November 28, 2009

November 28, 2009

In the newspaper this morning I read about a local group called SASI, the Sonoran Arthropod Studies Institute, having an open house today. The weather is cool and there is a chance for rain so we decide this might be a nice diversion. The facility is located down a long dirt road in the middle of the Saguaro-filled desert of Tucson Mountain Park. On the way Aimee asks what an arthropod is. I give her the scientific answer, explaining these are animals that have an external skeleton, like lobsters. I fail to tell her that all insects are also arthropods and that is what we are likely to see.

The afternoon session starts with an hour-long show and tell of the member’s pets. The first half is mostly innocuous beetles and beetle larvae. They are housed in plastic shoeboxes filled with corn meal. Or at least what used to be grain. Now much of it has been turned into fine sand the scientist explains is beetle droppings. Aimee is immediately grossed out when he says to feel free to dig in “the sand” to find and hold the larvae.

The show and tell moves on to creatures that nobody wants to hold, starting with scorpions. They have three that are long as your hand. Scary looking! Don’t want one of them crawling in the house. Next are a couple centipedes. These swift, armored carnivores are venomous and will eat small rodents and lizards. To demonstrate she throws crickets into the boxes so we can see them run down, captured and eaten. I make a mental note to remind Aimee to never leave the screen door open. At one point the centipede grabs onto the speaker's finger who then flicks it off… directly in Aimee’s direction. I never saw Aimee move so fast. Lastly several spiders and a couple tarantulas are displayed. Compared to the scorpions and centipedes, the tarantulas look pretty docile. If we buy a house, I am going to have to investigate how to attract roadrunners to keep our yard free of our local arthropod population.

The second session is a workshop on growing tobacco hornworms. All the kids are given a couple to raise into mature hawk moths. Interestingly if they are fed green leaves, the worms turn a brilliant green; if raised on wheat germ they are a translucent turquoise. I so wanted to join in the fun and bring one home but Aimee said I was too old. When I was young I wanted to be old; now old, I want to be young!

November 21, 2009

November 21, 2009

Today was the 27th running of the El Tour de Tucson. Getting its name from the more famous event in France, this one-day 109-mile bike race circles the Tucson metro area. We first became aware of it the hard way. Three years ago race day turned out to be our move-in day. Our RV was stuck in a long line of traffic waiting for racers to pass. This year we can enjoy the race. It goes right by our apartment entrance. Just as we walk out to the street, the leaders race by. Incredibly these winners bike the 109 miles in just over four hours. That is averaging 25 miles per hour, on a bike!! They are not doing it past us though. We are at the top of a long uphill run, a killer on a bike.

We watch the bikers pass for an hour. There is a steady stream as some 9000 people participated in this race. Aimee and I don’t mind the inconvenience as we also benefit from the popularity of biking in Tucson. Biking magazine rates Tucson as one of the best places to ride for three reasons: Sunshine, Sunshine, and Sunshine.

November 5, 2009

November 5, 2009

And then there were two! Our local bobcat family moved a little closer today. When Aimee went to wash the breakfast dishes this morning she noticed a kitten sitting on our second-floor front stoop. In an instant she realized it was a bobcat and yelled for me to come with the camera. Soon a second kitten joined the first. We watched and snapped photos from the kitchen window thinking the mother and third baby were hidden along our outside wall. We suddenly wished we had more front windows. Mostly the kittens slept like puppies in a bundle. They came to attention whenever somebody left for work, more out of curiosity than fear. After an hour they suddenly disappeared. It turned out they were hungry and went to find mom hiding in a culvert just below. She nursed them for a few minute, got nervous and moved, and then nursed them a little more. By this time our neighbor came out to see the visitors making mom skittish. She decided to take a walk with her family in tow leaving us to wonder the fate of the third sibling.

October 16, 2009

October 16, 2009

The northwest Tucson suburb where we live looks like any other American town. It has all the requisite chains of stores, restaurants, and gas stations. In between the houses and commercial establishments are small patches of undeveloped, unpaved land. In Chicago and St. Louis these spots would be filled with large trees and thick brush. Here these patches seem barren, with maybe a few stunted trees and low-lying cacti scattered about. Except for a few noisy quail, it looks like nothing lives in these arid plots. Oh, how we have learned that is not the case. They are full of unseen wildlife. And for some reason the desert scraps of land are much wilder and unforgiving than their deer-infested Midwestern counterparts.

