Teresa Wellborn on Transportation, Tap-dancing and River Running, Ep. 38

Episode 38: Celebrating AZ

Special guest Teresa Welborn hits Arizona roads with a deep bench of stories as ADOT deputy director, as well as stories about one of her favorite podcasts.

Mug: Arizona Inn

From Grand Canyon first draft for Arizona Daily Star, August 2025

by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger

Silding down the waterfall at Shinamo was even more fun with daughter Sedona.  Her tent was near the one Teresa Welborn and I shared (although Teresa would want to make sure all her Arizona friends know she slept outside).  I didn’t mind the net ceiling between me and bats.  Enough people had been evacuated from bat encounters this year that only one smart enough to enter a tent would run me off. 

A Colorado River pilot takes you on an enchanted journey and holds your life in his hands, like a guide through Narnia, or on a hero’s quest in a role-playing game, only real.  They inspire love and reverence and fascination. 

      So many things remain fresh: Ben giving us a concert in Blacktail Canyon’s stunning acoustics.  It included “Kelly’s Rag,” written for his mom who died when he was thirteen.  As the last guitar string stopped vibrating, I think every one of us wanted to buy him a car or stroke his forehead.

I can instantly be back at breakfast with smoked salmon and eggs and cantaloupe; or any five-star meal.  Any five-star conversation.  Any breath.

We left the River, but we never leave the trip, thanks to captured images and memories: each evening’s camp circle before dinner, everyone offering a spontaneous toast the night Lar’s flask went around that circle (To Larry, to ravens, to memories and making new ones, to the River, and other wonderful words).