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

POTR #78 - Big Holes

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Big Holes

June 2, 2013

When I was a young boy, preteen to late teen I doubt that there was a hole within miles of our farm which did not at some point find me in it. Dad had a trench silo dug and I spent a lot of time in it until ti was filled with ensilage. If I visited a friend who had an upright silo I would get in it if possible. Of course there were swimming holes around and I swam in them all. I don't remember getting into the hog wallows but I bet I did at some point. It is likely that I was just a typical Kansas farm boy. At one of the neighbors there was a tunnel/cave that went into the limestone formation that I crawled into. I was almost too big to get into it but it was supposed to have Indian artifacts in it and I had to see if I could. As it turned out it was a long ways back in and I would bet that the only things that went in was coons. There was sign of that along the way. I never tried again because I grew too large for the hole.

Erma and I lived in the Denver area for more than forty years and never went to visit one very large hole. I guess that our reason was “The Grand Canyon is close and we can go see it whenever we want.” While that was true I would say that thirty or forty years ago I would have spent more time and enjoyed the experience more than I did at the age that I am now. But better now than never.

VIEW OF THE GRAND CANYON FROM THE SOUTH RIM

Just about every description you have ever heard about the Grand Canyon is without a doubt correct. The first view brings to mind “This cannot exist, it is impossible.” A few minutes later the mind is saying this view is unbelievable and it is awesome. In my opinion there is no way that any person could really comprehend the magnitude the “hole” that is laid out to view. Over its entire two hundred and seventy seven mile length it averages four thousand feet in depth. The deepest section is six thousand foot deep and the widest point is eighteen miles. The elevation difference of the canyon from the top at the northeast to the bottom at the west is eight thousand foot. Grand Canyon in total is considered to be semi-arid desert, however there are five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types that are represented within the canyon. There are many springs, seeps, and ephemeral pools that provide oases to a large variety of plants and animals, some of which are not found any other place. About two billion years ago sediments and lava flows were deposited over the landscape. Prior to the late Precambrian era, about 1,750 million years ago these deposits were metamorphosed, and magma dikes filled the cracks and cooled into granite. During the late Proterozoic era, about 1,200 million ears ago, 13,000 foot of sediment and lava was deposited in a shallow ocean. Then 750 million years ago the area was lifted and tilted to form mountains. It is believed that during the “Age Of Dinosaurs” there was between 4,000 and 8,000 foot of sediment that covered the Grand Canyon. These mountains were eroded by weather, and water, to form the current canyon. In the Grand Canyon the down cutting erosion was powered by water from snow covered mountains, while the limited widening of the canyon was a result of the low annual rainfall in the area. The canyon represents one of the most complete geologic records in the world. It has been studied by geologist since 1855. A new geological rock layer was discovered in the mid-1970's. The arid conditions have preserved many artifacts of human activity in the canyon within some of its caves. Fossil footprints have been found but not a single fossilized bone. The canyon is a barrier to the intermixing of species in evolution. The South rim and the North rim have Kaibab squirrels that have evolved to look very different from each other. There are only a couple man created crossings of the Colorado River at the bottom and these are designed to prevent animals from crossing and disturbing natural evolution. I don't regret waiting all the years to go to Grand Canyon and I am really glad that I was finally able to go.

