New Madrid and More

We generally associate U.S. earthquakes with California, so it may not be widely known that one of the largest (lower 48 states) U.S. earthquakes occurred in New Madrid, in the bootheel of what became MO, in 1812.  I learned about this earthquake several years ago in conjunction with the issue of estimating the risk of earthquakes to nuclear power plants.  After our visit to the KY Bubbleland, we decided to go take a look at New Madrid. 

Getting there gave us the opportunity to cross the Mississippi via the Dorena-Hickman Ferry.  We had considered taking Tuzigoot across the day before, going East, but decided against it.  Glad we did, because we would surely have scraped getting on and off.  This picture is from the Ferry website.

We got to the dock just as the ferry was pulling away, so that gave us some time to enjoy the show.  Two guys in a pickup, carrying a small boat, soon pulled up.  They lived in MO, had been fishing in TN this fine day.  They showed us a cooler full of crappie.  Also told us that the ferry landing had been under water until just a few days earlier.  Then a van pulling a utility trailer pulled up; six guys got out.  Sounded like their GPS had just led them there and they weren't sure they were where they wanted to be.  They asked, Can you get to Cape Girardeau this way?  Susie found out later that they were a band from Jefferson City, MO, returning from playing in Nashville.  Last to arrive was a group of 15-20 motorcycles, drivers and riders.  Out for a Sunday outing.  The ferry filled up.  Here's a picture:

                               

An old motorhome, pulling a boat, is about to squeeze on in this picture. 

One of the band members took this shot of us:

                                        

Not a lot to see in New Madrid, but there is a museum with info about the earthquake and the Civil War battle.  One fact that stands out: New Madrid sank about 15 ft. as a result of the earthquake.  Also, very large earthquakes occurred repeatedly over a two-month period, as the above sign says. 

Saw this in Hickman , KY.

                                                

Also came across this county courthouse somewhere along the way:

                                      

On the way back to KY from New Madrid, Susie had me stop to take this picture in recognition of one of her friends:

                                      

"So that's where she gets them," she said.

Several people (at least two) had told us we should see Columbus-Belmont State Park.  This is a site on the KY shore of the Mississippi where the Confederates again tried to prevent the Union Army from moving south on the river.  So, once we did the MO-IL-KY hop, skip, and a jump across two bridges on US 60 again, we worked our way down to this state park.    From the KY bluffs overlooking the river it looked like a good place for the Confederates to blockade the river, but it didn't work long.  Makes for a nice park, though.

Got home after about an 11-hour, four-state outing.  An interesting, scenic day.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Kentucky Bend

SW Kentucky has a curious piece of geography that has intrigued me for quite a while.  It's a piece of the state that is not connected with the state, sort of an island, but not quite.  Here's a picture I took of my KY map:

See that little white bubble lower left - that's the area I'm talking about.  It's a piece of KY surrounded almost entirely by a big oxbow in the Mississippi River with the Tennessee state line cutting across the neck of land on the south side.

Here's a colorful close-up from the internet:

Allen Anthony, who is the father of Suzy Hinkle, Matt's wife, has written articles about the Kentucky Bend -- he's a historian and a native Kentuckian -- and he told me about this region: we just happened to be discussing geographic oddities.  When the border between KY and TN was established, it was defined to extend as far west as the bank of the Mississippi opposite the westernmost bank of the Mississippi in Missouri.  (I thought that the border must be some particular line of latitude, but it doesn't appear to be: there's a droop relative to the border further east.  I'll be sure to update you on all of this when Allen sends me some of his articles.) 

At the time the border was defined it wasn't known that this line would cut across this peninsula of land formed by what is called the Kentucky Bend or the New Madrid Bend (New Madrid, MO, is on the north shore of the Bend).  The piece of land is also called Bubbleland, by some, for obvious reasons.  You can only get there by driving through Tennessee (or by boat).  When the anomaly was discovered, TN claimed this land - it is rich cotton land - but KY eventualy prevailed.  A line is a line, duly agreed to.  (We in NM recently learned that the lines that define the Four Corners don't really intersect where it has for years been assumed they do .)

