Flying through New Mexico to Virginia

Our Hitch Hiking Travel Bugs

It has been nearly two weeks or more since our last post.  My Mac Pro needs a new logic board which means photo editing and manipulation is a colossal pain.  I was advised at the Genius Bar in Albuquerque, NM to avoid photo editing until this faulty board could be replaced.  I've tried, really, but  I couldn't help myself.  So I've been torturing myself and backing up frequently.  We have an appointment in Maryland when we get there, but in the meantime, it's been a tedious, crash and re-crash process to load, edit, and upload photos.

GEOCACHING

Once we left Arizona, we have been on the fly, staying in states long enough to see one major attraction, finding a geocache, and moving on.  The photo above is our band of 9 geocaching travel bugs that are racking up miles as they visit caches from around the world.  Dragon has the most miles 71,000 followed by Hang a Left Hal - 61,000 miles.   The boot (Maine bound) on the left is our newest bug followed by pirate, Hal, world, tiki, gnome, vessla, and dragon.  Each of these bugs have been picked up from various places around the world...New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Kathmandu, etc.  Each time we find a geocache www.geocaching.com, we record a visit for the bugs.

States and One+ Major Attraction

In each of the states, we would have liked to have stayed longer and to have seen more, but we were on the move.  Time is growing short before we arrive in Vermont.

New Mexico - Route 66 - Apple Store in Albuqurque and Old Town

Texas - Amarillo - 72 oz Steak House and RV Museum

Getting our Kicks on Route 66

Trying to Wolf Down a 72 oz Steak in 1 hour....Yes?  It's Free...No It's $72.00

We also enjoyed the RV Museum in Amarillo.

Loved this little KIT

Oklahoma - Roz and Russ's High School Friend Don Wedemyer and Wife Debbie

Arkansas - Little Rock and the Clinton Presidential Library

President and First Lady

Clinton's Oval Office

Tennessee - Memphis and Graceland...Elvis Lives!

One for the Money, Two For the Show, Three to Get Ready, and Go Cat Go!

Kentucky - Mammoth Caves, Creation Museum, Lincoln's Birthplace

Contrast the scientific geologic timeline with that of the Creation Museum.  Which one do you think is the fantasy?

We heard about the creation museum and as free thinkers want to see what it was about.  The museum was very sophisticated, well presented, but the content was mind numbing, dark age, idiocy.

Young Earth - Less than 5,000 years old

YES IT WOULD, YES IT HAS, and YES IT SHOULD

And Rightfully So!

The last presentation was geared for young people to be disciples and to spread the word of this fantasy and to challenge their science teachers.   It was amazing and frightening to see so many families with young children, nodding their heads and agreeing with the presentations.

Yes folks, those are dinosaurs boarding the Ark.  The Flintstones were real!

Our democracy in America depends on an educated public.  Thankfully our public schools teach students to understand their world through science and history not mythology and religious creation stories.  Support public education.

We also visited Lincoln's brith place in Kentucky.

Inside the Memorial Lincoln's Birth Place Log Cabin Resideds

Indiana - Lincoln's Boyhood Home

Lincoln's family moved to Indiana when he was a young lad.  He lived with his family in Indiana until he was a young adult and moved to Illinois to begin his political career.

Memorial on Indiana Farm where Lincoln Grew Up

Ohio - Scenic Ride along Ohio River Valley

We enjoyed our scenic drive along the Ohio River to West Virginia.  The river was brown and swollen after some late rain storms.

We are the only ones here on Father's Day

West Virginia - Webster Family

We reached West Virginia late in the day to visit our niece Sue Worrall Webster and her family in Charleston.  It was a short but sweet visit.

Lovely West Virginia Home

Roz, Kate, and Sue

Brett, Russ, and Sue

Cally and Kris

Kate and Sue

Both Kate and Kris just graduated from High School and will be off to college next year.

Virginia - Friends in Rural Retreat, Friends in Richmond

Our first stop after West Virginia was in Rural Retreat, Virginia.  Until our friends Doug and Catherine Hounshell, Berkeley Yacht Club Members and Baja Ha Ha 2009 fellow sailors, moved to Virigina for the spring and summer of each year, we had never heard of Rural Retreat, but should have.....it's the home of Russ's favorite soda....Dr. Pepper.  Yep!  It was created by Dr. Pepper at the pharmacy in Rural Retreat.

Pharmacy where Dr. Pepper brewed his legacy.

Looks a Little Like Colfax - Train Tracks and Caboose

Catherine and Doug, S/V Galetea - Baja Ha Ha 2009

After our brief visit with Catherine and Doug, we visited Montpilier, home of president James Madison,

and Monticello, home of President Thomas Jefferson.

Then we moved on to Richmond to visit more dear friends.  After too many years to count, I caught up with high school friend Shela Dean and her husband Dale in Richmond, Virginia.  Shela and I reconnected through Facebook.

Dale and Shela showed us Richmond.  We had a lot of fun.

We introduced both Catherine and Doug, and Shela and Dale to Geocaching. Hope they have as much fun with this treasure hunt game as we do.

