Our report airs Friday. Watch for the Observer’s piece (Danica Coto or Liz Chandler) this weekend.

We’ve been doing this reporting as part of a fellowship through the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Southern California.

Pictures are worth a thousand words. Producer Bonnie Rosen snapped them. I’ll just try to write a little explainer for each.

Altarcrosses: Crosses outside the Catholic Shelter in Altar, Sonora, Mexico are marked with the number of migrant deaths in California, Arizona and Texas. Heat and dehydration kill hundreds each year. When asked about the most recent numbers, the former Mayor of Altar who operates the shelter questioned why journalists are so focused on numbers. Many deaths are not reported. “Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air.” Sir Thomas Gray

Heidi: Heidi is 2-years-old. She was staying in a kind of rooming house in Altar with her parents and other migrants from Vera Cruz who were bound for Charleston, SC. Heidi hugged our interpreter while she tried to translate. Her parents planned to carry her across the desert.

Flattire: Observer photojournalist Patrick Schneider changes the flat tire on our rental van at the Customs station at the border at Sasabe, AZ while I demonstrate my management potential. Let the record reflect I overcame my Y chromosome and reluctantly read the instruction manual to learn how to fetch the “donut” tire. NASCAR pit crews everywhere – your jobs are safe.

Sonoran desert: Near the Grupo Beta (Migrant Protection) station on the Mexican side about twelve miles south of the border. Grupo Beta agents try to warn migrants of the dangers they will face in the desert.

Road2altar: The road that flattened our tire. It’s 66 miles long, connecting Altar to Sasabe. In the last decade it has become a major migration route. In January when we first visited, the road carried an estimated three thousand migrants a day. In the summer heat, the numbers are more like 600 a day. But lots of press plus increased Border Patrol has reportedly pushed the traffic to other routes, maybe Yuma, AZ or Las Palomas, south of New Mexico.