I was reminded of that as I cut thru the ten yards of desert separating our apartment from the town hall. Another pedestrian alerted me to a mother bobcat and three kittens. While three of the quartet escaped the heat in the shade provided by a masonry wall, the last kitten basked in the sun atop the wall. I could see her eying the birds gathered at an apartment feeder just feet away. Earlier this Spring we saw a roadrunner outside our window hop its way up a tree and snatch a baby bird from its nest. Two Thanksgivings ago we watched a hawk swoop from our neighbor’s roof and snag a small snake in the desert below. Almost nightly we hear coyotes howling, announcing to their pack a fresh kill. So I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised when we talked to our new next-door neighbor. Her menagerie includes a cat, a dog and several birds. She told us how yesterday evening, an owl swooped onto her patio and snatched away her cat. Fortunately the overfed cat was a little too heavy and was soon dropped and rescued. The Arizona lesson is you had better watch your pets closely around here…. even on the second floor!

September 17, 2009

September 17, 2009

We went to a local church today to attend a town hall meeting with John McCain. Of course the main subject was health care. I was there more as a spectator to observe the controversy than for protest. Disappointingly the audience was pretty sedate.

Listening to the crowd and the media it is amazing how little people really know about this issue. There was more than one comment from the retiree crowd extolling how reasonably priced government provided Medicare is. They seem to think the token amount that is deducted from their Social Security is the cost of the insurance. I guess they don’t realize the vast majority of the burden is borne by payroll deductions on the working class.

Most of the talk was about insurance as if it was the source of the runaway medical costs. Insurance is mostly a zero sum game. It’s basically a cost sharing arrangement between all the clients. For one person to pay less, somebody else has to pay more. With new regulations, people with healthy lifestyles will surely support those who abuse their bodies. The young will subsidize us older folks. Medical insurance reform is long overdue. Coverage of preexisting conditions should be a requirement but only if you have had continuous insurance coverage. Otherwise we will all postpone buying a policy until we get sick. Mandatory insurance should be a requirement. Those who go without and then go to the Emergency room for care abuse the system. Too many opt to forego insurance in favor of soda pop, cell phones, Internet, video games, or cable TV driving up the cost for others.

As a country we need to address medical costs. There is a nationwide shortage of doctors. John McCain said we should attract more talent to the profession. That is not the answer; medical schools are not hurting for applicants. We need to expand the size of the schools and graduate more physicians (or encourage the immigration of foreign doctors). Tort Reform is also a requirement. Medicine is not an exact science and outrageous malpractice insurance is a national disgrace. The country would also be better off if most people had a high deductible policy that encouraged us to shop around for medical care.

What is the most alarming in this debate is how many people think putting government in charge of the largest segment of our economy will solve all the problems. What are they smoking?? Government is the antithesis of efficiency.

After listening to John McCain, it is clear he is not a flawless politician. But a big side benefit of moving to Arizona from Illinois is a huge upgrade in the quality of my senatorial representation.

September 14, 2009

September 14, 2009

The drive south from Showlow, AZ has to be one of the prettiest in the state. The route crosses the Apache Indian reservation gradually descending thru a pine forest. The road bottoms at the Salt River bridge crossing a mini-Grand Canyon. No where else can you get this much scenic variety. Climbing back up to the mining town of Globe we find the road to Tucson closed for construction. The detour route adds almost an hour to our journey. Shortly after noon we arrive back in Tucson ending our fourth summer of adventure. Aimee is thrilled to be back in her nest and out of our "wheelestate".

Because of Alaska we did a lot of driving this summer, putting over 12000 miles on the RV in just over two months of travel. We averaged almost 12 miles per gallon, our best yet. With gas prices more reasonable this summer, our fuel bill was not terribly outrageous. Now we have some time to catch up on chores and plan for our next excursion.

September 13, 2009

September 13, 2009

From Grants, NM, we backtrack a little to drive down the east side of El Malpais National Monument. The name is Spanish for Badlands. This New Mexico version deserves the name more than the famous ones in the Dakotas. El Malpais is a huge gnarly lava field that fills the valley between sandstone cliffs. Driving south we stop at an overlook atop the cliff to look down at the lava expanse. We also hike to a natural arch formed in the cliff wall.


