Category: Uncategorized

Now that the care of the Critters has been safely turned back over to Lorelyn and Travis it’s time to officially start our Annual Eastward Migration. Our Itinerary has been modified of late as an unexpected bit of niceness has been inserted into it.

Backstory….

Enter….. 1972 Graduation, Montville High School.

The chums had been together for years and back then it was not easy to stay connected as it is today. No emails, Face Book, Instagram, cell phones, etc.

There was only Snail Mail, and writing letters was a chore. Life and its facets got in the way; time passed…… I’m sure we all can relate.

Exit…… The Chums.

Fast Forward to numerous Re-Unions, sans the Chums. Try as she might, Paula could not locate her friend Sue. Sue had vacated the area and headed West, Colorado was rumored to be her new nesting spot, but the trail grew colder and colder as the years went by.

52 to be exact.

Lots of Gatherings were put on hold during the Covid Crisis and that classes 50^th Re-Union was one of them, until two years had passed, and something got organized. As the emails and texts flew back and forth around the country indicating who was, and was not, attending, Sue’s name popped up and Paula was able to secure the appropriate contact info.

A deep breath and a purposeful text later, the Chums had been re-united, the next step being a joyous phone call topped off by a planned visit as guess where we were?

Yup! Only seven hours south of where Sue and Rob live, just outside of Denver, and….. practically right on our way Eastward!

So, that’s where we are for a day  😊

The trip from Durango up to Denver can be made several different ways, head due east til you hit the I-25 North (too boring) or, up through all of the San Juans and Rockies (too stressful!) or, the Goldilocks Route, up through what we call the Big Pretty Valley (just right!).

I haven’t been on this route since Lorelyn and I used to travel this way when she went to law school in Boulder, and I would fly out to Denver, and we’d drive down to the Four-Corners area for an adventure.

It’s just as pretty as I remembered it!

The rest of the trip eastward depended on one significant factor.

Hot Water.

Our water heater had been acting strangely over the past week or so until it finally gave up and croaked. This is not your everyday go down the basement and work on the water heater scenario. This has the potential for being a disaster as one of the significant components of the water heater is located on the back side of it which can only be accessed by removing the entire vanity assembly in the back bathroom.

 It is a Major Job.

We had the problem sort of diagnosed in Durango, and parts were checked on, but could not arrive in time for our scheduled departure from that area. So…. “Hey Sue! I know you don’t know me from Adam, and you haven’t seen Paula in fifty-two years, but can we have some parts shipped to your place and we get them when we visit and do you mind if I work on the motorhome in your driveway while we’re there?”

“No problem, Don!”

Parts hastily ordered, Amazon responded, and when we arrived I let the two Chums get re-united while I attempted to fix our fritzified water heater starting with the valve assembly which was the key here. it was the “easy” part to install. If the “other” part was the offending member, then we would have bee-lined it back to New Jersey for more serious work.

But…… Yes!

A few connections, a few errant flames (hastily extinguished) and Ta-Daaa! We have Hot Water!

So, (hopefully!) without any further developments, we can proceed as planned and visit the proposed stops along the way.

You will be the first to know!

Oh, and not to leave you in suspense…. yes, the Kitchen Modification was completed, not without some angst, but that was short-lived! My ‘piece of cake’ description of this project to Paula, turned out to be a giant sheet cake worth of work, but hopefully worth it!

(Eventually)

Dateline: Durango, Colorado

                        The Goats are rambunctious, the Cats are cuddly, and the Chickens are kinda chickeny.

Oh….. and the Weather is typical Southwest Colorado, Ho-Hum Gorgeous, Bluebird Skies, and White Puffy Clouds.

We are here in Durango, Colorado farm-sitting for Lorelyn and Travis’s merry band of Critter-Cohorts whose main task in life is to try and extricate additional food and snacks from the New Feeders (us!)

Travis and Lorelyn are off to Germany and Austria on vacation. So, this starts our 2024 Mid-Year-Go-West-Before Traveling-East Sojourn. It is a two-day travel from our spot in Texas up to the Four Corners Region and after one full day of that we were still not out of Texas! My Mid-Atlantic up-bringing is always fascinated by that. No driving through a few states in a few hours around here!

