Summer 2023, Episode 1 (06-30-23)

 With all the issues we were having with the house and trailer, I was pleasantly surprised that we actually left Lake Havasu the day we were supposed to.

Our first stop was El Paso, sort of.  It takes us two days to drive that far so we have to stop overnight in the Tucson area along the way. Our good friends Tom and Dianne, up until extremely recently, lived in Bayfield CO, and staying with them for a few days was already in our plans.  But then they sold their house! Not to worry though, they bought one in Sierra Vista AZ, relatively near Tucson.  They arrived there on the 20th, and we arrived on the 21st, about an hour after the moving truck left.

It was nice to get to see their new place and always fun to spend time with them, plus as a bonus, we saw our friends Jeff and Tina. Unfortunately we could only stay one night, but  we will try to stay longer next time.

From there we landed in El Paso, where we spent a few days with Paul’s mom. I wish I could say that all our bad luck was left in Havasu but at least a little bit of it followed us.  I occasionally have episodes of Atrial Fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat, and wouldn’t you know, my heart “kicked out” while we were in Sierra Vista. My handy dandy Apple watch alerts me, and also does an EKG. I sent a PDF of the EKG to my cardiologist, and let her know what my plan was- as long as the heart rate stayed low, I would wait it out, if it got too fast, I would head to the Emergency Room.  She agreed with my plan, so, wait it out I did. It’s not a lot of fun since I can’t walk very fast or do very much.  This bout lasted longer than usual, but finally resolved after about 5 days- after we left El Paso.

The small town of Bernalillo New Mexico, just north of Albuquerque,  was our next stop on the way to Colorado. Our original plan was to spend 6 days hiking and with my heart back to normal and my foot getting better, I was itching to get back on the trail.

My first, and really only hike here, was the 2 mile Capulin Peak Trail at the top of the the nearby Sandia Mountains. The temperature at the rig was 97 and at Sandia Peak it was 67- a huge difference.

There were nice views at the end of the trail, plus we drove further up the road to get a view of Albuquerque.

Although my foot did ok, I didn’t want push it, so the following day we elected to explore the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. The first section of the museum  was about World War II, The Manhattan Project, and The Atomic Bomb.

As I was reading through the displays- and it’s a LOT of reading- I began to wonder how Germany didn’t beat us to the punch with the atomic bomb.  There are several reasons as it turns out- they lacked resources, Hitler didn’t make it a priority because he was more interested in instant gratification rather than the long game, and the German scientists focused more on theoretical physics rather than experimental physics.

In the meantime, the United States was secretly working their way towards creating an atomic bomb. There were three sites in the U.S. that were involved- Oak Ridge Tennessee produced the uranium, Hanford Washington supplied the plutonium, and Los Alamos New Mexico was home to the design and production centers for nuclear weapons. The project was called The Manhattan Project and Los Alamos  was referred to Site Y.

It actually became pretty much a secret city.  The scientists, as well as their families, were essentially sequestered in this make shift military base/town.  Initially, living conditions were very primitive, but as time went on, many improvements were made, and life was more “normalized”. In fact it was so normal that they experienced a baby boom in 1944, creating a severe shortage of diapers and hospital beds. 

The birth certificates of children born there during this time listed P.O. Box 1663, Santa Fe NM, as the place of birth. Also creating a sense of normalcy were things like a youth center, a school, a church, a playground, etc.

Drivers licenses of people living in Los Alamos were secretive, listing a number as a name, and on the signature line the typed words “Not Required”.

After years in the making, on July 16, 1945, the atomic bomb, called Gadget for test and security purposes, was successfully tested at the Trinity Site in New Mexico.

A very short time later, August 6, 1945, Paul Tibbets Jr. and his crew aboard the Enola Gay, dropped the Atomic Bomb, Little Boy, on Hiroshima Japan, changing the course of history and the nature of warfare forever.

Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Japan. The reason for the short time span between the two bombs was to create the illusion that the U.S. had plenty of bombs and was going to keep dropping them, with the hope that Japan would surrender. And they did. Fighting ended on August 14, 1945.

The museum didn’t just focus on warfare and bombs, it also had sections about other, less deadly, but just as important,  uses for nuclear power- such as nuclear power plants and nuclear medicine.

There was even a display of the DeLorean from Back To The Future- a car that was “actually” a plutonium fueled time machine.  The use of the car in the movie increased sales of DeLorean cars for a while, but not for long enough to keep the company afloat.

Our final outing in Albuquerque was a trip up Sandia Peak, via the tram. With us was our friend Teresa.

Once at the top we started out on a hike, but my foot wasn’t up for too much so we cut it short and headed back for lunch. The wait for the restaurant at the peak was way too long, so we headed back down to find someplace for a late lunch.

And then, we moved on to Colorado.

Exploring Once More (08-28-21)

 

With "only" a month or so to explore before we head back to Arizona, we got out a map and looked to see where we could go that we had never been, but wouldn't be too far away. Glenwood Springs, CO fit the bill, so that’s where we headed.

In order to avoid the huge mountains, we took the long way there, which took us through Albuquerque NM, and Cortez CO. It seems like there is always something to look at while driving around in the southwest. Maybe because there are so few trees, we can see for miles and miles.

It always amazes me to see these kinds of things- it looks as if the sand is being worn away, revealing the monolith enclosed within it.

