POTR #85 SLOT ROADS

It has been almost two years since I have written a PEACE ON THE ROAD. That seems like a long time to do without any adventure interesting enough to write about. We have been busy doing things in the resort where we winter and last year summered. Somehow I did not feel that I wanted to fill several pages with, “I went to get my radiation treatment today and will do the same thing tomorrow.” However that is the reason that we spent last summer in Texas. I spent time every day for four months getting radiation treatment or waiting for something else to happen. All the results since last December indicate that I am now cancer free.

There was a fellow in the park that recently went on a trip pulling a trailer with a car loaded on it. He went a thousand miles to his destination and a thousand miles back to Bentsen Grove. He drove a bit longer than I am willing to drive each day. He did the whole trip in two days. In coming the two thousand miles from Bentsen Grove to Rochester it took us about seven days. I retired several years ago and did not plan on driving the long distances in a single day that I did once. So far I have lived that plan just the way I should. This trip we made the decision to travel in our Jeep instead of driving the motorhome. There were several reason for making that decision. For the first time in twelve years we are not traveling WITH our home. So far there have been no significant problems. But of course there have been several things that I did not expect. For one I planned to bring a specific item with me when I came ever since last February instead of shipping it. Guess what! The item is still safely stored in a cabinet in the motorhome. Looks like I will be shipping it as soon as I get home! We need to send a letter today. Do we have an envelope or a stamp? NO! They are back in Texas. So go to the office of the motel, beg an envelope, go to the Post Office and buy one stamp. Not too convenient but not so bad that we can't manage. It simply is that I did not think of that.

I have heard many people claim that they hate driving through states like Kansas, Iowa, or Nebraska because there is nothing to see. I understand that they do not enjoy seeing fields growing crops. Some had said something similar to areas of Texas and Arizona because they did not like a vista of mesquite trees or saguaro. Personally I enjoy seeing any of these sights. In the miles that we drove coming up here I have made a new (to me at least) observation of the roads. Most of the roads were bordered just beyond the barrow pit with a nearly solid wall of trees. Many miles of the Interstate roads were bordered by trees on each side of each direction of travel with the only openings being the emergency crossovers, the entrance/exit of other roads and the view of buildings through the towns. Of course there were many miles of roads also where there were no trees between the lanes. Every once in awhile there was a thin spot where the fields of some farmer could be seen. There was various types of trees making up the walls the roads go through. We started out with a lot of mesquite trees, which transitioned to evergreen trees or deciduous trees or a combination of the two. It was nice to occasionally see a Magnolia tree in bloom. Most of the way we simply drove through a slot road. I guess the builders of the highway laid out the path in the most logical route which was right through the heavy growth of trees. There were times that I felt it would have been appropriate to have a pin hanging down from the Jeep into a groove in the highway and I could quit steering.

Across the USA there are many places that for some odd reason have become known around the world. One of those places is in Memphis, Tennessee. Back in 1925 the current Peabody Hotel was built in downtown Memphis. The centerpiece of the lobby was a fountain carved from a single piece of black Italian travertine marble. It obviously was a attraction to numerous pranksters who made it the home of turtles, alligators and other aquatic fauna. In the 1930's Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend Chip Barwick, returned from an unsuccessful weekend hunting trip in Arkansas. The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey, Jack Daniel's, and thought it would be funny to place some of their live duck decoys (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain. Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. When they got up in the morning they expected to hear stories of the bellhops chasing ducks all around the lobby. Instead the ducks had spent the night quietly swimming in the water. When Frank Schutt sobered up a bit later he said that he would never do anything like that again. However the hotel guests were so impressed with the show that requests were made to continue doing it. Thus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous.

In 1940, Bellman Edward Pembroke, a former circus animal trainer, offered to help with delivering the ducks to the fountain each day and taught them the now-famous Peabody Duck March. Mr. Pembroke became the Peabody Duckmaster, serving in that capacity for 50 years until his retirement in 1991. Nearly 90 years after the inaugural march, the ducks still do their march to the lobby fountain at 11 am. and 5 pm. each day. They live in a $200,000 Royal Duck Plaza of marble and glass on the top of the hotel. They march across the roof, ride the elevator down to the lobby, then march across a red carpet and jump into the fountain. They stay there until the afternoon when they reverse the show. It is claimed that there are five mallard ducks, four hens and one drake with a green head. When we saw the march there was no drake in the group. The ducks march every day for about three months and then are retired back to the farm where they were born to live out their normal lives. There is a French restaurant in the Peabody that is believed to be the only French restaurant in the world that does not have duck on its menu. Duck was removed from the menu in 1981.

THREE OF THE MALLARD HENS IN THE PEABODY FOUNTAIN

In our travels one of the things that we always want to visit is the lighthouses. Some that we have visited have been very tall and to climb to the top has been difficult, especially as we have gotten older. Some of the smaller ones are so short that they barely have a staircase to the top. The one here in Rochester is one of those being only forty feet high. While it is small it is also very picturesque. Whenever we have the opportunity we enjoy a short visit. I often think about a lighthouse being associated with the ocean. This lighthouse is not on the ocean, but rather it guides to a river that feeds into one of the Great Lakes. Till it was built guidance was based on a lantern in a hotel window and another that hung in a tree which was known at The Tree Light. The light house was constructed in 1822 at a cost of $3,300 and included the keepers resident and a well. It is interesting to note that there were two phases of recent renovations. Phase 1 cost $189,000. I would guess that Phase 2 pushed the cost over a quarter million dollars. The Fresnel lens of the lighthouse has been changed out or replaced by various lens over its history. Currently the lens is a reproduction created by Artworks Florida. They specialize in creating reproduction lenses and making repair parts for lenses which have been damaged over time or vandalism.

