PEACE ON THE ROAD
Preconceived Ideas
October 7, 2010
I think that it must be simple human nature to get certain ideas of how something will be and then be surprised when it turns out to be another way. Part of it will be due to the paradigms that we live with and have been taught. Perhaps we have seen something and therefore we think that all things in the same category will be very similar. If a person had only seen oak trees in their lifetime and had only heard about oaks or similar trees it would not be unreasonable to think that all trees would be like oak trees. This is not necessarily a bad thing as long as a person is willing to say, “Okay, I was wrong!” I have come across a couple things that have altered my opinion.
Back in June or July of 1947 something happened in the town of Roswell, New Mexico. Not a whole lot was mentioned until about thirty years later when the possibility of an extraterrestrial space/air craft having crashed in the desert and killing several aliens was suggested. Sometime between then and now I have gotten the idea that Roswell was a single blink town. If you went through it and made a single blink you would likely miss the whole town. The main feature of the town would be a rundown cafe out in an open field where they have pictures and models of aliens and serve some decent food on the day the good cook is working. Also the impression that aliens are short creatures with very large upside down teardrop shaped heads with huge almond shaped eyes and antenna like appendages growing from the tops of their heads have been pushed into my consciousness. Both those impressions seem to be incorrect. Roswell is a fair sized town that has a business area along the highway that is several miles long. If you blink long enough to miss the town you can be guaranteed to be in accident. There were a lot of restaurants and most any other type of business you want. So, Okay, I was wrong!” I do believe that I saw some aliens though. They did not look like my description. While they looked a little strange I suppose that after all these years they have learned to “blend” in with the locals. They did look rather different but I am sure that they were aliens. My wife is convinced that the proper term would have been “undocumented seasonal workers.” But this is Roswell, New Mexico, therefore????
Every cave that I have been in has been way back up some gully, draw, or canyon. It was nearly impossible to see any indication that anything was there, including the buildings that were built around the entrance. Somewhere in every cave there is a BIG room which really is not very big at all. Perhaps a hundred to two hundred in its maximum length. They have been very humid, damp and have had a smell that is very much associated with water. There has been water dripping from the ceiling, running down the walls and across the floor. There have been pristine pools of water in any location that was even the slightest bit lower than the surrounding area. So with the exception of a few caves in the deserts of Egypt or around the Dead Sea which I have read about all caves must be like the ones I have visited. Right? Right! Now don't go near the southern border of New Mexico to the town of Carlsbad and force me to say, “Okay, I was wrong!” I have already been there and said it. I also said, “This is stunning!” As you drive south out of town on the highway into the Chihuahuan Desert it is hard to imagine that this was at one time the bottom of an ocean and that the ridge to the west was a ocean reef that was formed about two hundred and fifty million years. It was then covered by thousands of feet of younger rocks. Seventeen to twenty million years ago it was lifted by tectonic forces and the younger softer rocks were worn away to form the Guadalupe Mountain range. A brine that formed deep below in deposits high in hydrogen sulfide was pushed through cracks and faults toward the surface where it combined with oxygen rich surface water and formed a weak sulfuric acid. The acid in turn dissolved the limestone rocks creating the caves. As the mountains lifted more the water drained out and allowed the surface water to start dripping through and depositing minerals which are called cave decorations. As you drive along the highway you can look to the west at the high ridge and see the Carlsbad Caverns visitors center. A short distance beyond it is the “natural” entrance to Carlsbad Cavern, one of over 300 caves in the fossil reef. The natural entrance descends 750 foot along a mile and a quarter switchback trail to the Big Room. It is well paved with asphalt which is quite different than it was in 1898 when 16 year old Jim White first explored with a homemade fence wire and wood ladder. Or in about a minute an elevator can also drop you to the Big Room trail. The Big Room has been calculated to have an area of 357,469 foot square. This is the size of over six football fields. It is the largest under ground cavern in the US and the seventh largest in the world. A trail of a mile and a quarter goes around the Big Room and goes by thousands of stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, popcorn, and other forms of cave decorations that mainly formed during the last glacial period when the land above was covered by forests. I was surprised at how dry the cavern was, including the feel of the air. Because it is desert above there was not the expected water dripping or the number of water pools. Only a couple locations had cave decorations that were in the process of growing. At one time the 57 degree air was used to cool the visitors center but it was found that the conditions in the cavern were being changed and causing it to dry out more. Air conditioners were installed in the the visitors center and revolving door were installed for people access down at the cavern. After the cavern itself is closed for the day there is still a spectacular show of 250,000 or more Mexican Free Tailed bats that exit the cavern to forage for insects. The only way I can think to describe them is to compare them to a swam of gnats on a hot summer Kansas afternoon. Then to add that the gnats have a wingspan of thirteen inches and weigh half an ounce. Each bat will eat between half its body weight and its full body weight each night. Thus there are a lot of insects removed from the farmers fields each night near the caverns.
NATURAL ENTRANCE DESCENDING 750 FOOT INTO CARLSBAD CAVERNS
A couple years ago when I was were talking to a friend, David, about some of the things I enjoyed doing I was told, “You are a very eclectic person.” At the time I took it as a compliment and agreed that the statement was likely right. When I get to looking at the subject of the pictures that I have taken over the years and the ones that I still want to take I still have to agree. I love taking pictures of the landscape and I love to take pictures of the smallest things that I can see. If I had the equipment I think it would be great to take macro pictures of the common things that we have around us ever day and do not even notice. We went to the Guadalupe National Monument which is just barely in Texas south of Carlsbad, NM. The monument encompasses 240 square miles of the same ancient reef in which Carlsbad Caverns was formed. It has Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet. It also has El Capitan, a very prominent formation which was used as a landmark for travelers crossing the area along the trail that would be later used by the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route. The Butterfield Stage operated through this area from 1857 till 1861 when it was discontinued because of the Civil War. It took 22 days to move the mail from St. Louis, MO to San Francisco, CA. During 18 months it was in competition with the Pony Express which took ten days from St. Louis to California. Both companies were disbanded at the onset of the Civil War and the assets of both were acquired by the Wells Fargo company. Just a short walk from the visitors center of the Guadalupe National Monument visitors center is one of the stage stations of the Butterfield Stage Company. Along that walk we encountered a large variety of flora and fauna. The most striking was the Blue Legged Jewel Beetle. On a small branch of the tree there were four of them enjoying a snack of tree leaves. We were told that the lights at night attract them in hordes along with other insects including several kinds variety of preying mantis. While we looking at the entrance I saw six different species.
BLUE LEGGED JEWEL BEETLES FEEDING ON A DESERT TREE
By the time this gets sent we will have been in Mission, TX for a few days. While it really too early in the season to return circumstances have made it desirable to return. Thus far it has not been too hot, but still I am glad that the air conditioner works well. It is also good to see some of our friends here.
Till later this is Doug of
Peace On The Road
