I Miss My Dog

While we were one our vacation, we had a couple of rain clouds rain on our parade. We received word that Holly's grandfather passed away. We also got a call from the folks that were watching the house to tell us that two of our dogs had dug out of the fence and run off.

Holly's grandfather had been sick and his condition worsening for some time, so his passing was not a big surprise. Still, there is a tragedy that comes with losing a family member regardless of how sick they may have been or how merciful the death may have been. I am relieved, though, for the family that the end was swift. Holly's uncle carried a heavy burden while caring for his father, and I fear he will carry that burden even after his passing.

I am blessed to have some really incredible friends and family in my life. When I received word that the dogs had escaped, I called my lifetime best friend, Marcus. He and Trey were quick to jump to action for me. With their help my new Lab puppy was recovered the next day. Surprisingly, she had traveled more than five miles from our house and managed to do so without getting run over. Considering I live right in the middle of downtown, that is quite a feat.

However, our Dalmation is still at large and the trail grows increasingly colder with each passing day. She's been gone almost three weeks now, and despite many hours riding around looking in area neighborhoods I haven't seen a single Dalmation, much less my own. I had a few leads from a mail carrier that saw a Dalmation near where the Lab was found and a homeowner in the area that had seen one, but I have been unable to pick up on her trail. Of course, we've notified the pound, Animal Control, the Humane Society, all the area vets, posted signs all over town, run ads in the paper, etc. I'm beginning to lose hope of ever seeing her again.

Dandy was 11 years old. I got her when she was a puppy while Holly and I were engaged. I was working as an intern for the state legislature. The family of one of the other interns raised Dal puppies and he had given one of their puppies to yet another intern. That intern could not take the puppy back to Memphis with him because of his landlord situation there, so I took her off his hands. I gave her to Holly as a surprise engagement gift. As it turns out, Holly could not take her home with her so Dandy and I ended up becoming very close. We spent every waking moment together that summer when I wasn't working. That fall she accompanied me to Ole Miss for law school while Holly stayed at Eastern Kentucky to finish up her undergraduate work.

We lived together in our apartment at Jackson Plaza, sharing the couch, the bed, and leftover Hamburger Helper. She was a very difficult puppy that was very headstrong, but she grew to become an extremely sweet and intelligent dog. Later, when Holly and I had our first child, Dandy and the other dogs had to move outside but she never lost her place in my heart. She was very good with our children and protective of our family. She loved chasing cats and catching frisbees. She would always bury her head in my chest when I would sit down on the floor with her, and she'd moan in ecstasy when I would stick my finger in her ears and scratch. She also loved to wipe the corners of her mouth off on my shorts when she finished her food.

I miss her terribly, and I get disappointed everytime I walk past the back door and she's not there. I just hope and pray that if someone has picked her up they are taking good care of her.

Do we really appreciate our national treasures?

How many times have you heard a person telling a story about visiting a national park or landmark wherein they comment about a noticeable number of foreigners there? Probably the landmark where this is most commonly commented on is Pearl Harbor. I've heard numerous people comment on the number of Japanese tourists that were at the Pearl Harbor memorial while they were there visiting. I wonder if the 9/11 Memorial will be visited by Muslims in the same manner in the years to come. And what are they talking about while they look at it? I don't speak Japanese, so for all I know they could be mourning the dead and shaking their head at the level of evil humans are capable of. Or, they could be slapping each other on the back for the damage they inflicted on an unsuspecting enemy. Who knows!?

I found it interesting during our roadtrip that we encountered a number of anglo-european tourists at just about all of the national parks and monuments we visited. I only recall a few asian tourists, and virtually no middle-eastern tourists. I picked up several families speaking german, or some derivation therefrom. Avery and I climbed down into a kiva at Mesa Verde with a mother and three daughters who all spoke french and didn't understand a word I was saying...or at least they didn't act like they did. Of course, they could have been from Quebec, I suppose. I heard a couple speaking italian at the Grand Canyon, spanish at Zion National Park, some Australians and Brits, and even one slavic language.

Do europeans come to America to visit our national parks? I wouldn't have been surprised to pick up on these dialects in a big city like New York, Miami, LA, or even Las Vegas. I suppose it just seemed odd to see so many foreign tourists this far away from major metropolitan areas. You hear of Americans back-packing or bicycling across Europe, so it shouldn't come as such a shock to see Europeans driving across the US seeing the sights. When you think about it, what better way to really experience America than to fly into LA or NYC, rent a car or RV and take off?

