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

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

Down but not out...

Low...low energy, low enthusiasm, low appetite, low...spirits.

I've been brought down! Struck down by the flu. Busted flat in a blur of coughing, headaches, and several other symptoms too messy to speak of. We were camped at Cochiti Lake when I woke up with a cough, which developed into the worst flu-cold I've had in quite some time. During the five days I've been sick, we've moved on to Bandelier. At Bandelier Ed explored and I slept and coughed and slept some more. Each morning I've optimistically hoped for the return of my good health.

Then we moved on to Chaco. Still I coughed and felt listless. Ed's beginning to feel puny too. These are the vacation experiences no one writes about. It's the highs that are fun to exclaim over, not the lows. We're meeting friends here tomorrow and might end up being the worst camp playmates they've ever had.

The drive from Bandelier was long and dusty with wild winds trying to push us off the road. Ed white knuckled it all 200 miles. Tumble weeds blew onto the road just to be crushed under our wheels. The dust penetrated my body, setting back my recovery by days.

And the weather is cold. At Bandelier the nights were getting down into the low thirties. Here at Chaco it was 23 last night. Glorious this morning. The wind has stopped blowing and the sky is bluebird blue. Our health is still precarious, with me not being able to kick this junk and Ed hanging on the edge. Ed and Benton manage a long hike with our friends. I nap. I'd hoped to sit in the sun basking in it's warmth, but the wind returned, along with the dust and cold, driving me inside.

We cut our Chaco stay short. The cold and wind win, contributing to the lows we're both feeling. Leaving Chaco we have warmth in our sights so bypass Mesa Verde, at 8000 feet and head for Canyonlands at 5,500, in the hopes of finding more comfort --- seeking a place to heal. At 10 sick days for me, and Ed coming under the grip, we're needing to find warmth and beauty and a place to mend our bodies and spirits.

Canyonland is the reprieve we sought. Warm, beautiful and windless. Peaceful and quiet. Soul mending! We will rest and heal here. We will stay as long as we need to recover our energy, enthusiasm and appetites -- appetites for both food and life!

But, life isn't done with us yet. It's snowing as we depart for Moab.

.

~~~

"Life isn't about learning how to weather the storm. It's about learning how to dance in the rain."

~ Vivian Greene

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Dam Bicycle Ride

We're staying in our first Army Corps of Engineers camp ground for the season, Cochiti Lake. Nicely appointed if not slightly over-engineered, including a solar light at each site. It's inexpensive, especially with winter and senior discounts, and provides hot showers, hookups and a dump station. It's located near Santa Fe, giving us a close camping option for city visits. There are lots of vacant sites during this winter season, mid week.

The dam is on Pueblo land, built by the corps for flood control of the Rio Grande and Santa Fe Rivers. According to the engineer we spoke with at the Visitor Center, the work for this earth dam was started in 1965 and completed in 1975. Because of damage to sacred Indian land, it was a controversial project from the beginning, with relations not resolving into team work until 2006. Now there is, according to our source, a model relationship between the two previously feuding parties.

We met a young Pueblo man and his girlfriend at the viewpoint near our camp last evening. His grandfather was one of the workers on the dam and the lake was a popular swimming hole as he was growing up. No animosity with him. He plays in a 4-member band called the Rude Boyz, but he was anything but rude.

Our dam bicycle ride was about 14 miles, or so roundtrip. The crossing on the dam itself was five miles, one-way, plus another couple of miles from the campground. Not a wildly exciting ride, but interesting enough, good exercise and no traffic. The muted desert colors always please.

We've been having heater mechanical problems in Thistle resulting in time with mechanics, but with no resolution. In e-mail exchanges with other Westy folks, we think we have found answers and we're feeling optimistic tonight after feeling completely discouraged last night. Thank you Westy friends.

We will be staying another two nights at Cochiti Lake. One day will be for Santa Fe and the second day will be for exercise. We are working at maintaining an every other day exercise routine, feeling like we are spending too much time driving and too little time exercising...no way to stay fit or to keep the pudge away.

~~~

Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's a handful of earth.
Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.
Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.
Hold on to my hand,
Even if some day I'll be gone away from you.

~ A Pueblo Indian Prayer

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Villanueva

Our home for three days is Villanueva State Park tucked in between the Pecos River and tall sandstone walls. Many of the sites are winter empty so we feel like we're boondocking, except for the hot showers. Yesterday it was 76 degrees, today it's 56, with clouds and wind making it seem much colder. Nevertheless, we had a nice hike to the top of the ridge.

See little Thistle tucked into the trees?

And we can't wait for Santa Fe. Our first trip is brief, mostly to do laundry but also to get an initial Santa Fe hit. We were smitten immediately. At some point during our Santa Fe afternoon we thought about lockout, always a State Campground issue. We figured it would be 9:00 or 10:00, but we hadn't remembered to check. Returning home, a little before 9:00, we discovered we'd missed the 7:00 curfew and were locked out. Just as we were settling in to boondock outside the gate the ranger appeared and unlocked the gate for us disobedient campers.

Tomorrow we're heading back to Santa Fe for more exploration, a coffee shop for internet, and a gallery or two, keeping in mind our 7:00 curfew.

We've only had time for one gallery so far. It was Georgia O'Keefe. Much of her best work is in private collections, we assume, as it was not in the gallery. What was very fine in the gallery were photographs of Georgia O'Keeffe herself, and her artistic passion.

~~~

"One can not be an American by going about saying that one is an American. It is necessary to feel America, like America, love America and then work.

~ Georgia O'Keeffe

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Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge

The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, 57,191 acres of Rio Grande flood plains, became our destination for a day. The marshes, fields, and woodlands are intensely managed to provide habitat for a wide range of species. Management includes the removal of non native plants and replanting with native plants (you just know how much I love this!), as well as mechanical controls for managing pond water levels, just like when the Rio Grande River ran wild, mimicking natural flooding cycles.

In the 1930's the Civilian Conservation Corps began work to restore the Bosque del Apache flood plains and in 1939 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt establishd the refuge as part of a national system of lands dedicated to wildlife protection.

Peering through the bird blinds...

We were too late in the season to see the Sandhill Cranes, but found the refuge a wonderful place to visit nevertheless. We spotted blue heron and hawks; tortoises basking in the sun on floating logs; and roadrunners, including one who entertained us for quite some time, right outside Thistle's windows, as we ate lunch. Along the reserve's driving route several more roadrunners did what roadrunners do, ran across the road. There were geese and ducks and deer in abundance, but no cranes.

Naturally, we had our bird book handy (thank you Anne)...

~~~

"There is a delight in the hardy life of the open. There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness that can reveal its mystery, it's melancholy and its charm. The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased and not impaired in value. Conservation means development as much as it does protection."

~ Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States

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