2001-04-23 - Petrified Forest

2001-04-29 - I am just outside of Globe Arizona very close to Tonto National Monument, It took longer getting down here than expected as I took a" long" cut detour around Show Low so I could stop at Fort Apache National Historic Site. Along the way I saw a sign to Socorro, 149 miles. It was a disappointment, the park was just recently designated and funds are not available to open it yet. The office is not open on the weekend. I took pictures but little else. I wanted very much to see what information they had on the Apache. I am hoping that when I leave the park for back east I will stop again.

This site was one of Clinton's legacy's done the very last week of office along with others, mostly forests, that will make George Bush make some unpopular decisions. While I do not generally agree with George's environmental policies from what I have heard of, I know he has created a storm swell of requests for contributions by Sierra Club and others.

Ft Apache was the headquarters for General Crook; General Crook is credited with finally defeating the Apache and other tribes and bringing them onto the reservation where they could starve to death or die of disease. If I remember correctly, he was instrumental in having the buffalo killed off in the successful attempt of destroying the Indian food sources. He was a wily old person and apparently not the most honorable as he imprisoned Geronimo where he died. His house at the post still stands. I think that after I leave the Petrified Forest for home I will make sure it is not on the weekend so I can walk through the book store and museum.

What happened to the American Indian is a blot on the annuals of American history, the worst violation of human rights in our history. Driving through many of the reservations is an experience one will not is readily apparent that economic progress has lagged behind throughout the Southwest at least, I cannot say about in other regions. Many of the Indian Nations are disappearing, with the exception of the Navajo, and the languages fading.

There was a 18 wheeler turned over on the downslope leading to the bottom of Salt Creek Canyon. Had he slide another 10 feet he would have gone over the edge to the bottom of the canyon about three hundred feet straight down. The river would have been waiting for him and as it has been raining and snowing at higher elevations the truck would have gone a long way down river. I would suspect that his pucker factor is still tightly wound up. I do not know if the truck lost its brakes or what the cause was, there were more than enough rubberneckers along side the road as it was.

That hill is about a twelve mile 8% downgrade with no escape chutes so I guess it is rough on engines, transmissions and brakes. I usually shift into low gear and drift down as the speed limit is only 35 mph. It is very attractive however. I have seen many vehicles with extremely hot brakes coming down either side of the bridge. If brakes fail it could be most interesting.

Gasoline prices are increasing daily. At the park, it is $1.51, in larger towns about $1.57 and elsewhere as high as $1.87. I understand that California it is over $3.00 some places. Summer has arrived. I have also heard that California motels and the like are charging a $3 to $5 electrical surcharge to cover the increase in electrical costs.

It was nice coming over the White Mountains, all green with fifty foot high Ponderosa pines everywhere. There are still snow drifts on the top near the road and a series of lakes and swamps that extend for fifty miles or so. There are signs warning to look out for elk but I didn't see any. Apparently they winter elsewhere and haven't yet returned to that area.hey are much larger than deer and are a very attractive animal.

Fishing is very popular on the`top of the mountains as there are several large lakes and more swamp than I would have expected at the altitude of 8000 feet. There are also several ski resorts in that area.

2001-04-30 - I am spending the night in Holbrook so I can have the heater looked at in the morning. I returned from the travels from the West and didn't feel like driving the sixty mile round trip. With the cost of gasoline that is expensive.

It was a good weekend, I did get to see Tonto National Monument and listened to an exceptionally good talk on the Arizona rattlesnakes. The curator is most concerned about Animal Planet and other shows that seem to show people just how easy it is to pick up a rattlesnake. The number of bites have doubled in two year. I wonder just how long it will be before somebody attempts to sue TV for this.

Judging by the number of lizards I saw, it is warm enough for all reptiles to be out and moving. I was watching the lizards catch insects, they are amazing.

I did notice that when the interpretive guides took a group of school children up to the lower ruins that one of the guides, a volunteer of course, carried a snake stick. This time of year the snakes are coming out of hibernation high on the hill and going down into the valley where it is cooler and moist and more pack rats to feed on. Of course they have to cross the asphalt paths that make great warming spots along the way. I didn't see any but I did see dozens of lizards that would indicate that it was warm enough for reptiles to be out.

It was interesting to find it the season for Tonto is over, they draw the largest number of visitors during the winter months a it just get too hot in that area. Most of the volunteers will leave before the end of the month and not return until next fall. Some of the volunteers are full timers and are having problems as Yellowstone and those further north as still having problems with snow.

Various cacti are in bloom and very attractive. Each bloom is swarmed with bees so it was necessary to brush them off before taking pictures. The "Mountain Buckwheat" which looks like clover blossoms were also swarmed by bees, the pollen makes a great honey.

One of my projects for this summer and fall will be to learn how to identify more of the desert floors and shrubs. The variety is virtually infinite and so many of them are being used nowadays in alternative medicine. Indians have been using them for centuries and Western science hasn't recognized them.

There is also an upper ruins at the park but the last guided hike was the day before. It is too hot now to risk taking people up there. I attempted to con my way up but it didn't work.

In the Tonto region or Salado "Salt River" region, the various Indians amalgamations lasted longer than those further north. Eventually however over-farming resulted in the Indians moving and eventual assimilation into other groupings. I heard a new theory today that makes sense, the groupings such as the Mongollon, HoHoHan and Anasazi did not really represent tribes but rather geographical regions. More things to look at.