I have wanted to visit Barringer Meteor Crater for a long time. It too was not very far from where we were staying in Flagstaff. It was about 50,000 years ago that a nickel-iron meteorite about 160 foot in diameter, weighing 330,000 tons struck the earth traveling between 28,600 to 45,000 miles an hour. It created a crater about three quarters of a mile across and five hundred and seventy foot deep. Much of the meteor was vaporized before or at impact leaving several thousand tons of sand sized nickel-iron droplets in and around the crater. The impact was about the power of a hundred and fifty Hiroshima or Nagasaki atomic bombs. About 175 million tons of rock was blasted from the crater onto the rim and beyond. Some individual rocks were as large as thirty tons each. The rim shows rocks that are in reverse order to the normal stratification indicating that the floor of the crater was lifted up, turned up side down and dropped. All this happened in seconds. The instantaneous heat and pressure converted some carbon mineral into lonsdaleite, a form of diamond. In the 1960's the astronauts that went to the moon were trained in the crater to recognize the signs of meteor impact. In 1903 Daniel Barringer determined that a large iron meteorite had formed the crater. He filled twelve mining claims in the crater in hopes of mining the iron and nickel. Although he tried for many years at great expense he never received any income from his attempts. The crater was the first meteor impact crater to ever be identified in the world. Since then, based on information obtained here, there have been nearly a hundred of various sizes identified around the world. Since many of them are in the ocean or in areas with much greater rainfall they are not as well preserved as Barringer Meteor Crater due to the erosion that has occurred. The largest whole meteor specimen that has been found in the area is on display in the visitors center, weighing in at 1,410 pounds. It is known as the Hollinger Meteor and is part of the group of many iron/nickel fragments that are called Canyon Diablo meteorites for a canyon just a few miles away. There have been around thirty tons of fragments found outside the crater. This crater was originally designated as a volcanic steam vent based on the volcanoes which exist about forty miles to the west. In 1903 Daniel Barringer proposed that it was a meteorite that had caused the crater but was ridiculed by the scientific community. His beliefs were not officially accepted until 1960. It is rather humorous that on the road out to the crater there is a sign that indicates a speed limit of 55 MPH for motor vehicles and a speed limit of 26,000 MPH for meteorites.

BARRINGER METEOR IMPACT CRATER NEAR HOLBROOK ARIZONA

There are so many things to see in Arizona that it is truly amazing. However I believe that if a person were to look in any state it is likely that conclusion would also be correct. It does seem that certain towns have more than their share of destinations within a few hours drive. This POTR focuses on three that are fairly close to Flagstaff, AZ. A few miles north is the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. About 930 years ago a volcano erupted creating a cinder cone that is 1,120 foot high. It also created a lava flow over a mile and a half wide and six miles long. The ash and lapilli that was ejected covers more than 810 square miles. Ash is less than one sixteenth of an inch and the Lapilli, which is material that falls out of the air during a volcanic eruption is between one sixteenth of an inch and two and a half inches. Lapilli in Latin means little stones. Larger particles are known as volcanic bomb until they cool and then are known as a volcanic block. The eruption of Sunset Volcano forced the abandonment of settlements of Native Americans known as Sinaqua. The Spanish word sin means without and aqua means water. Thus the Sinaqua were people who lived in an area of very little water. (I will tell you more about the Sinaqua in the next POTR.) There was a time that hiking to the top of the crater was allowed, but unfortunately the hikers did a lot of damage to the crater walls just by walking and hiking to the summit is no longer allowed. While the roads through the monument provide a tremendous overviews of the lava flows and hills covered with a blanket of ash and lapilli there is no place to really view the total volcano. I took numerous pictures of the lava flows which are very black and appears to be as new as when it was hot. To have a good picture for you to see what the crater really looks like I had to go to the Internet and find a picture that was taken from an airplane. This is the only picture that I have ever used that I did not take myself. (And hopefully the last!)

SUNSET CRATER VOLCANO NATIONAL MONUMENT NEAR FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA

There has been a lot more volcanic activity in the Southwest states than I ever realized. While driving on Interstate 40 in the vicinity of Grants, NM there were large lava flow fields on both sides and in the middle of the highway median. In northern New Mexico there is another National Monument dedicated to a volcano. Mt. Capulin National Monument erupted about 60,000 years ago. It has slopes that are a lot more stable today than Sunset. It has a road that goes around to the top to a parking lot that can be taken with a standard vehicle. Large motor homes are not allowed on the road but can be left at the bottom. At the parking lot there is a trail around the rim with a spur trail that goes down to the bottom of the crater. Erma and I were there and hiked the trail back in 1993. Because of our hike around Mt Capulin, Sunset Crater was more meaningful. Go visit both places if you can.

In Gallup, NM we went to Earl's Cafe to eat. It was an interesting looking place and it had good food. I was very surprised when there were many Native Americans, I think most were Hopi, who came through selling jewelry. The jewelry ranged from very low quality with low prices to very good quality at a higher price. Much of the jewelry was very pretty. They were very polite. During our meal there must have been at least a dozen vendors that came by. It was simply funny to me

We are in Santa Fe, NM for the weekend. As we drove in we saw smoke from a big fire towards the east. Just about the time we were parking another forest fire to the northwest was started by a power line falling into a tree. So here we are where we can see smoke fifty miles away in two directions. There is no smoke in the camp. We sure hope the wind does not shift. But the sunsets are nice.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road

