How Do from Benson, AZ!

Run Stats:
Day: 484
Miles Completed: 1691.7
Miles to San Diego: 408.3
Avg Miles/Day: 3.5
Marathons Completed: 64.5
Longest Run Streak: 15 days
Shoes: Skora Fit/Skora Tempo
Playlist Favs: Sidewalk Prophets, Elton John
Guest Runner: Molly Donovan

Bible Verse of the Day: "Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love" Ephesians 4:2b (TLB)

Run Reflections: This has been a good running week and month. Had a good 7 mile out and back run this morning which got me over 30 miles for the week and over 110 miles for the month. While the mileage was good, the highlight from this week was a chance to run with my oldest daughter Molly who is home from school for a few weeks before heading to the big apple to work for the summer. I tried to show her some training tips from my new buddies at The Run Experience and she paid me back by increasing the pace (a lot) and beating me back to the house. I look forward to a few more runs before she leaves and hearing about her upcoming runs in Central Park. Without further ado, I'll transition into some info about the small town of Benson, AZ. Information and pictures are from wikipedia.

Benson, AZ: Benson is a city in Cochise County, AZ. It was founded in 1880 as a rail terminal for the area, and still serves as such. The town was named after Judge Barry B. Benson who was a friend of the President of the Southern Pacific railroad. The railroad chose Benson as the site to cross the San Pedro River. Benson then served as a rail junction point to obtain ore and refined metal by wagon, in turn shipping rail freight back to the mines at Tombstone, Fairbank, Contention and Frisbee. Tombstone is about 20 miles south of Benson and I was originally planning to highlight it as part of this blog post but my research on Benson revealed that it's a pretty unique place that deserved all the attention this week. There's plenty of info on the web about Tombstone if interested.

One of the biggest attractions near Benson is the Kartchner Caverns State Park which features a show cave with 2.4 miles of passages. Long hidden from view, the caverns were discovered in 1974. They are carved out of limestone and filled with spectacular speleothems (cave formations) which have been growing for 50,000 years or longer. I've included a picture of one of the cave areas known as "The Big Room" and also a landscape picture from one of the walking trails that are also part of the park.

Another interesting history tidbit about Benson is the Jay Six Ranch. This 40,000 acre cattle ranch is located just outside Benson and played host to political figures like the young brothers Joseph and Jack Kennedy and to senior statesman Barry Goldwater. Apparently, the Kennedy brothers were sent out to the ranch in their later teens in the spring of 1936 to work as ranch hands and so Jack could recuperate from a recent illness in the dry desert heat.

Benson in more contemporary times also has an interesting history. Here are a couple of examples:

• The World University, an educational institution dedicated to education in esoteric, spiritual, and non-traditional subjects, is located in Benson.
• The city was one of the filming locations for Paramounts 1994 film Pontiac Moon.
• "Benson, Arizona" is the name of the theme song to the movie Dark Star, a 1974 scene fiction comedy. There is a Dark Star Road in Benson named in honor of the film.
• In a tip of the hat to Dark Star, the Avengers crossover story Operation: Galactic Storm, a movie about a war between alien races, commences in Benson.
• The Spiritual Conference for Radical Fairies was held at the Sri Ram Ashram in benson in 1979. It was the foundational event that began the Radical Fairies community. Note: this is not like Jane and the kids at The Freedom School from the movie Billy Jack.
• "Benson Hedges" by the popular America band Fun. references the lead singer, Nate Ruess, and his existential crisis in Benson. I like the band Fun. (although some of their songs can be inappropriate) and have heard the song referenced here which is from their 1st album - Aim and Ignite. I much prefer another song from this album called "The Gambler" which also mentions Arizona. It's a story about the lead singers family and has some cool french horn runs. In the spirit of the "odd" elements of this post, I was hoping to include a link to a you tube video where a guy named Jose Castro created an animation to go along with this song (my kids thought it was creepy). Unfortunately, this seems to be technically beyond me today so you'll have to look it up yourself if interested.

If that were not enough, Benson is also home to "The Thing." The Thing is another roadside attraction courtesy of Bowlin Travel Centers. According to the website roadside america, in a span of 200 miles along I-10, there are 274 different signs posted to entice travelers along this sparse stretch of desert highway to stop and find out what the thing might be. I have included a picture of one of the roadsigns and imagine that I have virtually passed by most of them along this run. I've included a link (below) to the roadside america story on The Thing.

The Thing?, Dragoon, Arizona - Roadside America

So there you have it, I certainly wasn't expecting a single small town in the middle of the desert to be linked to all this stuff. I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a great week!

God Bless,

Pat