I wondered if this river bend was caused by the New Madrid earthquake(s) of 1811-12.  Allen says No.  Some internet sources say Yes.  Can't trust them.  The quake did reverse the flow of the Mississippi for a while and did create Reelfoot Lake in TN, just SE of the bottom of the Bend. 

You might wonder, as I did, what if the Mississippi some day cuts across the neck of the bubble?  Will the former Bubbleland then belong to Missouri?  Well, that won't happen as long as the levees along the river there are in place, but stranger things have happened - such as the size 8 earthquake in 1811.

At any rate, I just had to visit Bubbleland myself, so we drove there on Sunday - roughly 100 miles from our KOA east of Paducah.  Here's the state line, looking north from TN to KY.

TN Hwy 22 ends right there.  There's no sign indicating you're crossing into KY.  When you come back, though, the other side of that sign on the left says you're entering TN.  Still some hard feelings?  Did some Volunteer remove the Kentucky sign?  Later I read about a church said to straddle the border, but we didn't see it.  Further south a bit there is a cemetery that contains the graves of some 75 Confederate soldiers who died in the battle of New Madrid.  (The Confederate Army tried to barricade the Mississippi to keep Union forces from moving south.)

Here's a shot of our GPS, showing us right in the middle of the bubble.  We called Allen from there.  What an exciting moment!

The map above shows a road extending to the top of the bubble, across from New Madrid.  However, here's where the road ended for us.  Another branch ended at a No Trespassing sign.

Susie said, I'm surprised you didn't try to drive across.

Next: New Madrid and return.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Missouri

Friday we angled NE from OKC up the Turner and Will Rogers turnpikes then picked up US60 across southern MO. After a day's drive of some 380 miles we stopped at an RV park near Willow Springs, MO -- Ozark country. As we were setting up the park's host came over and said, "Did you know about the bluegrass program tonight just the other side of the park?" Well, no, but once we did we went. The white shed back there is Weaver's Pickin' Parlor, the concert venue.

The music was basic, down-home stuff.  Kind of a floating group of musicians, not a regular band.  A local M.D. wandered in about a half-hour late -- had to work late -- and he played bass and sung a couple of solos.  Leader was a man named Jim Orchard, whose regular band is the Ozark Bluegrass Boys.  He emceed, played mandolin and fiddle, and told jokes.  Banjo player was 14-year old Hargis.  Only been playing banjo for a year, but he learned a whole lot in a year.  Anyhow, Orchard said, One day last week Hargis's dad said to Hargis, What's been going on in school?  I got a note from your teacher.  Hargis said, Don't worry, Dad.  I won't tell Mom. 

Audience was interesting.  About 30 people, mostly regulars, you could tell.  First couple of rows had family members, I suspect.  There were two women who seemed to be in competition - whenever a phrase or a break was offered that one liked, she would clap demonstratively, hands held high, and very rapidly. The other woman would quickly join in.  Then the second woman would get excited by some other bit and she would do her clapping performance.  Happened several times during each song! Really, there weren't that many bits to celebrate.  There was also a big guy, front row center, who would join in.  His style was to spread his arms wide and then bring his hands together like two hammers.  Whap, whap, whap.  His clapping motion was like beating out a hamburger patty.  Fascinating.

From Oklahoma on, we've been treated to blooming redbud trees.  Here's one near the Pickin' Parlor.

Why do they call them redbud?  They're purple. 

Several years ago we followed US 60 west from its eastern terminus in Virginia Beach, VA to Tonkawa, OK, I believe.  At one time US 60 was known as the coast to coast highway.  Now it ends in western AZ.  Across MO, what was once a winding Ozark mountain road is now mostly a four-lane parkway. 

Makes for easier driving, but the route avoids every town and it becomes pretty boring.  I wonder if it's been an economic boon for the area.