It's made me reconsider how I want to experience Europe when, and if, I ever go. I don't want to limit myself to the standard tourist package where you fly into London, get a room, and take a tour of the city to see Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, etc. Sure, I want to see those things but I want to get out of the city and see what the rest of the country looks like and how the people live. Same way with France or Spain or Italy. I want to take the time to see the countryside. That's where the people really live, anyway...the heartland. Probably friendlier people, too.

My sister lives in London and I plan to visit her once the kids get a little older so they can handle that flight a little better. When we finally take that trip, though, I hope she's ready to take us out of the city so we can truly experience what it's like to be a Brit just like the Europeans do when they come here to visit.

Duct Tape Chronicles - Revisited

I never did get a picture of me sitting atop the RV with legs dangling, a screwdriver in my mouth, and roll of duct tape stretched out. These pics give you an idea of what I was dealing with, though.

Notice how shriveled the duct tape gets after a couple of days sitting out in the sun? It's not exactly a long-term solution. Once I got a good system figured out for taping it down, I only had to fix it once a day the rest of the way. It held up pretty well on the last day from the far western tip of Oklahoma to home.


We took it down to Smallwoods RV Center where Mom purchased it yesterday. They're sending these pictures to Coachmen to see if it will be covered by warranty. You'd think a three year old RV would not have to have it's roof replaced, so I'm going to be in fight mode if they try to deny covering this. We shall see.

Parting Shots...

11 Days on the Road, spanning from about 5pm on Tuesday, July 3rd to about 5am on Saturday, July 14th.

License Plates = 49 states (only Vermont escaped me)...5 Canadian provinces

Worst Interstate = I-40 through Oklahoma

Best Interstate = I-40 through Tennessee

Worst Highways = all of Arizona and Hwy. 104 from Tucumcari, NM to Las Vegas, NM


Best Highways = Hwy. 412 across Oklahoma

Most Kitschy = All of Las Vegas, NV

Biggest Surprise = Bandera Crater & Ice Caves

Biggest Disappointment = Santa Fe, NM

I'd Go Back To = Zion NP and Red River, NM

I Wish I Had More Time = Zion NP and Mesa Verde NP

Best Day = Llama Hike in Columbine Canyon or the first half of Day Three at Bandera Crater and El Morro Nat'l Monument

Worst Day = Second half of Day Three with the roof problem through Flagstaff, AZ and getting in late to Las Vegas and having bad directions to Paul's house

Hours of TV watched = Approximately 1 hour of Veggie Tales while Holly prepared dinner. Not a single minute of tv watched while we were driving! The kids played games, did activities, watched for license plates, and read books the whole time. It was amazing!

Highest Priced Gas = $3.39 a gallon, Clayton, New Mexico

$$ spent on lodging = Approximately $123 for the whole trip!

$$ spent on food = Approximately $200 for the whole trip!

$$ spent on gas = I haven't added it up yet...not sure if I want to!

Spending 11 days with your children learning and experiencing new things together every day...PRICELESS!

A couple of photos for Janet...

One of the ladies I work with at the title company is a photographer at heart. She loves to shoot sunsets and old barns, hence the sun shots I've posted on here. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good shots of old barns. I did get some pretty good flower and scenery pictures.

These samples are for her to enjoy.

Columbine Canyon, New Mexico

Our trail lead out of the campground and followed a mountain stream up a canyon filled with Ponderosa Pine trees, Gambrel Oaks, Rocky Mountain Maples, Spruce, Junipers and Aspens. We had to walk the llamas through the creek several times along the way...I assume because it wasn't safe to walk them across the bridge with the girls on their backs.

I didn't know anything about llamas before this hike. It turns out they are very sure footed largely because they have split-toe hooves with soft, spongy bottoms that give them better traction than a horse. I learned that they have
an eleven month gestation period and they have one baby a year. Therefore, all the llamas you see in these pictures are males. The females are not used because they are either pregnant, nursing, or trying to get pregnant. Rudy, Avery's transport, was 17 years old. Andrew says a typical lifespan is about 25 years.

On the left here is our picnic site. Andrew staked out the llamas and we had a very nice lunch with a beautiful setting. I strongly recommend this to anyone considering a trip to this part of the country. Check out Andrew and his llamas at www.elpaseollama.com.

The Coup De Grace

When we finally had enough of Mesa Verde, we drove down to Columbine Canyon campground which lies about halfway between Questa and Red River, New Mexico. The drive from Mesa Verde through Durango, CO and Pagosa Springs, CO, and on to Chama, NM was nice and easy. The tough part was from Tierra Amarilla, NM over a mountain range to Tres Piedras, NM where you dropped into the Taos valley. The road was fine, but we were doing it in the dark and there were a lot of critters out and about. I probably saw in excess of 10 mule deer, 6 or 8 elk, a fox and several mice along the side of the road. Thankfully, none of them decided to become my new hood ornament.

