Playing with spray paint

Cadillac ranch is just cool!  Just west of Amarillo Texas are 10 cars partially buried in the middle of a field.  Supposedly they are buried at the same angle as the Giza pyramid.  These were buried as public art in 1974. They are just fun. People park along the road, cross the field, and spray paint whatever they want on them.  Whatever you paint won’t last long since someone else will be by soon. 

When we were there about 10 cars were parked.  I saw people from kids barely able to walk to eighty year olds.  Most people will buy a can or two of spray paint, but if you forget you probably will find someone who has extra.  We handed our can over to some kids who ended up being much better artists than we were.

The paint is on thick by now.  John was amazed that the bolts in the wheel were completely covered so that you can’t see them anymore.

Fun day!

Going with the flow

Today was one of those days.  First, we needed gas in the RV.  John tries to find gas stations with good prices, but also the space so we can get the RV and car in and out OK.  We stopped at a station that looked good, but had steel barriers that reduced the turning radius.  We ended up having to separate the car to make the turn.  In the process there were a lot of frustrated feelings plus a small scrape on the car.

Next, I found online a Route 66 museum that was well rated.  We had to do some maneuvering, but got to the museum, parked, got out cameras, and went in.  Then we found out the museum was closed for renovations but we could buy stuff in their gift shop.  Really?!

We got to our RV stop at a reasonable time to find out there were no spaces available.  I couldn’t find any alternates in town, so we ended up driving another 2 hours to our next stop.

 

On the way were several stops I was hoping to visit.  All very kitschy, but fun.  Given the frustrations of the day, we skipped the barbed wire museum.  The next ones we just drove past.  So, what you see are pictures taken through the RV window with bird poop on the window and with a bumpy ride.  The picture above is a leaning water tower.  The one below is a 190 foot cross.

Bones

The sign says “Museum of Osteology”, which sounds boring.  Love this place!  It’s listed as the favorite place in Oklahoma City on Trip Advisor.  It’s cool and creepy at the same time. Right when you walk in you see a tank with bones and meat-eating bugs crawling on them.  Just like on TV shows!  BTW, it takes a day or two for the bugs to clean off the bones, not the 30 minutes in the TV shows.

The place is actually very educational.  Many of the animals I never heard of or have seen in a zoo.  When you’re only looking at bones, you notice things like claws or beaks that you would never notice when you are at a zoo.  This bat is so delicate.

This picture shows a whale along with a rhino and a hippopotamus.  You can see the cases full of bones around the room on 2 floors.

These monkeys reminded me of Captain Jack Sparrow.

BTW, if this sounds familiar, you may have heard about it on “Dirty Jobs”.  Mike Rowe did a segment on this place.  If you ever have a chance to see this place, it's worth the trip!

Oklahoma City

The RV Park we stayed at in town has bison on site.  They also sell buffalo meat. Unique.

We visited a military museum in town.  Outside there are all types of army vehicles.

Inside were different displays with a link to Oklahoma.  The 45th division based here went to Europe during World War II.  One thing they did was to clear out Hitler’s apartment in Munich.  Some of the things on display were in that apartment.  That gives you pause to see things used by Hitler.  This armband display was also a bit creepy.

One thing that was weird...the symbol of the 45th division started out as a swastika.  Once Germany took that symbol  so publicly they changed to a bird and used the name Thunderbirds.  The original symbol was meant to signify the 4 states that were part of the division and was an Indian symbol used frequently in the area.

Amazing how time can completely change a meaning of something like this.

Searching for Diamonds

We spent the day diamond mining.  In case you never heard of it (the mine is on Discovery channel every once in a while), Arkansas has a state park with a diamond mine.  You pay to get in plus you can rent equipment, then you can keep whatever you find.  It doesn’t look like a mine, but is just a field.  Years ago a volcano pushed up lava, ash, and diamonds into a fairly small 37 acre area.  It used to be mined commercially.  Now, every once in a while they plow the fields and turn over more diamonds.  Two diamonds are found every day on average.  Most of them are less than a carat but every year or so someone finds a big 4+ carat diamond.  They said 3 diamonds were found the day before.

There are three ways to search for diamonds.  The first is to simply walk up and down the fields.  After a rain like we had a few days ago, the dirt is washed away and diamonds might be found from the sparkle in the sunlight.  Dry sifting works by taking the top ½” of dry dirt and allows you to sift through the dirt to find diamonds.  Wet sifting uses dirt where diamonds may have settled.  More material is processed with this method.  You get a mixture of the small stuff that might have diamonds in it.  Most people take this home to sort.  They say half the diamonds are found at home after it’s dried better and with better lighting.

I used the walking method.  Didn’t find any diamonds but I found several good agates, some jasper, calcite, and lamproite (volcanic rocks).  John used the wet method.  While he didn’t find diamonds, there’s always the chance we have a diamond in the material he hasn’t sorted through.  Gives us hope! 