We are here for the better part of two weeks which gives me an opportunity to do some work on the Motorhome. Major kitchen renovations are underway, and Jonathan and Drew from Property Brothers keep dropping in and whispering things like “Open Concept” and “Vaulted Ceiling” and before we left Texas, Chip and Joanna stopped by with Joanna mentioning “shiplap” for the walls, but all of these well-intentioned folks have obviously never lived in a motorhome!

Fortunately for us, we are situated only about twelve miles from Durango, so my local supply spot, Home Depot, is not too far away and that is good because I was there three times yesterday!

Here’s what, and (why) we’re doing.

In the motorhome we have a combination microwave and convection oven, which means that it’s a compromise.

            Which also means that it really doesn’t do anything really well, especially the convection oven part. We’ve (Paula) given up on trying to bake a cake, or roast anything of consequence as the unit falls far short of any sort of normal expectations. We looked at getting other combo units and just retrofitting them in, but they are all still compromises and the reviews were sufficiently mixed as to warrant a really good reason to just hop from the frying pan (which works great as we have a propane stove!) into the fryer, so to speak. So, the tape measure came out and the graph paper was employed along with mechanical pencils, compass and protractor, add in a small ruler, and Plans were fashioned for a completely new idea in the Motorhome Kitchen Design Concept arena.

We’re going to try a Ninja Foodi Digital Air-Fry Pro (which is really just a big fancy toaster oven) and a small free-standing microwave.

The reason that we need to be in one place for a while in order to attempt this project is illuminated by the fact that yesterday I went to Home Depot three times. We’ve all heard of that old adage, Measure Twice, Cut Once, and just so I’m sure of my procedures, I’ve modified that by measuring a hundred times, but somehow still needing to cut a thousand!

Oh well, someone has to keep these stores in business!

Anyway, when retro fitting, and with no real “plans” available for this project, going from concept to reality can be a tad challenging. It’s a good thing that Paula is as patient as she is with me, because she knows that when I tell her, “Don’t worry, it’s a piece of cake!” that the cake won’t be ready for quite a while. In fact, she has mentioned to me that my “piece of cake” is rapidity turning into a full-sized sheet cake. (As long as it’s chocolate…..)

As I write this early on Saturday morning, you should know that this project started last Monday, when Travis helped me extricate the stupid old unit (which did take the two of us as it was quite heavy), so I’ve been at it for a while, not fulltime mind you, there’re critters to tend, and other life-chores to take care of, so I’m not that bad…… hopefully it will be finished today, but that was the plan for yesterday too.

Photos enclosed, and I’ll wait to post this so that the Finished Project Photo can take its rightful place in the Motorhome Hall of Fame (Renovation Category)

(Project Note: It is now Sunday morning and my plan to show you the Finished Project went kerflooey. If I showed you a current photo, it would look much the same as the previous one. This after an almost full day of “Reto-Fitting” (but just two trips to Home Depot!) There were too many “bumps” along the way yesterday to list. But there’s still today(!) to make some headway on this project. The issue du jour was moving the power from one side to the other in an attempt not to have unsightly wires running amuck on the shelves. Today’s plan involves just one (hopefully) trip to Home Depot, they open at eight and I’ll be there waiting!)

(PS Note: The wind came up; the clouds threatened a shower, so I elected to work on the electrical wiring for the appliances inside instead of finishing the cabinetry. So, a Finished Photo will be had sometime in the future.)

When that’s all finished and the critters are sufficiently spoiled, we will leave here and continue eastward on our way back to New Jersey and the rest of the Summer Travel Itinerary, which I will give you brief(?) synopsis of, just so you know where you too will be travelling this season!

 -Just outside of Denver for an old high school chum of Paula’s

– Lower Michigan for a night with Sandra and Darla from the World Cruise at Darla’s parent’s farm.

– On to (depending on time, etc.) stops at Cuyahoga National Park in Ohio, Niagara Falls, Watkins Glen, Cooperstown, and finally back in our spot in Yetter’s Diner parking lot by sometime in the week before Memorial Day where we attend the Opening Day of the Pool Club that Matt, Paula’s son and his family belong to.