THE CHARLOTTE GENNESSEE LIGHTHOUSE IN ROCHESTER

In a few days we will be leaving Rochester and going on to Kansas and Colorado. As we came to here we will not be in a rush and it will take us several days to drive there. No matter where we go there will be things to see and even more places we would like to visit and won't feel that we have time. Either that or we will simply not have the desire to expend the energy.

Till Later This Is Doug Of

PEACE ON THE ROAD

POTR #84 Updated Memories

UPDATED MEMORIES

August 6, 2014

Somewhere I have read, likely on the Internet, that the Agave Americana, often called the Century Plant is the fastest growing plant in the world when it starts to bloom and produce seeds. Since I have seen this happen here in Texas I can well believe that it is true. While the myth is that it takes a hundred years to bloom in fact it actually only takes twenty to thirty years on the average with some taking ten and some fifty years. For ten to fifty years the Agave Americana stores up energy for its final spurt of growth. The plant lives its whole life for one purpose, to bloom and produce thousands of seeds and then it will die. The plants that do this are called monocarpic. After it has bloomed the stalk dies and then the main part of the plant follows. It will have produced some cloned seedlings that are called “pups”. In another ten to fifty years these “pups” will follow the life cycle of the parent. In 1932 a fifty year old plant was given to the Bronx Park Botanical Gardens so they could study its growth. The stalk grew at a rate of an inch an hour till it reached fifteen foot tall and produced six hundred gray green buds, which never bloomed. There have been several places that from one to three of these plants have flowered but in one place in McAllen there are close to fifty blooming at one time. They are spectacular to say the least. Some of the stalks have already fallen, and as large as they are they could be hazardous. These stalks have grown to this height in between a month and six weeks.

NEARLY FIFTY BLOOMING AGAVE AMERICANA 

IN McALLEN, TEXAS

It is amazing to see a single Century Plant blooming but to see this many in one place is beyond description. The main thing to say is that everything is bigger in Texas. We have admired these particular plants for eight seasons. By the time we return all of these plants will be dead and only the pups will be growing. On one hand they will be missed, but it will be fun to see what comes next.

EACH BRACT IS COMPOSED OF A 

LARGE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL BLOOMS

Copper has been used for a decorative metal in sculpture for hundreds if not thousands of years. When it is first cast it is bright shiny metal that looks like a new penny. But if it is exposed to the weather it changes to a beautiful green color, which is called a copper patina. Under normal conditions this will take seven or more years, less near the ocean. Many times the copper is treated with chemicals to hurry this aging process. An example of this natural color that is known to the whole world is displayed by the Statue of Liberty in New York City. When France sent the statue to the United States and it was first erected its color was similar to the pennies that you have in your pocket. With time the elements caused the color to change to the green that it is today. I grew up in Kansas, only about seventy miles from Topeka, the capital. I went to the capital on school trips and at least once I climbed up into the dome of the capital building. I have done that also since I retired. Whenever I have seen the dome of the Kansas capital building it has always been the dark green copper patina. I have always thought that it was a beautiful dome. That is until just a few weeks ago when I again visited Topeka. Over the last few years there has been a major face-lifting done on the capital building and its dome. The green patina copper has been removed from the dome and replaced with a new copper covering that has been treated so that it will not be effected by the weather. Three hundred thirty two million was spent on the renovation of the capitol building which included the change of copper of the dome. I am not sure that the color change has done anything to improve the looks. To me the green was special. It is quite a change. At least the statue of the Native American with his bow firing an arrow towards the north star which was placed up there in 2002 still has the original green copper patina that it developed over the years. The statue alone weighs four thousand four hundred and twenty pounds. Inside the outer dome which can be seen is an interior dome not visible from the outside. The main part is twelve foot higher than the the US Capital dome but at fifty foot in diameter it is roughly half the width.

ORIGINAL COPPER PATINA DOME

 NEW TREATED COPPER DOME

With our motor home pulling a vehicle behind it is a lot easier for us to travel along the Interstate highway system rather than going on the secondary roads even when they might be four lane highways. We make frequent stops for various reasons and there are many rest area along the Interstate system that do not exist along the other roads. There are also many sites that are worth visiting just a few miles off the highway. Many times we simply ignore the attractions and figure that we will see them the next time we are in the area. If we do that too many times there will be things worth seeing that we will never see. We have stopped a few places this trip that we have passed in the past. We are never sure that the roads leading to an attraction will accommodate a vehicle as large as ours. We might have to turn around in some small parking lot or even get blocked into a place where I have to disconnect the Jeep in order to turn around. It has not happened this trip but that has happened in the past.

I don't know when I first heard of the Jolly Green Giant but as a youth I know that I was fascinated by him. He was born or created in 1928 to represent a variety of large green peas from which he got his name. In the beginning he was a puppet who walked around the various field crops. He was green because that was his favorite color and he was jolly because he was fun to be around. But children were scared by him so he was replaced by elves in the commercials. At 3,028 miles Interstate 90 between Boston and Seattle is the longest Interstate in the USA. When the east and west sections were linked near Blue Mound, Minnesota a request was made to the Green Giant Corporation for permission to use their symbol as a 55 foot statue near the Interstate. Permission was granted with the stipulation that the funds required would be obtained locally. A request to ten local businessmen for $5,000 each was made and fulfilled within a week. That represented nearly half the construction cost. The statue stands on top a pedestal with a set of stairs so that the 10,000 visitors a year can climb up and stand between his legs. Every Christmas he sports a red scarf. He has a forty eight inch smile and wears a size 78 shoe. I looked around to see if Sprout was there but I could not find him.

