The green part of September, out past Three Points

Left the house at six on Saturday to get the desert part done before it turned into an oven, which in September around here is about half past eight. Out 86 past Three Points, then south on 286 down the Altar Valley and back the same way, because the Sportster and I have an understanding about dirt roads. The monsoon does this thing every year where the grass comes up green and stays that way for about three weeks, and I keep forgetting to go look at it until somebody mentions it. Two hundred miles, one gas stop, and enough grasshoppers on the front of my jacket to feel bad about it.