Smiles Per Mile

There are traveling events that unfold, unexpectedly and delightfully…like new friendships. 

Jim and Connie and Ed and I were camped near one another at Dead Horse Ranch State Camp Ground in Arizona, back in the spring of 2015.  As we eyed one another's vans and bicycles, we struck up a conversation which continued around a campfire that evening.  The following day Connie and Jim went one way and we another.   Facebook kept us loosely in touch, but mostly we didn't know much about one another's travel plans.  Or for that matter, about one another.

Connie, Fran, Ed & Jim
Keystone, Whidbey Island, WA

We did know Jim and Connie were traveling in a Sprinter and were bicycle riders.  They were in the process of purchasing a new, slightly larger van.  Their home was for sale so they were cutting all ties to a permanent address.  They now "reside" within a Post Office Box in Texas as they put on the miles…44,000 miles this year.

The following year (3/16) we received a text from Jim, "We're in Death Valley. We see on Facebook you are in Joshua Tree.  We could meet you there."   They did, to our delight, and we deepened our first short meeting with three days together at Joshua Tree.  Then we all separated again -- us for New Mexico and Jim and Connie for Texas, but as is the case with RVing, our routes were unplanned and unpredictable beyond vague destinations and deadlines.

Joshua Tree riding

Jim and Connie's new van and full-time home…

Connie with their new rig

A few days later, after spending the night at Roosevelt Lake, Arizona and then a morning visit to Tonto National Monument,  we were headed down from the monument when a text came through from Jim,  "Are you at Roosevelt Lake?"   Me, "Very close, yes."  Jim, "Us too."

 We hooked up again, enjoyed lunch together and then caravanned together for another few days.

City of Rocks State Park, N.M…

White Sands National Monument, N.M…

Then, it was goodbye again…

Just two days ago (11/16), a text, "Fran, we're catching a ferry in Pt. Townsend tomorrow AM, would like to drop by.  Don't have your actual address."  And so it happened again, another meeting, another deepening-our-friendship visit.

We met in Langley and then shared RVing at Camp Casey State Park.  What a wonderful tonic for the grim political climate we've been immersed in.  Thank you Jim and Connie for elevating our spirits.

Ed, Jim, Fran & Connie

Keystone, Whidbey Island

Ed and I watch, as they drive away, wondering where and when we will meet again…

In conversation regarding keeping track of travel and exercise statistics, Jim chimes in with…

~~~

"The only parameter I'm interested in is smiles per mile."

~ Jim McEver

National pride, National Contentment, National Health

National Parks again…so important, our national jewels, I must write more!

If you have not been to a national park, national monument, wildlife preserve, national forest or any other public lands in a while, get going.  These lands are this country's greatest treasures and   are stunning examples of beauty and splendor and peace.   They represent the best of "government of the people, by the people, for the people," and stand in sharp contrast to what's happening for-profit on our land.  Cities and towns and  highways are clogged with ugly development.  This spirit-killing growth is brought to us, all too frequently, by corporate power, the same power the Republicans want to turn our public lands over to for private exploitation.    

We had traveled too many miles along roads showcasing ugly to be tranquil.  Yet, as we stood on the edge looking deep into Bryce Canyon, the splendor erased our travel weariness and political unease.  To our right was a Japanese family on vacation.  Their darling little girl was delightedly jumping around as only a small child can do.  Her parents were snapping photo after photo, first of the canyon and then of the family.  On our left  were teenagers on a school field trip, stunned into a few moments of silence by the canyon's sheer beauty before  leaping into a photo-taking frenzy.  A young family from Canada asked me to take their picture.   They posed in such a proper manner I asked them to do something silly for a second photo.  They were at first embarrassed by this unknown woman, asking them to do something silly, but then they sprung into action.  I'll never see the "silly" photo but I'm willing to bet it's a favorite -- all four of them flung their hands in crazy directions and put their bodies into crooked crazy angles and giggled with delight.

Bryce Canyon

Happy people from all over  the world gather on our nation's public lands.  They bond over the beauty and majesty.  All through the land, with cameras clicking and folks oohing and awing, friendships are forming.  The Grand Canyon, Arches, Mesa Verde, the Statue of Liberty, Glacier, Crater Lake, Big Bend, Denali, Everglades, and more are high on vacation destination dreams.   Often the dream is to see all 59 national parks, 121 national monuments or to hike as many national forests as can be squeezed into a life time.

Big Bend, Texas

Everglades, Florida

Empire State Building,  New York

Mesa Verde, Colorado

Cascade Mountains,  Washington

If our Washington DC cocooned politicians would travel this country, outside their chauffeur driven black cars, with a walking stick and walking shoes, exploring the nooks and crannies like we do, there would be no talk of  public land swaps, giveaways or privatization.  If they allowed themselves to get down and dirty -- camp, hike, swim, fish, build sand castles, observe wildlife, talk with park visitors -- they too would "fall in love with this land".   Fortunately, our dear President Barack Obama  did just that when he and his family visited Yosemite this year.  It inspired these words:

"I think that the way a place like this imprints itself in you, especially when you're young, and carries on the rest of your life, is remarkable.  I do believe that when we get kids,  families, out in the open spaces, it changes them.  It roots you.  It gives you a sense that there's something bigger and grander than you.  It gives you a sense of order."

I find it ironic that in this centennial year of our national parks, the Republican Party platform would have them struck dead, or at the very least turned over to profiteers for ruin and squander, as if squeezing the life out of them with draconian budget cuts has not been severe enough. 