THE JOLLY GREEN GIANT STATUE

 IN BLUE EARTH, MINNESOTA

When I was growing up my sister and I enjoyed music. She would play the piano and I would sing with her. I really enjoyed doing that. We shared a lot of church songs and a lot of contemporary music too. I enjoyed those times very much and even to this day I wish I could go back and share those singing sessions. One of the songs that we enjoyed together was Church in the Wildwood. The chorus goes, “Come to the church by the wildwood.” We would often sing it as, “Come, come, come, come to the church in the wildwood.” At that time I did not know that there was an actual church that the song had been written about. Oddly enough the song was written five years before the church was built. The song was written by William S. Pitts in 1857 after a stage coach trip to see his fiance. The stagecoach had stopped near Bradford, Iowa and he wandered the woodlands a bit. He envisioned a brown church in the area and could not be at peace with himself until he wrote the song. In 1862 he and his wife moved close to the area and he discovered that a church was being built in the exact area that had inspired the song. They were also painting the church brown because it was the cheapest color that could be bought. It is interesting to note that the church is called -- 'in the Vale,' or -- 'in the Wildwood,' or -- 'in the Dale.' With the Internet highway system thousand of people visit the church and there are many weddings performed there every year. This happened to be one of those places where there was only a limited space in which to turn around. There was a curve in both directions from where we parked. There was also a fair amount of traffic coming from either direction plus people who were parked in the parking area and could easily have blocked our movements. We were fortunate that we only had to wait a few minutes for no vehicles to be coming from either direction. It took the parking area, the two traffic lanes and part of the far shoulder to turn around the motor home and Jeep. This church was only about three four or five miles away from the Interstate, through town but on good roads.

THE LITTLE BROWN CHURCH IN THE DALE
 NEAR BRADFORD, IOWA

We are currently in the Rochester, NY area. The camp in which we are staying is a combination of RV camp and golf course. A special party was in the clubhouse at our arrival time. There were so many cars in the parking lot that the owners were concerned that we would not be able to get into the camp. They called us and asked that we enter through the exit only road and they gave us specific instructions of how to get to the needed location. As we came in there were several people who looked at us with that look of, “Why are those idiots bringing in a big motorhome the wrong way and going the wrong way on one way roads that they should not be on?” In two hours all the cars were gone.

We are enjoying our time here in Rochester. We went up to the Rochester Public Farmers Market. There are many farmers markets that are set up during the summer. But this one is special to us. It was started in 1905 and had grown to be huge. There are over a hundred farmers stalls to buy produce, in addition there are many open air booths where just about anything you can think of is sold. The people that come to the market truly represent a cross section of the world. Many languages can be heard if you listen. The attire worn comes from anywhere in the world and is very interesting. Parking can be one of the biggest problems, but with patience a spot will open up. Then it is a matter of walking the aisles that almost seem endless along with thousands of people. We go to get vegetables, fruit, cheese, butter; well the list of what we might get would take more space than there is left on this page. Suffice it to say that we always look forward to a visit to the Rochester Public Farm Market. It is simply a destination any time that we are here. Even in the middle of winter (which we don't do now) it is a fun place to visit.

Till Later This Is Doug Of

PEACE ON THE ROAD

POTR #83 Changes

CHANGES

March 31 2014

“The only thing constant is change.” While there is question of who actually made this quote, Issac Assimov, an American author, Francois de la Rochefoucauld, a french author, or Heraclitus of Ephesus. a Greek philosopher (wise man) of the fifth century BC it holds a lot of truth. My personal guess that it was the Greek that wrote it first. Things change for every one of us on a daily basis. Most of the time we do not notice the changes. Many years ago my brother told me of a friend of his who bought a building lot on which he wanted to build the perfect house. His plan was to build a “perfect” house on a different site and live in it a length of time. He would determine how it could be made more “perfect” and build another house on a second lot. He figured that the third house that he built would really be perfect and could be built on the “perfect” lot. When twenty years or so had passed I asked my brother about him. I received an answer that should not have surprised me at all. The friend told my brother something like, “No, I was not ever able to build the perfect house. As I aged my needs and my desires changed. The house that would have been perfect years ago is no longer perfect.”

We change and become different. For a great number of years I have felt that we become different people every few years while still retaining a lot of the same characteristics. Of course there are major changes while we are very young. A person as a baby is a very different person than when they become a toddler, and then a small child, a preteen, and a teenager. I think that the changes slow down some when a person reaches early adulthood, about the time they reach college age. Then the change is influenced by life choices. I went to college and my best friend did not. It seemed to me that he had changed when I went to see him. But my Mother said, “No, he has changed little. You left home and became the one that changed a lot.” Becoming a spouse, perhaps a parent, and middle aged does a lot to change us into different people. Suddenly we become that person that is called a “Senior Citizen.” I would think that we become different people about every five years on the average. The average years between changes might be less, but I don't think an individual time span is ever more than fifteen years.

