My Income Stream (Trickle), Saturdays on the Reservation

Every Saturday I make the trip from home (Oracle) to Sells, on the Tohono O'odham Reservation, where I teach Basic Design at the Tohono O'odham Community College.
It's a bit of a long drive. 2 1/4 hours, to be exact. Each way.

In the photo above, I'm completing the first 1/2 hour of the drive, as I approach Tucson. The mountains are the Catalina's. They're quite spectacular, if you know what you're doing, and if you aren't shooting while driving.


Freeway driving through Tucson. I got a few shots of just sky. A few of just pavement. And then, well, sort of a photo of some of the big buildings in Tucson. I've now been driving for about an hour. It's 8:15 am on Saturday, not much traffic, so it doesn't matter too much that I'm weaving all over the road to get this shot.


Under an overpass.


And onto the long road toward the reservation.



Approaching the Border Patrol checkpoint.


Taking my life in my hands photographing the Border Patrol as I pass by. (They only check you going the other direction).


Almost through Border Patrol checkpoint.



On the reservation now. About another 45 minutes to go.



Arrival in Sells. You have to watch out for animals on the road. I almost always see at least a few horses and cows wandering about town.



The slow approach is the best approach.



Entering campus.


The studio. Actually, it's a science lab, but we make do. At least there are sinks. I meant to take a photo of my students. But I got busy and completely forgot. They say hi! They are a wonderful group of 12 students. They work hard and are eager to learn. Although nearly all of them do a variety of arts and crafts, only one has taken any formal art classes. A delight to teach.



There's always something posted on this white board. In English and in Tohono O'ohdam. It's always interesting to see what the phrases are. I especially like "watch out for the rattlesnake" and "pass the salt". Two essentials in life.


Three and 1/2 hours later (that's how long class is), I'm back on the road, going in reverse. Approaching the Border Patrol checkpoint, I snapped a quick shot, but didn't dare take a photo of the officer as he stopped to check me out, making sure I'm a US citizen, not carrying any contraband in my Mini Cooper. I was hungry and didn't want to take a chance on being thrown in jail.



Not far from the reservation, I stop at a gas station to get my lunch. Yes, very nutritious. I try not to eat all the Cheetos, but it's hard to resist, after all, I have another 2 hours to drive before I get back home.