2001- 05 - 27 - Roaming the park, talking to people and generally enjoying myself. I clean house for several hours earlier and then it was out in the park to get "unbored.' Talking to people gets one out of that mode quickly. Once I get "unbored" I will go back and finish the computer work and clean the outside more. The temperature is in the low 80's with a gentle breeze and couldn't be nicer. If I was a beer drinker, I would be outside in a lawn chair under the canopy slopping up a cool one or two.

My buddies - who I could almost constantly provided me comic relief with their antics in my yard and who plagued the neighbors who were attempting to grow grass and who would just look at me while I was talking to them. I have had more fun watching them raid the lawn next door or outwitting the beagle from across the street, they simply run underneath the closest car and beagle runs into it with a resounding clunk.

2001-05-28 - Again roaming the park, answering questions and enjoying being outside with people. I walked out to one of the more remote areas to see some petroglyphs, as usual didn't find them but still had an enjoyable time. The sun reflecting off the salt and sand flats was very hot and I was continually drinking without noticeable sweating. Of course the back of my shirt where the backpack rests was drenched but that is to be expected. I drank a gallon of water in addition to the two liters I had carried with me after I returned and still felt dehydrated. It is no wonder that people die in the desert if they are not prepared. The park advises that wilderness hikers carry one gallon of water per person a day, I cannot help but wonder if that is sufficient given that some water will be used for cooking and cleaning. Perhaps if people can adjust for it it might be sufficient.

The park can be beautiful however, despite the dryness. I can well understand its charm that overwhelms many people.

I was out in an area ruled by the ravens, the limestone is quite soft and they have holes dug into the rock where they can hide from the heat. They didn't take kindly to my intrusion and were floating overhead screaming as loud as they could.

The "hoodoos" in this area all seem to have a relatively thin cap that looks remarkably like graduation caps. I call them "high school graduates," a brand-new cap but still solid rock underneath. Several of the employees of the nonprofit organization that provides administrative support, ergo sales of books and the like, graduate this week and for those that I know it certainly applies. Maybe it is the local water they drink but little seems to have rubbed off on them in the exposure to education. They are a pleasant lot however, I guess I forget what it is to be young and have one's whole life in front of them. I guess I didn't know very much at that age and didn't have a clue regarding my future after graduation either except I knew that I would be drafted into the military.

I received my rating as a volunteer today; I have a problem with it however, my head swelled so much I cannot wear my hat anymore. Actually I am pleased that my efforts were recognized. Of course I could not have been as successful as I apparently was without the support of a number of people.

2001-05-30 - Last day of work, tomorrow will be turn in and that sort of thing. Had cake and ice cream this morning, plan to go out into the desert one more time in the morning and power wash Tiny.

I went out to dinner with folks living next to me, had a great time. Food was good, wine acceptable and conversation great. It was nice just to get out of the park for a while. I actually am surprised that a good Italian restaurant could be found out here I am even more surprised that there is a decent place to obtain Cafe Lait in town.

2001-05-31 - Back into the badlands today, this time with a crew as only one person knew for sure where we were going. Rita Garcia and Paula Bransnter, both career rangers and Scott Martin, the park museum curator, call cut out early, met at the rim and descended into the badlands at Lacey Point. It was not hot yet but every indication was that is would be a scorcher.

We were not to be disappointed in our search. I was somewhat embarrassed to find that I had walked with fifty meters of this site and had not seen it. So much for my powers of observation; maybe I can blame it on paying more attention to where I was placing my feet rather than what was in the surroundings. It would be very easy to twist and ankle or worse if one is not careful and while I never go out there without a radio it still would be awkward to get back. I do not think a four wheel vehicle could manage to climb to that plateau, only a helicopter would find that easy and I doubt that there is a rescue helicopter anywhere close.

We found all sorts of petrified wood that is not viewable from the top of the badlands. It was fun scrambling up the ravine, especially with Rita and Paula giggling. It was so pleasant to get away from the hassle of the office for a while. I know the rangers appreciated the opportunity to do what they were trained to do. They were using terminology that I had not heard before and I frequently had to ask for definitions. I learned quite a bit during the trip. It was very interesting. In many ways I wish I could stay here longer.

We made it and the two spotted all sorts of interesting petrified wood with some styles I had not seen before. Our destination was the site of an Anasazi ruin. We found the remnants of the village of top and near the top of this sandstone outcropping overlooking the desert one hundred feet below us. The ruins are directly in the path of the winds and rain and are rapidly being washed to the valley and disappearing forever.

The pottery that we found was all over the place except where we found "Look what I found" piles where people had collected pieces and placed them all in one place. One cannot help but wonder if this was done with the idea of taking them from the park. While I can understand that much of the pottery shards disappearing due to natural erosion, it irritates me that people would take for their own pleasure.

