Zion National Park.  June 27, 2012.  Day 38.

Access to Zion has improved a lot in the 39 years since I last saw it.  However, its dramatic majesty still inspires.  The simplest way to describe the difference between Zion and its relatively nearby cousins, Bryce and Grand Canyon, is that Zion is best seen from the bottom up.  Zion’s formations rise several thousand feet from the Canyon floor, carved out by the Virgin River. We view Zion from the basin floor, not the rim.

At certain points in the park, we were able to walk in the cold, clean Virgin River.  As we waded, canyon walls on both sides of us narrowed in, zigzagging in gentle curves, and climbing higher than most skyscrapers we have seen.  While there was a good-sized crowd enjoying the park with us today, they were not intrusive, thanks to the park's excellent design and management. By visiting the park in the morning, we avoided both the crowds and the heat.

The non-primate animals we saw in abundance included a Baltimore Oriole, a flock of wild turkeys, mule deer, and scores of rodents like squirrels and chipmunks.  The animals were unafraid of humans and often approached within a few feet. Cottonwood trees provided shade along the river's edge and wild columbine grew straight out of the sandstone canyon walls. 

Wild Turkey.  (Not a bourbon).

Can you see the deer?  He is looking right at you!

Zion squirrel.  These guys whistle loud!

I could easily return to Zion and spend a week there, camping and exploring its many trails. 

Zion is one of the crown jewels of the National Park Service, a treasure that belongs to all of us.  We strongly urge our readers to experience these parks.  You will remember them forever.  

 

Day 38,  Bryce Canyon, UT.


Destination Bryce Canyon, Utah.  As we left the Nathan's home we were detained by a family of quail marching across the driveway.  Father quail supervised from his vigil on the Pahvant Ct. road sign.  We took breakfast in a trendy coffee shop in St. George and withdrew some yuppie food stamps at an ATM.  I stopped at a Yahmaha dealer to inquire about a headlight I thought was out.  Only one light worked on low beam but both headlights worked for high beam.  The parts guy told me that Yahmaha designed the lights that way.  Doh!!

Dan Quail, Ivins, Utah.

The trip into Bryce was not unusual but once inside the canyon, the landscape became spectacular.  Jo Ann and I preferred Bryce to the Grand Canyon because of its intimacy,  its harmony, and accessibility.  Accessibility becomes really important when one is disabled or, umm, older.  The formation and geology of the Bryce is beyond my meager understanding, but I have a general idea of what happened.  The area was part of a huge sea basin that covered several states 200 million years ago. As the Rockies were being formed, the earth's crust crinkled.  Limestone sediments accumulated, were petrified, and thrust upward.  Erosion from raging rivers--the Colorado and other tributaries carved out some of the stone.  Water would be trapped in the stone and expanded as it froze, cleaving off rock to the canyon floor.  Wind also contributed to the erosion.  Arches were formed, which eventually broke down forming pillars or hoodoos.

At the park you can see spectacular formations rising thousands of feet from the basin floor.  Ravens approach you for treats, as do chipmunks and other rodents.  There are numerous vistas along the 18 mile canyon drive, all easily accessible.  At an altitude of 8000-9100 feet, the air is crisp and dry, and a tad cooler than at lower altitudes.

Bryce Canyon raven and host Arnie Nathan.  Arnie is on the right.

We had dinner in Cedar City and were back at the Nathan's home at 8 PM.  Jo Ann edited her photos and worked on her blog.  She is a much better writer than I am.  Her blog can be accessed on the right.

Mile 5618. Colorado at last!

Mile 5618. Clayton, NM to Pagosa Spring, NM. Day 33, June 21.

Today we left New Mexico for Colorado. We wanted to make it to Mesa Verde but at 5 PM we were still 100 miles away. We decided to stay in Pagosa Springs instead. Jo Ann needed a hotel fix and we find a nice lodge in a cool town.

Colorado is magnificent. Probably the most spectacular motorcycling in the US. See see mountains on either side of you and fail to realize that the valley you are driving on has an elevation of 7200 feet. Even at 90, the air is cool and crisp. The slightest exertion caused me to feel my heart pumping hard, like a bubble in my chest. They say you get used to it. The bike handled the hills and curves flawlessly. This is what motorcycling is all about!

We drove along the Santa Fe Trail along the Rio Grande, San Luis, and Wolfe Rivers. The air was crisp and the pine smell was intoxicating. The vistas would take away your breath if the altitude didn’t.

Mile 5280. Quitaque TX, to Clayton Lake, NM

Mile 5280. Quitaque TX, to Clayton Lake, NM. June 20. 2012

We woke up early in Quitaque and were greeted by 5 mule deer, impervious to our presence.  They let us approach within 50 feet.  I am not one of those people who become inured to the nature around them, even if it is commonplace.  There is a magic thing that happens when different species regard one another and decide to live and let live. On the way out of the camp, we saw another bison.  Another amazing creature.