Our goal today, Saturday, is a KOA park a few miles east of Paducah, KY.  At Sikeston, MO, near the state line, we stopped for lunch in a Wal-Mart parking lot and considered dropping south a few miles and taking a ferry across the Mississippi.  We plan to explore western KY for 2-3 days and decided we'd do the ferry later by car, not Tuzigoot.  We ferried Tuzigoot across the Mississippi further up last year and it was a lot of work getting it on -- several planks laid down to keep from scraping. 

When you continue on US 60 toward Paducah, you first cross the Mississippi, then the Ohio.  Thus, you're briefly in Illinois, but I didn't see any signs.  The bridges are just barely wide enough for motor home and truck traffic.  A few whiteknuckle moments, but no problems.  Here are some pix from co-pilot Susie.

The Mississippi bridge.  At center right you can see the Ohio span.

Some river barges.

The Ohio crossing.

Made it!

Incidentally, Google has much improved their blogger site when it comes to inserting pictures.  Used to have to drag a picture from the top of blog down to where you want them.  Didn't always drag right.  Now, you put the cursor where you want a picture and in just a couple of clicks you upload it where you want it. 

Sunday is going to be a car tour day, an Explorer exploration.  Until then,

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

On The Road Again

Dear Family and Friends:

On the road again -- first Tuzigoot outing since last September.  We're making a loop: east through TX, OK, and MO to KY and OH.  Back through IA, NE, CO (and a few states to be determined).  Planning to spend some quality time in KY.  Soccer tournament in Oxford, OH, and Boot Camp graduation in Fort Knox, KY are the events drawing us in this direction at this time, but we'll tie in other family visits along the way.

As we left Cedar Crest on Tuesday, 4/6, the daffodils were blooming in our front yard and light snow was swirling in the air.  A reminder of the snowy winter we had this year. 

Going east, very strong winds the first two days - tail wind on Tuesday, crosswind on Wed.  An unpleasant reminder of our departure day in Dec., 08 when even stronger wind tore loose a vent cover and I had to get up on top of Tuzigoot to duct-tape it down.  Got up there again this time to tape down a vent cover that was OK, but rattling a bit in the wind.  Still there as this is written. 

Wed. evening,  in Oklahoma City, we went to see Mom and then went to Cracker Barrel with my sister, Verla, and nephew, Sterling.  When we came out we saw that the Explorer's tail lights were on.  How did that happen?  We drove there in daylight - the lights weren't on.  Maybe the security system went off.  At any rate, car wouldn't start, wouldn't turn over.

We were just a couple of miles from the Edmond, OK, home of my sister, Connie, and brother-in-law, Tom.  Tom drove over and we tried to jump-start the Ford.  Couldn't do it.  Tom surmised that battery might be shot (it was the original, almost nine years old), so we took it out.  Tom loaned us his van to get us back to the RV park for the night.  I went in to tell the restaurant folks that we'd be leaving a car overnight.  Nice girl at the cash register said, "Oh, didn't you hear my announcement: car in parking lot with lights on?"  Nope (restaurant was busy, noisy).  "I'm so sorry."  Next morning I bought a new battery at Wal-Mart, installed it, and all was good, I thought.

Thursday morning, after the new battery was installed, we (Connie, Susie, and I) went to an open house for a new memory care unit at a retirement complex called Touchmark. My sister, Verla, has just started to work there as an activity director in the new unit.  There were talks by a couple of  folks who helped design the facility and its approach to care-giving.  Short summary -- architectural design: avoid sources of confusion; care-giving: be a friend to the residents.  The speakers left a very positive impression with us and we think it's going to be a great job for Verla.

Sorry to emphasize food so much, but do want to mention going for lunch at Pop's   It's a fairly new attraction on Historic Route 66 just east of Edmond, not far from the famous round barn in Arcadia.  Pop's is a gas station, diner, and store, with a unique design.  Specialty is hundreds of "pop" varieties - bottled drinks.  Do you remember Grapette?  I got some Round Barn root beer.  Here's a review of Pop's and a picture off the internet. 

At night the pop bottle with straw glows in different colors, as in pictures here.

Thursday evening we drove over to Connie and Tom's, then rode to dinner with them at Hideaway Pizza where nephew, Christopher, works.  After dinner, we all took a stroll in an Edmond park.  The two young men in the picture are nephews, Sterling and Peter.

