Sunspot, NM

November 29, 2013

Did my push-ups and planks, cleaned and watered the batteries, and started the equalizer function on the inverter/charger, then we left for Sunspot, NM, a kind of astronomy campus of 5 buildings with live-in astronomers. 

Arrived at Sunspot about 4PM, so only an hour until it closed. There is a small interactive museum on the basics of astronomy, as well as something like 5 buildings, 2 open to the public. I went straight to the Richard B. Dunn solar telescope, housed in a building about 350 ft. tall, with only the final 130 ft. above ground. The rest, 220 ft, is underground; it’s a long tube through which sunlight or starlight is directed by mirrors in a complex path to the telescope’s viewing screen.

Richard B. Dunn Solar Telescope, Sunspot, New Mexico (130 ft high; another 220 ft below ground)

I walked into a cavernous dark room, and as I passed by a small assemblage of scientists hovering over computer screens, one of them noticed me, and helpfully turned on the lights. Still dim, but I could see the domed ceiling with the light-directing tube in the middle, surrounded by a complex of machinery and computers with blinking lights that had me listening for Hal’s voice.

Where's Hal?

I’d been there about 15 minutes, happily exploring and taking pictures, when Leah walked in. No sooner had she walked past the same assemblage of scientists, than a female scientist broke off from the group, approached her and started talking about what they were doing. Hearing this, I walked over, and soon the woman was leading us on an impromptu guided tour of the facility, computer cradled in the crook of her arm, showing us the photos they’d taken in the last week—of stars, planets, an attempt at Comet Ison, and the Home Depot sign 20 miles away in Alamagordo! She said they sight on it each morning at 4:30 AM; apparently it is a convenient and reliably well-let target to help them calibrate the telescope for the coming day’s work. You could easily read the sign as if the picture had been taken out in the Home Depot parking lot! She also told us a story of being on Mt. Lemmon in Arizona many years ago, and how she’d frozen her feet while traipsing around in the snow, and that she rolled her jeep the same day, the day her parents came for a visit. She sheepishly confided that, to this day, she has not told her parents of the incident. 

Now, I relate all this is great detail, not because it’s incredibly interesting, but to document yet another instance of what I call 'Leah magnetism', the gravitational pull of her person that causes complete strangers to reveal private details of their life. It's just a natural thing, not something she tries to do. Really, a complete mystery.

Dinner at the well-reviewed ‘Big Daddy’s Diner’, a BBQ joint popular with the locals. The Green Chili stew was delicious, but the ribs were dry and overcooked, the bread plain, dry and white, the beans so-so. Not great. Nice people, though.

Nov. 21- Dec. 1, 2013 Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, NM

I think I've given up trying to recreate a month's worth of travel before I continue with current stuff. Posts are much more interesting if they're written almost immediately, so I'll just recap our stay at Oliver Lee, then continue to write at a roughly 2 or 3-day delay. If I ever have the time and the inclination, I'll post a summary for most of November's travels.

Oliver Lee is a wonderful park. It's far enough from a population center and major highways that it's quiet, but close enough (15 miles to the Walmart) for convenient resupply, thrift stores, and restaurants. Most of all it's beautiful and relatively empty. It's nestled at the base of a range of mountains with lovely views in all directions. Here's our site:

I usurped the Queen chair!

The night we arrived, we'd just gotten set up and had dinner, probably about 8 PM, when our furnace quit. Not a good thing, since below freezing temps were expected overnight. And water lines in RVs freeze and burst, leading to a big mess and a bigger repair bill. Then it started snowing and sleeting. Figured the propane tank was empty, but since we have two tanks, I should just be able to switch it to the other tank. However, the other tank felt empty, too, so now what? Where to get propane filled after 10 PM? In Alamagordo. Well, no where is the answer. What to do? Oh, just run in to Walmart and buy a full BBQ propane tank! Not as large as I needed, but it'll keep the pipes from freezing. OK, so off I go. By the time I arrive at Walmart, it's 11:30. Good thing the Alamagordo Walmart stays open 24 hours. Buy the tank, drive the 20 minutes back to the campground through blowing snow, hook it up...no go! Some gas gets through, but not enough for the auto-igniter to fire up the furnace. %$#@#$!! Now what? Getting cold in the rig. Ah-hah! Drive back to Walmart, buy an electric space heater. Check by phone first...yes, they had some. Alright! I drive back to the Walmart, discover they have about 6 different types, so need to do some research. 20 minutes later, buy the heater, drive back to the campground. Find Leah bundled up under a mountain of down vests, sweaters and blankets, reading on the couch. Unbox heater, read manual, plug it in......and.....heat!! Finally to bed near 2 AM. Pipes are saved.

