Ramblings of a Wonderer
After leaving Tucson, I headed south about 30 miles to Tubac. Along the way I visited a former Titan Missile site. The site is a museum now and has the only titan missile left. Our volunteer guide was the site commander who oversaw the decommissioning of the site after a missile treaty with the Soviet Union. Hearing Marge, our guide, describe the job of working in a silo with a missile and a nuclear warhead was fascinating. Except for the crew quarters, no one was ever allowed to be alone and every thing done required two people to accomplish a task. I wondered why our titans were sited in AZ, AK and MO. I learned the decisions on siting the silos was not political but expedient on soils, distance from the USSR, and infrastructure. The silos were over 200 feet deep and needed soils and underlying strata to be easily penetrated. The farther from the USSR meant we had more time to react to incoming missiles and infrastructure required a nearby air base and a sizable population capable of building the sites.
Also on the way to Tubac was a copper mining complex and earthworks built of the tailings from the pit mine. Visiting a pit copper mine has always been on my bucket list but tours were only available on Saturdays when I could not be there.
My AirBnB in Tubac was marvelous. I had my own walled patio with a three tiered fountain, plants in pots, bicycles to use, a living room with a kiva style fireplace, a full kitchen and dining area and a sumptuously outfitted four poster bed. The AirBnB was right in town. Tubac is a mecca of shops, arcades and galleries all with their wares spilling out into the streets. Clothing, furniture, Indian wares, Mexican pottery, specialty foods, fine art, garden ornaments and interior accoutrements. It was a feast of color and texture. It can be hard on the wallet!
From Tubac I headed up to Flagstaff but because Tubac is very close to Nogales on the Mexican border ICE is out in droves. Going south my car and I were photographed and going north all traffic was again photographed and stopped. They know when you go and return from the border. Driving through Tucson was a breeze but the greater Phoenix traffic was stop and go for over an hour. North of Phoenix the desert returned with a vengeance and there were signs for dust storms. On top of that electronic signs along the highway also warned of 25-35 mph winds with gusts up to 55+. Along that stretch of highway it was apparent townhouse construction was underway. Who would want to live in a known dust storm alley? But wait, it gets better. Why on a day with high winds, would a highway crew be out painting lines. They obviously had not looked back to inspect their handiwork!
From Phoenix the highway climbs up to the 7000 foot elevation of Flagstaff. It involves crossing a variety of plant zones. I topped out at one plateau and I was blown away by the beauty. At first I did not understand what I was seeing. It looked like sand spread to the horizon but it turned out to be an almost white grassland. The specter was so ethereal. I felt instantly calm and could picture a herd of buffalo grazing or a lone Indian sitting sedately in his saddle. It was an idyllic scene.
My Flagstaff AirBnB accommodations were in one end of a ranch house. I had a large sitting and bedroom, bath, and a kitchen area with table and stools, coffee pot and microwave. Again the bedding was sumptuous. The best part was a 20 foot wall with floor to ceiling book cases full of non-fiction books. The owner had to have been a professor from Northern Arizona University. The books covered subjects related to the earth, nature, climate change, philosophy and religion. I made an extensive list of book titles I would like to read! I didn't accomplish much in Flagstaff except to have a fantastic steak dinner. This was only my second splurge on food of my trip.
Next came Petrified Forest National Park about 40 miles east of Flagstaff. I stayed at the Holbrook KOA campground which had a unique setup. My site included a partially enclosed shelter with electricity and lights, a double sink and a picnic table. I shared the sink area with the next campsite but we each had our own sides for storage and picnic table. When going slowly, my Prius runs only on the battery making it very quiet. I slid into my site and found the neighbor was into my storage box and helping herself to my paper towels. That is the only time I haven't felt safe so far on this trip. The management moved the other people away from my site.
Holbrook and the National Park are home to sections of Route 66, the old and the new. And apparently dinosaurs are a BIG thing in Holbrook and the Park. There are model and maybe real dinosaurs everywhere. AND there are rock shops with a huge selection of petrified wood. It is illegal to take anything out of the Park but there is plenty of private land on which petrified wood can be found. Apparently there are places in every state in the Union which have petrified wood. I am a rock hound so I was in the Mecca of Petrified Wood. When polished up, the amazing characteristics and beauty of the rock are so enticing. SO enticing with so much to choose from and so little time to choose.