Close to two and a half years ago when I returned to the valley with West Nile some friends of ours loaned us their golf cart (personal electric transportation vehicle) while they went on vacation. At the time I was walking a small amount but not a lot. The gift of its use was a blessing that I would never have guessed was so good. There were many evenings that we would go out and drive it around the park, get some fresh air, meet the other residents of the park and simply get out of the motor home. It was so nice that the idea of getting one of our own was constantly in the back (or closer to the front) of our minds. Our friends went on vacation several more times in the next couple of years and again they gave us their golf cart to use. A lot of people here in the park have PETs (personal electric transportation) but as far as I know they all also have carports to park them in. When they leave in the off season they cover the PET with a cover of some sort. We do not have any sort of carport so our thoughts were we would build some sort of shed in which to store it when we leave for the summer. Of course there is other value to having a shed. In February we decided that if we were ever to get a PET (now to us it is a Peace Electric Transportation) we should do it now and start enjoying it. For Erma's 50th anniversary, her Christmas, her birthday and Mothers Day I bought a sand colored Yamaha PET. I put on a few extra bells and whistles, like a rear seat so it carries four, a long roof that covers the seats better, hub caps that dress up the wheels, a custom dash so the the original ugly dash does not show. And of course I had lights put on it. So for my equivalent celebration days Erma had built for me a 10” x 12” shed and had it electrically wired. Now since the shed is really a home for the PET it has to be called the PEnThouse. It may just be me but I think that our PET is one of the nicest looking vehicles in the park. The PEnThouse turned out a lot nicer than I dreamed it would. It is covered with vinyl siding, even the door is covered. The fellow that did the wiring suggested that it would be good to put 220 volt into it so that if I ever wanted to put a clothes dryer out there I would have the power. It has twice the number of receptacles I thought about installing. His suggestions simply made sense. A shop florescent light gives a lot of light in there too. The bottom line is that all we have had done has turned out nicer than I imagined before we started. This is a rather significant change for us this year.

THE PET HALFWAY OUT OF THE PEnThouse

In early February I was up for a short bit when it was just before dawn. As I headed back to the bed I noticed a dark spot on the floor. My first thought was that it was likely a black sock that I had kicked away from my shoes. As I got a little closer it looked like it moved. I thought my imagination was in high gear, it could not have moved, but it did. So did we have a rat or mouse in the motor home? In just a second or two I realized that it was a smallish bird. It flew away from my grasp and to the other end of our motor home and down the steps next to the door. I reached over to open the door so it could go out but it had other ideas. Right past me and as far back as it could go by the bed again. It was only flying a few inches above the floor, but it was fast. I went back to see if I could catch it and put it outside. Again it eluded my grasp but this time it went under a package by the back window. By using a hand on each side of the gaps I was able to get my fingers around it and gently hold it. It nearly got away again. As I walked towards the door I could feel its heart beat. Its feathers were so very soft. It was so small. As I looked at it I could tell that it was a fledgling bird. I think a young sparrow. The feathers were not fully grown and did not extend as far outward as an adult birds feathers do. I was able to get it to the door and release it outside. It was gone in a flash to points unknown. Then the questions started coming. How did it get into the motor home? Is there a hole somewhere that is big enough for a sparrow to get inside? Did it come in from the outside the last time that I had opened the door when I came in? Was it inside all night? If it was inside all night I would call it smart to be in and away from the 35 degree air outside. Why in the world would any bird be having fledglings in the first week of February. I know this is Texas and the weather has been up in the eighties some days, but it is still quite cold some nights.

Over the years that we have been On The Road we have had several visitors. We had a small frog that came into the motor home when we were in Virginia. One time a beautiful butterfly paid us a visit for a short time. Out in Colorado we had a dozen to two dozen miller moths that would come in every day. So every day we would spend time catching them and letting them go outside. We kept doing that through Colorado, Wyoming and Utah until we got out of their territory. The worst was once when we got fire ants in that then bit and stung Erma. They very nearly put her into the hospital. Most of the critters that come in are carefully invited to go back outside, but those fire ants got sprayed.

Here in Bentsen Grove we have been privileged to be able to watch a Golden Fronted Woodpecker work at building a nest cavity in a tree just in front of our motor home. In fact there are four holes that he (it is a male bird) worked on some. In the neighbors tree there is a hole that is an inch to a inch and a half deep. There is another hole in our tree about the same size. One that he has barely started and a hole that must be getting nearly large enough to get his whole body inside. We have been told that a male will make several cavities and then show them off to the female and she chooses which one will be the nest. Both of the birds will be close to the cavity once in a while but usually the male is alone. We feel very glad that the nest is in a place that we can easily see it from our front window.

THREE VIEWS OF THE GOLDEN FRONTED WOODPECKER IN OUR TREE

Bentsen Grove is experiencing a massive exodus of winter residents. While that is usual some of them are going to places where it is still in single digits and snowing. We have not scheduled a time for us to move north but I assure you that it will be several weeks or at least till there is little or no chance of getting into freezing weather or snow. I could stop all my activity duties here at any time but I am just going to slow down those activities for now. I still will be quilling and I will be helping people with their computer problems, and that is about all.

Till Later This Is Doug Of

PEACE ON THE ROAD

POTR #82 - 48 Contiguous States

Peace On The Road

48 Contiguous States

September 21, 2013

A little over nine years ago we decided that it was time to start living full time in a motor home and traveling as a life style. As I think back on it I cannot say that we ever had a goal of traveling and visiting all of the contiguous forty eight states. It really was not until some time this last winter season that we decided that forty eight would be a summer goal. North Dakota was the last state that we needed to visit. A friend told me that a lot of people who visit all forty eight states visit North Dakota last, so I guess that we are right on schedule. Every state that we have been in has had beautiful places to see and visit. People everywhere have been friendly and helpful. Of course every state has had places that we would not desire to visit again and there have been grouches, but very few. We live in a very large and great nation. Where do we like best? I believe that we would have to say “Wherever we are as long as we are together!” Add wherever the weather is good for the season.