Next morning, I'm outside fiddling with the propane tanks. I discover (by hefting it) that my spare tank--the one I thought was empty--actually was half full! Oh...so I hook it up. Same thing happens as last night: a bit of gas gets through, but not enough to light the furnace pilot. I'm running through my options: call Crossroads, call Coachnet, get an RV tech to make a house call...and pay $100s of dollars. I'm feeling helpless and bummed out.

Leah, on the other hand, walks outside and flags down a couple of full-timers walking by on their morning stroll. One of them, a retired engineer named Richard, says "You know sometimes, the jets collect a bit of moisture, which freezes in the nozzle, restricting the flow of gas. Here, I'll just hold the nozzle for a minute to warm it up and melt any ice." He does. I turn on the furnace...bingo! We have heat!! I thank him profusely. Crisis averted.

Then I thank Leah!

Next couple days were cloudy and unseasonably cold. Had that furnace working, though, so we were toasty. As soon as the weather warmed up and the sun came out, we thought a hike was in order, so we loaded up on energy bars and water, and started up on the Dog Canyon hike. 

To be continued...

Oliver Lee State Park, NM, November 24, 2013

It's only been a month, and here's my first blog post! Having lots of fun, but also nagging trailer problems. I'll try to compress a month's worth of travel into just one post.

We're currently camped at Oliver Lee State Park, near Alamagordo, NM. Arrived Thursday, the 21st...

But first...here are photos of the inside of our trailer--lived-in, not prettied up--that Levi asked to see. Here you go, Levi:

Looking forward from rear of trailer, in front of TV 

Looking rearward from bathroom door

From kitchen looking toward the driver's side slide. Leah's note: Although I am fat, I am not as fat as I look in this picture.

From driver's side slide looking at passenger's side slide and kitchen

Taken standing in front of dresser, looking at bed in bedroom slide

Bathroom from door to kitchen

Bathroom from door to bedroom

Now to catch up...

We left home on Oct. 29, bound for Alfred Station, NY, where The Bicycleman had a bike rack waiting for us that would accommodate both an upright and a recumbent. Didn't have time to pick it up, though, as we arrived near dusk. Guided by RV Parky (new android app), we found Kanakadea Park, run by the Hornell County. It was one of the few parks that hadn't closed for the winter (all the state parks had), and it was open and empty, save for us. The problem was that the ground was soggy and unlevel, so we tried three times to set up (in the dark), and three times we were thwarted. After that, we gave up and drove to the Hornell Walmart, which RV Parky labelled as allowing overnighting. Next morning, we drove back to Kanakadea, thinking that, in the daylight, we might have better luck. And the daylight did make a difference: the Park was quite beautiful, something we couldn't appreciate in the pitch black the night before. As for the leveling, though, no dice: either we couldn't level, or the leveling blocks sank into the mud under the trailer's weight, or, in the last try, we actually got stuck: tires would just spin us deeper into the mud. Sorely regretted not getting 4-wheel drive...until I tried using the leveling blocks under the drive wheels. That did the trick--and my regret instantly disappeared, replaced by a self-satisfied smugness at not having wasted $$ on 4-wheel drive. Now we realized we'd have to leave, since all the sites were soggy ground, but then I saw that one of the campsite access loops was gravelled, and since we were likely the only ones using the campground, we figured we wouldn't be in anyone's way if we parked on the gravelled loop. Bingo! We were level, on firm ground, and with our extension cord, could plug into electricity.