And then it happened. I was sitting in the drivers seat reading. It was dusk but it wasn’t really dark out. Brad had real gaul. He didn't even wait until it was full dark before scrambling under the passenger seat. I use that area for storage and wasn’t able to see him but all that night it felt like he was bouncing off the walls. He seemed to be everywhere. The next morning before leaving Holbrook I again emptied my car. I found another nest and some signs he had been chewing on my stuff down on the second level. That was it, I went into Holbrook and bought some sticky traps and then headed out to drive north to Goosenecks State Park in Utah. Upon arrival, I put out two sticky traps, one in the trunk area and one on the floor in the front passenger area. That night, I was reading again and I heard a scrabble and that was it for Brad! We had a long 24 days together and I finally succeeded in ridding myself of the cheap, free loader. I really thought he should have offered to share the driving and pitch in for gas. RIP Brad.
I am currently in 'landscape overload.' After Petrified Wood, my itinerary took me directly north to Capitol Reef National Park and along the way I was continually gobsmacked by stunning scenery. This is a serious condition and it ultimately leads to 'landscape amnesia,' another serious condition. Resting the mind and sleeping are the only cures. Did I mention sleeping? On the way to Capitol Reef I camped at Goosenecks State Park. Goosenecks has a vantage point where it is possible to view four hairpin turns of a river which has carved its way into deep canyons. Heck if I can remember the name of the river but it was big! That is the amnesia part. In addition to killing Brad at Goosenecks, I had an interesting encounter with two grad students traveling from Missoula, MT to Austin, TX. They built a wood fire and invited me to share dinner. They had two pots and the fixings for a lentil stew and toasted cheese sandwiches. They also had a trenching tool and a machete but no other cooking utensils. They stirred the pot with a log and shared the pot to eat. I brought over some forks and a bowl for myself. The dinner was grand and we had a great time relating our travel experiences. I tried to talk them into taking a detour north to drive the Moki Dugway but they were intent on making Monument Valley that evening. I warned them that it was on tribal land with restricted entrance but they HAD to get on their way. Down went the top of their 1980 Miata rag top, on went their packs to the trunk and off they went into the mist. I never got the chance to tell them I caught Brad that night!
I had rained on and off the day before but it was more prevalent the next day. I had been waiting the whole trip to drive the Moki Dugway. I had seen the words “Moki Dugway “ on a AAA Utah state map and was intrigued. After Googling and YouTubeing I discovered it was a gravel road descending a truly steep 1200 Ft escarpment. It had the most amazing views. But I was in for a real surprise, not that it mattered which way I drove it, but I had pictured my self descending the road not ascending. As I drove across the plain I did not realize at first I would be climbing the escarpment but it became pretty obvious. There was road work going on and signs warning of a single lane. I thought it was basically a single lane anyway but along the way, I met up with a huge, long road grader and I had to pass on the outside. Then I got into a pile of his road detritus and nearly got stuck. It was fun but the scenery was muted and the far off red-rock monuments were mere shadows in the grey.
Farther on, the road took me to the Three Bridges National Monument. Here were three amazing natural bridges worn into the very resistant Navajo sandstone. It was raining and snowing and I was able to see a rare sight of several waterfalls cascading over the rims of the canyon and falling through several mini waterfalls into the river below. I was hearing reports of 90 degree days at home and here I was in the snow. Travel along the plateaus in remote areas is always through open range for cattle. I was the lucky person to have numerous encounters with the huge beasts that day. Beef cattle are not your usual 'Mollie the Milk Cow.' Some of these great black beasts were the size of buffalo. The tops of the mesa and plateaus had stunted trees and I wondered how a cowboy could ever find his individual cattle in a small forest. After a long day I pulled into Capitol Reef and stayed in the small town of Torrey. Here is where amnesia set in and sleep was necessary. It got down close to freezing and the wind was ferocious. The whole next day it roared outside but I just slept and slept and was 'snug as a bug in a rug' or (a Brad in a Prius).
I don’t know how anyone lives in a town such as Torrey. There are snowcapped peaks on the horizon in several directions. There are classic style ranch houses out on the mesas. Cattle, sheep, goats and buffalo are grazing over low hills. There are sheer wall escarpments in Winfield Sandstone and rounded escarpments of Navajo Sandstone. There are irrigated fields of alfalfa covering the valleys. This is just my view from my campsite. I wonder if you get daily 'landscape amnesia?' How can it be beat?
