Happy 70th Birthday, Carol!

Today is Carol's 70th birthday, which we and her family celebrated early during the Dorey family reunion in Tyler. In a way, that made today a bit anticlimactic for her, but our wishes are as warm as ever that she'll have a great year and a great decade.

We got an early start from Benson this morning and arrived at Usery Mountain Recreation Area in Mesa, AZ, by lunchtime. Fortunately, the campground was not very full, so we had our choice of spots. The two previous times we've been here were earlier in the year, and we've had to wait in the overflow parking lot overnight both times.

We picked site 21, a large site with a concrete patio and extra picnic tables, apparently because it was used by the birding experts who stay here during the season. Plenty of birds made their appearance, including some small dark red headed ones I haven't been able to identify.

We called Jan and made arrangements to see her tomorrow after our visit to the Old Town Farmers Market in Scottsdale in the morning.

Our campsite with a view of Scarface in the background

Lots of wildflowers in bloom, many of them variations on yellow

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Benson, AZ

Tonight we're staying in Benson, AZ, where we've stayed twice before at the Escapees CO-OP park, Saguaro. This time, since we're just making a quick overnight, we opted to boondock in the spacious parking lot provided by Gas City (another opportunity we located through the Day's End Directory). It's certainly the nicest truck stop parking we've ever seen, with landscaping even.

We walked around and enjoyed the ocotillo cacti in bloom and the birds.
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Welcome to New Mexico (Again)

We left Brantley Lake State Park this morning and headed away from Carlsbad Caverns and on to new adventures. Visiting the cavern and going on the four tours left us thinking that someday we'd like to come back and do some of the other tours (though maybe not the one that requires crawling through tight passages ....

We're on our way to the Phoenix area to spend a week, with two overnight stops along the way. Tonight we're at the New Mexico Tourist Welcome Center in Anthony, NM, just west of El Paso. Hey, you might be thinking, weren't they just in New Mexico at the cavern??? Yes, but the route from Carlsbad to Phoenix dips south to El Paso to go around the Guadalupe Mountains.

On the way we stopped at the visitor center for the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This is a lesser known national park, and its secrets are mainly available to hardy hikers. We watched an interesting orientation slide show that explained the geology of the mountains. The mountains preserve the remains of a Permian reef, built up around a shallow inland sea--the same reef that is responsible for the Carlsbad Caverns.

Driving through the mountains made our fuel economy plummet, and it wasn't any better when we hit move level land, because high winds buffeted us, often headwinds. We were driving through areas where signs warned "Zero visibility possible," and the wind was definitely kicking up the dust. We were afraid we'd be enveloped in a dust storm like the one we ran into last year.

That didn't happen, but when we stopped in a gas station parking lot to go back to Venture to eat lunch, we were hit by such strong wind gusts that we could hardly stand. We got back into the truck and drove on.

Roadrunner hurrying on its way

Spacious parking area with stuccoed picnic shelters and mountains in the background--and free coffee in the morning!
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Close to Home

We took a break from our sightseeing today and stayed close to home. Our walk this morning took us to the nearby primitive camping area on Brantley Lake. Primitive is the word for it—no marked sites, no facilities, no signs, not much in the way of even slightly improved roads. The only amenity we saw was some trash barrels. Only a few campers were in view. The big draw for staying in this area would be access to the lake. (The developed campground where we are staying, Limestone Campground, has beautiful lake views, but no water access at all.)

Typical camping opportunity--just pull off the road and set up camp.

Nice access to the lake, but watch out for soft soil. We saw some very deep tire tracks in the mud.

We had the campground pretty much to ourselves this morning, but by this evening several of the campsites were occupied again. We've been surprised to see quite a few tents, and even families with kids here in tents over the weekend. We stopped to talk with the campground host and inquired about the second (empty) host site. He said there are supposed to be two hosts, but it's hard to find volunteers during the summer. We commented on the summer heat, and he said when it got to triple digits, they just take their folding chairs down by the lake and sit with their feet in the water. I don't think we'll volunteer to join them.....
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More Adventures in Carlsbad Caverns

This morning we had tickets for the Left-Hand Tunnel Tour, which is only given at 9 a.m. Monday through Friday and is limited to 15 participants. That's because it's a lantern tour to an area with no paved walkways. The handmade wooden lanterns hold candles to light the way, and no electric lights are used for most of the tour. The rangers do have strong flashlights they use to point out special features.

Ranger Christy describes the Iron Pool and surrounding formations.

