pun for today

I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

Camp setup continued

After we set up the camper I go off on my bike to explore the camp ground. Whenever I am about to leave they make sure I have my wallet in case I get hurt so somebody will know who to call. After they do that they give me hugs and kisses and get teary eyed (sniff sniff) they go. Also they wave good bye hugging each other :( :( :(. Bye now they’re probably crying. Hard, weeping. I’m only out for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then I will have to do what I am doing now (writing). 

By now it should be dinner time.  Most of the time we eat outside. But if it is Windy, Cold or Rainy we eat inside. If we are going out for dinner we go out around 6:00. Stay there little over an hour. After dinner i have to wash the plates and whatever we used for dinner.  It aint’ half bad . Kind of fun! 

Then we go for a walk. At the most that takes about 30 minutes. When we’re on our walk the sun is on its way down so the sun’s a beautiful sight. Once we’re back I will have to get into my pajamas. After the order is done I get my ice, get my lamp, and read “The Boys Guide to Being Best at Everything.” Then after about 20 minutes one of my folks says bed time. When they say that is around 9:20.

Gus

Mesa Verde and to Green River

Four Corners, USA

Sunset at Mesa Verde, Colo

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde National Park

Balcony House, Mesa Verde

Mule deer, Mesa Verde

On the road from Mesa Verde to Moab

Near Green River, UT at sunset

Sand storm

Sandstorm, Navajo Nation, Arizona

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon National Park

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon

Sunrise on the Hoodoos

GPS update

Date	Place	Latitude	Longitude
5/20/12	Zion National Park	37.197357	-112.989166
5/22/12	Bryce Canyon National Park	37.639278	-112.167961
5/23/12	Mesa Verde National Park	37.303555	-108.423927
5/25/12	Green River State Park	38.988743	-110.153366

Martin from Green River

Some random thoughts (I leave complexity to Janet).

 

I’ve driven cross -country a few times, including as a hitchhiker and once on a camping trip with my family when I was about seven. This time I am really struck by the aridness of the southwest. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah (and other states as well that we have not visited) are huge expanses of desert with small scrub bushes and the periodic cactus and mesquite tree on the landscape. In Texas it was so flat I thought there could never reach the end of a road; here in Utah the land undulates and there are stark outlandish mesas – but it is all so dry.

We are camping next to the Green River which is at high water from snow runoff from Wyoming. The banks of the river are green but if you turn ten yards away from the river you are in desert again with few signs of life. It is not easy for people to live in these conditions and we’ve driven hundreds of miles seeing few houses and gone through towns that are close to fully abandoned; people have – I assume – adapted to desert conditions by congregating in larger towns and cities that provide the  scale to develop  water management systems.

We made the right decision in taking Gus out of school and going on our trip before the summer season begins.  We’ve had little trouble finding camp sites. (One of the best was at Apache National Forest in Arizona. We arrived after a long day of driving with no reservations.  The campground had about 60 sites and only two were taken and we picked a lovely quiet site among the ponderosa pines. Unfortunately, the campground “host” [there is a host family at all the parks] was lonely and wanted to chat a bit too much.)  We’ve gone to a lot of park ranger led programs and the groups have been small.  There are no lines at museums and the gift shop staff have plenty of time on their hands. From what we understand, the parks explode with people mid-June when the schools in California get out. It would still be a wonderful trip mid-summer but there would be the added frustration of dealing with masses of people. (Janet and Gustavo will attest to the fact that patience is not my strongest virtue and I don’t always respond well to queues.)

We rented our pop-up trailer from Mikkelson’s RV in East Montpelier and got a very good price because we are travelling pre-season.  A noticeable change from the last time I was out west is that most tourists rent RVs from a few large dealerships: Cruise USA, RV America. These are fairly compact RVs and are splashed with gaudy images, graphics, and web site addresses.  But this seems like a good way to take a short trip: fly into Las Vegas or Phoenix or Salt Lake and rent a camper for a week or two. 

But I like having the pop-up: it’s only a step above a tent and our life must be compact. And we are thrilled by the drive cross country – to see the landscape evolve (except for the ubiquitous Dollar Store). We are lucky to have the luxury of time for this trip.

Janet from Green River

We have counted 48 out of 51 US license plates (missing Alaska, Hawaii and Washington, DC)  -- many thanks to the man from Wyoming who repositioned his parked car so we could see it moving (yes, he thought we were nuts) – and 5 provinces. We remain ever hopeful for a full count.

We have landed in a state camp ground in Green River, UT about30 miles to the desolate north of Moab. The river is green when it starts in Wyoming but is just brown and wide and fast further downstream where we are. For the past few days we have had intermittent fierce wind storms with winds up to 50 mph. We drove through the Navajo Nation lands between Bryce Canyon and Mesa Verde, stopping at the Four Corners Monument, in a horrific wind and sand storm. The landscape is pretty fierce without the wind and I cannot imagine living in such a climate. I was thinking about this when we were at Mesa Verde which is the site of ancient Pueblo cliff dwellings, the oldest archaeological site in the US. The landscape is harsh and inhospitable and yet  the ancestral Pueblos were able to farm and develop their skills at basketry, pottery and architecture 1,000 years ago. Is it so different today? The landscape of the Southwest (and parts of the Southeast and Texas) is in many ways equally as harsh and inhospitable today and yet productive lives are lived, art and commerce survive, families are raised. Is it harder or easier today? 

By the way, we ended up in Green River thanks again to serendipity. When we were planning our trip, we didn’t realize that this was Memorial Day weekend, so we didn’t bother to make any camping reservations. Oops. When we realized our folly, we got last-minute reservations at Mesa Verde (thank you Mary and Poppy!) and then at a campground/RV resort near Moab which we had read good things about. Mesa Verde was wonderful (see above), but the RV park not so much. We had a “dry” site, which meant we were in a big parking lot with 50mph winds. We said,  “No thanks” and headed north.  Which is how we ended up here.  We have electricity (a nice perk) and showers (I won’t try to tell you how much these are needed) and a fairly pleasant , if crowded, park. A very enthusiastic woman at the visitor’s center recommended driving out of town (which has seen better days) into the canyons and we have just returned from one of those drives. It was astounding. Great to look up at massive formations instead of down. The road ran next to the Green River which was running fast and furious. Primitive camp sites several miles out past huge irrigated fields of hay. The sun was setting, the breeze was brisk but warm, the Green River cold and refreshing, the rocks stunning. None of this we would have seen if we had stayed in Moab. 

A plug now for the National Park Service and the Rangers.  We spent a weekend last fall in Washington, DC and visited several of the Smithsonian Museums. National Treasures all. We were completely captivated by the Air and Space Museum and just generally impressed with how much work and energy and expertise had gone into preserving and exhibiting American history and culture. This is true as well of the National Park Service which has done a tremendous job making so much geography, history and culture available to the public without traumatizing the land. (Think of the shuttle service at Zion). A lot of credit goes to the folks behind the scenes who do the planning, but I also give credit to all the volunteer and career Rangers who are the face of the National Park Service.  The Ranger tours we have done have been insightful and informative and every one of the rangers is fully engaged (special kudos to Joe Zachary at Mesa Verde). As long as this country can maintain this level of service and honor, it gives me hope for our civilization. Janet