After a full day, my feet hurt from walking (luckily my knee has mostly healed) and shoulders hurt from being hunched over.  John’s really worked his shoulders and arms with working in the troughs.  While we may not have found diamonds we did get a great day of exercise and sun!

Hometown of Bill Clinton

Now we’re visiting Hot Springs.  It’s both a town (home of Bill Clinton!) and a national park.  It was the first national park for our nation.  It’s a bizarre park.  It’s fairly big, but surrounds the town.  We’re staying in the campground, which is in one section.  The visitors’ center is downtown in an old bathhouse.

The town is known for its baths.  It’s interesting to see how many famous people visited here for the baths.  Samuel Clemens, Babe Ruth, Al Capone, Jesse James, and Mary Pickford were all among the visitors.  The interiors and exteriors can be quite ornate to satisfy the rich and famous visitors.

Some things seem literally shocking.  They used a combination of electricity and bath waters for some treatments.  Mercury rubs were used for others.  Other things seem quite up-to-date.  The shower spray comes at you from all angles.  Some of the weight machines aren’t that far different from a modern gym.  We don’t use Indian clubs anymore, but they aren’t too different in the way they were used than the kettle bells that are popular today. 

You can still get a bath similar to the old treatments if you want.  It’s actually a fairly long process with a hot mineral water bath, sitz bath, steam treatment, shower, hot wrap, and cool down.  We didn’t do that, but we did drink some of the water.  Right out of the ground it is very hot (~140 F), so cooling it was better!

Water, Water, Everywhere

After doing the errands in Fayetteville Arkansas we moved on to Petit Jean State Park.  The story is that a French lady, Petit Jean, dressed up like a man to travel with her sailor boyfriend to American.  She is buried nearby (a cemetery I missed seeing!).  The park is full of neat rock formations like turtle rocks and Rock House Cave.  There are lots of kids in the parks right now since its spring break in the area.  After seeing only snow birds, it seems weird. 

There has been a LOT of rain recently so waterfalls were large and numerous.  It was so wet that many of the paths were a combination of a walking path and a stream.  The water made hikes much more exciting than it normally have been.  One of the paths crossed and recrossed a stream.  When the water is low, that’s not a problem.  With the high water, it was difficult to stay dry (as you could tell from my shoes at the end of the hike).  But it was great to see how green everything was after the rain along with hearing the sound of waterfalls everywhere.

I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I hurt my right knee.  It felt a little weird after an early hike and then really started hurting halfway through a 4-1/2 mile hike.  The distance wouldn’t have been bad, but it was a lot of hiking up and down rocks so that my knee twisted back and forth.  We took our time finishing the hike.  I’ll take it easy for awhile while I heal.

Life in Arkansas

We had a great week staying with our friends and former neighbors Becky and Curt. They were wonderful hosting us while we went to doctors and did other errands.  They also had their anniversary this week, so “Happy Anniversary!”

By the way, we found out from the doctors that we’ll continue to live for another year at least.  It was good to leave.  After a few days of living in a home, we both started getting ‘homesick’.  A comfortable bed with room all around it (versus squeezing by in the RV).  More than one TV with more than a few channels.  If you want something obscure like a 6' length of hose, you probably have it or can make it(though it may take some searching).   Planting a garden.  Plenty of room for anything.  But now we’re back in the RV.

Arkansas

We're back in Arkansas.  We're enjoying seeing trees again after all the cactus.  It's spring here with wildflowers  along with redbud and dogwood starting to bloom.  We're staying with our VERY NICE neighbors for a few days.

Back on the road

I'm back from a one-week conference.   It will take another day or so to rest up from the week.  Lots of work and excitement.

Traveling story:  I'm in a bathroom stall at Orlando airport when I see some movement near my feet.  It was a palmetto bug / cockroach that was about 2" long plus another 1" for the antennae.  Up went my feet as I watch it scuttling around.  It started going toward the next stall.  I warned them, but I hear a scream from a little girl who was in there with her mother.  Her mother tried to calm her, but it wasn't working very well.

Florida may be nice, but I don't like the bugs!

We're in Oklahoma now heading for Arkansas.

Sitting in the rain

It's raining here in Dallas. That's OK.  We're hanging out in the RV.  I'm doing my final preparations for the TMS conference next week.  I'm presenting an energy paper that I wrote, giving a presentation for someone who couldn't attend, plus attending too many committee meetings.  Oh, and occasionally going to other paper presentations.  Should be fun!

John is staying back in Dallas doing some minor items on the RV and car (if it stops raining).  After I get back from the conference we head back to Arkansas for a few days.  I'm not sure how other full-timers handle medical appointments.  We called our doctors and set up annual check-ups for next week.  No medical issues, just a check-up.  It may be a few days or maybe a week before anything more is posted.

Energy & Exciting Stays

We’re driving through northern Texas. At one point we had to wait while vehicles used in fracting went past, probably 20 trucks in a row. It’s interesting to see all the oil wells but even more interesting to see the thousands of wind farms.  Glad to know that Texas is doing more than drilling for oil to make energy.