Returning back to the west side we stop to explore the lava field. When lava flows out of a volcano it often does so through lava tubes that lie just beneath the “solid” surface. Walking over the field we pass many locations where the ceiling collapsed exposing the empty tube below. In one case I leave Aimee behind and climb into one tube meeting her at the next exposed exit. The cave is surprisingly cool for just being ten feet below ground. We do the hike with a couple that look about our age. We discover that they quit their jobs in their 30’s and full time RV’ed for twelve years traveling the US, Mexico and Canada. They even wrote a book called “Take back your life”. No matter how adventurous we think we are, there is always somebody who tops us!

Just west of El Malpais is El Morro National Monument. Since this area was Spanish far longer than American I guess it is fitting the landmark names are all Spanish. El Morro is a huge sandstone promontory that was a landmark and critical oasis for early explorers.

It could be called Inscription Rock because many of these Spaniards left their signature behind. “Paso por aqui” (passed by here) with a date and name is written everywhere. Incredibly the earliest is 1605 and is still very readable (with the help of charcoal). After looking at the historic graffiti we hike atop the mesa, see an Anasazi ruin, take in the view and then return to the Visitor Center.

From El Morro we continue west along the Coronado trail into Arizona. The trail turns due south following Rt. 191. We drove that way two years ago and although very scenic, it is probably the slowest and windiest paved road in America. We opt for the quicker route southwest where we descend into a Martian-like red desert landscape and spend the night in Showlow, AZ.

September 12, 2009

September 12, 2009

Our next stop on the Santa Fe Trail is Pecos National Historic Park. Pecos is the location of Glorieta Pass that would become important during the Civil War. Hundred of years before, it was critical for the Pueblo Indians that lived here. Glorieta Pass is the connection between the Rio Grande Valley and the Pecos River valley of the Great Plains. The Indians living here became wealthy controlling trade between the nomadic tribes of the plains and Indians of the Southwest. The Indians of the Southwest relied on agriculture and built permanent settlements in the form of adobe condominiums called pueblos. The park museum has a good but concise history of the area from Coronado’s exploration thru Spanish colonization and religious conversion.

From the Visitor Center we walk the loop around the ruins. There is little left of the large Pueblo except a squarish circle of dirt around a central courtyard. More complete is the mission church the Spanish priests built next door. The pueblo was eventually abandoned after Comanche raiders from Texas devastated the trading business. By the time Santa Fe travelers passed by, the pueblo was already in ruins.

From Pecos we drive west completing our trail adventure at Santa Fe. Needing another guidepost, we decide to follow the Coronado trail. Coronado was the first European to explore the Southwest. He unsuccessfully searched for the fabled seven cities of gold. The Pecos Puebloans had sent him towards Kansas hoping he would not survive.

The Coronado trail heads west from Albuquerque. Less than an hour later we reach the exit for Acoma Pueblo. Having learned about pueblos this morning, we decide we want to see a complete one. We picked a good one to visit. Acoma is nicknamed “Sky City” and claims to be the oldest continuously occupied city in the US. For protection from hostile tribes, the pueblo was built atop a lone mesa. The only access was to climb the cliff walls.

  
After paying a stiff fee, we hop aboard a small bus for a tour. Acoma is a perfect example of anachronism. On one side the tribe wants to retain its old way of life with no running water, no electricity, no sewer, and adobe building materials. On the other hand, they want the modern lifestyle with a new paved road, cars, modern doors and windows, and generators to watch TV. The wonderful view off the mesa rim is marred with a line of modern outhouses. Acoma is a tacky slum in a gorgeous setting. After the interesting walking tour, we opt to hike back down to the entrance station and spend the night in Grants, NM.

September 11, 2009

September 11, 2009

From the Santa Fe Trail we make a detour east to see Capulin Volcano National Monument. Capulin was set aside because it is an almost perfect cone shaped volcano. It is probably the world’s only drive-up volcano. The scary park road circles up the outside and ends on the low side of the crater rim. The crater is much smaller than I expected. It takes us well less than an hour to hike completely around the rim and then down to the vent plug. The Capulin cinder cone was formed some 60,000 years ago when the volcano erupted like a Roman candle sending a fountain of lava bombs into the air.

From Capulin we return to the Santa Fe Trail stopping at Fort Union National Monument. The first Fort Union was built right after the Mexican war to secure New Mexico for the US. Later at the beginning of the Civil War a new star shaped earthen fortification was built to counter the expected attack from southern rebels. Johnny Rebs out of Texas did march up the Rio Grande taking Las Cruces and Santa Fe. Before they could take Fort Union, northern troops repulsed them just west of here at Glorieta Pass. Interestingly the same Colorado Volunteers involved in this battle later became infamous at the Sand Creek Massacre.

