. This isn’t a reference to Brinn and me, suffice it to say he needed to give his attention to something more important than being out of town.
No matter though, Caroline will be thrilled that I’m going to be home tonight and we were able to have lunch at what should be the world-famous Guayo’s El Rey. The idea of staying out at the Simpson Hotel will also inspire Caroline and me to book a couple of nights this coming weekend so there’s that win too. Finally, this was a beautiful day for a drive with the first signs of wildflowers looking to explode on the landscape promising a colorful trip across the desert in the coming days.