Kanakadea Reservoir (?)

Set up

Bike rack installed (a useful addition, since it cleared lots of space in the truck bed, to say nothing of keeping the bikes accessible and undamaged)

In the morning, we had a coffee-walk through the campground and along the lake shore, then left the trailer to visit the Bicylceman. Got the rack installed, tranferred the bikes from the truck bed to the rack, freeing up lots of room in the truck.

Utah Lake State Park; Sundance: Park City; Temple Square, Salt Lake City; Elkhart, Indiana

May 29-June 7, 2013

At this point, we knew we had only one more week before we headed home. We could have gone east on I 70 over Eisenhower Pass to Denver, then straight to Elkhart, Indiana, where we had an appointment to get some trailer damage fixed (early in the trip, I didn't turn wide enough and dinged the trailer stairs and aluminum skirt). However, we'd already driven that route, and spectacular as it is, we wanted to go somewhere new, so we decided on Provo, Utah. In part, this was because the biggest recumbent trike dealer in the world was located nearby, and I wanted Leah to try one of their recumbent trikes. Also, Utah Lake State Park was on a lake, and we'd heard good things about it from a couple we'd camped next to at Red Canyon. We knew it couldn't compare with the places we'd been for scenery, so, thinking the scenic part of our trip was over, we headed out on June 5th for the 200 or so mile drive to Utah Lake.

Well, I think we made the right decision. We arrived at our usual time: about sunset.

...so much for the scenic part of our trip being over...

Campsite at Utah Lake State Park

One day I was inside the trailer, and I noticed a small bird trying to land on our porch light. He kept trying for perhaps 15 minutes before I grabbed my camera and went outside. It seemed like he wanted to say Hello, but I'm sure it was just the colour of the porch light. Maybe he thought it was a flower or something. Anyway, I got a few shots of him trying to land...then he was gone. 

...or so I thought. But he came back a while later and lighted on the roof of the campsite gazebo-shelter long enough for me to get a shot:

Persistent visitor

Below: Unlike Mr. Persistent, above, this yellow-headed blackbird (below) was elusive; I had to stalk him for nearly an hour before I got close enough for a shot.

Utah Trikes

Our reason for coming to Provo was to visit Utah Trikes in Payson, about 30 minutes from our campground. Even though Leah still had some dizziness and weird feelings, she was up for it. We told them she wanted to test ride the Cat Trike Trail. And they had one on the floor, but the boom was too long, so they cut it short enough to fit Leah. Since I wanted to go with her, they offered me the use of a Catrike Expedition, one step up from the Trail. Once everything was adjusted properly, we rode around the streets of Payson. I had fun on the Expedition, which seemed quite responsive even though we started out uphill. However, the headrest would take some getting used to, though it was necessary because the Expedition features a more reclined position than the Trail. Fun was not how Leah described her ride, though. The Trail rode quite roughly on the bumpy streets of Payson, and by the time we returned the trikes, she had a headache. Oh, and it didn't help that in trying to adjust her headrest, I accidentally hit her in the back of the head with it! Not such a good experience, but Leah did say she had enjoyed riding a similar trike at Bicycleman in Alfred Station, New York. She allowed that her general feeling of malaise (and her husband's clumsiness) may have spoiled this test ride. Sorry, no photos.

While in the Provo area, we tried several restaurants...and found two favourites, one inexpensive, the other very expensive:

1. El Azteca Authentic Mexican Food in Provo:

Carlos, owner of El Azteca Authentic Mexican Food, Provo, Utah

This place looks like another fast food joint--and it is, but the food is fresh and delicious. We could tell it was a work of love, even before we met the owner, Carlos, a 40-something former advertising guy and lifelong foodie who'd moved back to Provo after many years writing ads in Los Angeles. Seems his parents opened the restaurant in Provo when he was very young. He grew up in the restaurant, then left for an advertising job in LA for a while, but returned to do what he loved: cook. He's added some new flavours and recipes to the old standbys, and the results are heavenly. He came over to our table to chat (mostly with Leah, a fellow foodie) every time we ate there (at least 4 times). Really nice guy--and great food!