DAKOTA MIRACLE WITH SOME OF HIS HERD MATES

North Dakota proved to be a very interesting state. The farmers there produce more sunflowers than any other state. I would have guessed Kansas, the sunflower state. It has the worlds largest scrap metal sculpture, the worlds largest Holstein cow and the worlds largest buffalo. It also has a herd of buffalo that is supposed to have four white buffalo, of which we saw two. White Cloud is a true albino cow that was born in a herd in Michigan, ND in 1996. She is on loan to the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, ND. After giving birth to several brown calves she gave birth to a white bull calf which was named Dakota Miracle. He is not an albino, but he is still magnificent. We considered ourselves fortunate that the white buffalo spent as much time as they did where we could get good photographs. Here in Jamestown, ND in 1959 the world's largest buffalo came into existence. It is 26 foot tall and 46 foot in length. Its total weight is 60 tons, made of iron and concrete. I have tried to imagine what a Native American would have thought if he had seen this in 1850. I wonder what he would have done if it was alive. Would he have considered it to be a sacred animal or would he have attempted to provide food for every tribe for a year as far as he could ride.

A hundred years after America declared its independence another battle took place with Native Americans defending their way of life. The Native Americans called it the Battle of Greasy Grass and the white man called it Custer's Last Stand or the Battle of Big Horn. There were about 260 Army soldiers, 20 scouts, and an unknown number of Native Americans that died. Three days after the battle the fallen were buried where they fell, sometimes with only rocks and a small amount of sod. It was in 1881 that the fallen were exhumed and moved to a permanent location. The locations were marked by a white marble stone for the the white soldiers and a red granite marker for the Native Americans. It is hard to believe that so much misery took place in such a beautiful place in such a short time.

SOME OF THE MARKERS OF MEN WHO DIED AT THE BATTLE OF BIG HORN SITE

We are currently in Sioux Falls, South Dakota for a while. We came here a bit early so that we could go to another fireworks show which was put on by the National Fireworks Association. September of last year purely by accident we were close to Joplin, Missouri and saw the annual show that they put on there. Again by a simple coincidence I needed to be in Sioux Falls to get my drivers license renewed just shortly after the NFA show. We decided that we had enjoyed the show last year so much that we would spend an extra two weeks in Sioux Fall and be able to see the show again. The purpose of the show is to showcase the pyrotechnical products to the wholesalers and retailers of fireworks. We were able to see the show just as public watchers. Our stop here worked out well for us for other reasons. Our Jeep tires needed to be replaced, and it needed an oil change. The day after we got into Sioux Falls the Jeep windshield developed a crack, so we have a new windshield, and our plastic headlight covers were restored. Our Jeep was recalled for a computer software update and we have gotten that done. So our time here has been well utilized, even if it was somewhat spontaneous.

THE BOW OF THE USS SOUTH DAKOTA BATTLESHIP MEMORIAL IN SIOUX FALLS, SD

It would be rather difficult to transport an entire battleship from either ocean to a location half way across our nation to be used as a memorial, so Sioux Falls did what they could. In WWII a battleship was launched with the name USS South Dakota. It was the first of the South Dakota type battleship that were produced in WWII. Since the Navy wanted to hide sensitive operational information from the Japanese, who thought they had sunk her, she was called “Battleship X” or “Old Nameless” in American newspapers and radio broadcasts. She was only commissioned for five years but in that time she received 13 battle stars, which is more than most ships will receive in thirty years. In 1969 she was scrapped. But Sioux Falls was able to obtain parts of the ship and they built a memorial to the states battleship to honor the men who served on her. The outline of the ship is created with concrete walls and the saved parts are located like they would have been on the ship. When the deck of a ship looks like a lawn it is surprising just how big these ships are. It is a very impressive memorial.

We will be in effect heading towards Mission, Texas when we leave here in a couple more days. As always we will be traveling slowly so it will be late October or so when we get there. There will be additional stops but at this time we are doing our usual and do not have specific plans.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #81 - Traveling With Spiders

Peace On The Road

Traveling With Spiders

August 24, 2013

Now this may sound a little crazy to some of you, and you might be right. It seems that in the almost nine years that we have been traveling around the USA we have almost always had a spider that traveled with us also. Not the same one but several different ones. They have also been in different locations outside the motor home. One built a web from the right front fender to the ground every time we stopped, one lived inside the right mirror of the Jeep. We would see it duck inside the mirror housing. Another would build a web from the Vectra's left mirror back to the window. That one got huge. We currently have one that has built a web on the windshield wiper of the Vectra. We may have gotten it before we left Mission this spring, so it has been with us about five months, and it too has grown in size a great deal. There is space in the wiper arm that it runs to when we start to travel, but if a fly gets in the web as we drive out it comes to eat. The spiders that we find inside we carefully transfer outside, but if they want to travel on the outside of the Vectra, they are welcome.

NOT ONLY IS THIS ONE LARGE BUT I WOULD CALL A CLOSEUP RATHER UGLY

The spiders that live on the Jeep get to see more places but I don't think they care as long as the gnats and flies keep them fed. Our current one did not get to see the coastal lighthouses or Seattle. We visited the Seattle Public Market and that was quite a place. More shops than you could shake a branched stick at. One shop has become famous because the workers throw fish that the customers have bought. The story is that in 1986 they were on the verge of bankruptcy and throwing the fish and other games with customers worked to turn the business around. They have an audience of up to 10,000 people on a typical day. Another place they did not get to see was the Seattle Space Needle. The Needle was built for the World's Fair in 1962. It stands 605 foot in the air, but has a center of balance just five foot above the ground due to a base made of 9,550 tons of concrete. At the top is a revolving restaurant that is rotated 360⁰ every 43 minutes by a 1.5 HP motor. The building of the Needle was completed in only a year and was completed the day before the Worlds Fair opened. When it was originally built it cost $21 million, and in 2000 renovations cost around $100 million. The two original restaurants were converted into one as part of the work. The worlds first commercially operated monorail in the world was built at the same time and is still operating with a terminal a quarter block from the needle. We also had a great time watching salmon going upstream at the Ballard Locks and fish ladder. Pictures have never conveyed a true idea of the size of some salmon. They are big.

