On our way out this morning, we paid a return visit to Brown’s Orchard to pick up our apple juice, a leg of lamb for my mother, and 80 pounds of apples for Lauren’s animals at The Little Farm in Gilbert. Last night, prior to leaving the orchard, June and Gerard invited us to take a break and share a drink of their homemade apple wine, also known as hard cider. We sat on their patio talking, watching the hummingbirds and the orchard trees aglow from the setting sun – a perfect ending to our perfect day; thank you, June and Gerard. Before we finally headed home, we hoisted a 25-pound sack of locally grown pinto beans into the back seat next to the massive cooler holding our 12 gallons of juice, and then we were on our way.

We chose a backcountry dirt road called Fort Grant Road that intersects with AZ-266, becoming Klondyke Road. Our scenic detour took us past more apple orchards, pistachio orchards, and the nearly famous Eurofresh – home to 221 acres of greenhouses that produce over 100 million pounds of tomatoes per year. The photo above was taken at the Klondyke junction, about halfway between Bonita and Eden, where we would reconnect with pavement on Highway 70 going to Globe and Phoenix beyond that. The skies were overcast, and some rain could be seen in the distance, but the old dirt road wasn’t in too bad of shape; good thing, too, as our little Hyundai sedan is certainly no landrover.

Upon reaching Globe, highway 70 terminates, and we merge onto Interstate 60, which will take us all the way to the Phoenix area, but first, we’ll pass through Top-of-the-World, where I think there might be one shop still operating but obviously not this one.

Further east, we reach the once bustling town of Superior that was put on the map again in 1997 with the movie titled U-Turn by Oliver Stone starring everyone, including Sean Penn, Billy Bob Thornton, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, and Nick Nolte.

The first time we passed through this way was just after seeing the movie with Ruby and Axel, probably in 1998, as it was on VHS by that time. I can’t remember if the old hotel was fenced off at that time but I wish we’d make an attempt to visit the inside of the place.

Back when U-Turn was being filmed, there was a prop pay-phone setup here on the corner. The concrete pad can be seen behind the plant, but the phone was long gone, even back on our first visit.

While the aesthetics of the place are enchanting to us, they probably don’t lend anything to the economic viability of this old mining town that has seen better days, but enough of that, we need to make our way home now.