We had been through here before when we visited Mesa Verde National Park, but there was still plenty we hadn't seen, so we booked two nights in Cortez.

The lady at the Visitor Center was very helpful and mapped out a full day of exploring for us.

We packed a lunch and headed towards Canyon of the Ancients National Monument....with our first stop being Hovenweep.

Hovenweep was designated a National Monument in 1923, with the purpose of preserving some of the best ancient puebloan masonry in existence today.

The settlement we explored involved a two mile hike along a ridge, with remnants of ancient dwellings sitting both atop the ridge, and down below in the canyon.

 

Ancestral Puebloans moved to this area around the year 700, and moved on to new places in about the year 1230. No one knows exactly why they left, although there are several theories.

While here, they farmed, using a terrace method, planting crops down the sides of the canyon.

It was already getting warm when we started our two mile hike, so we were happy when the sky started dripping. The flashes of lightning and crackle of thunder didn't thrill us, but we survived it.

Looking across the canyon it was amazing to see just how many buildings there were in this small area.

These Twin Towers, although they maybe don't look like much, have a total of 16 interior rooms.

We were hoping to visit the Holly Tower area as well, but the ranger warned us that the road resembled a swimming pool after the recent rains. We went as far as we could, although one of us was convinced we could make it through to the other side with no problem.

Back on the paved road we made our way to Lowry Pueblo, where we had a picnic lunch before exploring the kivas. Kivas are special buildings that were used for ceremonies and community activities.

Lowry is known for the murals that were painted on the interior walls, which had 15 coats of plaster. Unfortunately, all attempts to preserve the murals failed.

Continuing on the loop road, our last stop of the day was the Anasazi Heritage Center. When nearby McPhee reservoir was created, artifacts were removed before it was filled with water, and they are housed at the heritage center.

I have been interested in dendrochronology since i was in 5th grade and at environmental science camp. While there, we drilled into a tree, and counted the rings to find out how old it was.

When comparing the rings of an older tree and a younger tree, the ring patterns for the overlapping years are the same on both trees, allowing scientists to establish a timeline.

Several wood beams from this area were sent off to the dendrochronology lab in Tucson where they have a master chart of tree rings, with known dates. Pretty cool.

The Start of Summer (06-12-20)

It took us a couple of days to pack up the rig and the house before we could leave.  The vehicles in the garage look like  interlocking puzzle pieces, and still we had to leave a couple of things outside.  Geez.









Our basic plan for the summer is to hunker down, stay away from most people, and do some hiking. But first, we had to do two things. We needed to see our daughter and we needed to check on Paul’s mom.


Our first stop was Indio, CA, where we spent 3 days at an RV resort with Jess and her boyfriend Michael.

Having stayed here before, Paul and I knew this place has a great pool, and lots to do. We checked to make sure it was all open before we booked.









We had an awesome 3 days with the kids, relaxing, swimming a lot (it was HOT) and using the park amenities.  Paul and I thoroughly enjoyed Bocce—we might actually see if there is room in our yard for a court (yes, I am aware that this picture is not of Bocce- apparently no one took a picture while we were playing).













We had such a good time, I wasn’t ready to move on, but Jess had to go back to work.












 Technically our next stop was to see Paul’s mom in El Paso, but we weren’t in a rush so we detoured to Silver Springs NM for a few days. Being at a higher elevation it was a lot cooler there.

We got our “feet wet” with the hiking by taking the 3 mile Pinon Loop trail. It has a spur to the peak that we didn’t take because the trail was long enough and had 500 ft of elevation gain as it was.

Off in the distance we could see the wildfires.  There are a lot of them right now it seems and one of them caused us to cancel our original plans- we were headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but it was being evacuated due to a wildfire.










Moving on to El Paso, our stay there was the shortest its ever been. We stayed only one night, and Paul saw his mother for less than an hour. I chatted with her outside for a few minutes, keeping a distance between us.

Before we even made it  to El Paso, we had two issues with our rig.  The rear air conditioner is clearly not working well- it cools some, but not nearly enough.  So, we had to make a plan to get it replaced.  The second issue was more urgent, but also, luckily, easy to fix.  One of the tires on the truck started to separate, but the local Discount Tire had the tires we needed.



From El Paso it was a straight shot to Albuquerque NM. At this point we were still formulating a plan for the summer.  Not that we plan a lot, but I wasn’t sure how busy RV parks would be so I didn’t want to leave reservations to the last minute- less stress that way.  We decided to kill 3 birds with one stone so to speak.  We knew we were going to want to see our friends Tom and Dianne in Colorado, so we ordered an air conditioner to be sent to their house, and told them we would be there by the 4th of July. Now we didn’t have to worry about reservations for the holiday!


While in Albuquerque, we managed to get in another hike, albeit a short one. We hiked 2 miles of the Piedra Lisa Trail which is part of a large web of trails. I didn’t think the trail was that bad but apparently I didn’t think it was that good because I didn’t take any pictures!

Sitting in our campsite one day we looked at the building next door and realized it was a brewery.  A brewery with OUTDOOR seating.  I looked at their website and they were requiring masks and reservations, and each party could stay for 90 minutes.  Reservations made, we had our first meal at a restaurant in 3 months!








The view was very relaxing and so was the meal.  I tried two of their Amber beers and liked both.  When it was time to pay, they provided us with a QR code and we paid online, no contact needed.