One cannot help but imagine that all too much has been removed from the various sites and then discarded as the novelty of having something that old an d of course just shattered scraps of something wear off and the shards discarded. It sure as heck makes sure that some struggling archeology strident will not be able to piece together a complete jug or canteen. It would be a shame to deprive the world of another Ph.D. in this arena and all of the ramifications of having new solutions to old mysteries.

I was fascinated by the intricate designs on many of the pieces, the basket weave was one of the several design styles that I saw. Seeing these in museums just does not do them justice, one has to pick them up and fondle them. I always wonder what they would talk about if they could. I wonder what they would think about this new world.

The Rangers felt some of the pottery was not local but probably acquired through trading with other groups. I believe that most of the local quality was not of the highest artistic content yet some of the pottery was glazed on both sides and the patterns quite intricate. I will try to find a book on the pottery of the Southwest and see if I can make head or tails of this. While I have learned substantial information about the area I have also discovered that I could study the remainder of my life and still not feel that I was comfortable with just that knowledge. Sometimes it is simply disheartening to discover how little I know.

By this time the temperature had increased and there still wasn't any breeze. The breeze doesn't start until later in the day. It gets hot out there fast, We roughed it through however. It will be difficult to adjust to an area - such as Virginia - where there is high humidity. Humidity here is usually less than 10% and is nothing like the 90%+ that will need to adjust to back home.

The only adverse situation involving low humidity is that one is not careful, one gets shocked every time one touches something that is grounded. It sure bothers animals the same way. I remember the dog I had in Alaska who used static electricity just to get attention even though it rolled his nose up when he was shocked.

The Rangers showed us many mano's or hand held grinding stones that were used mostly for grinding maize I would believe. These ranged from small stones held by one hand to far more massive stones that would require two hands to use effectively. Many of these looked like granite which I do not think is indigenous to this area and either acquired as the result to trading or some long hikes. I gather some of the pottery may have travel several thousand miles before ending up here in this desert. While we didn't find any, I think that all projectile heads, arrows and the like, were not made in the area but rather were imported. I wonder what was used from here as barter.

There were pieces of adobe to be seen, some with marks still from where it was pressed against the sticks used in the construction of the houses. I do not know where they received their water, there is no indication of a cistern in the area and it is a right far piece to the closest wash of any size.

The woman must have had a lot of distance to go to get water, assuming that they had to travel to the closest wash, a good portion of that distance was up with a full jar. We also questioned where the crops were grown as the soil at the base of the bluff is not of the greatest quality either. It had to have been a rough life and may have been the reason for the Indians left after just a few generations. Using Puerco Pueblo as a time measure, these ruins were probably only populated a little over a hundred years before the people left. Of course that leaves the question as to just where these people went and were they absorbed into other Indian nations such as the Hopi.

There were also petroglyphs in the area, some of them are in great condition considering the exposure and the age. It is always interesting to make up your own interpretations of just what is being stated by these. Some of them are quite visually sexual in nature, whether or not they were "X" rated is not known either.

The glazing of the pottery ranged from none at all to white on red, black on red and black on white. I may just look for a book on this before I leave in the morning. There is always something new to explore and I am sure that this changes through out the Southwest depending on what was available as far as pigment was available. We did spot some rocks in the debris pile of colors not normally found in this area that might have been ground up using the manos to provide some of the pigments; some of the other colors may have simply eroded away over the thousand or so years this site has been abandoned.

Just what is used as the glazing compound I do not know or how and if firing was used to fix the glaze. I think this is part of the fun of being a volunteer is that there is always something new around the corner that requires one to think and change one's mind set.

I will confess that I have been asked few questions regarding pottery and even more fortunate that in each time there was someone that did know far more than I to help out with satisfactorily answering the questions.

I will never reach that point where I can read these pieces of pottery like a book,I certainly admire those who can. I remember one researcher that I talked to could recite specifics of types of potteries faster than I could ever recite the multiplication tables.

There was one piece that really interested me that had raised decorations on the face of it. Whether or not this was the result of erosion of the pottery or the efforts of the potter is not known but it made for very interesting conjecture on our part. I know it is a study of a lifetime all in itself.

Parts of the foundations are still in place but they are not sufficient to determine just how large the village was. Apparently just a few years ago individual rooms were identifiable. Many of the stones have been washed or blown away as well. There are many sites like this within the park and while most of been marked as archeological sites, most have not been explored. Some of this is due to lack of adequate funding; some of this is due to archeologists desiring to leave something behind for future archeologists with new techniques to explore. I just hope that people and Mother Nature leave sufficient behind to do so.