– A week later, we’re up in Manchester-by-the-Sea for my son Donny and his family, then back to Jersey for my granddaughters Ballet Recital, then up to Vermont for Paula’s sister Barb’s 80th birthday, then Maine for the 4th of July with Brian her son, then back to Vermont, then the Jersey Shore for a week with my sister, her family, and my daughter Heather and her family and eventually heading Westward by the first week in August. Stops to include the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Darla and Sandra, Minneapolis with Claire, one of Paula’s high school friends, a week in Seeley Lake, Montana with Phillis and Steve, my partners from the Chatterbox, then down to Oregon for three separate visits, two with friends from the World Cruise, Sandi and Steve, & Brian and Kristine, and one with Liz (my old friend from Sysco) and Beth. On to Salt Lake City for a drive-by visit with one of the surgeons that Paula used to work for, then dropping into Utah where we hope to visit some of the National Parks that we’ve not been to yet, Canyonlands, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Capitol Reef before we make our way back here to Durango sometime in mid-September.

Where we will collapse and work on removing the calluses from our steering wheel-hands.

I’ll reserve the rest of the year’s itinerary for a post later on this year.

We know you like to travel as much as we do just by the comments that we get from all of you, and we love having you all along with us! So, fasten your seatbelts but at the same time get ready to jump out as there will be many stops along the way for photo-ops and snacks!

Here?

“Yup!”

You mean, right here?

“Yes sir!”

This actual spot?

(Sigh)

“Yes Don, right. here. in. that. bar.”

            Well, it was Paradise, and the Cheeseburger was really good.

            What makes it even better was the fact that back in the day, Jimmy Buffett was a frequent visitor to this Island. So, it was easy to see that this was the spot that inspired that song.

            We’re sitting on the patio of the Cabbage Key’s only business, the Island Inn Bar and Restaurant. This place screams that island lifestyle that Mr. Buffett was so enamored with. Yes, you can come here, but only by boat. Yes, you can stay here, but only in one of the Cottages that are for rent.

Yes……. you can do anything that you would do at any other resort!

Can I swim in the pool?

            Nope, don’t have one.

Can I play tennis or pickleball?

            Nope. No courts.

Can I get a massage?

            Sorry, nope to that too. No spa.

How about at least a nightclub? Is there one of those?

            That’s a big negatory there good buddy.

Sheesh! So, what is there to do around here?

            You can relax. You can let yourself succumb to that Island existence that Jimmy sang so longingly about. You can let this island transport you back to the mid 1940’s when this place was built, and savor that “Old Florida” lifestyle. It creeps up on you unsuspectingly and when it grabs you, you’re a goner. You’ve been infected and the only remedy is to come back for more.

As you may have surmised by now, we are in southern Florida, Fort Myers to be exact, where Sherry and Harold live. We met them on the World Cruise and have been close ever since. In fact, on this day last year we were in Barcelona having Paella and Sangria on the La Rambla with them. This year they surprised us with this day trip and now we’re having cheeseburgers, grilled Mahi sandwiches, and libations such as the “Cabbage Creeper” and Golden Margaritas on Cabbage Key!

            Why Cabbage Key?

            It’s because of all of the Cabbage Palm Trees that cover the island. The place has been around since the last ice age when a bunch of sand was pushed and deposited here. It’s been inhabited more or less for the last two thousand years, mostly less. That is until the early 1900’s when a series of owners decided that their vision of paradise was this somewhat small (100 acres) island off the southern coast of Florida. Its most famous neighbor is Sanibel Island, which is about an hour’s boat ride south of it. Remember, everything is by boat. There are no cars here. Hey, I didn’t even see a golf cart! That means that everything (food, beverages, sheets, paper towels, merch for the store, etc.) needs to come and go (garbage!) by boat. Some of the employees live on the Island and the rest commute…. by boat.

We arrived in our own chartered boat just in time for the restaurant to open at 11:30. Captain Steve said that if we didn’t get there before the Island Girl ferry deposited it’s complement of day visitors we’d be on the end of a long line of eager, hungry patrons. So, after a glorious boat ride out through Pine Island Sound, we were the first customers of the day. As quaint and original as the inside of this establishment is, there was no way to waste the weather that we were experiencing by sitting inside. The patio and its views of the bay and surrounding islands were the only way to go!