The third and largest Fort Union was built at the end of the Civil War and served mainly as a supply depot for New Mexico’s other garrisons. Mostly what is left of this sprawling adobe military complex is the brick chimneys, a few melting adobe walls and the stone prison cells. Through the center of the complex are ruts from the Santa Fe Trail.

We spend the night in Las Vegas. That’s New Mexico not Nevada. No slots to be found here.

September 10, 2009

September 10, 2009

Aimee didn’t sleep well last night. All she could think about was the 1959 “Crime of the Century” we read about in the book, “In Cold Blood”. This true story of a family massacre took place on a farm just west of here.

From Garden City, KS we continue our Santa Fe Trail adventure following the Arkansas River west. After crossing the border into Colorado we make a short detour north to Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. (Apparently this is gruesome murder day.) The last eight miles down a dirt road are a little hairy. If I drive slowly, the washboard surface shakes the RV violently; so I drive fast hoping I don’t slide off into the deep sand lining the road. Once at the site, we spit the dust out of our mouths and we are immediately greeted by a ranger. He gives us a mini talk on the history of the massacre. Discovery of gold in Colorado caused an influx of whites and increased friction with the Indians. After the murder of a Denver family, a volunteer regiment from Colorado was sent by the governor to exterminate all hostile Indians. Whether looking for glory or revenge this troop attacked a “peaceful” Indian group here in the middle of the prairie. Initially hailed as heroes they were later vilified when it was learned they also killed and scalped women and children. This massacre ignited the southern Plains Indian Wars. In listening to the story, I see parallels with the soldiers in Vietnam and Iraq who struggled with the difficulty identifying “terrorists” hiding among civilians.

From Sand Creek, we make our way back to the Santa Fe Trail arriving at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site. This adobe fort was built in 1833 when the Arkansas River formed the international border with Mexico. The Bent brothers setup this trading post to barter for valuable buffalo skins from the local Indians. The business flourished until almost 1850. It faltered with the drastic decline in the buffalo population and the rise of Indian hostilities. We tour the recreated fort. It is very impressive. The Park Service did an awesome job rebuilding and restocking the fort. It is a real treat to explore every room. Visitors are greeted by a leather clad descendent of Kit Carson. There are horses and oxen stabled in the rear. Even the picnic area near the park entrance is made to look like a rest area on the Santa Fe Trail.

From Bents Fort the Santa Fe Trail goes thru a very desolate stretch of scrubland before it hits Trinidad, CO. There the trail enters a beautiful stretch of pine forested foothills where it climbs up steep Raton pass. What a change from the flat as far as you can see prairie of this morning. As the RV struggles upward I envision the struggle the wagon trains of old would have endured. On the south side of the pass we retire for the evening in Raton, NM.

September 9, 2009

September 9, 2009

I guess the economy is taking its toll on the local residents. We had a group of freeloaders visit our campsite last night looking for a handout. They honked at me about the ills of capitalism. Taking pity on the hungry, I gave them some food and sent them on their way.

When we left Independence, MO, I didn’t realize that we were following the Santa Fe Trail. I learned that fact when we pulled into Fort Larned National Historic Site. The trail was primarily a commercial route. It served as the primary supply chain for the Southwest. When the south plains Indians (Kiowa, Cheyenne, and Commanches) started attacking wagon trains, the US Army responded by building a line of forts and escorting the caravans along the most dangerous sections. Fort Larned, built in 1860, was one of the trail guardians and a center for the Indian Wars. Its mission lasted until rail lines replaced the trail in the 1870’s.

Despite spending most of its life as a private ranch, the fort has been restored to its original appearance. The fort looks nothing like what Hollywood depicts; western forts were not wooden but stone. What wood was used in the structures had to be barged in from Michigan. We spend an hour looking at the exhibits and walking around the fort buildings.


From Fort Larned we drive to Dodge City to learn about the next phase of western history, the cowboy and the lawman. After the Civil War, Texas cowboys would drive huge cattle herds up the Cimarron Trail to railheads in Kansas. Initially to Abilene and later to Dodge City as the rail line crept westward. When the cowboys reached Dodge City and got paid they were ready to relax and spend money. Dodge City sprung up overnight to accommodate them. For its initial half dozen years Dodge City deserved its wild lawless reputation. Eventually lawmen like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson helped tame the town.