This was the part of the trip that everyone had been waiting for. It was absolutely the best possible way to end a truly fabulous vacation. We met Andrew Crooker with El Paseo Llama Adventures in the parking lot of our campground around 9:45 this morning. He already had the llamas unloaded and saddled up. In the pictures here, you see Avery astride her trusty steed, Rudy, and Erin atop the playful Vato. (I love how he posed for the picture, too!)

These were the sweetest animals in the world. Neither Erin or Avery were strapped in. They simply sat atop them with their feet loosely in stirrups. Holly had Vato on a lead and I had Rudy. Meanwhile, Andrew had three more llamas tied together that carried our lunch in saddlebags. I rarely had to pull on the lead...only occasionally to keep Rudy from stopping to munch on whatever he could get his lips on.

More in the next post...

Mesa Verde - Parting Shot

Holly stopped me and asked me to take this picture. We had just been up to the highest point in the park overlooking the valley below and the mesa top and canyons to the south. The views were spectacular, and this was the first place since we left Tennessee that was actually cool...as in, temperature. If you could turn the camera to the left (East) you'd see a huge storm cloud hung up in the mountains beyond the valley. The breeze from that storm put the temperature atop this overlook somewhere in the low 70s.

The whitish branches you see on either side of the trail are the remnants of an old forest fire atop the mesa. Holly thought it was very unusual looking. I thought the scraggly branches looked like the thorn bushes at the end of Sleeping Beauty when the sorceress turns into a dragon.

Aren't those girls cute!?

Holly's Favorite Part of Mesa Verde

Wild horses! As we were pulling out of the visitor's center to drive to Spruce Treehouse, I noticed something moving in the Pinon pines off to the right. When I pulled off to the side we saw these beautiful wild horses resting in the shade of a large single-berry juniper. The colt was laying down, but he hopped up when he saw us. We saw them again later when we were leaving.

Now it's time for me to get up on my soapbox for a minute. I've already mentioned an apparent lack of courtesy and hospitality out here. Well, it only takes one New Yorker to make everybody else look like Emily Post. The ranger that Avery and Erin had to turn their Junior Ranger worksheets into today was less than bubbly when dealing with the kids. It was obvious they were scared of him and he did nothing to dissuade them from feeling that way. In short, he was a real jerk.

Later, while backing up in the parking lot I heard a horn honk. Of course, I stopped immediately and checked my mirrors. I couldn't see anything behind me. Then I saw a car come out from behind me and pull up beside me. It was Ranger Jerkweed. Apparently, he has never driven behind a larger vehicle because he was so close to my bumper there's no way I could have seen him back there. Then, he stops behind me and gives me a dirty look like I did something wrong!? As he drove off I saw exactly what his problem was...New York license plates!

Mesa Verde Nat'l Park

We took our time this morning since we had gotten in so late last night. We stayed at the KOA in Cortez, Colorado and it had a pool. I promised the girls I'd take them swimming, so instead of rushing out after breakfast to see the next sight we went over to the pool for an hour or so and relaxed. For a 6 year old and a 3 year old, all it takes for a great vacation is a little time at the pool in your new bathing suit!

I had never been to Mesa Verde before. The first thing you notice about this park is the drive from the entrance gate to the visitor's center. It's a fifteen mile drive from the valley floor up to the top of the mesa where the visitor's center is perched. The theme of this park is a series of cliffdwellings that have been preserved from the elements by the caves and cliff overhangs where they were built. At the visitor's center you can purchase ranger-led tours of some of the dwellings that permit you to actually enter the pueblos and crawl into, over and through them.

Fortunately, they have some areas that do not require the purchase of a tour ticket. The pictures here are from the Spruce Treehouse which was open to touring without a ticket. The tradeoff is that you don't get to go into the pueblo. Still, the girls got to get up close and peep into windows and doors. In the picture to the left, they are trying their hands at milling corn. The bowl on the bottom is called a metate. It's kind of like an old washboard. The stone in their hands is called a mano.

You can read more about this at the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metate. We learned from the ranger that the sandstone that the Anasazi or Ancestral Puebloans used for these tools would leave a sand residue in their food that caused their teeth to grind down prematurely and caused them a great deal of pain. I should say so!

Sunset over Vermillion Cliffs, Arizona

We didn't stay overnight at the Grand Canyon. Instead, we drove across northern Arizona past Vermillion Cliffs, through Page, Arizona, and across the Painted Desert and the Four Corners Monument on our way to Cortez, CO for the night. We wanted to be able to spend the next day in Mesa Verde National Park so we could get into New Mexico the next day for our Llama hike.