On our way back to the mainland Captain Steve brought us up to an area where manatees frequent, but due to an unusually low “low tide”, we couldn’t get in there. But miraculously several dolphins appeared and put on a show for us! If it had been planned, it could not have been any better!

Earlier, whilst still on the patio, our food arrived quite expeditiously as ours was the first order into the kitchen. Everyone enjoyed what they had ordered (Rueben and Mahi) but I could not imagine having any other item at a place that inspired such an iconic phrase, experience, and song as Cheeseburger in Paradise.

And when the gentleman who had the guitar around his neck, clicked on his amp, and opened with Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes, I knew that I had made the right decision.

On our way back to Texas.

We decided to take a somewhat circuitous route and see some sights along then way. We wound our way up from I-10 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, our goal was White Sands National Park. The Park received the honor of being elevated from a National Monument to a National Park in 2019. It was established as a National Monument in 1933 by President Hoover. There are subtle differences between the two designations, not readily apparent to the casual tourist. They mainly have to do with what the emphasis is when promoting the Park, a Monument highlights the scenic, scientific, and educational interests and a Park furthers this by adding cultural and natural resources.

            There, now you know too!

After a five-plus hour drive from Tucson, we pulled into the town of Alamogordo on Thursday afternoon with the idea of spending Friday exploring White Sands and a few local attractions (if there was enough time).  

We checked out some local brochures and the like after we pitched our “tent” on Thursday afternoon. It is far more pleasurable to drive half of the day and stop rather than cramming full days together on a trip. Luckily, we have a somewhat open-ended arrival in Texas as long as we’re back in time for Paula’s next surgeon’s follow-up appointment on Tuesday.

As you can see by the accompanying photographs, on a scale of 1 to 10, the weather is a 15! Cool desert nights, running into warm sunny days, the temps hovering around 80 during the day with less then 20% relative humidity and the nighttime temps cascade down to around 40 after sunset.

We discovered that White Sands National Park is not one of our largest, but it is the largest (of only a handful on Earth) of surface gypsum locations in any quantity. The process of making all of this “sand” starts like everything else around here, with water.

                        And wind.

Apparently when the ancient seabed’s left behind deposits of Gypsum (hydrated calcium sulphate, Ca SO4. 2H2O to be specific😊) a common mineral formed mainly by the evaporation of seawater; they had no idea that someday they would be the genesis of a unique landscape!  Known from antiquity, its name comes from the Arabic jips, for “plaster,” then to the Greek gypsos, for chalk.

            Enter the water, dry, windy, cycles of the modern era and the transformation of the calcium sulphate, combined with the wind-driven effects of making these crystals crash into each other so much that they eventually grind their way down to “sand’ sized particles and….

Voila!

We get a National park!

And the Air Force gets a missile test range!

Yes… our National Park is completely surrounded by the White Sands Missile Test Range that is still active today. So much so that the local highway and the Park are subject to long-term closures (hours) when a test is imminent.

                        Can you imagine back East….

“Uhh, yea, I’m gonna be a little late for work today, there’s a rocket test going on and the road is closed.”

                        Nope, can’t imagine that.

            The white sand in White Sands at times towers up to sixty feet tall when the dunes get going. As you may imagine, the place is ever-changing as the winds whip the sand around and form these gigantic dunes. The Park Store sells plastic saucers for anyone to climb the dunes and sled their way down. Since this is a Park and recreation is part of a Park’s goals, (and no damage occurs when sledding down) this is a very popular activity.

            Us old folk did not participate.

            We also discovered that unless you were to go on an extended hike, this Park can be viewed in about an hour or so. Think about it… No trees, no streams, only an endless view of (gorgeous) sand dunes. We arrived when the Park opened at 7:00 AM, mainly because the light is much better at that time, shadows of the dunes and the little ripples in the sand were far more dramatic than in in the middle of the day with the sun way up high. This means we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Besides, the loop that you can drive is only a few miles in and out, so it doesn’t take a lot of time to explore.

We did not see much wildlife, as most of that remains hidden during the day. Deserts are fairly nocturnal in nature.

