We reach the low plain at last. Before us is another mountain range, way over in the distance. It doesn't look too high and anyway after the road we've just been on we're not too concerned. Most of the traffic is going to and from Phoenix, and our road is not the main one. The map shows a fairly straight road all the way to Wickenburg. That's probably why we are completely unprepared for Jerome. While it's true that the road is quite direct it just happens to go straight up over a mountain. Up! Up! Up! getting narrower all the while until we seem to be on a paved mule-path. There's maybe just room for two very small cars to pass. Then a sign says, "Road Narrows". I joke that maybe all traffic goes up in the mornings and down in the afternoon. Anyway we don't meet anyone coming the other way although Jerome, perched right on the steep side of the mountain, is full of tourists. There's no parking we can see, and the buildings rise sharply straight up from the roadside, clinging like periwinkles to the bare rock. We keep going wondering if we're imagining the whole thing. Far down below we see where we started the climb. After Jerome the road levels out and then descends gradually down the gentle slope of the other side of the mountain. A sign at the little picnic spot we find on the way down tells us that we've just been over Mingus Mountain. It's 7000 feet high.
    We are almost to Wickenburg when I see my first Joshua Tree for this visit. I just love Joshua Trees. Strange looking and ancient. They belong to the Lilly family and that idea alone makes them interesting. We pass through the edge of their territory. They have a rather limited distribution.
    Wickenburg's theme is Cowboys. A stop sign we pass says, "Whoa". Our chosen motel for the night has cowboy memorabilia all around the place and the rooms all have a different frontier theme. Our room has a life-sized horse gazing into the window from the parking area. We open the door and John Wayne looks at us from every wall. We have "The John Wayne Room". The bed is a covered wagon and the lights are hurricane lanterns. Bits of harness and old metal tools are scattered around. I take another photo of my True-Love in an interesting bed. We're sorry he hasn't brought the bright red John Wayne shirt he found in Gallup last visit. Walking into town seeking adventure I meet up with No Seeums. Little bitey insects that wait in long grass for passing tasty ankles. I'm glad I met them. I like their name that seems to be fake-comic Indian. The novelty will wear off when my lower legs still itch in a month's time, but for now it's part of the big adventure. There's a cowboy band playing in the street. We stop to listen and watch the dancers for a while. They're very good.