This was the best sunset photo I got on the whole trip. We stopped at the Navajo Bridge where I took the sunset picture you see here. The bridge spans the Colorado River and the beginnings of the Grand Canyon.

We had a couple of downers while we were gone. During our grocery shopping in Kanab, Utah, Holly's mom called to let us know that Holly's grandfather had passed away. That morning Tom called to let us know that our dogs had gotten out of the fence while we were gone. When he called they had been out for a day or two and they still hadn't found them. We did get some good news when we stopped in Page, Arizona on this night for some fuel and Sonic yum-yums. Since we were finally back in cell coverage, I was able to get my text messages. We found out that our lab puppy had been picked up by Animal Control and retrieved by one of my buddies. (Thanks, Trey!) (As a side note, we're home now and the dalmation is still missing. We're still hopeful she'll turn up, but the more time that passes the less likely that becomes.)

Wildlife at the North Rim

We didn't hike very much at the North Rim since most of the hikes at the Grand Canyon involve going down into the canyon varying distances. First, however far you go down you're going to have to drag your kids back out. And second, it's over 2,000 feet from the top of the canyon to the river at the bottom. I don't think Holly would have dealt very well with the girls walking on a trail with 800 foot drop offs to either side.

We did hike down the Bright Angel Trail after 30 minute ranger talk about the California Condors that have been reintroduced into the wild here. I always learn somthing when I take the time to sit through one of the ranger talks. For instance, did you know that the California Condor does not make a nest? Me either! They lay their eggs on a cliff or ledge or any old flat place they can find. They also mate for life with one partner. Interesting stuff.

Avery and Erin did the Junior Ranger program here, too. They each have worksheets with different things they have to find during their visit to the park. They answer questions about the park and draw pictures of things they might have seen. When they complete the worksheet, they turn it in to the ranger station and get a badge. It's a cool way to get your kids to really pay attention to what's going on in the park they're visiting.

I posted these pictures just to show you how close you can get to some of the animals in the park. This lizard was on a rock right beside the trail, and the chipmunk (or chiCKmunk, as Erin calls them) was on the sidewalk in front of the Lodge.

The Grand Canyon

If you've never been to the Grand Canyon, or you are thinking about going, I strongly suggest you take the time to visit the North Rim. The South Rim is the more visited of the two, and it has been commercialized much more so than the North Rim. Part of that is caused by proximity. the South Rim is an easy drive north from I-40 and Flagstaff, AZ with different routes to choose from. The North Rim, on the other hand, is nearly an extra 200 miles of driving if you are coming from Flagstaff. There's also only one way in and one way out. The reward for making that trek, you ask? Completely different terrain (think alpine forest and meadows versus desert plains) and NO traffic whatsoever!

We were coming down from Utah, so it was a no-brainer for us to go to the North Rim. However, I purposely skipped the South Rim on our way out to Vegas because I just don't care to deal with all the traffic and people. Plus, the IMAX theater and helicopter rides and all that mess reminds me of Pigeon Forge. I wanted Holly and the kids to have a more natural experience with the canyon.

We stopped in Kanab, Utah to stock up the refrigerator for the remainder of our trip. This was the first stop we made during the entire trip where I felt like people were genuinely nice. The folks in the grocery store, together with the patrons in the parking lot, were friendly and polite...something we didn't experience very often out west.

The drive down from Kanab was beautiful. There had been a forest fire relatively recently along the ridge that had left many of the trees scorched. The wildflowers and undergrowth coming up underneath was gorgeous, though. This is elk country, but we didn't see any driving in or out. I did see a porcupine on the way out and we all saw a couple of wild turkeys with new babies.

Checkerboard Mesa - Zion NP

We are back home now, and I promised to update the blog to complete our trip. I believe my last entry was after our hike up the Narrows in Zion National Park. When we left Zion the next morning, we drove out of the East side of the park heading toward the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The East side of Zion is completely different than the valley where we hiked and camped the day before. The main reason for the difference is the elevation change. When you leave Zion going east you climb a couple thousand feet in elevation as you leave the canyon. You also drive through a mile long tunnel drilled through the sandstone mountainside. There are also windows carved out of the tunnel along the way which enable you to see some spectacular views of the canyon and mountains surrounding Zion. This place is definitely in my top 5 National Parks that I've visited thus far.

Story Behind Our Picture With Brighty The Burro

I think I've mentioned that we purchased several story books before we left on this trip which were relevant to the states we were visiting and some of the things we were going to see. We have been able to pick up a couple of books along the way, too. At El Morro Nat'l Monument, they had a book about a girl who was part of a wagon train that stopped there. The ranger told us that her name was actually inscribed on the rock. I tell you all this to say that we picked up a book at the Grand Canyon about Brighty the Burro. Brighty was a true character that was one of the first animals used to carry supplies and things into and out of the canyon. He was also the first living creature to cross the new bridge across the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon when it was completed in the '30s.


