Day 14: Desert satiation

Even though the room was a bit dim, it was still very comfortable and I have a large suitcase packed. It is still a pleasant 25°C when I set off, but it will get dramatically higher. My destination is Saguaro National Park, close to Tucson, my next and last overnight stop.

This time I drive on the interstate to avoid the worst of the midday heat when I arrive. I'm there just under an hour and a half later. The ticket booth is unmanned, but with my pass I don't feel guilty because admission is included.

At 11:00 am it is already unbearably hot here. The temperature is 37° and every time I leave the car the heat hits me. Nevertheless, this place is simply magical. Thousands upon thousands of cacti give the place a special look that I don't know from Europe. The park is relatively quiet and you can clearly see that it is not holiday season here.

After 2 hours I have completed the 8-mile round trip and am thinking about what I will do next. I had actually planned to drive to the hotel and visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum tomorrow morning. But since my accommodation offers late checkout and I still have a lot of time, I drive the 45-minute route today despite the scorching heat.

As I approach my destination, I realize that the national park is actually unnecessary for a car trip. It is more suitable for hikers or people like me who have an annual pass. The landscape here is at least as littered with cacti. And the trip is free. Only the museum is not part of the American Beauty Pass, so I pay $30 for admission, but it is really worth it.

The museum is more of an outdoor landscape that shows you the fascinating details of the desert. In captivity, I finally see rattlesnakes, which I had only heard outside and seen briefly once. In the museum, it is also constantly pointed out that you can encounter them on the way. But in my case, it was only various iguanas that roam around here.

The large animals like ocelots, lynxes and coyotes are nowhere to be seen in their enclosures, which is no surprise considering the 40°C we now have. Only a few Mexican wolves are curious and show themselves. This may be disappointing for children, but I can hardly get enough of the different plants on display here. How can such a hostile habitat display such incredible diversity? The colors alone are phenomenal.

I briefly head out onto the desert trail, but after 5 minutes I realize that this is not a good idea. It is more than 4 miles long and in these temperatures it is not feasible for me.

After 3 hours and a few visits to drinking fountains, which are everywhere here, I head to the hotel, which is about 45 minutes away from here. As I leave the area, a coyote trots across the road briefly, but not briefly enough to be able to catch it. It quickly disappears into the sparse thicket, showing how adapted the animals are to life here. My eyes can no longer spot it.

In the hotel I encounter a receptionist for the first time who I don't like. She is very cold and you can tell that she doesn't enjoy her job. She gives me a room on the 3rd floor, but the card doesn't open the door, so I have to take everything back downstairs, including my luggage. She looks at me emotionlessly, not a word of apology, and gives me another room.

When I get to this room, I notice three things. First, the TV doesn't work properly. Second, there is a connecting door to another room, which usually means you hear noise, and third, the refrigerator doesn't work. And fourth, there is no microwave, but that wasn't indicated either.

So I go back downstairs and she tells me that someone will take care of the fridge. I wait in the room for half an hour and then I go back downstairs and say that I'm not particularly happy with the room. Normally you'll either hear that unfortunately they don't have another room, or you can get one without much hassle. But she thinks she has to argue. I didn't say that I didn't want a connecting door, she would replace the fridge and the TV would work (in other words: I'm too stupid to operate it).

The first time I'm here I get a bit grumpy and think that she's either giving me a new room or not. She deliberately fiddles around with her computer for a long time and finally hands me a new card with a new room. On the second floor.

It has a working fridge, no connecting door, the TV works too and there's even a microwave. So I'm wondering why she didn't give me this room straight away when I asked for one with a microwave. Bitch. But at least everything's fine now.

I'm going to Panda Express one more time to finish this trip and the food there is much better than the first one I had in Flagstaff. You just have to give things another chance. The air conditioning is on full blast and I'm really ready to fly home tomorrow. Finally normal temperatures.