Most of this history can be learned in Dodge City’s Boothill Museum and Front Street. Despite looking a little hokey it is quite good and is what Tombstone in Arizona ought to emulate. Aimee however is getting tired of these museums and looks at me and says, “Lets get out of Dodge!” I heed the call and we drive west to Garden City, KS.

September 8, 2009

September 8, 2009

An hour drive west, we roll into Topeka, the capital of Kansas. There we visit an old grade school that holds Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site. The name is derived from a Supreme Court case in 1954 that kick started the civil rights effort. Until then the South had ”Jim Crow” laws that mandated segregation of the races. An 1896 Supreme Court ruling had upheld this “separate but equal”. In practice southern black schools were often inferior. Beginning in the mid 1930’s the NAACP recruited legal scholars to slowly chip away at the laws. They began with lawsuits against professional and graduate schools where duplicate equal facilities would be cost prohibitive. Eventually they filed five test cases that made their way to our highest court. This time the Supreme Court reversed its stand and ruled that separate is inherently unequal. Despite the ruling, it took many years and US troops to enforce the ruling in the South. We learned about that legacy when we visited Central High Historic Site in Little Rock last Christmas.

From Topeka we drive another hour west to Abilene, KS, boyhood home of Dwight Eisenhower. We spend a couple hours going thru his presidential museum. It is outstanding. Compared to Truman and probably most presidents, Eisenhower was well prepared for his term in office. He had years of practice leading men, running large bureaucracies and planning complicated missions. Few men understood the implications of the Cold War as he did. Surprisingly historians initially ranked him as a mediocre president but now rank him among the top ten. Besides covering his life, the museum has extensive exhibits on WWII. What I found most interesting about the three sites we saw today and yesterday was for me the “missing” history, the events of the mid 40’s thru mid 60’s. It is too old for me to remember but too recent to have been included in my high school history book.

September 7, 2009

September 7, 2009

From Columbia, MO we drive for a couple hours to Independence, MO. This is our second time thru town. The first time we neglected to stop at Harry Truman’s home. We correct that this morning but we are disappointed. First we have to walk a mile roundtrip to the visitor center to purchase a tour ticket for the house. The tour is very short (some ten minutes) and only covers the first floor of his old Victorian home in downtown Independence. The tour guide while not bad seems more concerned with making sure we touch absolutely nothing in the house or step anywhere outside the carpet runner than imparting some history. The tour is not worth the money or the time.

The downtown area is hosting a large craft fair. We like attending these events so we plan on spending the rest of the afternoon browsing. Very little catches our interest in the fair so after an hour we return to our original plans and head over to Truman’s presidential library. It is pretty good. Harry was pretty much a hard-working failure who got lucky only twice. His timing though was right on. His first success was getting hooked up with the local political machine boss who sponsored his election run for judge and later senator. During his second term as senator, the national Democratic Party picked him to replace the current unpopular VP in FDR’s fourth term. Less than three months later Truman is president and he is in way over his head. He has no time to mature into the role as the problems come fast and furious. After seeing WWII to a close, the US economy is rocked with labor strikes, rampant inflation, food shortages and rising tensions with Russia. Harry is not very popular. Pulling out an election night upset in 1948, his second term is highlighted with an escalation of the Cold War and fighting in Korea. By the end of his second term Harry can’t wait to return to Independence and I can’t blame him.

Because of the craft fair the local RV park is full so we head west into Kansas and spend the night at a state park in Lawrence, KS. I can’t seem to get away from these “Big 12” campus towns.

September 6, 2009

September 6, 2009

After spending the last month with our parents we are ready to get home. So after lunch, we left today headed west. We drove for a couple hours and stopped for the night in the town of Columbia, MO. Considering yesterday’s Illini football fiasco, this seems the worst spot to stop. Maybe deep down it is my penance for the loss.

August 29, 2009

August 29, 2009

I have been told one of my nephews has the same mannerisms as I do. Aimee says, “poor kid”. His mother says it must be genetics. I think there is more to it. He seems to emulate everything I do. After he graduated with the same major as me I was flattered. But now he is getting carried away. He went and got married today, on my wedding anniversary! And wouldn’t you know it, he is going to Hawaii for his honeymoon, same as me! Yikes!