One of the rangers at the bookstore gave us a good suggestion. First, she stamped the inside of the book with the date and where we were when we bought it. Then, she told us to go down to the lodge and have our picture taken with a bronze statue of Brighty and place it on the inside cover of the book. This way the girls will have a family keepsake to remember their trip to the Grand Canyon.

Finally back in cell coverage

We have stopped to cook dinner in Springer, New Mexico. We've been without cell coverage for the past couple of nights, plus I've been pulling some late shifts getting us to our destination for the next day's adventure. Unfortunately, my coverage isn't good enough to post any pics. I'll try again later this evening when we stop for the night.

We did our llama hike today, so we're heading east with no more scheduled stops. Again, I'll update the posts here to cover the last few days when I get in a good cell area.

This was hilarious!

Before (actually during the fall)...














After (mad because we laughed)...
Still, she had a great time and loved walking over the big rocks in the river and acting like whe was falling so I would catch her and swing her through the water. She and Avery both completed Junior Ranger activity sheets, so they will both receive a badge from the Rangers when we go into the Visitor's Center in the morning.

That's all from Zion, although we may see some cool stuff on the way out in the morning. We're going to see the north rim of the Grand Canyon tomorrow. Can't wait!

The Narrows Trail at Zion NP

This is my favorite part of Zion. The Narrows Trail essentially follows the river up the canyon, sometimes on land created by sandbars and washes but mostly just through the water. Avery and Erin couldn't wait to wade in the river, so they didn't need any prodding to take this hike. In the pictures below, Holly stands with the girls taking pride in their accomplishment of making it this far. Also, I am showing the girls a waterfall. We were putting our hands on the cliff face and letting the water splash us. The cool part about this trail is that the farther you go up the river the narrower and steeper the canyon walls get. In some places you can reach out and touch both sides of the canyon at the same time. In some of those narrow places, deep pools have formed forcing you to swim to the next shallow area. Of course, we didn't go that far.

Avery and Erin had an absolute blast. Although Erin got a little perturbed at us having a laugh at her expense. I'll post that picture next.

This is what Zion NP is all about

Huge sandstone peaks and cliffs surrounding a canyon with the North Fork Virgin River running through the bottom of it. The peak in the first picture is called The Sentinel. It stands at 7,157 feet. The second peak is the Mountain of Mystery. It stands at 5,665 feet. When you are standing in the bottom of this canyon, all you can see in all directions are these multi-colored cliffs and peaks. The cliffs are typically red with black markings while the peaks are mostly white and grey like the ones in these pictures. This is my second time here. I'd like to come again when I can spend some time on one of the backcountry trails...maybe camp overnight. I have a feeling you get a totally different experience here when you get away from the road and the other visitors.

On The Road To Zion

We were in Zion National Park today after about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Las Vegas. This photo was taken about 10 miles out of Springdale, Utah looking toward the peaks of the Zion canyon where we were heading. Even though we climbed quite a bit in elevation from Las Vegas, it was still scorching hot here at Zion. The ranger station said 106 degrees today. I'll post a couple of pics for you to get a feel for what Zion is all about.

Leaving Las Vegas

I've got all kinds of pictures from the strip, but the fountains at The Bellagio was the most impressive thing we saw. They are really beautiful at night with the lights on them.

We're leaving Vegas this morning and heading to Zion National Park. From there we'll go to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, and then on to Cortez, Colorado to see Mesa Verde National Park. Then, we go hiking with llamas in northern New Mexico before coming home. Check in this week because the really beautiful scenery is coming up!

Only in Vegas!

Only in Vegas could you walk through the shopping area of a casino and see Pete Rose signing autographs...without a line to see him! I just walked right up and took his picture. There are no waits at restaurants here, either. We have 23,000 people in Dickson and you have to wait 20-30 minutes for a table at O'Charley's. They have well over a million and we walked right into a restaurant last night on the strip with 6 people and no wait whatsoever! I guess there's just so much to do and so many places to eat, there's no need to wait for a table anywhere.

Look, Daddy, it's Eeyore!

Meet our friend the wild burro. He lives here in Blue Diamond, Nevada, and roams free with many others just like him. I guess he figured he had the right-of-way since he lives here.

I read that burros were brought to the region by the spanish explorers. They were released in the wild here in the Vegas valley and have thrived living off the desert grasses and joshua tree leaves. Paul says they had a round up not too long ago and removed many of them because they were eating too much of the foriaging foliage needed by other wildlife. Interesting!