Jonathan's strong flashlight provides a dramatic view of stunning formations.

The two youngest tour participants carried their smaller lanterns all the way by themselves.

After lunch we did the self-guided Natural Entrance Tour, a 1 1/4 mile descent into the earth. We soon left the natural light of the entrance behind and entered a vast, dark, awe-inspiring underground world, a world that seems entirely alien and never intended for human beings to occupy. If J.R.R. Tolkien had seen it, he'd have recognized the realms of the dwarves of Middle Earth and of the cave trolls. It was both fantastic and a bit unsettling to be in a place so removed from human measures of time and space.

The Natural Entrance from below.

Photos can scarcely do justice to the scale and wonders of the cavern.
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Sitting Bull Falls

Our adventure today was a trip to Sitting Bull Falls, about 32 miles west of Brantley Lake across a stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert. The flat desert vegetation was relieved only by oil pumpers and tanks until we arrived at the Lincoln National Forest. Then we began to wind our way up into an impressive canyon.

We knew from reading reviews and blogs that the falls are a rather narrow 150 foot cascade and that the volume depends on rainfall. We brought along our lunch and picnicked in one of the rock cabanas while looking out at the canyon walls. Then we talked to a ranger about the hiking possibilities. He gave us a trail map and directions to the trailhead of trail 68A, which goes to the top of the falls.

The trail has some steps and switchbacks to make the climb easier, but is still steep and rocky. At one point Ken mused, "I wonder how many mountainsides I've been on since I met you?"

When we got to the top we really couldn't see much of the falls, but we did appreciate the canyon vistas. We stopped often to enjoy the scenery and for Ken to take photos.

Picnic cabana

Lovely yucca blooming

Our view from above

Ken ready to take lots of photos

Pool at the base of the falls. The porous rock to the right is a very large tufa deposit.

Photo from someone else's blog of the falls

Home at the end of the day
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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

We got up early this morning and braved the wind to take a walk on the Lake Loop Trail. The trail actually didn't go very near the water.

It took an hour and fifteen minutes to drive to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Visitor Center. We picked up our tour tickets, which we fortunately had reserved, since by the time we arrived, all the tours were sold out. Then we took the elevator down 800 feet to the Big Room for a self-guided tour. The tour route around the perimeter of this extensive and awe inspiring room is about one mile and takes an hour and a half to walk--more if you stop to take pictures and admire the spectacular formations, which we did. The tour route was not very crowded with people, so it was pretty quiet, and there were times when no one else was in sight, so we had a peaceful experience of this awe-inspiring wonder.

We went back to the surface to eat lunch and check out the gift store while waiting for our 2:00 p.m. ranger-guided tour of the King's Palace. Our tour guide, Ranger Katy, was both entertaining and informative. One of the best parts of the tour was our chance to experience cave dark for several minutes. Somehow my brain just can't process the complete absence of light. It's just never that dark on the surface, even in the middle of the night at new moon. The ranger welcomed questions. When I asked how seismically active the area was and how resilient the caves are, she translated for the group, "Are there earthquakes, and do things fall?" The answer was that yes, there are earthquakes, and no, nothing falls. That's because the energy of earthquakes is transmitted through solid earth, but dissipates when it encounters the empty space of caves.

After the tour, we went to the theater for a ranger talk on the geology of the caverns and then a Discovery Channel video called "Caves of the National Parks." One of the things we asked about was whether or not the caverns are "living caves" (as Karchner Caverns are). Most of the formations are "dormant" (no longer growing)--for two reasons. One is natural: the climate is drier than it was earlier, so there's less water to carry minerals to the formations. The second is human caused: the cave atmosphere is much drier because of the elevator shaft, which brings desert air inside.

When we returned to our campsite, the wind had miraculously died down and the sun was shining. A lovely end to a satisfying day.

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Andrews to Carlsbad

Our trip today took us through some pretty empty terrain--empty, that is, except for the oil wells and rigs and tanks that filled the air with petroleum odors. (For some people, that smells like money.) On our way out of town, we looked for a gas station to fill up on diesel, but didn't see any, so we continued on our way, figuring that we'd find a station in Eunice, NM, only a little over 40 miles away.

When we got there, we ran into a detour--and no gas stations. We stopped and got our nav system to show gas stations. Sure enough, there was one just a few blocks away. When we pulled in to fuel up, Ken noticed that there was no ULSD sign. Oh oh. Our truck, and all other diesel engines built since 2007, requires ultra low sulfur diesel. I went inside to check. The manager didn't know, but he called his supplier who informed him that the diesel was indeed ULSD. Whew! We were getting ready to run on the dregs, something we try never to do.

