Interlude: Camp Verde, Arizona

Territorial Town Inn

This town of 13,000, stretched out over miles in the Verde valley, is where we have settled in for the night after traveling only a short distance today. The ‘Territorial Town Inn’ (no idea where the name comes from, but it’s intriguing enough that I might inquire tomorrow morning) seems like a quiet and picturesque place not far from the historic center of town, but tonight we witnessed some dramatic events here.

When we checked in I noticed a pretty young woman crossing the parking lot, carrying a case of coolers. She was laughing, so that I first thought she was on the phone with someone, but then realized she must be laughing in a private conversation with herself. She looked at me, friendly, almost expectantly, but at the same time kind of distant, and entered one of the motel rooms. It was almost a bit creepy. 

Since it was still very warm (the high today was +30 Celsius!) we sat in front of our room with a glass of wine and had supper, and again the young woman made several appearances. Now, however, she was not laughing any longer but visibly upset, talking loudly to herself. Something was very wrong.

Suddenly a police car pulled into the parking lot, followed by a big and then a smaller fire truck of the Camp Verde Fire Brigade and finally another police pickup, all with flashing lights, lining up in front of the motel. After some time the young woman came out of her room, pulling a suitcase, carrying a bag. Still talking vehemently to herself she crossed the parking lot and walked down the sidewalk towards the center of town.

Once the police had left the motel manager came over to us; she seemed to feel the need to explain. The young woman had been living in the motel for the past month. She suffered from schizophrenia and hadn’t been taking her medication for the last while. Her parents lived somewhere outside of town, but seemed unable to deal with the situation, and since she was an adult nobody could force her to do anything. The manager had been keeping an eye on her, often able to calm her down. In the last few days, however, her condition had deteriorated, and she had started to scare the guests with her violent outbursts.

Tonight, when she started to display abusive behaviour towards the manager she called the police. They, too, couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to do, and since she didn’t want the police to take her to the hospital or anywhere else they had to let her go. But where will she end up? What a sad story. One can only hope that she’ll realize in how much trouble she is and seek help on her own.

At the moment, these events overshadow whatever else happened today, but I will try to get back to where I left off this morning: to our hike in the Superstition Mountains.