POTR #77 - Traveling Again

PEACE ON THE ROAD

Traveling Again

May 24, 2013

It has been quite a while since I wrote anything for a POTR and it is about time to start writing again. Last fall when we returned to Bentsen Grove Resort I was having some muscular problems. I think that it was a spinoff from the West Nile Virus Meningitis. I saw a couple Doctors and one thought it was a spinoff and the other did not think that it was. So who knows? I was prescribed some medicine that helped within hours and I have weaning myself off of them as the Doctors said I should. We have started our 2013 travels but I still need to write about the last of our travels in 2012. For quite a while I spent little time on the computer and therefore did no writing. I did read a lot more that other years. Also our winter activities were curtailed somewhat but we still kept active. Every year I get to thinking at some point and then I say, “This has been a strange year!” I believe that I should say, “This strangeness is the “normal” for my life!” Maybe that is a good thing in that it keeps away boredom.

DISPLAY INCLUDING A .463 CALIBER GUN SIMILAR TO THE LEWIS AND CLARK AIR GUN

It is always gratifying to read something on the Internet which seems very unlikely and then have a verification pop up seemingly out of the blue. We visited the Daisy Air Rifle Museum in Rogers, Arkansas and I learned a lot. The Lewis and Clark expedition has always fascinated me. Sacajawea has been givenpistol a great deal of the credit for the safety that the men had with their encounters with the Indians. I received an e-mail that suggested another factor. Two air rifles that were carried with the expedition. The rifles could be fired 22 times a minute. It was demonstrated to the many tribes of Indians that were encountered. While the expedition only had two of the guns it was implied that every member had one of the guns or a total of 33 guns. The stock of the rifles was a pressure reservoir. It is the one in the middle of the picture with a black stock towards the left side. Spare stocks could be charged and swiftly changed for more fire power. The existence of the the Lewis and Clark air gun was confirmed when I went to the Daisy Air Rifle Museum. As a boy I had a Daisy and loved it, so a visit to the museum was great. On display were several hundred different styles of rifles and pistols which ranged from the Red Ryder Carbine to a simple tube with bent wires creating the stock. The wire frames were produced during WWII in order to reduce the amount of steel used. Daisy started out as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company. They gave an air rifle with every wind mill as a premium item. Very quickly the air rifle became more popular than the windmills and the emphasis switched to making air rifles. The name came about from a fellow shooting a metal air rifle, formerly they were mostly made from wood, at a target and he used the slang of the time to say, “Boy, that's a Daisy!” In 1890 the company made 50,000 of the rifles which were sold within a hundred mile radius of the factory. From there the sales just went up.

TYPICAL DUNE OF SELENITE SAND AT WHITE SAND NATIONAL MONUMENT

When people think of sand it usually brings to mind a beige color because most are quartz based. There is a location in New Mexico where the sand is white. At the White Sands National Monument near Alamogordo the sand dunes are composed of gypsum crystals. Gypsum is rarely found in the form of sand because it is water-soluble. Normally rain would dissolve the gypsum and it would be transported to the oceans. Something like 100 millions years the area known as the Tularosa basin subsided and now it has no outlet to the sea. As the rain dissolves gypsum from the surrounding Andres and Sacramento Mountains it is trapped in the basin. The water either sinks into the ground or it forms shallow pools which eventually dry out and leave a crystalline form of gypsum called selenite on the surface. During the last glacial period the area was covered by a large lake call Lake Otero. When it dried out it left a large flat area covered with selenite crystals, known today as Alkali Flat. Another lake which only occasionally fills with water is known as Lake Lucero. Since selenite is water soluble it can form crystals which are up to three foot long along the lake shore. Or it can dissolve and then cement together forming sections of sand which are resistant to erosion by wind. The dunes are constantly moving and changing because of the wind. There are plants that grow in the dunes that grow fast enough to avoid being covered. In dunes that are formed by quartz based sand the sun can heat them to a temperature that is dangerous to walk on. The gypsum does not heat up in the suns rays so it is safe to walk in the dunes even during the hottest summer days. The Monument is totally within the White Sands Missile Range so it may be closed for a short period of time while the Army conducts their tests. In 1969 Oryx were introduced to the Basin area with the intent that they could be hunted for sport. Since they have no natural predators they soon were invading the monument. They are occasionally seen roaming within the Monument. I did see some in a captive fenced area in Texas but of course not in the White Sands. The dunes are truly a beautiful site. It is a wonderful place to take children for a day of picnicking and playing in the dunes. There is a lot of sand to play in.