Here's the strange thing:  When we got back to Connie's, the tail lights on the Explorer were ON!  I'm sure they weren't when we left.  Fortunately, new battery was not run down, so car would start.  My diagnosis was gremlins.  Tom diagnosed the problem as a sticky brake pedal that was activating the switch that turns on the brake lights when the pedal is depressed (or just feeling blue, I think) even when the key is off and the motor is not running.  We kind of nudged things around and the problem hasn't recurred.  Now, though, when I walk away from the car, I turn around quickly to see if the gremlins have struck again.  I'm watching.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob                                          

March Madness UPDATE

UPDATE.  In our postings on our trip to San Jose I forgot to mention Susie's brush with fame.  Before the first tournament game on Thursday, we gathered at a downtown bar and grill with a large group of Lobo fans.  A TV reporter from Albuquerque's Channel 13 was looking for interviews where we were sitting at a sidewalk table.  I deflected him to Susie and she said something about being excited to be there to cheer for our Lobos.  The bit played later that evening and several people e-mailed us about seeing Susie and after we got home, several more friends commented that they had seen her on TV. 

Cheers,

Rob

Homeward Bound

Saturday, March 20.  March Madness ends for the University of New Mexico:

The score is a little dim (appropriately): U. Washington 82, UNM 64.  I knew when I saw Washington beat Marquette on Thursday that it was going to be tough for UNM to advance.  UW had too much speed, size, and shooting ability.  But, we had a great and thrilling year, so we feel good about that and are glad we followed the team these last two weeks.

So, we headed home on Sunday.  Decided to head south via US101, through the Salinas Valley and on down to Paso Robles.  This is the route we took two years ago to and from Monterey.  The miles and miles of vegetable and fruit fields are awesome, some of the most memorable sights from our four months in the region.  Today, though, patchy fog, so not much to see.  There are some nice pictures at the above website and I'll stick in some of our pictures from spring, 2008:

Then we headed east to Bakersfield.  Nice green hills adorned with wildflowers along the way:

(For some reason Blogger is refusing to let me center pictures when I want to.)

 Then you come to the intersection where James Dean died.

 

(Now the picture is centered.  Wish I knew how I did that.)  This is almond and pistachio-growing country and there's a store at this locale with those kinds of goodies.

Had lunch in Bakersfield (chicken-fried this and that) and then it was up and over the Tehachapi Pass again, down to Barstow and on to Needles for the night.  On the way out, just after learning about the Tehachapi Loop (the spiraling RR track), I saw a turn-off for the Loop, but didn't stop for it.  This time we did.  Couldn't get a decent picture, but here's a shot of the track and a tunnel (just above the center of the picture( a little further up.  Looks like a model RR layout.

I forgot to mention it on the way out, but we stopped in Winslow, AZ and had lunch at the La Posada Hotel.  (Just in case anybody would like to (re)read the newspaper article I wrote about this place several years ago, here's the link.)  Allan Affeldt, owner and restorer, was at the La Posada and we had a good visit.  Work is continuing on more rooms in the north wing.  He also has plans for an RV park.  We found out that his wife's (Tina Mion) painting of Jackie Kennedy (which I always look for) was now in the National Portrait Gallery in DC.  

When Susie and I had stopped at the La Posada in recent years Allan had been off to Needles, AZ, where he is in the process of restoring another classic Harvey House, the El Garces (the "Crown Jewel of the Desert").  I asked him how that project was going.  He said it's on hold; nobody is loaning money on such projects these days.  As we left Needles early Monday morning, we sought out the El Garces.  Here are a couple of  pictures.

It looks like a Roman or Greek ruin.  The columns and roof are there, but there don't seem to be any interior walls.  You can see the potential for grandeur.  Anybody want to invest?

After that, an uneventful run across AZ and half of NM and back to Cedar Crest.  We had heard while we were gone that we got yet another foot of snow last week, but that it was melting quickly.  If it hadn't, we might be in Phoenix right now. 