~~~

"The parks do not belong to one state or to one section… The Yosemite, the Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon are national properties in which every citizen has vested interest; they belong as much to the man of Massachusetts, of Michigan, of Florida, as they do to the people of California, of Wyoming, and of Arizona.  Who will gainsay that the parks contain the highest potentialities of national pride, national contentment, and national health?  A visit inspires love of country; begets contentment; engenders pride of possession; contains the antidote for national restlessness… He is a better citizen with a keener appreciation of the privilege of living here who has toured the national parks."

~ Stephen T. Mather
 NPS Director, 1917 - 1929

Desecration in the Air

If you've been reading my blog these past many months, you will know the high value I place on public land.  Without a doubt, I consider these words of Wallace Stegner, 1983, to be absolutely true.

"National parks are the best idea we ever had.  Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst."

Just look at a few of the treasures we love right here in Western Washington.  Can you imagine any one of them spoiled with mining or oil drilling; the wildlife hunted to extinction; used for private enterprises such as casinos, golf courses, theme parks; or covered with private homes, with all the roads and power lines and clearing of the land that entails?

North Cascade National Park

Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve

Rainier National Park

Snoqualmie National Forest

Olympic National Park

How would it feel if you suddenly came across this sign on your favorite hike in a national forest?

So imagine my shock when I find myself needing to defend our public lands, lands I hold sacrosanct.  To hear utterings from certain powers to "sell the land" or, horrifyingly, "turn them over to private enterprise".  I cringe.

Remember Reagan saying, "If you've seen one redwood tree, you've seen them all"?  We all laughed, calling him a fool and disrespectful of the most beautiful forest imaginable.

Redwood National Forest

Yet, I just read the 2016 Republican Party's platform which includes language threatening our public lands.

"Congress shall immediately pass universal legislation providing a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to the states."

The provision calls for the immediate disposal of unspecified public lands leaving national forests, wilderness areas, national parks and wildlife refuges ripe for privatization, development or transfer of ownership.  But it doesn't stop there.  The Antiquities Act of 1906, protecting national monuments, is not safe either.  Repealing or gutting this act would put  such things as the Grand Canyon, Natural Bridges, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Statue of Liberty at risk.  As I continue to read, letting the words sink in, I feel alarm -- hard and bleak.  The Republican Party platform proposal is for desecration of our treasured public lands.