We stopped in Amarillo, TX for coffee and an Internet check.  On the way out of Amarillo we saw a few amazing things.  First, it is so flat there that you can see 40 miles.  Okay, so that is a turnaround vista of 5204 square miles, for you number buffs. Secondly, they have some serious wind turbines out there and plenty of wind to turn them.  The turbines went on as far as you could see.  Finally, just northwest of Amarillo, there was a cattle stockyard with (tens of?) thousands of cattle, shoulder-to-shoulder, rump to rump, stewing in their own feces. There was no grass or prarie in the stockyard but silos were nearby to provide grain for fattening.  The stench could knock you dead.  It may have been enough to make me a permanent vegetarian.  Nah.

In the northeast part of New Mexico, we noticed some subtle changes.  The roads weren’t quite as good. It was still hard (impossible) to find a place that served beer.  The towns had wide streets and few businesses.  And the landscape changed.  The farms were much bigger and the houses fewer and farther in between.  Another strange thing.  It was HOT in Texas, but in New Mexico even at 90, you feel a little chill.  It must be the thinner, drier air. It was flat with occasional low hills.    

Clayton Lake is located 12 miles outside of Clayton, a fairly modern little town with several restaurants, a Best Western Inn, a Super 8, and some smaller motels, like the Mission Motel and the Santa Fe Trail motel, shabby little places that did not look inviting.  The Eklund Hotel looked straight out of the turn of the last century and boasted that Black Jack Ketcham, robber and murder, was hung there in 1901 at the tender age of 37.  Many of the people looked Mexican or Indian, but spoke perfect English. The 15-mile road to Clayton Lake is spectacular.  You wind down this lane into a vast bowl, with high ridges and two mountains on the edges.  You become aware that this place, millions of years ago, was a bay or a huge lake. Now it is prarie.  A prarie is a specialized habitat adapted to a low water conditions.  Too little water for trees (except for a few junipers) and to much water for desert.  The grass can make it through periods of drought. 

 

The rounded mountains were probably islands at one time or another.  Clayton Lake is a 350 acre impoundment lake, made by damming up the Canadian river.  When they built the dam they had to do some digging and after the wind and rain got finished with what was left of the newly exposed soil, it became apparent that millions of years ago dinosaurs roamed the area.  

 There are a lot of really neat dinosaur tracks, some meat eaters, some plant eaters, and some up to 40 feet long.  Their tracts are clearly visible in an area by the lake.  Dinosaur tracks can tell you more about the dinosaurs’ life than the skeletons do sometimes.  You can figure out their velocity, how they moved, and sometimes even how they thought, hesitating, looking around, changing direction.  Really neat stuff.  There is a Rock Garden near our campsite made of strange rock formations I have never seen before.  It was nice to sit there and think.  I used to do that a lot when I was a college student—sit and think—and now that eternity is closing in, I do it even more.  But I should heed my own advice:  “If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.” 

In town, signs in the restaurants advised us to pray for rain.  We did and it did.  We got a little shower at night but managed to stay dry.  

Gualdalupe River and Abilene, TX. Mile 4686.

Day 28, June 16, to mile 4686.

Yesterday we traveled from Tomball to Spring Branch TX, the location of Guadalupe River State Park.  The drive down Park Road 31 was gorgeous.  It felt like we were in a Scandinavian sauna.  These are alternatives to steam baths--the dry heat boxes with wooden walls and very hot, dry heat.  There is a smell of cedar.  Texas was like this.  104 degree temperatures, very dry, with a faint odor of cypress.  The terrain was fairly flat, with a suggestion on rolling hills and the occasional rising mesa.  Prairie grasses grow sparsely here and there and the rocky, white soil shone through it.

The state park was full, so the ranger re-directed us to a nearby RV park on the Guadalupe River.  We were not happy about this, but didn’t have much choice.

We followed the upper river Guadalupe River, in the Texas Hill country to Bulverde.  The river was lined by pecan and bald cypress trees.  This is a popular destination fro Texans looking to cool off by tubing down the river.  On the way to the RV park, we saw a number of deer. Two species populate the region, the white-tailed deer we are familiar with, and the larger and spotted axis deer, which we saw. 

The entrance of the RV park was littered with RV’s parked next to one another on a treeless lot.  Awful.  However, Jack and Beverly, the friendly park guardians took us to the tent camping area.  This was secluded and located in an area of lush vegetation, adjacent to the river.  We set up camp and I immediately jumped in the river to cool off.  The river was only about 50 feet wide at our campsite, and the water was blue-green and cloudy.  But it was cool and surprisingly deep.  After venturing only a few feet off the stoney bank, I could not touch bottom. 

Esteban in the Guadalupe River, by Jo Ann.

Jo Ann had a little troulbe falling asleep in the tent.  Crickets cricked and frogs croaked all night long..  Hoot owls hooted.  Things went bump in the night.  The usual.  Eventually, we both fell asleep. Sort of.

In the morning, we headed out for Abilene Texas.  This route took us over good secondary roads.   We went through beautiful little towns—Boerne and Fredericksburg.  These towns had wide main streets with buildings that had changed little since the early 1900’s.  There were farmers markets and plenty of local peaches and watermelons for sale.  Everywhere, people were open and friendly.