We are now in Willimasburg, Virgnia.  I'll cover more of Virginia in our next blog.

 In the meantime, All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's.

Cliff Dwellers - Mesa Verde and Canyon De Chelly

Red Tail Hawk Soars over Canyon De Chelly

Sunday, June 8, 2013

Our time in the Southwest has flown by.  Tonight we are spending the night in Albequerque, New Mexico and headed east tomorrow.  There is so much to see, but we can't see it all this trip and now we must make our way across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia to the East Coast.  We will be on the fast track now with just a few visits along the way.

Russ and I traveled this same route in 1970 on the way to  Fort Belvoir in Virginia when he was commissioned in the Army.  I'll have more on this part of the journey in the next blog, but before I get ahead of myself, I want to post some photos of the amazing cliff dwellers of the Southwest.  The Native Americans, Puebloans and Navajos, evolved from living in pit houses, pueblos constructed out of sandstone on top of the cliffs, to  building sophisticated cities in the cliffs.

Mesa Verde Canyons

The Navajo layer of sandstone provided a porous layer for snow melt and ground water to percolate through.  Over thousands of years, when the water  reached a denser shale, it pushed outward instead of downward.  The outward erosion  created great covered ledges with chunks of sandstone rubble along the slope and falling to the canyon floor.

Canyon De Chelly - Example of Alcoves and Eroded Cliffs

When water, wind, sun, and snow proved to be difficult for the ancient Puebloans they sought better shelter.  Already having honed their masonry skills on top of the cliffs, discovering and utilizing the large sandstone ledges provided them perfectly protected places they needed to build their cities.  Thousands of cliffs in various canyons became home for these people.  As long as there was water seeping through the sandstone into their cities and watering their crops above, the population thrived.  Their dwellings were not easily accessible to their enemies either.

Photos from Balcony House, Mesa Verde

The exit out is a tight crawl space, easily defended.

Photos from Cliff House, Mesa Verde

Round buildings were Kivas - family and ceremonial rooms

Building around the Boulders and Cliffs

Grinding Stones for Corn

Native American corn, maize, was originally wild, acidic, and hard.  However, it was the mainstay of the  Puebloan peoples diet and still is today.   Young girls at puberty as a right of passage had to demonstrate their ability to grind this corn so that it could be used for food.  Unfortunately the sandstone created sand grit in all of their ground foods contributing to grinding down their teeth at an early age.  Most were toothless by their late twenties which also corresponded to their death age. The Native Americans were married usually around 12 years of age.  Women gave birth to many (15-16) children with a 50% mortality rate.  A twenty-eight year old woman was most likely a grandmother, toothless, and on her deathbed.

Puebloans and Navajos were matrilineal.  When a couple married, the husband moved to the wife's clan home. Clans were not permitted to marry within their own clan.  Marriages were monogamous.  Women made decisions about planting, building, and when it was time to move on.

Stairs and Ladders, Narrow Openings

Photos from Long House, Mesa Verde

Diorama of Long House How It May Have Looked When Inhabited

Water still seeping at he ground level

Etched seepways and water collection basins remain

When crops were good, cities were built, there was time for other endeavors such as pottery, petroglyphs, weaving.

Eventually though, drought conditions forced them to migrate to new locations leaving the remnants of their well constructed cities, art, and artifacts behind.  Many migrated from Mesa Verde to Canyon De Chelly and other areas of Arizona and New Mexico.

Canyon De Chelly - Magnficient!  Bold, Brave, Home of the Resilient Migrants and Navajos.

Canyon De Chelly (shay) does not have a resident river.  It resembles the Grand Canyon, but the seasonality of the flash floods and then no water makes it a shallower  "cozier" canyon.  The relatively broad floor of the canyon provided a good place to plant crops.  The cliff alcoves provide places once again to build cities and to defend themselves from aggressive tribal enemies, Mexicans, and American soldiers.  The Canyon is part of the Navajo Nation and there are many Navajos who live here and work the land.

Cliff and Alcove Dwellings Above the Canyon Floor

Canyon Floor for Crops and Seasonal Homes Today

Navajo Fortress.  When enemies rode their horses into the canyon they were ambused from above

Spider Rock

Cities built closer to the Canyon Floor.  

As we left Arizona and headed into New Mexico, we stopped at the center for the Navajo Nation, Window Rock.  Window Rock is considered to be very spiritual for the Navajo Nation.  There is a spring in the  window that provides water for special ceremonies.  At the base of the rock a nice park has been built commemorating Window Rock and the brave Navajos that fought in America's wars.

Window Rock in the Backround of Memorial Park

Not far from Window Rock Park, we spent an hour or so in the Navajo Museum and learned more about how the Native Americans were stripped of their lands and fought hard physically and politically to regain them.  This was a sad part of American History, but the Navajos survived and are careful guardians of their heritage and culture.

Navajo Chief Manuelito is Remembered for Regaining Navajo Lands for His People

That's it for now.

We are on the move now as we blitz through the southwest and middle of America.

All is well with the Worrall Travel R's