Salsa Bar (right half)

Salsa Bar (left half)

Full Salsa Bar

Leah at the Salsa Bar, a big hit!

Our booth at El Azteca

Best of State Combo: Potato Tacquito with sour cream at one end and guacamole at the other, Refried Beans, Mexican Rice,  a Cheese Enchilada with a fusion mole that Carlos invented and a salmon taco (pictured below).

Richard's Huevos Rancheros 

Salmon Taco

Add caption

2. The Foundry Grill in Sundance, Utah, home of Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival.

We went for Sunday brunch:

Desserts

Hot Entrees Table: Roast Beef, Chicken, Bacon, Ham, etc.

Omelette Station

Park City, Utah 

We also visited this popular ski area with a fancy, touristy downtown.

No photos of the downtown itself--just shots that appealed to me:

Facade of the Egyptian Theater

Detail of Egyptian Theater facade

2nd Floor of a bar/restaurant

Another bar/restaurant patio

Temple Square, Salt Lake City

Since Utah Lake State Park is less than an hour from Salt Lake City, we felt we really should see Temple Square, the headquarters of the Mormon Empire, in downtown SLC. The whole downtown was dominated by two things: The Temple and the State Capital building. Both were beautiful architecturally, but what most impressed us was the neatness, the orderliness in evidence everywhere, from the lush, green, neatly trimmed lawns to the spotless streets and sidewalks, to polished brass drinking fountains. The Temple was part of a complex that included the Mormon Tabernacle Choir building plus several others, including the Family History Library and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Smith was the founder of the Latter Day Saints movement. Read the history of Mormonism here.

We walked through one or two of the buildings in the Temple complex, though not the Temple itself. At the entrance and exit of every building, and throughout the complex, both inside and out, were men and women Mormons, young and old, from all over the world, who were almost creepily friendly and helpful. In the hour or so we were there, we personally met women from Calgary and the Philippines, and heard Mormon guides who sounded German and Asian (Korean?). The cleanliness and order were almost too much.

Again, these photos are not record shots, but rather images that appealed to me:

Temple is on the right in the reflection

Orderliness extended to the tree bark on the Temple grounds!

Lovely water fountain/pool

Not sure which building this was...not the Temple

Homeward Bound

We knew it was time to head for home--or rather for Elkhart, Indiana to get the trailer fixed. That meant 4 days of steady driving without much time to explore or take pictures. However, while we were staying at a Super 8 in Elkhart, we had some severe weather. Which sent Jazzy into hiding...here:

Hiding from a storm in Elkhart, Indiana

I'd better back up a bit: When we arrived in Elkhart at Mastertech RV, we set up camp at one of their free electrical and water sites. Great! ...or so we thought. Unfortunately, the only site left was right next to their entry door--and these guys worked from 6 AM til midnight! Consequently, it was noisy a lot of the time. As well, the weather was hot and sticky, so we ran the air quite a bit--which was fine. But that also meant we were inside the trailer quite a bit, and my walking around caused the trailer to bounce and sway, not good for Leah's dizziness. Since it looked like we were going to have to stay longer than anticipated, we checked into a Super 8; that way we were on solid ground--no swaying or bouncing for Leah.

Interestingly, after a couple of days, Leah's dizziness had lessened markedly. After 2 nights and 2 full days at the Super 8, we left Elkhart and drove straight through all the way home, about 490 miles. And as I write this on July14th, Leah's dizziness has disappeared entirely. We think the new memory foam mattress we bought in Prescott, Arizona may have been gassing off, and may have caused Leah's symptoms. She began having symptoms a day after we bought the mattress, and they disappeared within 2 days of being out of the trailer. I'm not sure about the mattress being the cause, but I think we'll air mattress out some more here at home. Hopefully, her dizziness is gone for good.

Anyway...that's it: last entry in our 2013 blog. See you next year...