EDITOR"S LETTER

BIKES, BEER & BURIED BODIES

Texas has 254 counties. If we were Texas Highways, which is a wonderful magazine, by the way, we couldn't have done this month's portfolio. Too many counties in Texas; too many miles in between. As it is, Mark Lipczynski logged 2,676 miles in his 2011 Ford Tran-sit Connect just hitting the 15 counties we have in Arizona. He was on a grave pursuit, so to speak, to shoot some of the most interesting cemeteries in the state.

When we sat down with Mark to discuss the project, he didn't have a lot of questions. I think he was a little suspect: Are they really asking me to traipse around a bunch of dusty old cemeteries in the middle of nowhere? The meeting lasted about seven minutes, and then he was off, armed with his collection of cameras and a grant of artistic license from us. I'm not sure how many weeks he was out in the field, but by the time he got back to Phoenix, he'd nailed the assignment. What you'll see in Where the Bodies Are Buried is just a sample of what he brought in. It's an impressive portfolio, and it's our way of getting into the spirit of the season. Happy Halloween. Our cover story has a seasonal theme, too.

No matter where you're from, autumn offers a welcome respite from summer. Even those tortured souls in Lake Wobegon, who right about now are gearing up for the onslaught of winter, can appreciate the beauty of fall and the words of Helen Hunt Jackson. "O suns and skies and clouds of June, And flowers of June together, Ye cannot rival for one hour October's bright blue weather." Here in the Valley of the Sun, where the world headquarters of Arizona Highways has been baking in the heat for months, fall means a chance to get outside, hop on your bike and hit the road.

In Ride On!, we feature 10 of our favorite routes for seeing the reds and yellows of oaks and aspens. The Holy Grail of fall rides is Hart Prairie Road, which is what you saw on our front cover. It's my personal favorite, but all 10 are worthwhile. Some are extremely difficult, like the Icehouse Trail in the Pinal Mountains south of Globe, and some are easy enough to do on an old Schwinn three-speed with a banana seat. The trails in the Granite Basin Recreation Area near Prescott fall into that category. Two of the most popular trails up there are West Lake and Balancing Rock. Do them as a combo, and when you're done, head into downtown Prescott and park yourself at the Palace Saloon.

The Palace is old. It's not as old as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Central London (est. 1667) or Café Vlissinghe in Belgium (est. 1515), but by Arizona standards, it's getting up there. Established in 1877, The Palace was serving hard liquor for several decades before Arizona even became a state. And for that, we're labeling it a classic, along with the other six saloons in The Magnificent Seven.Few, if any, of those places still have hitching posts out front, but they all have a connection to Arizona's Wild West. Our story offers a slice of Arizona his-tory, with a shot of bourbon or sarsaparilla thrown in. Add the saloons to your itinerary, and when you go, remember: Quench your thirst, wet your whistle, whatever, just don't drink and drive. You don't want to end up in a county jail somewhere. Or, worse yet, in one of Mark Lipczynski's cemeteries.

HAPPY TRAILS, SEÑOR This month, we say goodbye to long-time senior editor Randy Summerlin, who's retiring after five decades in publishing. Actually, we're not entirely saying good-bye. We've ordered a life-size cutout of him, which will sit in the art department next to the pressure cooker he used every day to make his lunch. Nevertheless, we are going to miss Randy and his thick Texas drawl. Although his name may not be familiar to you, you should know that he's one of the many behind-the-scenes folks around here who make this maga-zine possible. He's also a good-natured and genuinely sweet man. I learned that on my first day in the office. I was tak-ing over a seat that had been occupied by only 12 editors in the long history of this magazine. Randy, feeling the expected trepidation of facing "the new guy," walked in anyway and helped me through the transition. There's no way to adequately thank him for his hard work and dedication, but there is one thing the ASU grads on the staff would like to offer to our colleague, a diehard Univer-sity of Arizona fan. Here you go, Randy: "Lute Olson is a god." There, we said it. Be well.

ROBERT STIEVE, EDITOR