Chelsea, Paceyn and I did a short drive on Sunday out toward the town a Arivaca. Our first stop was the Longhorn Grill, just off I-19. Although this place is closed now, it still attracts a lot of attention and is good place to stretch your legs before heading west on the smaller roads. The road heads west from Arivaca Junction to the town of Arivaca. This is one of the oldest settlements in the area and has a great coffee place. The Buena Vista National Wildlife refuge is also just outside of town. From Arivaca, we took Ruby Road toward the ghost town of Ruby, AZ, the site of an extensive silver mine. We stopped for some collecting just past Ruby where California Gulch crossed the road. There was some water in the wash and I was able to collect ephydrids, dolichopodids, chironomids, chloropids and several other families of flies. It was a good trip and I hope that the ephydrids are useful in some of the biogeographic work I've started in the western US. Paceyn was a huge help spotting flies and "fishing" in the wash.
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