Next up, a Tuzigoot trip to Kentucky and points unplanned.  We'll work on that tomorrow.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Winchester Mystery House

Friday, March 19.  When we were in Las Vegas, Heidi's boyfriend, Joseph, who lived in this area for several years, tipped us on the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.  This is a "beautiful and bizarre" 160 room, 24,000 sq. ft. mansion built by the heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune.  We toured the house on Friday morning.  Here's an aerial view from one of the Winchester websites.  In addition to the house there are several outbuildings on the grounds.

How bizarre?  There is a stairway that dead-ends at the ceiling of one room.  There are cabinets that open to the backside of a wall, a window in a floor, mixed elevations, stairs with two and a half inch risers, ... .  There are windows between rooms that let Sarah Winchester spy on her servants.  How did this come about? you ask.

Sarah Winchester was the wife of the son of the Winchester who invented the Winchester repeating rifle.  They had a daughter who died soon after she was born.  This depressed Sarah greatly.  Then, fifteen years later, 1881, her husband died of TB.  She was devastated by grief.  The story told is that a spiritualist medium told her she was being punished for all the deaths wrought by Winchester rifles.  The way to mollify the angry spirits was to move west (the Winchesters lived in New Haven, CT), and build a house, without ceasing.  A large house would provide a home for the spirits and would protect her from them.  She couldn't stop building because people were still being killed by Winchesters. 

This story may be largely folklore (you can Google it for more discussion).  Sarah didn't leave a written account and didn't associate with any people who might have recorded her story, so we don't have first-hand info.  Our guide said another reason she did it was that she was RICH (and maybe crazy, I'd add).  She was also short, 4' 11", so you can add that to the pop psychology mix. 

Sarah Winchester was severely arthritic and had difficulty walking and that's the reason for the low-riser stairways.  In one case there are 44 steps, switchbacking up a stairwell ending up at the next floor, nine ft. higher.

At any rate, armed with good advice, she came to the Bay area and in 1884 bought an unfinished 8-room farmhouse and started adding on to it.  For 38 years until her death, carpenters, gardeners, and craftsmen labored continuously, building whatever whim she came up with. 

Susie said, what a shame that she would spend so much money on such a self-centered project.  The guide said she paid her employees well, so that seems the most positive benefit of her obsession.  She died in 1922 at 82 years of age.  You wonder if she felt that she successfully bought that time from the angry spirits.

At one time the house had a seven-story tower.  This sketch shows a turret on top that is no longer there.

The tower collapsed in the SF earthquake of 1906 and damaged several rooms in the front of the house, so she quit using that part of the house -- not that she would miss a dozen rooms or so.  There are quite a few uncompleted rooms where work was suspended on her death.

No pictures of the interior are allowed and a guide takes you through, so you can't explore.  People wondered why no pictures, but I think that's wise because if 20 people are all trying to snap pictures of each room, the tour would really bog down.  You can see some interior pictures at this website.

Here are some exterior shots I took.  The architecture is fascinating.

The columns supporting the roof of this porch are upside down, for a reason, I suppose, not an accident.  I should also note that the number 13 played an important role in the house design.  There were 13 bathrooms.  One bathroom had 13 windows.  An entryway chandelier had only 12 gas lights, so she had one more added.  The house has been featured on cable channels dealing with ghosts and haunted houses and a boy in our tour group was excited to visit in person what he had seen on TV. 

Here's a gingerbread Winchester house.

Anyhow, this was an interesting place to learn about and we're glad we had the chance to visit.  So, whenever you find your way to San Jose, .... .

By way of contrast the book my book club is reading this month, "Three Cups of Tea," is about Greg Mortenson, a near-penniless nurse and mountain climber who is taken by the impoverished conditions in the mountains of north Pakistan (the region that includes K2) and dedicates his life to raising money and building schools and clinics and better lives for the people there. 

Friend Joseph also recommended the Sonoma Chicken Coop as a place to eat.  We found one of their locations to be just down the street from us in historic downtown Campbell, so stopped there for a tasty lunch, sidewalk dining, across the street from an Italian ice cream shop.  We spent the afternoon and evening mostly watching basketball games on TV.  Disappointments: NM State came so close to beating Michigan State.  Oklahoma State couldn't quite get it done against Georgia Tech. 

