Russell Cave National Monument, Northeastern corner Alabama I think sometimes that, in their haste to create some of these monuments, Presidents don't consider the expectations they are setting up. I am sure that the preservation effort is worthwhile, and we definitely have to extend protective umbrellas to national treasures, or otherwise the natural impulses of greed will simply walk right through them and destroy our only chance at achieving scientific understanding. As I write this, there are all kinds of anti-science, anti-mind, forces stirring who, unwilling to move their minds towards illuminating and comprehending nature, are instead seeking to dismantle our Park system and put up these treasures for monetary sacrifice. I have to trust that these are one shot, brainless idiots and that they won't prevail. If they do, then maybe the human species is ... read more

Marion County Park If God can take the seventh day off, I don't see why we can't - so we did! Yesterday was a down day. We turned off the alarm and just slept. Didn't stir until around 9:00. Got up, wrote my post, caught up on Facebook and the news and suddenly it is 11:30. Made a fine bacon and egg breakfast - or more appropriately, brunch - walked the dogs and suddenly... I'm tired again. One of the blessings of getting older - you can take a nap without folks thinking you're lazy. So we took a nap until about 3 when I disappeared for my shower. We were promised that the showers here were really very good, but I guess we shouldn't expect much for $18/day. The bathroom was huge enough, and the ... read more

Chickasaw State Park, Tennessee I mentioned in a previous post that there were four kinds of driving on one of our road trips and that, at that point, we were doing all of the first kind, 'Are We There Yet' travel. Most frequently on Interstates, that is the kind of travel where you just want to get there as fast and safely as possible. Our goal is to travel as many miles as we can in a day (about 300), maybe stop for a nice lunch somewhere, but mostly just get to where we want to be. Yesterday morning was 'Are We There Yet' travel. We got back on I40 and drove another two-hundred miles east to Memphis, Tennessee. The terrain in eastern Arkansas was pretty much like that in western Arkansas, rolling hills, lots of ... read more

Norman, Oklahoma With Spring's uncertain weather, we built several 'weather days' into the trip plan. These are days where we have options to travel or not depending on what is happening with the weather across the I40 states. We built one in fairly early in the trip because we didn't know whether New Mexico's mountains were going to provide us with a snow storm right at the beginning of the trip, delaying our start. Turns out, we didn't need that day - in fact, if you believe the New York Times, it might be the case that winter storms are done and Spring is already here, three weeks early. (By my calendar, based on sun cycles, Spring started yesterday, but that's another story.). So we didn't need that first 'weather day'. But we took it anyway, ... read more

Tucumcari, New Mexico Technological change hits rural America hard and fast. Take the simple changes in how we travel. Modern vehicles not only go faster, but they are more efficient, traveling further on a gallon of gasoline, which has also become more efficient. And the changes are on the inside too, making hours of travel much easier on the occupants. All of which means that, although they travel more miles, they are stopping less frequently, especially in the towns in-between destinations. Towns like Tucumcari, New Mexico. In the forties, fifties, and sixties, Route 66 went through this town and it was, more or less, a popular stop. You can tell that because of the many motel lodges scattered up and down the main, Route 66, drag. With original names like Cactus and Apache, these motor inns ... read more