Month: February 2024

                        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!

                   We have an announcement to make.

                             No…. not that!

                             We are now officially Card-Carrying Members of the Cracker Barrel Rewards Program!

                   We finally bit the bullet (or Chicken Pot Pie) and signed up last night.

                             The Backstory.

                   Walmart’s are (were?) famous for allowing RV-type vehicles overnight in their parking lots. This started when old Grampa Sam was still in charge. Then a few things happened. Gramps croaked and a few of the Stores went rogue when hosting unworthy, trash dumping guests got to be too much and the local managers or municipal authorities finally put an end to it.

                             At some locations.

                             The problem is that you are never sure if the one that you’ve got in your sights is a ‘Welcoming’ one or a ‘Go Away, You Bother Me’ one.

                             Back in the beginning of our travels we stopped in the Walmart of Marana, Arizona (north of Tucson) and made ourselves comfortable.

                             Until….

                             Until the local Mall Cop showed up and skedaddled us out explaining the now obvious local situation. He recommended a Walmart fifty miles north of where we were. It was already late at night, so this exercise became an even bigger deal.

                   Now we’re wary.

                   Are we gonna get kicked out?

                   Is any Walmart safe anymore?

                   You would think that a call beforehand would settle this issue but when:

1. You can’t always get through.
2. If you do, and you get Bill in Electronics….
3. Even if you do get the Front Desk they don’t always know!

So, we do still use the Walmart’s that we know are ‘safe’ around the USA, and we are always hopeful when we pull in and see another RV there before us, but still…..

That brings us to Cracker Barrel and their parking lots that have dedicated long, spacious spots for RV’s and the like. We know that we’re always welcome and we make a point of going in for a meal and asking to speak to the manager. We thank them for their hospitality for the evening and we always get a delicious (read not diet!) meal, usually with enough left over for another meal.

As a Welcome Gift for signing up we will receive a complimentary order of any of their Barrel Bites (appy’s) that we may choose.

 Within the next month.

Guess where we’re gonna go on the way back home!

The last time Willy visited our campfire was a few years ago in Colorado where we sang “On the Road Again” as only Willy can. This time he dropped by our place in Texas (his home State), he mentioned something about Tax Time coming up and he had some papers to gather for this event. No more Tax Evasion for him!

He next strummed another one of his tunes, The Highway, and that’s all we needed to hear. The next thing we knew we heard that highway calling us too, so we jumped into the Motorhome, threw a few ropes around the Honda, and exited the finally nice weather of Texas and are bound for SoCal.

It’s kind of like SoHo  (South of Houston Street) in NYC, but much further away and a lot bigger!

We are on our way back to this area after a several year absence. This was the first sizeable trip that we took back in the beginning. It works nicely as we get to stay “South”, hopefully with most winter anomalies staying well north of us!

We are headed for the Palm Springs area. The last time we were here Frank, Sammy, and Dean and the rest of the Rat Pack asked us to visit. This time we’re on our way to visit a couple that we met whilst on the World Cruise last year.

(I can’t believe that its been a whole year! On this date last year we were sailing between Moorea, Tahiti and Pago Pago, American Samoa!)

Sandi and Steve live up in Oregon, but winter in Palm Springs, so off we go! It’s already been one full day on the road, about nine hours of driving and we still have about 140 miles left before we get outa Texas….. As I’ve related before…. This place is gigantic!

So far, the Evil Interstate 10 has behaved herself, no 40 mph crosswinds to counter, traffic has been unusually light, but we are not complaining as we had a rather uneventful day yesterday. The only event worth mentioning was the brief interlude when the Motorhome died at 73 mph.

                   Then, 3 seconds later, came back to life.

                   A call into our service guys was not able to ascertain the issue as there could be many a reason for the “glitch”.

Yes…. that is the Official Nomenclature used for describing that situation.

We are hoping that this uninvited guest does not reappear anytime soon.

See you in Palm Springs!