“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Welcome to my personal website and blog. It’s simple, nothing flashy, but it’s mine.
Who am I? Just a Southern California native who, for the last two decades, has called the Sonoran Desert home. The Sonoran spans southwest Arizona, parts of southeast California, much of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, and a slice of northwest mainland Mexico.
I left California during the “Terminator” era, when it became clear the quality of life I cherished from my childhood—back when Reagan was governor—was fading fast. Don’t get me wrong, Southern California wasn’t perfect back then, but it was a great place to grow up, no question.
The world seems to work that way now, doesn’t it? Places that were once vibrant lose their spark. Southern California’s coastal cities, in particular, have taken a hit. Gwen Stefani and No Doubt nailed it back in 1995 with Tragic Kingdom, a clever nod to Disneyland’s “Magic Kingdom” gone awry. By then, many locals already saw the region’s decline. The 1980s were Southern California’s peak, but the early 1990s—marked by the 1992 Los Angeles Riots—sent things spiraling.
Realizing the lifestyle my family and I loved was slipping away, we made the tough call to leave. We left behind friends and family but stayed close enough to visit. Over time, I’ve grown to love the Sonoran Desert, and I’m hoping it doesn’t follow California’s path.
The Sonoran Desert is a hot desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It is the hottest desert in both Mexico and the United States. It has an area of 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 sq mi).
Scirocco is a Mediterranean wind that comes from the Sahara and can reach hurricane speeds in North Africa and Southern Europe, especially during the summer season. The wind originates in the Arabian or Sahara deserts and mixes with cooler, wetter air of the maritime cyclone as it moves eastward across the Mediterranean Sea. Siroccos are most common during autumn and spring.