Click below for an interactive pinmap of our journey.  You can shrink or zoom!  

http://www.pinmaps.net/map/5712/estebanrudman/travel-2012

Day 27. Mile 4175. Tomball TX, near Houston

Day 27, Mile 4175. Tomball TX

Despite its origins in the early 1800’s and its boom and bust cycles surrounding its role as a railroad town and an oil producer until 1933, today Tomball might be considered a suburb of Houston.  About 9000 people live within its city limits and 135,000 live in the area immediately around it.  Over 80% of the buildings have been built since 1970. 

Cousin Sammie and his lovely wife Leslie live in an immaculate brick home in a neighborhood of lovely homes, all with immaculate lawns.  Now in mid-June, temperatures daily rise to near 100.  Fortunately, at least this year, rainfall has been adequate.  The preceding year or two featured severe droughts and water restrictions were in place.

To celebrate Jo Ann's birthday, the Gertsons took us out to a fabulous South African restaurant which featured some unusual fare.  One distinctive feature of the restaurant was its use of a small, sweet and slightly hot pepper, the peli-peli.  The house red wine was a delicious South African Merlot-Cab blend.  I had delicious sirloin tips with spinach and Jo Ann had shrimp scampi with mango coleslaw and a combination of mashed carrots and sweet potato, reminiscent of a Jewish dish called Tsimmis. 

Sam took us to the center of Tomball, where the railroad station once was the central part of town.  He also took us to nearby Old Spring Town, with a trendy shopping district of specialty shops in a Shab Row district.  There was, among other fun shops, a pet bakery in a section self-designated as “artsy-phartsy.”  You can buy an instant heart attack there, via fried anything—fried Oreos, fried Reeses Peanutbutter cups, Fried Twinkies. 

We also passed Sam’s Reformed Temple, a lovely structure surrounded by trees.  It has a huge parking lot, so I would guess that it is well-attended. 

Sam, Leslie, and their dog Ollie extended us a warm greeting and were very hospitable.  Their home was exquisite—immaculate, warm, and creative.

   

To Mile 3912.  Days 23 to 27, Plano TX, near Dallas. 

We reached Marty and Sylvia’s home in Plano at about 3 PM on Sunday, June 10.  Plano is a very clean suburb of Dallas, where the homes are lovely with manicured, lush lawns.  Marty’s home was decorated by his daughter Arleen, a professional interior designer.  It was great to stop in and see Marty and Sylvia, but we were whisked away to Arleen’s home, about 6 miles away.  Arleen’s husband is a successful builder of upper tier custom homes.  Their home features a lot of open space with beautiful wood floors, a lot of open space, and a nice swimming pool. 

Arleen and Joe’s son Jake is an avid hunter and there are a lot of remnants of animals he has killed in prominent display—a fox, deer, a wild turkey, and others.  Jake is a master of hunting and fishing, a passion he shares with my nephew Sam Rudman. He is also fond of hunting wild boars, animals that are overrunning parts of Texas and Mexico, multiplying madly, and causing considerable problems for farmers.  Jake had just purchased a specialized working dog to hunt the pigs, a yellow black-mouthed cur.  He named his 6 month old puppy, "Seiko."  It formed an immediate, intense bond with Jake, but during the first few days was anxious and surly around other household members and guests.  We dubbed the dog, “Psycho.”  Seiko has since settled down nicely already. 

Things were busy in these households.  Joe was working on several building projects, they were in the process of selling their home and buying another, they were selling a Toyota 4-runner, and Marty had cataract surgery on Tuesday.  Arlene and Joe took us to Watermark Church where they worship on Sunday night .  The building looked more like a concert hall than a church, and the service was more like a performance than a church service, with an outstanding worship team and a fabulous light and sound system.  The sermon was given by an assistant pastor and it was perfect--on topic, relevant, short, sweet, and high-impact.  While the polish and opulence of the service was off-putting, the content was right-on and something I needed to hear. 

From day one, one of the trailer tires has had a slow leak.  I would have to refill with air every few days.  Yesterday, I took the tire off and ran soapy water over it, looking for bubbles from a leak.  There were none.  So I took the tire to a tire dealer and he informed me that the leak was coming from a manufacturing defect in the tire rim, not the tire.  This is not a leak at the site where the tire bead meets the rim; the leak was from a micropore in the wheel itself.  During manufacturing, bubbles can occur that lead to miniscule hole in the rim.  I checked this out on the internet and found a repair procedure in Popular Mechanics.  This involved cleaning the area with solvent, sanding it down with 80-grit sand paper, and applying a thin film of gasket sealant on the inside of the wheel. I remounted the tire, inflated it to specified pressure, and rechecked for leak.  None.  Bingo!  Problem solved. 

Arleen is a passionate and creative cook and we swapped recipes.  Today we baked bread.  On Thursday, we head for Tomball, near Houston TX on the gulf to see Marty’s brother, Sam, and his wife Leslie.  It is really great reconnecting with family while we see parts of the country we have never seen before.