Red Rock Canyon

This is the road to Red Rock Canyon just west of Las Vegas. You don't necessarily think of mountains and rock climbing and hiking when you think of Las Vegas, so this was a bit of a surprise. Below is a picture of us with Paul. Notice the bright red rocks over my left shoulder.

Vegas, Baby!!

I had to get a shot of the old downtown Cowboy sign. Down the street on the right, you can see his girlfriend hanging over the Glitter Gulch. This is Freemont Street. This is where all the original casinos are. Notice the roof over the street. I didn't know that was there. All the pictures you see on tv and in movies, there's not a roof over it.

We've had a great weekend visiting with Paul and Megan. We've been to Red Rock Canyon and the Springs Preserve which is an interactive museum focused on eco-friendly concepts and products. We also went through most of the big casinos, Caesar's Palace, The Bellagio, The Venetian, Paris and more. Despite being here the whole weekend, I've only lost $100 bucks at the tables. Not bad.

Hoover Dam at Night

Crossing the Hoover Dam at night was pretty cool. We had to stop to go through security before they let us go through. They even came inside the RV to look around. I guess they were checking for explosives and maybe illegal aliens. We stopped in Kingman, AZ to dump our sewage before going into Vegas and the guy there told me it was smart to drive at night. I asked him why and he replied, "Because it was 122 degrees at the dam today." When Holly and I got out to take this picture, at 10PM, it was still 100 degrees!

The Duct Tape Chronicles

I mentioned before that we encountered some difficulties along our way on Friday. I don't have a photograph, so I'll do my best to give you a visual. First, it's rare to take a trip of this length and not have some snafu or mechanical breakdown. So, I wasn't entirely surprised to have to deal with something like this.

When we left Standin' On The Corner, we went by the local Wal-Mart in Winslow, Arizona to grab a few grocery items. When we came out of the store, a storm was brewing off to the west of us and we could see a dust devil (basically, a baby tornado sucking up dust and sand from the desert floor) coming toward us. It wasn't raining but the wind was beginning to pick up.

We went ahead and got everything put away and got back on the interstate. Almost instantly upon entering the interstate, the storm picked up and the wind began blowing right into the face of the RV. Now these things are not exactly built with aerodynamics in mind, so you can imagine the profound effect this headwind was having on our progress. The vehicle was having to drop out of overdrive to even maintain 60 miles per hour.

The wind noise inside the RV was loud, as well. Shortly, we began to hear some rattling on the roof just above the cockpit. There is a roof vent there, so I assumed the roof vent was just catching a lot of wind a making the noise. After a few minutes I realized that the roof vent was not the culprit. I pulled over on the side of the interstate to check things out. When I got out and took a look at the roof of the RV, I immediately noticed the problem.

Our class C motorhome has a sleeping bunk over the cab of the rig. The roof of the vehicle is covered with a fiberglass shell. It's not hard like the hull of a boat or the outside of a car, and it's not shapeless like a piece of fabric but pliable like a piece of sheet metal. It is not all one piece, either. Therein lies our problem. One of the seams had come loose in the wind and the fiberglass shell was flapping in the wind and beating against the roof of the rig.

I climbed up on the roof to take a closer look. Remember, I'm on the side of the interstate, in a wind storm, in the middle of B.F. Arizona. Apparently, it is the "western way" for people NOT to move over into the passing lane when driving by a car stopped on the shoulder...especially the tractor-trailers. So, I'm on the roof of an RV, in a windstorm with 40 mile an hour winds and tractor-trailers driving by at high rates of speed rocking the RV like a schooner in the middle of the ocean.

The shell of this vehicle was almost completely out of the threshold that held the seam together. It had been flapping so violently that some of the insulation was hanging out and the waterproof liner underneath had worked its way out, as well. I did my best to stuff everything back to its proper place, and then I got down to look for the only tool you ever really need....duct tape!

I taped it down as best I could, but it didn't last very long. Fortunately, we weren't very far from Flagstaff, AZ by this point. We called ahead to an RV dealership with a repair shop, but they weren't the least bit helpful. Apparently, 5:30pm on a Friday when they close at 6pm and won't reopen until Monday morning is not the best time to get any help from somebody with a quasi-emergency situation. You know what the guy said on the phone when I told him what my problem was? "I guess you could try to push it back together and duct tape it." Really!? I hadn't thought of that....moron!

We pulled off at Flagstaff, refueled...both our gas supply and our duct tape supply, and I pulled into a parking lot in front of a motorcycle shop to do a more thorough job of fixing the roof. I pulled off the remains of my first attempt. Now that I wasn't on the side of the road with tractor-trailers seemingly trying to knock me off my perch, I took some tools up there and began stuffing the shell back under the threshhold. Once I successfully got it jammed back into its rightful place, I used a sponge to clean all the dirt and grime off to help the tape stick. I used one continuous strip of tape along the seam this time, instead of across the seem. I put several layers of these strips down, and then we got back on the interstate to try it out.

