A few weeks ago, we reported on ways to serve on Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and beyond. We mentioned an Adopt a Highway volunteer group in southern Arizona planning a one-day pickup coined “All the Way to the Border.”

Melissa Owen has been volunteering and organizing litter cleanups for more than 20 years, with more than a decade of commitment to ADOT's Adopt a Highway volunteer program.

Owen's dream was someday to have all 45 miles running through Altar Valley on State Route 286 between Robles Junction/Three Points and Sasabe at the Mexico border be litter-free. That's why she started the "All the Way to the Border" cleanup event in 2015. But she never expected that 2020 would be the year volunteer participation nearly doubled enough to make that dream come true.

But it happened.

“It was a big day – we went all the way to the border in 2020!” Owen reported. At the end of the day, 250 bags of trash were collected by 121 volunteers along SR 286, which runs through a good portion of the scenic Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge. That compares with the 70 volunteers who collected 210 bags of trash along 31 miles of highway during last year's event.

For those who couldn't make it, you can scroll through this slideshow of the volunteers in action.

Owen’s commitment takes time and persistence. She gets the word out by planning several months ahead and sending invitations, and then following up with reminders every few weeks. Just as in past events, friends and travelers from outside Arizona, as far away as Texas and Michigan, showed up to lend a hand. Even a bit of fun was added to volunteer duties during the morning safety briefing. Owen tasked participants to send in photo entries for a "weirdest piece of trash" contest.

The winners this year were a tie between the majority of a toilet and this faux-leather jacket so coated in mud that it weighed in at nearly 50 pounds. Honorable mention as the most beautiful piece of trash goes to a collection of animal bones found during the cleanup.  

Some of this year’s volunteers and supporters included Trico Electric Cooperative, Tucson Recycling and Waste Service, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, the Robles Ranch Community Center, Park Smith Law, Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, Altar Valley Middle School and the Tucson Station Border Patrol Explorers.

Owen’s dream started out small by first adopting mile 5 near Sasabe, Arizona. And, by the way, mile 6 is currently available.  If you’re interested in taking that first step and adopting your own, check out the Adopt a Highway Volunteer program at azdot.gov/adoptahighway or contact me at [email protected]

While many enjoy a day off of work on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, some celebrate the day by volunteering. MLK Day of Service is the only national holiday where Americans are encouraged to work to improve their communities.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your community, consider the Adopt a Highway program. We have hundreds of groups that volunteer to clean up a mile of highway all across the state. Volunteer groups range from families to businesses to religious and civic groups. If you choose to adopt, you’ll even get sign marking your mile.

For those who aren’t ready to commit to adopting a mile, you can join a one-day pickup with the “All the way to the Border” group on Jan. 25. Each year a large group of volunteers performs a massive one-day cleanup along a 45-mile stretch of State Route 286 in southern Arizona. Best of all, they welcome anyone who wants to volunteer. Each year the group has more volunteers than the last. The 2019 pickup included 70 volunteers! The ADOT Blog documented last year’s pickup that included volunteers from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Explorers program. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the Adopt a Highway Volunteer program visit azdot.gov/adoptahighway. If you’d like to participate in the Jan. 25 cleanup along SR 286 between Robles Junction/Three Points and the Mexico border, contact ADOT Adopt a Highway manager Mary Currie at [email protected].

It’s the time of year we start looking back at the past year and making plans for the new year. For some, that’s a commitment to lose weight, spend more time with family or make other life changes.

Many of you will decide to recommit to causes important to you or look for new volunteer opportunities. If improving your community and the environment or the beauty of our state is important to you, you might consider adopting a highway.

Last year, nearly 10,000 Adopt a Highway volunteers picked up more than 13,000 bags of trash along 1,700 miles of state highway. Volunteers just want to make sure our state looks its best, whether honoring someone special or spending time with friends and family on a group cleanup.

The Adopt a Highway website makes it easy to get information about the program. You can even go online to pick out a highway segment near your home or one with special meaning. If you’re still on the fence about adopting, we also share stories about volunteer groups and their experiences.