This is not how Republicans have always seen conservation.  In fact, how disappointed Teddy Roosevelt would be with his party's intended gutting of his greatest legacies.  During his administration he  was responsible for protecting  230 million acres -- 150 national forests, 51 federal bird preserves, 4 federal wildlife preserves, 18 national monuments, and 5 national parks.  Included in his mission to protect our lands from exploitation were the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Devil's Tower in Wyoming, Gila Cliff Dwelling in New Mexico and Muir Woods in California.   

To my mind, when we have park lands  and  historic treasures we protect and care for them, as was intended when they were set aside.       These natural wonders are our heritage.   Our sense of ourselves, our pride in our country, and our  spiritual wonder are all wrapped up in our nation's most beautiful, dramatic and historic places. 

I find it mind-boggling that there are anti-park folks or anti-government extremists who are unwilling to be good stewards of our nation's most special places.    As Terry Tempest Williams says, "If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go." 

~~~

"Wilderness is an anchor to windward.  Knowing it is there, we can also know that we are still a rich nation, tending our resources as we should -- not a people in despair searching every last nook and cranny of our land for a board of lumber, a barrel of oil, a blade of grass, or a tank of water."

~  Clinton P. Anderson

    Senator, New Mexico

Chance and Coincidence

We were boondocking at the south end of Joshua Tree, just off Highway 10 on BLM land wondering where to head next, when we received a text.

"Hey, Jim here. Where are you? Want to hook up? We're in Death Valley." 

"Yes!!!"

Messages flew back and forth and before we knew it Jim and Connie were boondocking with us.

                        

Then we moved into Joshua Tree to camp for two additional nights while growing a friendship...

Before Joshua Tree we had had only had a brief encounter the previous year at Deadhorse Ranch State Park, near Sedona. Our Sprinter vans and bicycles brought us together. Social media kept us in touch.

This year, after Joshua Tree, it was time to go our separate ways again. Jim and Connie to a bike rally in Sedona, Arizona and then on to Texas, us for New Mexico. One of our stops on the way to New Mexico was Roosevelt Lake in Arizona where we camped for a night.

The next morning we headed out, stopping to visit Tonto National Monument first.

Headed down the road from Tonto, the phone rang.

"Hello."
"Hi, this is Jim. Where are you?"
"Just leaving Tonto National Monument, where are you?"
"Roosevelt Lake, having lunch at the Visitor Center."
"What? We're just up the road. We'll be right there."

And we meet again. Jim had seen the photos of Roosevelt Lake I'd posted on Facebook and although the posting was four hours earlier, he said, "what the heck," and called. And there you have it...an unexpected happening.

We caravanned through Salt River Canyon...stunning. And then on our first night we boondocked near Show Low, Arizona. Camp ground after camp ground was closed for the winter, but finally, with diligent searching by Connie on her I-phone, we found a great boondocking camp.

City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico was our next camp site. This park features dramatic rocks popping up out of seemingly nowhere. But their formation was produced by a volcanic eruption 34.9 million years ago. The eruption is estimated to have been 1000 times greater than the 1980 Mt. Saint Helens eruption.

The visitor center was an architectural delight.

White Sands National Monument, NM was our next stop where we explored the monument, and visited yet another architecturally beautiful visitor's center built by the WPA in the 30's. The buildings, designed in Pueblo Revival style, are designated a national historic district.

At White Sands, for thousands of years in shallow lakes the wind and sun have separated the water from the gypsum forming crystals. Blowing wind breaks down the crystals to smaller and smaller pieces, until they become beautiful white gypsum sand.

White Sands Missile Range surrounds the monument. When there is missile testing on the range, the monument is closed.

To the south of the monument is Holloman Air Force Base our boondocking site for the night.

                          

     

The next morning we parted company again...good friends and committed to meeting up again. Connie and Jim headed off to Texas. Ed and I north, richer for our new-found friends! And, I can't believe I'm saying this with my love-hate relationship with Facebook, but thank you Facebook for facilitating this friendship.

Bye Jim and Connie until we meet again.

~~~

The world is so unpredictable. Things happen suddenly, unexpectedly. We want to feel we are in control of our own existence. In some ways we are, in some ways we're not. We are ruled by the forces of chance and coincidence.

-- Paul Auster

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