We did spot an Oryx.

A what?

Yup, these critters were “imported” from Africa many years ago by the military base hoping to have them around for “hunting”. Well, what they did not count on was the fact that the African Lion (big) can keep these guys’ population in check while our (little) Bobcats take one look them and decide that a rabbit is easier to catch!

            So now we’ve got thousands of these invasive guys roaming around.

                                    It’s now only a little after 9 o’clock in the morning and we need something else to do. We decided to visit Pistachio Land, a roadside operation whose reason for existence is that little delicious nut, the pistachio. Apparently, we are in the heart of the pistachio growing area. This family-run enterprise has its own groves of trees plus quite a few grape vines that produce several varieties of wine including a pistachio-infused one that was quite tasty!

And even though it was 5 o’clock somewhere, it was only 10 o’clock where we were!

A “tasting” was had.

We now have two bottles.

They also have their own ice cream, so we felt obligated to try (and consume) some of their pistachio ice cream. We nearly spoiled our lunch as a “small scoop” request does not seem to matter when ordering.

                        We did not complain.

                        We returned to the motorhome, and promptly fell asleep for a bit, then had lunch and ventured out to what was going to be that local “find” of the day. Being somewhat enthused about petroglyphs and pictographs left behind by the ancient civilizations that inhabited our western states, we chanced upon the Mother Lode of petroglyphs at a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) site about 30 miles north of where we were.

                    Named Three Rivers petroglyphs, this site has about 21,000(!) individual petroglyphs.

We lost count at over two hundred.

Here is our lesson for today… a petroglyph is created when someone takes a rock, chisel, or anything, and pecks away at a rock, leaving an indentation that is now there forever. This process becomes even more dramatic when the individual pecks away at a rock covered in “Desert Varnish” (that dark coloring) revealing a lighter color underneath for a nice contrast. Luckily for the Artist, Desert Varnish takes thousands and thousands of years to form so their artwork stays nice for a long time!

            These petroglyphs were fashioned by the Jornada Mogollon peoples who were contemporaries of our favorites, the Ancestral Puebloans. These petroglyphs are entirely different than those of the aforementioned folks which makes it even more interesting when comparing these older civilizations. Most of these are about a thousand years old.

                        As most of you already know I haven’t found an Air and Space Museum that I didn’t like, so my visit to the PIMA Air and Space Museum, and a glowing review will come as no surprise!

                        Yes, it’s a collection of old planes and ephemera from the aviation days of yore, and some of it could be classified as certified “junk”, but thankfully a whole bunch of “someone’s” had the foresight to save some of these junked artifacts and preserve them for future generations. I saw many a little kid yesterday accompanied by parents (but mostly grandparents😊) touring the facility, getting their young appetites whetted, hopefully ensuring that future generations can, and will, appreciate the stories and history that accompany these ghosts of the air.

                        I am a card-carrying member of the “Don’t Throw It Away Because It’s Old” Club. If I had my way, no Old Buildings, Old Cars, Old Books (!) Old Anything’s, would be discarded for fear losing any Historical Content and not being able to replace it.

                        I am also a closet member of Practical Solutions Anonymous, knowing that just because it’s old does not give it automatic elevatory status to ecclesiastical levels needed for preservation because…..  Someone has to pay for these things!

                        So, decisions need to be made.

                        Sometimes its ok to dispose of items.

                        If the value of something was determined strictly by age, then we would never grind up granite into chips and stones because granite is the oldest igneous rock in the world at around 300 million years old.

                        By now your eyes are glazing over and you are wondering where this is going. I am just trying to illustrate the biggest quandary facing these types of institutions, whatever they may be. I will show you photos of PIMA’s back lot, filled with “junked” artifacts, some of which may find their way to the front yard, others will not.

                                    I guess we just try and do our collective “best” when it comes to these decisions and hope that someone in the future  appreciates “our” efforts.

                                    On with the Tour!

                                    What is a PIMA, and why is it named that?

                        That’s an easy one as Pima is the name of the County in which Tucson is located and it was the County and its citizens that embraced the idea of an aviation museum back in the ‘60’s.