A GREAT VIEW OF THE SEATTLE SPACE NEEDLE FROM KERRY PARK

No matter how many things that we missed in Seattle we had to move on. If for no other reason because the park we staying at did not have additional days we could stay. If fact the morning we left another motor home pulled into the spot we were staying before I drove fifty yards. The people had been setting nearby watching for us to leave.

We spent a few days in Missoula, Montana and visited the Smoke Jumpers Visitors Center and Museum. One thing that struck me as funny was the fact that they consider a good year to be one with lots of fires, and most people consider a good year with few fires or even none at all. It is only one of several Smoke Jumpers operation centers mostly in the western USA. There are 85 men and women that work out of this facility. When they are on duty they have ten minutes to quit what they are doing and be on a plane ready to jump with full gear and food for three days. An unexpected duty that they have is to sew all their clothing and cloth gear on one of several sewing machines that are set up for them. There are not enough smoke jumpers for any commercial manufacturers to want to make their specialized equipment needs. They have a rigorous qualification to pass to be accepted as a jumper.

Back in 1966 we went to Yellowstone National park and spent about a week. I suppose by the time we drove there and back to Denver we were actually there about five days. We had four full days this time. It was enough time for us. We saw a lot and felt that we were seeing certain places for the first time and we photographed them. Then upon looking at pictures taken in 1966 we discovered our memories had gaps and we had been there before. This trip we have seen antelope, elk, deer, two bear (it seems that in 1966 there were a lot of bears), and a lot of bison. It is no wonder that the Native American thought the bison were so important. Not only did the bison provide for most of their needs they are a magnificent animal just to see within the Park. Old Faithful puts on a very special show about every 90 minutes. It gave us a thrill just a few minutes from the predicted time. Old Faithful was named in 1870 and was the first geyser to receive a name. It also is the most predictable geographical feature on earth. Yellowstone has over 10,000 geothermal features, which is roughly half of the number in the world. Two thirds of the geysers of the world or 300 are found within the Park. While waiting for Old Faithful to erupt we had an extra bonus of seeing Lion geyser just beyond it that also put on a good show. Lion geyser shot up over half the height of Old Faithful and lasted nearly the same length of time. We were lucky to see the two erupt within a twenty minute time period

A ERUPTION OF OLD FAITHFUL IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

From here we will head across Montana to North Dakota an then we will have visited all of the contiguous original forty eight states of the USA. Then we will slowly (never in a hurry) work our way down to South Texas to spend the winter season out of the snow and the cold.

Till later this is Doug of

PEACE ON THE ROAD

POTR #80 - Volcanoes and Seashores

Peace On The Road

Volcanoes And Seashores

July 20, 2013

I have always thought that the Mississippi river was something really special. I have seen it when it was low and I have seen it when it was flooded. It is a very large river and it truly is impressive. But in certain respects the Columbia River has impressed me as much or more. I have been amazed driving along on the highway through the Columbia River Gorge. The river is so wide and its length just seems to go on as far as the eye can see. The geologist say that it was started as much as 17 million years ago with the major erosion occurring because of massive floods back during the last ice age. While the canyon was cut steeply downwards the surrounding area was left high with many streams forming waterfalls that are as high as Multinomah Falls at 620 foot tall in two stages. There are 77 falls along the Oregon side of the river through the canyon. There was no way to get a full view of any falls that we saw. They were all beautiful. Every falls that we saw was also crowded with people. 

MULTINOMAH FALLS IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE SCENIC HIGHWAY

All my life I have been around something that was the result of volcanoes and most of the time did not know it. My parents raised me on a Kansas farm that had a fertile soil, loess, that had come from volcanoes. In Colorado I worked in the shadows of mountains formed by lava flows. During this summers travels we have seen many volcano formed mountains and huge fields of lava that flowed for miles in seemingly all directions. One of the most classically volcano shaped mountains that we have ever seen is Mt Hood near Portland Oregon. We drove three quarters of the way around it and it was impressive from every view that we had. It is understandable that there are some people that call it the Mt. Fuji of the United States. To my way of thinking it is a perfectly shaped volcanic cone. We also drove out of Portland into Washington to see Mt. St. Helens. It was shaped much the same way before it blew its top in 1980. Most of the time we were in a place to view it was shrouded by clouds so the photographs were good they were not great. St. Helens and its destruction area is very impressive.

A VIEW OF 11,245 FOOT TALL MT. HOOD IN OREGON IT IS A CLASSIC STRATOVOLCANO

The vegetation in Oregon has been amazing to us. Berry bushes thrive in a way that is unbelievable. The medians in many places are lush with berry bushes, and along the roadside the banks are also covered with the bushes. A close look reveals that the bushes are as thick with small green berries as it is possible for them to get. Along the roads and open fields there are so many more bushes that it is nearly impossible to believe. There are places that the roadside is covered for a quarter mile. In a few weeks when the berries are ripe there will truckloads that will only be harvested by nature itself.

