Tucson - Ajo / Piper Dakota (N9708W) / VFR

(I've skipped a couple of unremarkable flights.)

After having come down to Tucson earlier in the day, I decided to go wandering along Highway 86 to the west, through parts of Arizona I've never been to before. The highway passes through some towns with really bizarre names, like Haivana Nakya, Chiawuli Tak, Vainom Kug, Maish Vaya, and Wahak Hotrontk—I assume these are aboriginal American names (Tohono O'odham?), since they don't look like any European languages I'm familiar with. The first part of my route also took me just north of Kitt Peak, with its 23 different telescopes.

There wasn't much to see, which is typical of all southern Arizona, but at least it was scenery I had never seen before—a different expanse of dirt and cactus, in other words. Following the highway was pretty easy, except in a couple spots where several roads split off in different directions.

I considered landing at Sells for a stopover, but ultimately decided to just continue on non-stop to Marcus Airport just north of the exciting town of Ajo, Arizona. I had to be reasonably careful when approaching the airport because there are restricted areas on three sides, including R-2301E and R-2305, which are only a bit more than a mile from the airport.

Landing was uneventful, as you'd expect for a deserted airport just north of Ajo, Arizona.