Davis-Monthan Air Force Base has been here since the early ‘20’s so aviation has old and long roots around here. The Arizona Air National Guard is based here flying F-16’s.

                        This place is huge at over 130 acres, 80 of which are currently used for the museum buildings and outdoor displays. It is adjacent to Davis-Monthan AFB which gives it some advantages when looking for expended aircraft and the use of a few runways. These would be needed to fly some aircraft in if they are still airworthy and do not need to be trucked in over the road.

                        It is also spotless! You can tell immediately if an institution is well-run or not just by the condition of its facilities and grounds. Even their foodservice was top-notch! One of the advantages that PIMA enjoys is its location in the desert. It’s no accident that the Aviation Boneyard(s) are located here. No rain, no rust, no nothing, (‘cept sun!) Being baked is better for metal when compared to rust!  UV’s do not harm metal!

                        I spent about four hours there while Paula was having a very needed Spa Day after the last four post-surgery, bronchitis, et al, inflicted weeks. Mid-week visits are great as the facility was not crowed at all. Being able to photograph these wonderful airplanes sans hordes of onlookers was quite extraordinary and well-appreciated.

                                    I asked about getting into that Aviation Boneyard across town and was told that those offerings were discontinued permanently. Due to the vastness of those collections and for security reasons, the Bus Tours operated by the Air Force have been discontinued with no plans for a future revival.

                                                Oh well.

                                                I’ll just peer through the fence!

Everyone who has been to Sabino Canyon please raise your hands.

Hmmm.

Ok, all of you who have even heard of Sabino Canyon, please raise your hands.

                        That’s what I thought.

                        Me neither.

                But 1.4 million per year of our distant friends and relations have!

                        Now it’s 1,400,002!

                        We all know traveling is fun, but it gets even better when you can discover some of those hidden local gems that do not get the same love and attention that their more well-known cousins do.

                        We can include Sabino Canyon Recreation Area in the grouping. Sabino Canyon is an area of the Santa Catalina Mountains that border the northern edge of Tucson, making for a very impressive skyline.

It is administered by the National Forest Service, not the National Park Service, as it is contained within the Coronado National Forest. The Coronado National Forest totals almost two million acres spread over five different Ranger Stations that are further spread out in two states, Arizona and New Mexico. These Regions are obviously not contiguous.

                        But they are connected by a single environment and that is called a sky island. Aptly named, a sky island is an area of mountainous terrain that has significantly different biodiversity than its surrounding lowlands.

                                    We visited Sabino Canyon yesterday with a bunch of our new friends. We all clambered aboard an electric-powered tram (it’s so popular that reservations are required!) that brought us up several thousand feet and then on the return acted in a Hop On / Hop Off nature at all of the popular trailheads. We elected to ride the entire way as Paula is still unable to shake this bronchitis/flu/persistent cough/neck pain/and general yuckiness.

                                    As you can see from the photos, this area does not conjure up your usual visions of what a National Forest looks like. There are no dense groves of towering pine trees or lush valleys filled with deciduous tress. What we have here are Cacti.

                                                Lots and lots of Cacti.

                                                Especially our besties…

                                                The Saguaro!

                        I apologize in advance for inundating you all with these fascinating plants, but it seems that we’ve come down with a terminal case of Saguaroitis. Luckily this malaise is not fatal and is easily treated by visiting these guys. Just don’t try and hug them!

                        So lets get to know our new friends.

Saguaros live for several hundred years.

Saguaros don’t get their cool-looking arms until they are about 75 years old.

Saguaros are about 250 / 350 years old when they have that classic several-fingered configuration.

Saguaros can grow to be forty-five feet tall and weigh over six tons!

No two Saguaros are identical.

Saguaros provide shelter to all sorts of critters, crawling and flying, as burrows are quite common in them.

They are all over here!

Up high, down low, and everywhere in between, towering above all of their other cacti neighbors.

If you took my hint and went back in the Archives to January 13, 14, &15 of 2021 and read the Posts from our first trip out here, and then add in a place like Sabino Canyon, you can see how easy it is to return.

                        We can’t wait to come back and get on those trails that will lead us to even more places hidden in Sabino Canyon Recreation Area!