They even have wind turbines on bill boards.  This picture is by Nellie Doneva from online.  They use the energy produced to power the lighting and put energy back into the grid.  That's different!

One of our stays in Texas was just hilarious. It was near the highway and a train track, so it was already noisy.  Then we realized it was under the flight plan of a nearby air force base.  Incredibly noisy!  We couldn’t quite hit a plane if we threw a rock, but they weren’t too much higher.  John had fun running outside and checking out the type of planes passing.  We were trying to relax and watch TV, but not only did the noise make it difficult but the planes messed up the signal each time they passed.  Not a “do-over” but it made for an exciting night.

Mountain Stop

We’re stayed overnight in the Guadalupe Mountains.  We’ve seen several deer, lizards, and a coyote.  The coyote stopped and looked at us while we were looking at him.  Very cool!  This is another area where the night skies are amazing.  It was close to a full moon.  While the stars were still bright, the ground was well lit with the moon light. 

Our hike was along a river bed.  Sometimes there was water, but mostly it was dry. The picture shows an interesting tree, the Texas madrone. Love the coloring.

Odessa Texas is interesting.  You see literally hundreds of oil wells along the road coming into town.  Even in town there are oil wells.  The businesses are all things like machinery shops, pipe companies, and oil well parts.  I'm assuming it's a difficult job.  There are a lot of chiropractors and physical therapy businesses along with injury law firms.

Carlsbad Caverns II

Still....Wow! 

We've been to quite a few caves, but Carlsbad is amazing.  There is just so many different formations.  We took one tour, a lantern tour with no lighting except our candle lanterns (and an occasional use of our guide's flashlight).  It was good since we heard more about the history and he pointed out some interesting things in the cave.

But the fun ones were the self-guided tours.  You have to stay on the path, but you are allowed to walk and look at your own pace.  We walked the part we toured with lanterns first.  It's MUCH bigger when you can see the ceiling or look down at lower levels.  The cave doesn't have the miles of tunnels that Mammoth Cave has, but the rooms are immense.  There's no way I can take a picture of the size of the caves with my camera.

The second part was the Big Room that had more formations.  All I can say is if you ever have a chance to go to Carlsbad...do it!

BTW, we tried to go on a tour that has you crawling and climbing ropes, but they were all booked up.  That's even in their slower season.  Hopefully we can come back sometime to try it.  For now we're on our way to Dallas so I can fly out to a conference.

Carlsbad Caverns

Wow!

Gypsum

The dunes of White Sands National Monument were gypsum sand.  Years ago gypsum was deposited at the bottom of a shallow sea.  Normally gypsum would have disappeared over the years since it is soluble in water. However water doesn’t drain to the sea in this area so the gypsum stayed and eventually broke up into sand.

Near Roswell we stopped at Bottomless Lakes State Park.  The ‘bottomless’ lakes are actually up to 90 feet deep sinkholes.  The bluffs nearby are gypsum while the water has gypsum dissolved in it.  This leaves crystals on the shore.  I’ve seen samples of gypsum before in rock collections, but this is the first time I’ve seen it “wild”.  Pretty cool!

The Truth is Out There

We’ve learned the truth about the Roswell UFO and alien incident.  I’d tell you, but then the military would delete this blog, put out misinformation, and threaten to kill me if I ever tried again.  Besides, I have been told to tell you, it was all a weather balloon.

Roswell has an International UFO Museum & Research Center. BTW, check out the alien eyes on the street lamps.  The museum is full of news clippings, pictures, and copies of alien artifacts.  I knew Roswell had a UFO sighting, but hadn’t heard all the details.  John says he’s seen a lot of this information on Discovery channel, so it was more of a review for him.  The bad part is that looking at all of this is literally a pain in the neck.  It’s a lot of reading on a wall.

The town is full of alien references besides the stores selling alien T-shirts or green blow-up aliens.  Bizarre but fun.

The wind continues to blow here in New Mexico.  We keep hearing reports of gusts to 40 mph or more.  Opening the door to the RV is a major deal and the whole RV is vibrating in the wind.  What fun!

Wind and Sand

We visited White Sands National Monument.  At the same time, winds have been very high.  So we climbed white dunes made of fine sand while winds blew a white dust storm.  Actually, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.  We had fun making avalanches on the edges of the dunes.  Other kid visitors bought sleds at the visitor center to sled on the hills.

While the dunes were fun, we also had perhaps masochistic fun walking barefoot on a boardwalk.  The air was so dry that we kept building up a static charge.  The boardwalk is made of plastic with aluminum bolts and rails.  Every time we touched one we got zapped.  Plus, you could build up a charge to zap each other.  Nothing like zapping each other for fun!

It's still supposed to be windy tomorrow.  Should be fun for John to drive the RV.  We're heading toward Roswell, so if you don't hear from us again....