I figured. I was visiting my-brother-law way out in the sticks in Apache Junction back then. We would sit on his back porch and fire our handguns at tin cans set up among the sagebrush. I understand that area is now a suburb of Phoenix.
It is. Everything is built up out that way and especially Chandler, Queen Creek and other areas as well. When I tell people to look up the square mileage of the Phoenix metro area, they are in disbelief! It is 14,599 mi² as per Google search.
In ‘76 I passed through Apache Jct. on my way from Tucson to Canyon Lake. I was contracted to conduct an underwater search for a couple Russian heirloom diamond rings that an angry wife had tossed overboard at the marina, but that’s a story for another time.
We stopped at the A.J. Bayless for provisions, and I noticed a clump of local teenagers hanging around the front corner of the store. I wondered what life would be like for a kid in a small town like that. But if they liked to hike, bird watch, take wilderness photos, shoot, hunt, ride off-road, fish, go boating, or water ski, it would be great.