            The Travel Season is fast approaching so we decided to have a Preliminary Travel Event just to keep in practice.

                        Well, that’s not what really occurred.

                        What really happened was Paula had some neck surgery which was successful in it’s goals, but due to the fact that she cannot endure any kind of pain medication, she had some severe reactions after surgery. This left her rather debilitated, never mind the pain from the surgery itself which could only be subdued with some Advil’s.  

                        Advance a week or so later and as recovery started to show its lovely head, along comes a bout of what was probably the flu and bronchitis. Still clinging to the respiratory issues of that incident and then having her cousin in Tucson, Arizona pass away, we decided to roll it all together and travel the two days to Tucson, attend the Celebration of Life service, and get Paula into some different air.

                                    So, here we are in Tucson.

                                    We were here in January of 2021 to visit her cousin and family and we always intended to return as this area is what can be considered Desert Gorgeous.

                                    We all have our Mind’s Eye vision of what a desert looks like…..  old, sunbaked cattle skulls, vultures circling overhead waiting for us to drop because we left our water bottles at home, Roadrunners craftily outwitting Mr. Wile E. Coyote, and of course, cloudless blue skies from horizon to horizon.

                                    I’ll bet that our collective vision also includes some cacti. Not just any cacti, specifically the Saguaro Cactus family.

                                    You know, the Marlboro Man astride his trusty steed silhouetted against the setting sun and the ubiquitous symbol of the West, that several-fingered cactus plant reaching for the sky.

                                    But wait a second!

                                    That can only happen here!

                                    Here in the Sonoran Desert of our Southwest and in northern Mexico. And then….. only a portion of the Sonoran Desert!

If you are in any other desert on the planet, you cannot see these gorgeous plants as they cannot and do not grow anywhere else.

                        There is another wonderful aspect of this Desert.

                        The relative humidity and grand expanses make it the perfect place for old aircraft to go and either last almost forever, or stay around to be used for spare parts, or wait until they may be needed again and get themselves some more flight time!

                        The “Boneyard” as it is affectionately called by any knowing aviation geek is located right here!

                        So, we are going to spend a few days down here exploring some of the other sights and sites that we left behind on our last trip. The “Boneyard”, PIMA Air and Space Museum, and some pretty nifty natural wonders await all of us in the next few days, so stay tuned for a few Blog Posts emanating from our Desert Gorgeous Southwest!

                                    If you are so inclined, go backwards in the blog Archives to January of 2021, January 14,15, & 16 specifically and you will find the other really great stuff that we saw back then and probably won’t repeat this time.

I promise you that you will enjoy them!

In the meantime, please enjoy this small Desert (Cacti) Solitaire photo essay!

                        In the middle of the New Mexico/Texas desert is a place that we’ve all heard of but I’m not sure how many of you have actually visited.

                                    Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

                                    If you’ve been here before then you may reminisce while you go along with your new classmates, who will now know why a trip to this wonder needs to be on their list.

                                    I will tease you with just one photo (to keep your interest) while your ‘Lesson’ is being administered.

                                    Ok, so lets go back to the way,way back (like 265 million years or so) and pretend we’re a couple of water molecules. We’re floating around in a big inland sea that some day will be a desert in New Mexico and Texas. We’re helping our friends Sponge Bob and his buddies form a reef of sponge-like critters, (No Patrick Star, Mr. Krabs, Squidward, or any others… just some spongy-type guys). Unfortunately Sponge Bob and his contemporaries croak. But they become the base for the next generation of Sponge Bobs. This goes on for several million years and it grows into a 400-mile long, horseshoe shaped reef along the coast of this big inland sea.

                        We’re going to jump ahead some more millions of years, add in some exciting activity from our old friend Mr. Plate Tectonics, who is going to get agitated, throw his chest out, and push this whole sea upwards to the point where its cut off from it’s parents to the west and now is on its own.

                        This process goes on for millions more years in varying stages, up, down, and sideways forming, unforming, fissures and cracks that let fresh rainwater, and the occasional salt water, penetrate downward through the old remains of Sponge Bob and his friends and relatives. When everybody gets together, the Sulfur Bullies meet the Hydrogen Happenings, sulfuric acid is made, bacteria start to feed, they croak and interact with limestone and eventually we get big caves that rise and fall with the varying sea levels until about 500,000 years ago, they start the process that we all know and love, Chemical Precipitation (dripping water).