We hope to see you out on your mile of highway in 2020!

When Bodo and Marie Diehn bought their cabin site near Payson in 1988, they knew they wanted to keep the drive up State Route 87 as beautiful as when they first saw it.

So the next year they joined the Adopt a Highway program, claiming mile 248 in the name of their environmental consulting company. They were in their 50s and often got their family involved, driving their Geo Metro up to clean their selected mile of highway. That's the family cleaning together in 1995 in the bottom photo. 

After 30 years of being Adopt a Highway volunteers, they have seen their fair share of items alongside the road. Something you might expect included an elk that failed to avoid an 18-wheeler. Some of the items have been a little more odd, such as a slightly dirty, but wearable dress for a toddler girl. But the oddest thing they found was an intact dash camera.

It had flown off the handlebars of a motorcycle, and the Diehns were able to use the photos on the camera and track down its owner in Alabama and return it to him. The hardest thing to pick up? The Diehns agree that would have to be a magazine that had been shredded into small pieces and then blown by the wind over a half mile. 

Today the Diehns are in their 80s. Their family has grown up and moved away, but they still drive their Prius up to keep mile 248 clean. That's them in a selfie from October 2019 cleaning the highway they love.

If you are interested in helping keep Arizona highways beautiful, you can find information about how to join at the Adopt a Highway website. 

 

During this season of giving, how about instead of running out to the nearest mall you give the gift that keeps on giving?

That's right, we're talking about the most valuable presents there are: you and your time.

Have you considered adopting a section of state highways as an experience for bringing friends and family together toward a shared vision? It's a thoughtful, meaningful gift with no need to wait in crowded stores or busy checkout lines.

It won't fit under the Christmas tree, but the gift of you helps reduce unsightly litter on Arizona’s highways and is a meaningful way to both help beautify your community throughout the year and spend time with loved ones.

If you decide to check this off your list, ADOT is ready to give too. We'll help you locate a 2-mile section of highway for your group to help keep litter free. We also supply trash bags and safety vests as stocking stuffers. Notify us after your first cleanup and we’ll celebrate your volunteer effort by unwrapping Adopt a Highway signs with your group's name at each end of your section.

The Adopt a Highway website explains how you can get started and provides contact information for your area of the state.

And a special thank you to the 10,000 Arizona volunteers who already Keep it Grand. The Adopt a Highway Volunteer Program wishes you and your loved ones a safe and joyous holiday season.

 

For the past 10 years Sally Ochoa has maintained a section of US 60 near Show Low. Sally and her husband, Nacho, adopted a mile of highway in 2009, a year after their son was killed in a car crash.

Sally and Nacho always read the Adopt a Highway signs when they were driving and thought it was a special way of honoring someone. After their son, Manuel, passed away, they adopted milepost 346-347 and maintained it together. It’s located near their summer home.

When Nacho passed away four years ago, his name was added to the sign and Sally has continued the cleanups. Both Manuel and Nacho’s ashes are buried near their Adopt a Highway mile.

Sally fondly remembers Manuel and Nacho, “They both never met someone they didn’t love and were always there for everyone else before themselves … wanting to do things for other people. That’s why this mile is so important to me because I can give back to them.”

Sally says adopting a highway is a “feel-good” thing to do and it helps the community while keeping a loved one’s memory alive. She knows her son would have been proud of her and Nacho for making his life memorable.

Visit the Adopt a Highway website to learn more about how you can participate.

This Adopt a Highway story begins in 1959, when Arthur “Busty” Lewis Perry and his son Wayne Hill Perry began building a cabin at Hawley Lake.

Arthur and his son Wayne owned the cabin until the 1980s and often brought Wayne’s kids to the White Mountains. Wayne’s son, Chris Perry, now owns a cabin in Greer and takes his young sons, Elmer and Arthur, to the mountains. Chris hopes to teach them about caring for our forests.