On our way to Carlsbad we saw a large facility that looked a lot like a nuclear plant, with signs for the WIPP Site. Looking that up on my Droid, I found that WIPP stands for Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. It's a "transuranic" (read "nuclear") waste storage facility, with underground storage rooms carved out of the Permian Salt Formation, nearly one-half mile below the surface.

We are staying at Brantley Lake State Park, which is about 12 miles north of Carlsbad and then another 4.5 miles in to the Limestone Campground. The caverns are another 30 miles south of the town, and road construction is expected to cause delays, so we'll need to leave plenty of time for our drive there tomorrow.

The wind has been unrelenting all day. We're hoping it will slow down soon. We cut our evening walk short because we had to fight the wind every step of the way. We ran into another camper, a local resident, who said that they never have wind like this.... It figures.

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Abilene to Andrews

We got an early (for us) start at 9:45 a.m. for our trip of 170 miles to Andrews, TX. Along the way we saw mesquite, and then more mesquite, and then smaller mesquite... Occasional cattle and oil wells dotted the landscape. We were surprised to see a great profusion of windmills. They went on for miles and miles, towering over the mesquite and the cattle.

Our route took us through Big Spring, TX. When I worked at Paramount Petroleum, it was bought by Alon USA, whose main US refinery is in Big Spring. We stopped just to take a few snapshots. It's easy to see why a large refinery was built here--lots of flat, cheap land and lots of oil.

We arrived in Andrews around 2:30 p.m. and found the Chamber of Commerce RV park. It has six sites with utilities and a large parking lot for boondocking, and it's all free (well, there is a donation box). When we arrived there were two empty spaces, so we pulled in and set up, then went to sign in at the Chamber.

We went for a walk up to the nearby park, which had a wonderful playground called Kids Kingdom, which a sign boasted was built by volunteers in 5 days. The photo shows only one part of a really complex setup. Water birds own the lake. It was covered with ducks, geese, and swans. A sign warned "Don't disturb the duck eggs," but we didn't see any. If I were a duck, I think I'd lay my eggs on the little island in the middle of the lake, where they'd be safer from predators and kids.

We were relaxing after dinner when the rain started. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed, and Venture was a sounding box for all the raindrops slashing across the sky. We were sure that major hail was about to destroy our roof. Our GFI circuit breaker tripped. Because of the solar installation, the breaker is located in an outside compartment. Needless to say, Ken waited until the worst of the storm had passed before going out. Fortunately the storm was relatively brief, and apparently nothing was damaged. At least now we know that we can ride out a pretty severe storm.
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On the Road Again--to Abilene

We left Lake Lewisville this morning and headed to Abilene. The first part of the drive was through Dallas and Fort Worth, with lots of traffic, decisions, lane changes, etc. It was refreshing to get away from the urban sprawl when we finally got to I-20. After that it was smooth travel. We stopped at one of the nicest rest areas we've ever seen for lunch.

Factoid: the song Abilene, My Abilene was NOT written about Abilene, TX.

We recently joined a Yahoo group called Day's End Directory, which allows us access to a database of free or low-cost RV overnight sites, mostly boondocking. Tonight is the first time we have used it to find a place to stay, and we're very happy with the results. Here's the listing we found:

TX, ABILENE: Kirby Lake Park. Large athletic complex with several pkg lots. No E, W or D. S end of town. Take Loop 322 to Maple and go 0.8 mi S. On the right. No RV restrictions. Close to hwy; easy in/out.

We took our walk this morning along the shore of Lake Lewisville, and this evening we walked along the shore of Kirby Lake. Looking across both lakes you can see city skyline, but the surroundings are quiet and peaceful. Well, at least it's been quiet here except for a brief time when a motorcyclist was reving and popping wheelies in the parking lot outside our rig! Now we're listening to the crickets. On our walk we saw a large variety of colorful wildflowers and a few birds and butterflies, along with several anglers along the bank.