August 11, 2009

August 11, 2009

The Indian mounds we saw last night are not unusual for this area. We saw a couple several years ago in Devils Lake State Park in central Wisconsin. We are going to see a lot more today as we visit Effigy Mounds National Monument ten miles north of us. What we learn is that the central US had literally tens of thousands of Indian mounds. Many still exist but the majority over the years have been built on or leveled by farm plows. Plus without periodic grooming and mowing nature reclaims its share. The majority of the circular mounds have been found to contain multiple burials. Apparently when working with stone tools it is easier to pile dirt up in a mound versus digging a hole.

What is unique about this area is that some of the mounds are in the shape of animals. In Effigy National Monument the predominant shape is that of a bear. And not a small bear. The largest is almost the length of a football field. Since they could only be appreciated from the air, it makes you wonder whom they were built for. Hmmm, maybe “Chariot of the Gods” was right about those ancient astronauts!!

After checking out the Visitor Center, we head out on the trail. We listen to a ranger halfway and then continue on our own. Most of the mounds here atop the river bluff are in good condition because this rolling heavily wooded area had little commercial value. Still we have a hard time getting excited about them. The round ones are just mounds of dirt a couple feet high. And without a helicopter it is hard to appreciate the animal-shaped mounds.

It could be we are just getting tired of these Indian historical sites. Thinking we need a vacation to revive our energy level, we spend the next several hours driving to the outskirts of Chicago and the home of Aimee’s mother.

August 10, 2009

August 10, 2009

We read that Winnebago gives tours of their assembly line twice daily during the week. So we roll into the town of Forest City, IA in time for the 9am tour. We start with a movie that promotes the benefits of Winnebago’s product. From there we load onto a converted motorhome for a ride to three of the dozens of factory buildings. The manufacture of a motorhome starts with an empty chassis upon which a home is built. There is so much customization these days that the manufacturing is pretty complicated and labor intensive. Like the rest of the economy the RV business is in a slump and the local community is bearing the brunt. Production this year for Winnebago is 60 units per week, a third of last years rate. Employment is down to 1500, half of last year.

Back in the Visitor Center we learn a little about Winnebago’s history. Winnebago got started building trailers. In 1966 it introduced its motorhome and by the end of the year, Winnebago was the largest manufacturer. Sales skyrocketed in the next several years making millionaires out of many of the local citizenry. It was the Microsoft of Iowa. In the lobby is a mint condition 1967 motorhome. It looks surprisingly like our baby and I am amazed at how little has changed in motorhomes in the last forty years. All it lacks is a TV.

On our way out of Winnebago County we make a brief stop in Clear Lake. Clear Lake is where "The day the music died" on Feb 3, 1959. After playing his last gig at the Surf Ballroom, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash shortly after takeoff along with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper. Waylon Jennings luckily traded seats with Valens.

Continuing east we drive to the Mississippi River where we find a campsite at Pikes Peak State Park. After dinner we take a walk around this heavily wooded and hilly park. Stumbling upon a trailhead we take a short hike to the bluff’s edge where we get a good view of the Mississippi River at its confluence with the Wisconsin. We also see a handful of Indian burial mounds. We linger a little too long and have to make our way back home in the dark. We must have been living with Alaska’s Midnight Sun too long. This setting sun is going to take some getting used to.

August 8-9, 2009

August 8-9, 2009

Yesterday we spent the entire day driving across North Dakota and down the east side of South Dakota. This morning we drive for an hour crossing into Minnesota to visit Pipestone National Monument. Pipestone is exactly what it sounds like. It is a soft high-quality mudstone that was valued for its ability to be easily carved with stone tools. Indians primarily made the bowl of ceremonial pipes from the material. The Visitor Center has some history and examples of elaborate pipe carvings. The gift shop area has two Indians carving pipes and offers a variety for sale.

From the Visitor Center we walk a trail that takes us past a couple quarries. In this area the rock strata is near the surface. The pipestone seam is only a foot thick and is sandwiched between hard quartzite layers. The prime quarrying sites have been exhausted and new slabs require removing a large quantity of quartzite overburden. Apparently Congress gave Indians the exclusive right to mine the pipestone. To me it seems an anachronistic rule. There is little demand for it anymore except for making trinkets and despite its “sacredness”, it can be mined with modern tools and sold for cash to whites.

