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These photos were taken during winter trike rides in and around Maricopa, Arizona. The sunshine and warmth in Maricopa are a nice improvement over the dreary rainy days of the Seattle area, where I'm from. In addition to nicer weather, Maricopa has nicer topography---it's flat as a pancake while the Seattle area is cursed with hills, some so steep that walking is difficult and cycling is impossible.

But there is a down side to getting around in Maricopa: the street pattern is very unfriendly to pedestrians and cyclists. There are few through routes and no "shortcuts." Most of Maricopa is carved up into housing areas that have few entry and exit points and are surrounded by cinderblock walls. Two houses in neighboring housing areas might abut each other on their back sides but require a long, roundabout route to go from one to the other. Even within the same housing area, the effect can be the same. In addition, most streets are not laid out in a grid pattern, but follow confusing patterns that look cute on paper but are a nightmare to navigate. Cycling routes are thus very limited.

Another aspect of the housing areas makes navigation tricky: the architectural style is the same everywhere. Street after street is filled with sand-colored stucco houses of limited styles, with sand-colored cinderblock walls. The ubiquitous flatness, while pleasant from a cycling point of view, robs the area of topographic landmarks. The overall impression is one of sameness. Landmarks are so inconspicuous as to be non-existant.

The only thing that offers relief from the boredom and navigation difficulties is evidence of the housing collapse of 2007. There are several areas in the developments that are unfinished, so next to a set of houses could be vast tracts of graded dirt lots that were abandoned when the market collapsed. There might be paved streets, sidewalks, and signs of underground utilities, but nothing else. Riding through such areas has a surreal feel.

About half of my trike rides in Maricopa are done at night, when traffic is almost non-existant and the sky is filled with stars. Motorists in Maricopa at any time of day are courteous and give me a wide berth.

In Washington, cycling difficulties are largely the result of the topography. In Maricopa they are the result of weird street layout. From what I can tell with Google Earth, much of the Phoenix area has a similar style of street layout.

Newest uploads are scattered amongst others, all of which are arranged chronologically. (Sorry)