Ajo: a desert town on the edge of rebirth

I took a drive down to Ajo on Monday. There is a client there that I am working with and we are beginning a new phase of work, so I thought it a good thing to drive down and have a face to face with them. It is a good 2 hour drive through the desert and I like to drive, so it was a chance to be alone with my thoughts for a while.

The light was really brutal with a deep haze covering the horizon and the south sky going totally white with only a hint of blue by the time you would get to overhead. The road was nearly deserted on some spots, and for 25 miles on I10 I didn't pass or get passed by another vehicle. Seemed almost surreal.

Ajo is a slowly recovering mining town in southern Arizona. Perched at a point where people from SoCal and Phoenix have to pass through on their way to Rocky Point, Mexico, the town is perfectly positioned to take advantage of over a million cars a year. Those cars have people in them.

People need and want things.

Sad thing is that the people of Ajo are not quicker to understand what they have, or that it will take time to develop the places and reasons for travelers to actually pull the car over. So as I drive in I find some new development that unfortunately lacks any connection to the land and the heritage there, but it is clean. Comforting to the traveler I guess.

I saw opportunity after opportunity. Paint the building. Add a nice sign. Put some flowers out front. Take the garbage away from the side of the building and have the kids paint a mural on it.
Catch the visitor's eye. A million cars a day. It just wouldn't be that hard. And with the growth in Rocky Point, that will increase dramatically in the next few years.

I met with my clients and they were so excited about the new work that they are doing there. some folks are really working hard to rebuild and rebrand. Clean it up and attract attention. Make a little noise.

My work with them may help that along. That would be an additional source of pride for me along with the successful site we are building.

Maybe then when I and millions of others drive into Ajo, they would want to stay a while and enjoy this great little town. That's the goal and these folks are totally committed to making that happen.