All in all, it only cost us about two hours of drive time. Amazingly, it held together all the way to Vegas. We got there around 11pm Friday night. I'll let you know if holds up on the way home.

Standin' On A Corner In Winslow, Arizona...

Such a fine site to see...There's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford (notice the reflection in the window of the building), slowing down to take a look at me...Take It Easy, Take It Easy...

I Love My Kids!

We've had such a blast with the girls so far. Here, they are posing on this "mushroom" rock for me during our hike at El Morro National Park. Then, you see the result of two short hikes at high altitude followed by lunch and a little driving. Aren't they a couple of angels?

El Morro National Monument

After our hike at Bandera, we rode about twenty minutes down the road to El Morro National Monument which you see in the picture here on the left. From the road when you pull in, it's not that impressive. Just a big butte, right?

This place doesn't get interesting until you get out to the trail that goes along the base of the butte. You can also take the trail all the way to the top where there are ruins from an ancient indian pueblo like we saw at Pecos. Since we had just had a pretty good hike at Bandera, we chose to take the short hike along the base of the rock.


Apparently, this was a popular stop for early travelers. First, it was the indians that stopped here for water thanks to a pool that collected rainwater at the base of the rock. Then, the spanish explorers seeking to claim the territory for Spain stopped here, presumably using it as a landmark. Later still, anglo settlers and U.S. military regiments stopped.

The cool part is they all left evidence of their stop etched in the sandstone walls of the butte. The indians left petroglyphs of mountain sheep and bears. The spanish explorers left inscriptions like the one here. Notice the date...1709! The earliest inscription with a date on it is in the 1600s. There are hundreds of them, and amazingly none of them are more recent than the mid 1800s when american soldiers left their mark on the walls.

This was the second stop of the day, and we were off to a stellar start. Unfortunately, this was the best part of the day. We encountered some traveling problems later in the day that I'll chronicle for you shortly.

Another picture from Bandera Volcano

I'm not sure who will appreciate this picture more, Janet or Larry? When we first got to Bandera and were walking toward the trading post, I saw something flying around and heard a noise like a grasshopper makes when it flies. I thought maybe it was a catadid or something like that.

It wasn't until we were done with our hike and walking through the inside of the trading post when I saw this hummingbird feeder outside one of the windows. I saw two hummingbirds hovering and feeding from it, so I went outside to see if I could get a picture. You see the one on the righthand side rather easily, but notice the one on the left hovering, waiting to land and take a sip.

Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave

The girls are holding lava rock for us in this picture along the trail to the Bandera Volcano crater. Behind them is a valley of piles of huge lava rock boulders left behind when the pressure from the eruption finally blasted out the side of the mountain and the molten lava flowed out through the valley and hardened when it met the cooler air.

This was an unexpected gem. It's not a national monument and the signs for it remind you of something you'd see on the way to Lookout Mountain or Gatlinburg. I thought it might be a little kitschy, but it turned out to be really cool.

The welcome center was in an old trading post building that was built in the 1930s. There was a trail leading from the trading post up the mountain to the edge of the crater. It was about a mile with several interpretive stops along the way which taught the kids about the different types of rock formations and how the eruption has effected the trees, plants and wildlife. For instance, we learned that because of a high iron content in the lava rock and soil the trees are unusually attractive to lightning. We learned the difference between Ponderosa pines and Pinon pines, too.

This is a good picture of the crater. I believe the map said the crater was 1400 feet across and over 800 feet deep. We had never been to a volcano before, so it was a novelty for the whole family. Thankfully, there were no snakes on the trail today.

The cool thing about this place is that in addition to the volcano, they also have a cave that never gets above 31 degrees. When you hike back down from the crater, you take another trail on the other side of the trading post and walk about a 1/4 mile through the lava field to a cave opening with stairs going down into the hole. At the bottom of the stairs is a pool at the mouth of the cave that is frozen...in July! The guide map said the ice was about 26 feet thick this time of year. Naturally, Erin wanted to know if we could go ice skating!