In Portland is the International Rose Test Garden. It is an beautiful place with over 7,000 rose plants of more than 550 varieties. In 1905 largely as a result of the Lewis and Clark Exposition, Portland had twenty miles of rose bordered streets. The local nurserymen conceived of an international test garden. When WWI started there was fear that some of the unique varieties of roses in Europe would be destroyed as a result of the war. Many foreign growers sent their hybrids and the garden became an instant success. Today its primary purpose is to be a testing area for new varieties of hybrid roses. It is a wonderful place to spend a few hours and “Smell the Roses”, or enjoy the specialty gardens.

In various places during our travels we have seen a lot of houseboats on the various rivers and lakes. It seems that most of them would be better termed shanty boats. If you were to knock on the door a woman should answer the door and say, “Howdy! Come on in and set a spell. My name is Shanty Boat Annie. This is my husband Swamp Water Bob.” Up on Lake Erie a few years ago we saw quite a few house boats. As I remember they were pretty simple, single story house boats with little or no upgrades. Also there were only a few, a couple dozen perhaps. That was NOT the way it was in Portland on the Columbia river. In one area there were between three and four hundred house boats. A few were three stories tall and most were two story. There were sun decks, sun rooms, green houses, patios, balconies, and many other amenities. I am not sure if I would like the closeness between the houses. Sometimes it was only a single step to the neighbors house. Of course living in a motor home I am often just a dozen or so feet from another camper, so who am I to form such an opinion. I guess that is a throwback to being raised on a farm where the nearest neighbor was a half mile away.

JUST A FEW OF THE HUNDREDS OF HOUSE BOATS ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER

In our travels here in Oregon we have been very blessed to see the things that we have. In addition to all the volcanic mountains, the magnificent rivers, the seascapes that are beautiful, we have seen some of the lushest forests of any of our tours of the USA. The ferns and the flowers that grow along the road are not to be equaled in many places. The ferns especially are huge and prolific. There are several lighthouses that we have visited. The views from these lighthouse are wonderful. At two different places that we stopped there were pods of gray whales that were just a short distance off shore. We would watch till we saw a spout that would look like a small bit of fog or steam above the water, and then the back of a whale would appear above the surface of the water for a few seconds. A second or even a third would appear a short distance away, but not ever at the same time. There was enough distance between them that it was obvious there was more than one whale. On the rocks off shore near the water level there were many seals that were basking in the sun. It is possible that some of them were sea lions but at the distance we could not see them well enough to determine whether they were seals or sea lions, likely some of both. On many of these same rocks way above the sea level there were more sea birds than anybody could shake a stick at. In fact too many to shake a bush at. I think a lot of them were seagull, cormorants and pigeon guillemots. There are supposed to be puffins along the shore and maybe we saw some of those but we were never close enough to be sure.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #79 - Six To Go

Peace On The Road

Six To Go

June 24, 2013

When we started our summer traveling this last May our intention was to go to the northwest and visit the last six of the 48 states that we have not traveled and stayed in. Some years ago I said that I would not count a state until we had stayed for three nights. We crossed most of Wyoming with only a single nights stay. So we still have six states to go at this time. But with any luck we will make the six yet.

I am sure that every person looks at the surrounding area when they are looking for a place to live. We make our selection based on many factors. Is it in the country, city, forest, near the ocean or lake or river or that which appeals for some other reason. Going around Arizona and New Mexico we have seen many places that we would not choose. In Gallup we went to see some Native American dancers. The spokesman for the dancers talked about some of the Hopi still living in hogans where there is no electricity, no plumbing, no anything that we take for granted in the places we choose to live. It has been to interesting to see the hogans with nothing around except a nice pickup truck parked nearby. I can understand that but something that I have not been able to figure out is a nice house several blocks from any other buildings without any apparent electric supply. Other places in the country every house has electric poles leading to the house. Even in Amish communities the power lines go to the Amish farm houses but are disconnected at the meters. But not the ones I saw on the reservations. I cannot believe that the utilities are all underground. This would be less of a puzzle if they did not have satellite dishes mounted on the roof. Other than that the houses are pretty normal.

In traveling around we saw several ruins that were built up to 2000 years ago. They were built by the people called Sinagua by the Spanish. Sinagua means without (sin) water (agua) or waterless. These ruins were built in one of the hottest and driest areas of the Colorado Plateau. While there were several smaller ruins the most fascinating is the Wupatki National Monument. Maybe a couple thousand years ago it was a better place, agriculturally speaking. Wupatki means “Tall House” in the Hopi language. It is a pueblo style dwelling has more than one hundred rooms. The tallest building had at least four stories and maybe more levels. In the 1930's several of the rooms were used to house employees of the National Park Service. The employees were charged $10.00 a month to live there. There are secondary structures which include two kiva-like structures. Ruins identified as a ball court have been found that are similar to Meso-American and Hohokam ruins in Southern Arizona. No other ball court has been found any farther north. The Pueblo was built around a natural rock outcropping, using the thin flat blocks of the Moenkopi sandstone held together with mortar, giving it a distinct red color. Between 1040 and 1100 during the volcanic eruption of Sunset Crater the whole area was covered with volcanic ash, which in turn caused the native population to abandon the countryside. It is believed that the Sinagua had ample time to move because it does seem that they left very few of their belongings to be covered with ash. Within a hundred to hundred fifty years the area saw a recovery in vegetation productivity due to an improvement in the soils ability to hold water.. By 1182 Wupatki had been started with perhaps a hundred occupants. It continued to grow and it reached a maximum population of 2000 before it was permanently abandoned around 1225. It had grown to be the largest pueblo of the area. Their economy was based on growing corn and squash in arid conditions without the use of irrigation. Artifacts that have been found in the ruins indicate that they traded with tribes that lived near the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. This site also contains a rare geological blowhole. It is estimated that it is an opening to a closed underground passage that has a volume of seven billion cubic foot, equivalent to a tunnel 165 feet by 165 feet square and 50 miles long! Under the right conditions wind may exit the blowhole at thirty miles an hour. Also if the conditions are right air will flow into the blowhole. The area has a rugged inhospitable look that is also very beautiful.

WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT WITH THE BALL COURT TO THE RIGHT SIDE

Erma and I lived in Ft. Collins in a trailer park. Not long after we got married we bought a VW beetle. It was about forty miles up the Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park. Estes was up in the mountains, full of interesting tourist shops, and a place that sold GREAT popcorn. The VW got 32 mpg and gas was sometimes 25 cents a gallon, at the local Gas-a-mat. Frequently we would just go to Estes for a bag of popcorn. We figured that it cost about 50 cents or maybe 75 cents. Of course the drive was beautiful and about another 5 miles we would be in Rocky Mountain National Park where we could feed the chipmunks and ground squirrels raw peanuts which were for sale in town just for them. When our daughter was small she loved feeding them. Once she came to us with a peanut bag and said, “Look!” She opened the bag and had a chipmunk in it. It poked its head out, looked around and ducked back down to stuff more peanuts into its cheeks. At that time feeding the animals was encouraged but today I think you can actually be ticketed and fined if you feed them. So even to see the mountains with the snow covered peaks brings back good memories of times in the past. In Estes or anywhere in the park there were almost always deer, elk and Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep. I miss the mountains. I miss being able to go into the high country in less than a hour.

Between the towns of Estes Park and Grand Lake, Colorado is a spectacular highway that goes through the center of Rocky Mountain National Park. The road is named Trail Ridge Road and is 48 miles in length. It crosses the continental divide at 10,758 feet and goes on up to a high point of 12,183 feet. It is the highest continuous paved road in the USA. There are higher 4W drive roads that either are NOT continuous or are NOT paved. Eleven miles of the road is above 11,000 foot with timberline at 11,500 foot. Because of the high altitude snow accumulates to twenty foot or even deeper. Snow closes the road anywhere from late September to the middle of October. Highway crews start clearing the road in May with the intent of having it open by Memorial Day. They are usually successful but not always. And even then it is occasionally closed for several hours, up to a day or even more. The park was established in 1915. Longs Peak at 14,259 foot is one of the most impressive peaks in the park and can be seen from many locations along the road. It is known as Beaver Mountain in James Mitchner's book “Centennial.” We have been across the top many times and part way probably a hundred times. It is a big favorite of ours. Unfortunately the shop that sold the popcorn is gone many years ago.

VIEW OF ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK FROM TRAIL RIDGE ROAD

When I was thirteen I made a trip with my Mother and sister out to Oregon following nearly the same route that we drove today along I-84 through Wyoming into Utah. In 1955 there was no Interstate highway but the highway went right by two parallel limestone strata that have been tilted to vertical. Softer strata on the outside has worn away so that they stick out above the ground about forty feet. Between the two hard layers of limestone the softer limestone layers have worn down forming a channel that is about 25 feet wide and running hundreds of feet down the mountain side. There is not much reason to stop except to stand and view the strange and amazing things that can be produced by the natural forces of nature. This formation is called “Devil's Slide.” The first time I saw it I was not too many years away from sliding down slides at the school playground. I could just imagine the Devil sliding down the length of the channel and hollering his delight on the way down, and then getting up and climbing the hill to do it again and again. There is not a lot that I remember of the trip to Oregon. I was impressed by a filling station, Little America. I remember seeing advertisements that said they had over a hundred stations at which they could fill your vehicle. Today their website says they have sixteen stations. Not nearly as impressive as a hundred or more. So to see the Devil's Slide as it has remained in my mind nearly sixty years later was gratifying. As a teenaged boy I was impressed and I was still impressed when I went by on this trip. It only took a few minutes but was very worth while.

A GEOLOGICAL FORMATION CALLED DEVIL'S SLIDE ON I-84 JUST INSIDE EAST UTAH

In traveling across Texas, into New Mexico, Arizona and then detouring into Colorado we have been struck by how much of the country is dry. It was not until we drove into Colorado that we began to see green fields along the highway. The forests of Colorado are extremely dry to be sure but there is more green along the roadsides. We have not been in a single area that was really having the rains that would be desired. It is so strange to know that not far away there are areas that are flooding and would desire to share the water. A lot of Wyoming seems to have gotten more rain than most of the country we have seen. Out across the fields there seems to be more forage for the antelope to eat. That is a very good thing because we saw more than I would care to count. Many times there were small groups of two to four, but occasionally there were herds of antelope that must have had more than twenty. We enjoyed seeing every one of the beautiful animals.

We have also been impressed by the many geological changes that we pass driving along the road. I think we have a benefit in the fact that our roads have been cut through geological formations. We get to see things from the windows of our vehicles that are not available any other way except by hiking into canyons and gorges. Out our windows there is a panorama of beauty that is amazing. The road may rise a few thousand foot over several miles and reveal a totally new vista. Suddenly an area might display a group of hoo doos or a cliff with holes nearly large enough to be called a room. There is always something new to view around the next corner or along the next mile. As we go through Idaho towards Oregon and Washington we will be seeing a lot of territory that is new to us. We still don't have any specific plans except to go on to new country and decide what we are going to do sometime before we leave the campground where we spent the night. Sometimes it is even later than that.

Till later this is Doug of

PEACE ON THE ROAD