While walking the quarry trail we hear Indian chanting in the background. When the trail doesn’t pass that area, I ask a ranger where the chanting is coming from. He tells me it is from an Indian “Sundance” ceremony in a remote part of the park. With directions in hand we drive down a muddy rutted dirt road to a “security” booth. The “white” Indian lady and her blonde daughter tell us this ceremony is sacred and gives us a list of rules for watching. We can’t wear shoes, have any exposed metal and Aimee needs a dress to hide her pretty legs. And of course no cameras or cellphones. Once we arrive we find the dancers are on break and nobody is following these rules. There are about two-dozen people and only half look like they are full blooded. From what we can see the ceremony looks like a couple males dancing around a Maypole (a denuded cottonwood tree.) I think the whole thing seems pretty silly but I am not a good judge. I am pretty cynical. For some reason I don’t have an overwhelming urge to relive the practices of my Stone Age ancestors.

We have a nice talk with this elderly Indian security guard who tells us about “Indian Time”. Apparently he knows what he is talking about because after an hour still no dancing. So we take off. We drive for several hours and stop for the night at Pilot Knob State Park in Forest City, IA. Along the way we spot this huge statue in Blue Earth, MN. We have to stop and investigate this Jolly Green Giant. I take a photo while Aimee checks to see if the guy is wearing anything under his leafy skirt.

August 7, 2009

August 7, 2009

Our friendly camp host last night gave us a rundown of the tourist sites in the area. One not on our radar was his former employer, the Great Plains Synfuels plant. When he said they give tours every weekday, I was hooked. That is our destination this morning and luckily we don’t have to backtrack west too far. This chemical plant takes local lignite coal and converts it to synthetic natural gas. The only other commercial coal gasification plant in the world is in South Africa. Born in the years following the oil embargo, the plant went bankrupt soon after opening when oil and natural gas prices plummeted. With DOE help, this plant hung on. There is no tour of the actual plant. It all occurs around a room-size scale model of the plant. Most of the tour of the complicated chemical process was given by a flip-flop wearing young girl who was surprisingly knowledgeable. Fortunately a retiree was also on the tour with some friends and was able to fill in some answers. Disappointingly no photography was allowed since the process details are secret. Apparently they haven’t got the message that nobody has any desire to build another one of these white elephants.

After the hour tour, we drive east a short distance to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. When Lewis and Clark paddled past this area, the Missouri River here was lined with Indian Villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. At that time the Indians lived in large earth lodge clusters. Nothing remains of the villages except open fields crowded with depressions where the lodges stood. The Indians were wiped out with the smallpox epidemic of 1837. The site turns out to be a big disappointment. The morning tour was cancelled because a ranger failed to show for work. Apparently the other rangers can’t fill in. The film and Interpretative Center were also weak, with little history. Most of what we learned came from our next stop. The one highlight was learning that Sacagawea once lived in the village we walked atop.

Downriver a short way is the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. The Corps of Discovery spent their first winter here living among the Mandan and Hidatsa. It is a good follow-up to the National Park site. The Mandan and Hidatsa, a hunting and agricultural people, lived here because of a local flint quarry. With their monopoly of the flint source, they were able to trade with other tribes for a broad range of goods. Also included in the admission is a tour of Lewis and Clark’s recreated Fort Mandan State Historic Site. It is well done and gives a good glimpse into their winter quarters. On the Missouri riverbank is a giant statue of Seaman, Lewis' Newfoundland dog.

August 6, 2009

August 6, 2009

Before leaving Theodore Roosevelt National Park, we make a last stop at the Visitor Center and watch the park film while waiting for a ranger tour of TR’s Maltese Cross cabin. It was well worth the wait. The ranger was great. Another fine example of a NPS ranger bringing history to life. In 1883 a young 24-year-old Roosevelt came out here on a buffalo-hunting trip. He fell in love with the area, invested in a local cattle operation and had this two-room cabin built for himself. Expecting to find millions of buffalo, he was disappointed to find the buffalo almost extinct. It was the beginning of his reputation as an ardent conservationist and National Park advocate. During his presidential term he started the Forest Service and set aside 283 million acres under federal protection.

Leaving the park, we head east but not before stopping to use the Internet and restocking the RV with supplies. We were really low on most things after over a month in the northern wilderness. We spend the night in an RV park in Hazen, ND. Our timing is good. We arrive just in time for a BBQ sponsored by the local Chamber of Commerce.