A New Mexico Good Morning

Janet, this picture is for you. I know you love sunrises and sunsets. We had parked the night before in the Walmart parking lot in Grants, New Mexico. It was dark when we pulled off the road, so we didn't have any idea what the terrain was like around us. When I woke up and peeked through the blinds to see the sun rising over the mountains, I immediately jumped up to get my camera. It was also about 60 degrees outside...just a perfect morning!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

After escaping the clutches of death at Pecos, we went down the road to Santa Fe. I had never been to Santa Fe before, but I heard and read a lot about it. To be honest I was disappointed. The streets of the downtown area are very narrow which makes it very tough to navigate in an RV. There were virtually no signs directing you around. For instance, we had to poke around for half an hour trying to find the State Capitol Building. There weren't even any signs or anything in front of it indicating that it was the capitol. To make matters worse, it's a round stucco or adobe building that looks more like an events center than a capitol building. The only thing resembling a state building is a large state seal on the exterior of the building.

The downtown area around the plaza and Palace of the Governors is pretty neat. Of course, all the architecture is adobe. It's obviously an upscale city as evidenced by the high end shops and boutiques lining the streets. Holly said it had a similar feel to Charleston, South Carolina and maybe a little bit of Oxford, Mississippi. It had a very artsy feel with many galleries and shops selling paintings, jewelry and other arts from local artisans. I suppose if we had spent more time there I might have appreciated it more, but it just wasn't what I expected.

We did get one special treat, however. Below is a picture of something you just don't see every day...a man, walking a dog, with a cat riding the dog, and a rat riding the cat. C&C Music Factory had a song back in the late '80s or early '90s called "Things That Make You Go Hmmm". I believe this would qualify.

Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom

"Snakes. Why does it always have to be snakes!?" Harrison Ford's character, Indiana Jones, shared my extraordinary distaste for these scaly, reptilian creatures. Personally, I haven't met or seen a snake yet that wouldn't be better off dead on a pair of boots. Sure, I've touched them at a zoo and look at them in the pet stores, but that's about as up close and personal as I care to get.



If you haven't gathered by now, I don't like snakes. And, as I alluded in my previous posts I nearly met my Maker on the trail through Pecos National Monument. Just minutes after taking the picture I just published in my last post, we all proceeded down the trail around the corner you see in that picture. Avery and Erin were walking ahead of Holly and I, which scares the living crap out of me to think what might have happened. Anyway, we're walking along taking in the mountains around us, the plants along the trail, and the ruins. In fact, I think I was looking at a very large ant hill and commenting to Holly how the ant hills out here are huge when she calmly grabbed my left arm and said the word I never enjoy hearing..."snake".



Keep in mind that Holly is not too fond of snakes, either. That makes it even more comical...that is, that she was the "calm" one between us. She calmly said "Snake, Jody", and pulled me to the side a bit. At this moment I looked down and see this guy less than 18 inches away from my flip-flopped foot.

Have you ever seen the drum major for Florida A&M, or any other traditionally black college, lead their band onto the field? That was me at this moment. I was high stepping like Deion Sanders trying to get away from this thing! And the best part...if you had audio...you could hear me screaming like a school girl. I don't know what was more likely to kill me, the venom from a rattlesnake bite or the heart attack from sheer terror.

It's funny....now, at least. Marcus, take a breath...somebody get him a paper bag before he hyperventilates! When we got back to the visitor's center and told the park ranger, he said he sees them out there from time to time. Then, I showed him this picture. He looked at me and said, "Wow! I've never seen one that big before." Gee, just my luck.

Holly and I were laughing later. We had said a little prayer before we left home asking God to watch over us and protect us on our trip, and also to show us his wonders. I suppose he's got a sense of humor, too!

More about Pecos

Pecos National Monument and Historic Park is located about halfway between Las Vegas, New Mexico and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It consists primarily of the ruins of the Pecos Pueblo, which at one time (about 700 years ago) was one of the largest pueblos in the area and was over four stories tall. The large adobe structure you see in the picture with Avery and Erin in my previous post is the ruins of a spanish mission that was built on the site when the spanish came in and attempted to convert the indians to Christianity. This happened sometime in the 1500s, I believe.

The tour was a .5 mile, self-guided walk on a paved trail through the ruins. You could see remnants of the structure itself, along with trash mounds where archeaologists have found thousands of relics which have verified the timeframe of when this pueblo existed. You could also climb down into a replica of a kiva, which is a round, sunken room which was used as for spiritual ceremonies and also as a work room. There were at least two clearly visible ruins of kivas on the site, but of course the ceilings of them were collapsed leaving only a round hole in the ground.

The ruins outside of the mission were much more visible, but of course they were much more recent. You could see the room where the attendant of the church stayed, where the horses were kept, and even where they had a turkey coop where they raised their own turkeys. It was interesting that there was a separate pueblo near the mission where the "converted" indians lived. It was as if the converted "Christian" indians were asked or told, either by their tribal family or their new spanish brothers, to move out of their existing homes and live closer to the church.

In the picture above you get some perspective as to how big this place was at one time. You also see the path we were walking on which nearly lead me to my doom...