Many of the Indian ruins in this area are now underwater. This archeological loss was caused by the construction of Roosevelt dam which provides water for Phoenix. It has become a major recreation area with vacation homes and marinas all over. The dam is rather smaller than I expected but I guess it does its job.

There were dozens of RVs dry camping along the shore. The state park has a number of RV sites but people prefer to be much closer to the water. I can't argue with that but I sure do not like it when people start their generators when you are trying to relax.

From that area to Tonto Natural Bridge didn't take that long despite stopping off for a Chinese buffet lunch that was more Korean than Chinese. However, for $5.00 it was more than adequate. I didn't have to eat dinner last night, just a small dish of ice cream.

Tonto Natural Bridge, a state park, was also picturesque, and the climb down to the valley floor caused me to clear even more junk out of my lungs. It is forested and very green in that area as it is on the White Mountains Apache Reservation or on the Sitgreaves Apache Reservation. The temperature was much cooler because of the higher elevation, at 1600 I had to close the windows as it was chilly. I was tempted to spend the night there but opted to drive almost all the way back to the park.

The adjacent town, Payson, is a resort town for Phoenix with a four lane highway the entire distance.

2001-05-01 - I stopped in Holbrook on the way back to have the heater fixed and to make arrangements to have the shock absorbers on Tiny replaced. Tiny was bottoming out when going over bumps and was waggling almost like it had a flat rear tire. It appears the heater has a defective computer card which has to be replaced and I couldn't just leave it there so I will wait until I return to Virginia. I can survive until then unless it gets really cold and there isn't electricity to run the electric heater. That shouldn't happen but one never knows here in the high desert. I arrived back at the Petrified Forest early and used the remainder of the day catching up with computer work and doing some general housecleaning. I wound up at the visitors center helping of course, there were several tour buses that appeared just before closing.

2001-05-02 - Lord, didn't it blow. The wind started just before lunch and I had to return to the camp area to take down the awning again. It was a struggle getting it back down but I finally made it just in time to dash out to the Painted Desert Inn to give one of my song and dance numbers on the historic inn. Most of the attendees were high school students from a Navajo high school about fifty miles north of here. I was most gratified that the kids seemed to pay attention and asked questions afterwards. There was another chap who had questions on that subject and several others pertaining to the park and we talked for another hour. It turned out he was a high school geology teacher from Ohio and I had brought up ideas he had not considered. I probably learned more from him that the other way around.

I didn't get out of the visitor's center until almost 1900, there was a difficulty reconciling the accounts. I found the error but it is still irritating. There are some very young kids that have been hired by the Petrified Forest Management Association that operates our bookstores who lack any degree of maturity and who do not care. I know they receive next to nothing in wages and few benefits but give me a break.

2001-05-03 - The wind blew all night long and there were crashes when shingles were torn off the roof and hit the trailer across the street. A limb came off and destroyed the gutters as well. I woke up at 0400 to the sound of rain and when I looked out the window there were both hail and snow coming down as well. I thought that winter was over but that is just not the case here in the high desert. If you do not like the weather wait a few minutes it will change. There has been bad weather at both Flagstaff to the West and Gallup to the East with heavy snow.

I arrived in Holbrook early and the shocks didn't take long at all, I arrived in Flagstaff on time for my medical appointment which took an hour and then I was back on the Interstate heading back to Petrified Forest. There was little wind and I moved right along. Replacing the shocks did away with an annoying rattle that had been bothering me for quite a while and it seemed to me that Tiny was handling a bit better as well. I will prove that on Sunday when I take off for another three days. I think this time it will be Aztec Ruins National Park, Chaco National Park, El Morro National Monument and El Malpais National Monument. All of these parks are in New Mexico.

I really do not have many weekends off before I leave. I would like to go to Los Vegas for a volksmarch on one and up to Utah for the other. I have been to all the parks in Northern Arizona, some in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico so I have done fairly well for the short time I have been here. I hope to do more on the way back home.

2001-05-04 - Nasty weather finally ending with a rain shower in the evening. I was supposed to roam all day but would up shuttling from one site to another filling in as required. . I did meet some very interesting people and that in itself makes the day. I called it quits an hour early and took a nap in preparation for the Cinco de Mayo party to be held in the community center here at the park.

The party was all right, the food too spicy for my taste but that is just me. I had a little bit to be hospital, a glass of wine and returned back to Tiny where I shortly after popped into bed and got a good night sleep.

2001-05-05 - Farmington, New Mexico The big event for the day was watching the birth of twin pronghorns and the first hour of their life as their legs became stronger and they could run. I was pulling people off the road to watch. Most got out to take pictures, some just said "Is that all?" and drove off. I thought it was almost magical. This is a situation that I wish I had a telephoto lens to capture such events.

I had passed this spot earlier in the day and had noticed two females lying down just basking in the sun. I had heard that the pregnant females often did this. When I returned I saw four females and then the fawns. All four females came to see the does and to sniff them, I do not know if this was bonding or not.

I left the park about 1630 and arrived here at 1930; I had a tail wind most of the way and made good time. The climate here is much moister and as a result there are more trees and grass. There are some strange rock formations around Shiprock, one of the towns I passed through. It was dusk as I went by and too dark for photography. I am spending the night in a Wendy's parking lot, better than some other places I have stayed. This town probably has a Walmart but I didn't feel like driving further.