Sometimes You Shouldn’t Go Back

Reluctant to leave Antelope Canyon, but realizing that it wouldn’t be much of a road trip if we didn’t, we headed south. We had originally planned to skip Prescott Valley, our former home, but got in touch with some friends who still live there and made plans to meet for breakfast.

When we lived in Prescott Valley, it was a small mostly residential community with only a few stoplights. Our house was north of town on 2.5 acres and we had uninterrupted views of the sunset, the brilliant stars, and often spectacular lightning storms. When we drove in from the east, we were amazed to see that the two-lane road closest to our house had turned into a full-blown freeway.

This used to be a two-lane road with a stop sign. The overpass was a minor highway at the north end of town.

 

Heading for our breakfast date, amazement turned into stunned gaping at how once open grassland, home to roaming herds of pronghorn, had been buried under housing developments that blended into miles of retail strips containing every chain store imaginable. The bypass road where you may have passed half a dozen cars 15-years ago, was now an unrecognizable multi-lane monstrosity that was already overcrowded early in the morning. The retail bonanza continued along the highway into Prescott and we were relieved to get to our destination and meet up with our friends.

After breakfast, we made a few necessary stops, including one at the Friends of the Library store to stock up on books, then fled town. We found a small campground high in the mountains to stop at and catch our breath. There, we met a lovely man who had spent his life in the film industry, and came over later to sit by our fire and share Scotch – that he kindly provided – and travel stories. His company went a long way toward washing away the stress of the day.

While we had discovered that desert living wasn’t for us, and we were glad to move back to the coast, it was still a shock to discover what Prescott Valley had become. Most disappointing of all was that, where the Milky Way had once glowed bright overhead, the lights of progress had blotted out the stars.