Chris first learned about ADOT's Adopt a Highway program more than 20 years ago when he worked for the Arizona Mountain Inn in Flagstaff and employees regularly gathered to clean their Adopt a Highway mile.

Those cleanups stuck with Chris. In 2018 Chris and his brother Peter adopted mile 4-5 along State Route 473. That mile honors Chris and Peter’s father and grandfather.

This past June, Chris and his brother surprised their dad by driving him to the highway marker. It was the first time Wayne Perry had seen his name on the sign and learned his kids had adopted a highway in his honor.

Chris said, “My father was very pleased with the sign and the idea of keeping this scenic highway clean. He was proud to see the sign and I think he knows it will be there for some time. My grandfather, Arthur, also loved the White Mountains and was an avid fisherman. I think he would have been very happy with what we’ve done.”

The Perrys plan to clean their mile for many years to come and encourage others to consider adopting their own highway segment.

“To anyone who is thinking about adopting a highway, I say go for it. It’s important work, whether on a scenic highway or on an average stretch of road between two points,” said Chris Perry.

The Adopt a Highway website explains how you can adopt and will show you which sections are available for adoption.

A new Adopt a Highway sign reading, “God’s Country, in memory of Philip C. Brogdon” went up near Big Lake this year. The family of Philip C. Brogdon recently spent some time explaining the meaning behind the sign and how they came to the decision to adopt.

For five generations, Philip Brogdon’s family has been traveling to and camping at Big Lake. When Philip became sick with pancreatic cancer, he asked his family to promise they would continue to get together as a family. Amber Barney, Philip’s daughter, says they’ve tried to continue the tradition of going to Big Lake each year to camp and fish.

Amber tells us when her family would drive up to the lake her dad would always roll down the window and say, “This is God’s country.”

Philip’s love of the area led the family to adopt State Route 260 at milepost 399 this year, and her dad’s words inspired the sign.

Amber says the family is excited to start working on their mile, “I think it’s a great opportunity to do something good in the place you call home. Arizona is a beautiful state, and we hope by doing this, we can help keep it that way for many generations to come.”

The Adopt a Highway website explains how to adopt a highway and a map displays which segments are available for adoption.

Driving nearly five hours to pick up litter along a highway might not sound like your idea of good time, but the Clark family has been doing just that for 11 years.

Jim Clark grew up traveling from Tucson to the Hawley Lake area with his parents, Bob and Joan Clark. For two decades, Bob and Joan passed their love of the White Mountains on to their family through camping and fishing. When Bob passed away in 2008, Jim felt the best way to honor his dad and relive those memories was to do something to keep the environment clean. This led to the family adopting milepost 1-2 along State Route 473.

Today the family owns a home in Show Low, and their adopted mile honors both Bob and Joan Clark. Jim usually cleans their segment with his wife, Sonja, and daughters Caitlin and Brooke, along with a few other friends. Jim tells us when the family drives to their section of highway, it’s much more than just a trip to pick up trash. It’s a time to share family memories. 

“You get so much out of cleaning up Arizona's highways. It is such a beautiful state, and it's our duty to keep it clean. It's a great way to gather friends, family and associates to celebrate something that has meaning and purpose. We will always keep our SR 473 segment. It is a wonderful tribute to my parents, who always took the time to take us camping and fishing in the White Mountains.”

If you have someone you’d like to honor by adopting a mile along a state highway, please visit the Adopt a Highway website.
 

Adopt a Highway volunteers hauled in a lot of litter for National CleanUp Day on Sept. 21! We tallied up the totals and were blown away by how much they collected in just one day.

Ninety volunteers filled 196 bags. Those 196 bags weighed in at 2,665 pounds. That calculates to more than 13 pounds of litter picked up by each volunteer!

ADOT Adopt a Highway Manager Mary Currie traveled 630 miles in one day to visit volunteer groups in Payson, Show Low and Flagstaff. The photos you see are from her travels across the state on that day.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who came out on National CleanUp Day to help keep Arizona grand.

Please visit our Adopt a Highway website to learn how you can adopt your own highway segment.