Those with far greater knowledge of petrified wood than us mere mortals have serious arguments regarding anomalies found in the wood and whether this is the result of the petrification process or the result of insect infestation prior to the petrification process being initiated. Some of the examples that were pointed out to me sure look like some ancient woodpecker cleaned out a dinner or two prior to the log being submerged.

There were other pieces of wood nearby that had similar patterns of holes like those I have seen at Sky Meadows and other places; to me it seems very unlikely such symmetrical holes could be made by water action alone. I do not profess to be an expert but I can be logical.

One of the pictures that I took I made prints of and these will be sent to an expert for evaluation by an individual who is pro-insect infestation. There is a scientific name for the insects of the era and I heard it used many times but my feeble old brain was processing so much information that I did not retain it.

If I have the time I will check out what the term is for my own edification.

All good things must come to an end and we finally scrambled out of the basin by the most direct route - straight up. The surface of the ground cover is sand and not fun to walk on at all. However, the walk was interesting as there are archeological sites all along the edge of the basin and there are pottery fragments galore. There are also fragments on a much more recent culture, there are tin cans to be found as well. I would suspect these were left behind by people using Route 66 who stopped for picnic lunches or just even a smoke. I recognized a tobacco can such as Prince Albert smoking tobacco came in, I used them to carry fishing bait when I was a youngster. There were also Mason jar covers that were used in homing canning or home brew. Also spitted was one of the colorful denizens of the area who was not enthusiastic about being photographed and kept on trucking the entire time.

Now that it is time to depart the park for more experiences, I would like to express my appreciation to the six people who so willing gave of themselves to assist me perform my job on a higher level and provided me with the knowledge for which I thirsted.

Mother Superior - Paula - my supervisor who provided me the atmosphere to grow.

The Little Sergeant - Rita - who tolerated my humor and who always could be counted on when I need a quick answer to any question regarding the park.

Ms Bee - Hallie - (Bugs, Bushes, Blooms and Birds) - who was always able to explain to me in a manner that I could understand - a significant task - any of the thousands of questions I had regarding the above four areas and many more.

Ms Flea - Janet - who brought me onboard and gave me my first tour of the park and who assisted me significantly when I was writing my song and dance presentations. Her perpetual motion is most noteworthy and difficult to exceed.

Ms Quackers - Mary - who tolerated my humor and provided me with insight into the history of the park. She never ducked out of my questions.

Mr. Michael Stuckey - Who tolerated and accommodated my schedule change requests so I could explore the region that allowed me to visit just about every park within a three hundred mile radius.

The employees of the Petrified Forest Management Association, especially Beth and Marcie, who assisted me in so many ways and provided significant input into park operations and straightened up the cash register mistakes I made.

The employees of Fred Harvey who ran the gasoline, gift shop and restaurant concession and who always so friendly and helpful, especial Marie and John who were also neighbors of mine who couldn't figure what I was doing when I was still on the computer until late at night.

Dean Thompson of Thompson Motors in Holbrook whose crew did great work on Tiny when required. I did my traveling feeling much more secure knowing that the work done was done so professionally.

2001-06-01 - On the road by 0800, I had to turn in keys as I got so wrapped up with last minute paperwork that everybody had left before I was finished. I didn't have time to say good-bye to as many people as I should, I flat ran out of time. Thanks Linda, Lindsey, Crystal, Amber and Tammy of PFMA, Tim, Scott, Paula and Chad of NPS and many others.

As much as I learned about the four state area with all the trips that I took on days off, I think I learned even more about myself.

Gasoline prices are interesting, they average $1.85 near the park, yet 40 miles away at Show Low I filled up at $1.57 and in Tucson it looks like $1.56 is average. Something is wacky about this.

I stopped at Fort Apache National Historic Site but it has not yet been taken over by the park service, ergo, no stamp. I was thinking about walking the nature trail to see the petroglyphs but I was told that there were too many rattlesnakes out and the guides didn't recommend doling it. At times I do listen to advice. As I dropped out of the mountains and the lower I got the temperature increased and it was darn right hot. Finally a breeze kicked up and that helped somewhat. It was good to be inside in the air conditioning at Boos and Wyatt's.

I do not think that Tiny likes this heat and low altitude, she was acting up for a while once we got down to the 2000 feet level by coughing and sputtering for a while. I am hoping that when I put lowland gasoline in her she will be happier. I had all her body fluids checked before leaving Holbrook.

It didn't take much persuasion to get me to outside to eat, fairly good Korean dinner. I will probably reek of kimchi in the morning.

2001-06-02 - Down day, didn't do a darn thing except read all day and it felt good.

Next week will start another chapter, the trip home.