MULTICOLORED FORMATIONS IN THE PAINTED DESERT NATIONAL PARK

I was not aware that Painted Desert National Park and Petrified Forest National park were so closely associated until we drove through them both just a few day ago. The Painted Desert as a general area is a large area of colored badlands in Northern Arizona. The most visited area, the Painted Desert National Park is near Holbrook. While the Navajo have lived in the area for five hundred years and the Hopi for a thousand years with the earliest Native Americans at least ten thousand years ago, the name for the brightly colored landscape comes from the Spanish name of "el Desierto Pintado," when it was first seen and named in the 16th century by white men. The desert is composed of stratified layers of mineral and decayed organic matter which started being deposited around 225 million years ago. It was over a period of millions of years of volcanic depositions, earthquakes, and inundation by both fresh water and salt water lakes that formed the layers of colored soil and rocks. Colorful bentonite clays and sandstone were stacked layer upon layer to form the landscape. About 60 million years ago the Colorado Plateau was pushed upwards by tectonic forces and erosion by wind and rain has cut through the layers and formed dunes that display bands of grays, reds, oranges and yellows. The area is especially beautiful at sunrise and sunset when the landscape seems to be bathed in tones of violet, blue, red and, gold. There are many mesas and buttes that are scattered around the desert. In the southern portion of the area is the remains of a Triassic Era coniferous forest which fossilized millions of years ago. Wind, water and soil erosion have exposed the petrified trees which are found in the Chinle Formation. The bones of a small ancestor of the the huge tyrannosaurus was discovered among the fallen trees of the the Petrified Forest. The bones were given the name of "Gertie." At the time of the discovery in 1985 the bones were the most ancient known to science. They were thought to be about 225 million years old. Gertie has since been identified as a Staurikour, which is a meat eating creature that was just seven to eight foot long and weighed about 150 pounds. In 1906, after many years of tourist removing artifacts from the area, certain sections were set aside and designated as the Painted Desert National Park. Part of that area was set aside as the Petrified Forest National Park. It is amazing to drive through and see the multicolored dunes and mesas. In the area of the Petrified Forest there are areas where chunks of petrified trees have broken loose and rolled down slope till the ground is virtually littered with petrified wood. Then up on the slope there are tree trunks that are sticking out the side of a bank and will in a matter of time break off and roll down the slope. That time could be the next rain storm or even a million years in the future. There is much to see in either a short time or in a much longer time if a person has a desire to drive or time to hike the trails.

ROCKS ON THE FLOOR OF THE GULLEY AND ONE LOG STICKING OUT THE SIDE

There are so many places to see in this United States that it is impossible for me to fathom even a small amount of it. I think frequently of a friend of mine with whom I talking when we decided that if we spent a lifetime doing nothing but seeing the places available we could not live long enough to see it all. At the time we guessed that we could spend a year in each state from the time we were twenty till we were seventy and we could make a pretty good dent in some states. However other states like Texas and California and quite a few others would require several years.

PAINTED DESERT WITH A LARGE LOG AT THE TOP AND MANY PIECES BELOW

We arrived in Flagstaff, AZ a bit earlier today. There are many things close to here to see and visit. The name of Flagstaff is interesting in itself. In 1876 a group of young men from Boston came here to settle. On the Fourth of July they stripped a pine tree of its branches and bark, then hung an American flag from it. This pine tree became a landmark for travelers and the area became known as Flag Pole. In 1881 the citizens of Flag Pole held a meeting to establish a genuine town and to select a name. Because the Governor thought that it sounded more dignified the citizens settled on Flagstaff.

We plan to be here for several days. The south rim of the Grand Canyon is close and Barringer Meteor Crater is even closer. I want to see both places. I find it humorous that we lived in Denver, CO for more than forty years and we have never been to the Grand Canyon. A lot of our reasoning was that the Canyon was relatively close, only about 700 mile and we could go anytime. Somehow it always seemed that if we had a long time we went to places further away and if out time was limited we went to places closer. But now we should see both the Grand Canyon and Meteor Crater within a few days.

Till later this is Doug of

Peace On The Road