                                                Drip, (with a molecule of Calcium)

                                                Drip, (with another molecule of Calcium)

                                                Drip, Drip, Drip,

                                                Pretty soon (thousands of years) we get these incredible formations, Stalactites ( t for top or hold tight) and their relatives the Stalagmites (g for ground or reaching up with all their m for might).

                                                There you have it.

                                                Class dismissed!

And we now get to go on our Field Trip (Yay!!!) but no snacks! (Boo!!!) Because they are not allowed down in the cave for fear of contamination.

You may eat your snack on the bus.

            The first aspect that I would like to relay to you is the scale of this experience. It is huge! I have occasionally had our resident Chief Spelunker, Paula the Fearless be strategically placed in a photo for scale. That, and you will notice the stainless-steel handrail in some photos. Look carefully for these items as they too add the much-needed scale for this encounter to be appreciated to its fullest extent.

We chose to walk down the 750 feet of elevation on the trail that is over a mile and quarter long. This depth (for comparison) is about 75% of the height of the Empire State Building.

                        We did not walk back up.

                        We did take the high-speed elevator.

When we finally reached the main attraction at the bottom, that of the aptly named Big Room, the path around that was another mile and a half!

            Now for all of you Jules Verne fans…. we will start our Journey to the Center of the Earth 😊

The next few photos may, or may not, have any text under them. Some need a comment, others just need someone to see them. That someone is you.

I hope that you have enjoyed your tour of Carlsbad Caverns and can only wish that you may someday visit this incredible place. It is not at all claustrophobic as my lovely assistant, Paula the Fearless, can attest!

                   We lucked out on our last day in Palm Springs.

Weatherwise!

We met up again with Sandi and Steve and went to one of the best aviation museums that I’ve ever been to. The Palm Springs Air Museum is truly word-class!

They were getting ready for their Annual Gala (read fund raiser) so things were a bit jumbled up and not all of their aircraft were available for display as the hanger was needed for this event.

But, the rest was great and as you can tell by the photos, the weather was also!

We saw one of the best explanations of the first six months of our involvement in WWII starting with the attack on Pearl Harbor. This movie production was quite detailed and had a running time of almost an hour. It used both American and Japanese films to convey its message and was very effective.

There are far too many other aspects of this Museum to go into detail about, but their Aviation Art collection, gigantic painted murals, and reference material is quite extensive.

Here for your enjoyment are just some photos from the day.

Be sure to check out the last ones!

Today we start heading eastward, back to Texas, hopefully with a side trip to Carlsbad Caverns!

Thanks for reading!

                   We have been inundated with questions about our relative safety here in Southern California. I guess the rest of the country is watching on TV the many floods, landslides, and other natural disasters that seem to haunt this region.

                   I am here to report that we are just fine.

I am also here to report that there isn’t much to report!

While most of that “Atmospheric River” is just northwest of us, that doesn’t mean that we’ve had bluebird skies and tropical temperatures.

Just the opposite.

Cool and rainy.

But not really floody.

That does put a damper on things. Hiking in Joshua Tree National Park is not on the schedule, or anywhere else for that matter.

                   But we came here primarily to visit with Sandi and Steve, a couple who we met on the World Cruise. They winter down here in Palm Springs and summer up in Vancouver, Washington State(not Canada) in a home right on the Columbia River which is directly across from Portland, Oregon.

                   We’ve had a great time reminiscing as you may imagine and getting to know a little more about each other’s families, past employment, and other general items that can only be had with the spending of quality time together.

We were able to get out for a tour of the area, courtesy of our hosts. Movie stars homes, historical buildings, and other cultural entities were included in our day-long outing.

                   So, there has not been a lot to report back on from a Travelogue Perspective.

But from our perspective, this trip has been a rousing success!

We do plan on taking a side-trip on our way back to Texas and stop at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. You may expect the usual Blog Entry on this venture if it, in fact, occurs.

You will be the first to know!

Gotta go now, Frank and Bing are having a Flood Party and asked us to attend!