Everywhere I have traveled out west the spring rains have brought a super-bloom of wildflowers. I am astounded by how many flowers make a home in the low and high altitude deserts. I have been trying to photograph them all! In Texas I was so enamored of the yellow evening primrose and then remembered the “Yellow Rose of Texas” was about that very flower.
I have been running two cameras. I have not downloaded any pictures from my Canon at all and only take a few pictures with my phone. So I apologize about my pictures. I don’t have many to publish now with the blog entries but hope to post some of my better pictures to the end of the blog when I return home.
At Capitol Reef I drove the scenic drive but really got excited by driving two segments of dirt roads which headed into deep canyons. My poor car, my poor car. I pretend it is a 4 wheel drive high body F-10 or something! On a stretch of road just outside the visitors center I saw a sign “slow, marmots crossing.” And sure enough I saw two marmots cross the road. While sitting in my car one night at the campground some other campers invited me to supper and to play cards afterward. They were a group from Salt Lake and were visiting with their families for the holiday weekend. I am lucky I even know what day of the week it is, let alone a holiday! They introduced me to “Kamp Kones” (my spelling). Take a large waffle cone and fill it with fruit, chocolate, marshmallows, candy, whatever, wrap in foil and roast over the fire. One of the men had built a device to hold two kones for roasting. Oh what a gooey, sugary treat. It rivals the famous s’mores! Then the cardgame. It starts slowly but once it gets going it is devilish. “Cover Your Assets” is a great game for a group of people. Available at Amazon or where all fine card games are sold!
On my way to Canyonlands, just to the northeast of Capitol Reef, is a side road to Goblin Valley State Park. The goblins are really hoo doos formed in the same strata as the hoo doos at Bryce Canyon. The hoo doos at Goblin are shorter and all looked like phallic symbols to me. It was Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend so the crowds were out in force. It was an appalling sight to see the crowds scampering up, down and around the hoo doos. The soil off-trail was a kind of clay that absorbs water and swells up. Then it drys and cracks and foot falls compress it back to dusty red sand. I talked to a ranger about the impact of the tourists. Her response was “the people expect to climb all over the hoo doos in the park.” I was surprised because the potential for erosion is immense. She did say, however, that the park continually monitors the impact and may have to restrict access in the future.
There is an unspoken challenge ‘goin on in them thar hills.’ The opportunities to go off roading are everywhere. I have seen two off road buggies mounted crosswise on the back of a single pick up truck which is also towing a 5th wheel/toy hauler. There must be rallies for this. I think the main goal is to come back with the dirtiest vehicle possible. I have seen Jeeps with the only thing not covered with red, sticky mud is the section cleaned by the windshield washers. People get out of their vehicles with huge smiles on their faces. There are massive drive through car washes where it takes hours to spray off the dried-on mud. Oh such fun! But I envy them in a way because they get to use all of the old dirt roads established in the parks before they were made parks. I met a young woman yesterday in my campground in Green River, Utah. I was spending the day ‘resting my eyes’ and she passed by numerous times. We got to chatting and she invited me over to share her groups campfire. Heather was part of a group of women and their young children who had spent the weekend off roading. Each had her own RV/toy hauler and loaded pickups. We had a great time sharing stories around the campfire and of course Heather had primed them to hear a story about Brad Pitt!
I know this posting is very long. Just stop reading and come back to it when you get a chance. I will attempt to find Wi-fi in Green River so I can post it. I want to develop a Go Pro for my car. I will mount the camera on the outside of the car, or maybe have it built in my next car. I will wear a sensor on my head that aims the Go-Pro where my head turns. All I have to do is press a simple button to take a picture. There are so many Kodak moments I have missed because I am traveling and can’t stop to capture the moment!
I was headed to the campground office to see if they could point me to a free wi-fi location in Green River. I got talking to a couple in the next campsite who informed me I could use my personal hotspot on my phone. While resting over the last day or two I had run down the power on every device I have. They pointed out that I had power at my site!!! Luckily I have a 10 Ft cord to charge my phone and an extension cord. There is a thunder storm going on right now but I am snugly ensconced in my tentlet with the cords snaking into the tent. Bravo.