Ken talked with his sister, Romaine, today. She is in a rehab facility in Wyoming, MI, after surgery for ovarian cancer. She'll have chemo next, but that will wait until she has recovered from surgery. She is having a problem with one leg as a side effect of the surgery, but that is expected to resolve. We didn't find out about her surgery until yesterday, when her daughter, Julie, emailed us. Evidently the phone number she had on her directory list was out of date.
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Arboretum and Goodbyes

We visited the Dallas Arboretum and BotaWe nical Garden today, taking advantage of some free passes provided by Ed (Park Place is a major corporate sponsor). The variety and profusion of flowers and trees and ferns and lawns was amazing. Ken took some great photos--hard to choose which to include. Several are of irises, a special interest because Ken's dad was an iris fancier. The Japanese maple tree with the red and yellow helicopter seeds is just one of the many types of Japanese maples at the arboretum.

We visited Ed and Julie and the kids for one last time before moving on tomorrow. When we arrived some workers were just finishing removing a tree from the front yard--lots of noise and sawdust flying around. When we went inside, Cate told me that she had been watching the tree removal and in the next breath that they were not watching TV this week (so the next best entertainment is looking out the window???).

It was nice to have some bonding time with Cate and Sam and Jesse and time to talk with Ed and Julie. We played Sorry! Sliders (of course) and fixed tacos and ate ice cream. We also got the last bit of our laundry done and showers taken, so we and our clothes are starting the journey tomorrow fresh and clean.
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Preparations

Today we made some preparations for our upcoming move. Ken checked the tire pressures and found the trailer tires all low, so we got out the compressor and he topped off the pressures. We put the bikes up on the rack and put the cover on. Ken put the chairs and tables away. We exercised the generator and put it back in the truck bed, along with all the other stuff we had taken out.

I did some cleaning, indoors and out, and wiped down the truck. We went to Mays RV to get some vacuum cleaner bags and a sewer hose fitting. Then we went to Lowe's and traded in the 5/8" hose fitting for a 1/2" one to repair our hose with.
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Rainy Day

As promised, today was rainy, overcast, and cooler. We were lucky to get our walk in before the rain started. It rained heavily last night, and we were pleased to confirm that our bedroom slide no longer leaks. Yay!

We went over to Ed and Julie's. Kelley came too and we just hung out together. Ed and Ken and Cate and I played Sorry Sliders, the new game Uncle Chris and Annie sent for her birthday. Sam tried to play too, but it's a little beyond him. Actually it may be a little beyond me too--my sliders always seemed to slide the wrong way. Cate and I did tie one round.

We watched a little TV, including Hoarders, Buried Alive, a reality TV series about people with serious hoarding problems and their therapy. That led to a discussion of some tendencies that some of us have to be hoarders "lite" ourselves (that would be Ed and me). Sometimes it's hard to let go of "stuff" even if it's clogging up your space and your life. That's one advantage of the RV lifestyle for me--it nips those tendencies in the bud when I have to consider our space and weight limits.

Jesse is really growing, looking around and making his opinions known. He was a bit fussy and wakeful tonight, and we took turns entertaining him. When we left, he was nestled by Ed on the couch watching TV, which Ed says he does every morning.
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Dorey Reunion

This morning we drove to Tyler to help celebrate Carol's 70th birthday, along with some other family April birthdays. Fred and Gail had flown in from LA, and Gail Dorey had come from Watertown. Carol's other sister, Linda, and her family (Kyle, Julie, and friend Lauren--Ken had to work) came from Dallas, along with Andy and his two sons, Luke and Ben. Robert and Debbie and their three children live in Tyler, so they had the shortest trip.

Everyone made their own pizzas for lunch with pizza shells and toppings. Then most of the group went to Kilgore to visit the Kilgore Oil Museum. Ken and I stayed in Tyler and went to tour the Azalea Trail with Dick and Linda. The Azalea Festival officially ended last weekend, but the azalea season was late this year because of the cold weather. The azaleas were in full bloom this weekend and made quite a spectacle.

Lee, Dick, and Linda enjoying the azaleas

Carol and Dick treated everyone to dinner at Joe's Italian Restaurant, just around the corner from their house. Fortunately we had a room to ourselves, since the Dorey idea of a good time is uproarious fun! Afterward we went back to the house for cake and ice cream and presents. A great time was had by all!

Robbie at Joe's

Luke, Ben, and Robbie all want to help blow out the candle!

Gail Dorey gave Carol a Rummikub game! Christine is opening her own gifts, but is interested in the game.

We drove home, expecting to arrive around 10 p.m., but Dallas traffic had other ideas. We were stopped for nearly an hour by a slowdown on I-635 (we never did see what caused the problem). At 10:55 we were nearing the campground when we realized that the gates would be locked at 11. We made a quick dash and got in under the wire.
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