The Lobos play Washington tomorrow.  Go Lobos!

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Game 1

March 18.

Whew!

Sequoia National Park

We got to the Sequoia National Park entrance about 430 on Tuesday.  Nice young Ranger assured us we had plenty of time to drive through the Park before dark, thanks to DST.  Ranger asked if we had been there before.  I said I had about 30 years ago.  Ranger said, Wow, I guess you were a baby then.  I said, Maybe so, but I was driving.  Ranger said, Wow, you were a really young driver!  Anyhow, our plan was to enter SW corner of park, then exit it at NW corner and go on to Fresno for the night.

Our main goal was the Giant Forest and in particular the world's largest tree (in volume) named the General Sherman.  Here's a mountain scene as you ascend into the park.  It's 14 miles or so of steep, winding road to get to the Giant Forest. 

Some tree scenes:

As you can see, quite a bit of snow at this level.

Here are some General Sherman shots:  It's quite an awesome tree.

That's me at the right.

The Gen. Sherman is an estimated 2200 years old.  It's 275 ft. tall and weighs an estimated 1385 tons.  By way of contrast, the tallest Coastal Redwood trees are 100 ft. taller.  They don't have the branches, though, that the Sequoias have, so do not have as much weight or volume.  We recall Kauri trees in NZ as being called the world's largest (and I found a website with that claim).  The Kauri have a trunk as large at the base as a Sequoia, but they don't taper so much and they're not as tall.  This website lists the General Sherman as the world's largest tree (trunk volume of 1487 cubic meters) and the Tane Mahuta Kauri tree in NZ, which we saw, as the fourth largest (244.5 cubic meters).  That's a big difference and I'm not sure I believe it.  Maybe the Sherman volume includes branch volumes.

Just beyond the Giant Forest, where the road starts down toward the NW corner of the park, the road was barricaded. Road Closed.  So, we retraced our path.  Different views, though, so it wasn't at all a repeat trip.  Nice young Ranger was still on duty at the gate and he was interested to hear the road was closed.  Must have been an avalanche, he surmised.  Strange they hadn't told him.  Anyhow, by the time we got down it was nearly dark and we were still 80 miles from Fresno, so we decided to stop for the night in a Comfort Inn just outside the Park at Three Rivers.  Wi-Fi and waffle-maker in the breakfast area.  What more could you ask for?  Well, here's the hill across the road from the Inn.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob

Vegas-2

Well, by now, those who care know that the Lobos lost to San Diego State on Friday in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament. A very close, hard-fought game. We had a chance to win it at the end, but didn't get a clean shot off. Nevertheless, UNM still got a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, so that seeding wasn't likely affected by the loss.  On the plus side, the loss gave us, the team, an extra day to rest and prepare for March Madness.

Also, as we hoped and found out Sunday afternoon, UNM plays this Thursday in San Jose, so we're off for San Jose. They play Montana U in the first round.

In the meantime, we had a quiet weekend. On Saturday I went to an exhibition baseball game between the Cubs and White Sox here in Las Vegas. It was a sunny, but chilly and windy day. I moved around a couple of times looking for a seat sheltered from the wind. Nothing memorable about the game, but it was fun to be there.  As Jeff E said, a way to ease the pain (freeze the pain?) from Friday's loss.

Heidi helped us both ease our pain by treating us to the buffet at Aria, the hotel/casino in City Center where Heidi works.  For me, king crab legs and lobster were the highlights.  Dessert, too.

Sunday we went to church at the Green Valley United Methodist Church with our friends the Bornhofts. Went to breakfast afterwards and caught up on family news and some politics, too.

When we crossed the Hoover Dam on Wednesday I could tell that considerable progress had been made on the new bridge since we were through a month earlier, but didn't have a chance to stop for pictures. Rectified that on Monday by driving out early in the morning -- for best sun angle. If you compare these pix to those in the previous posting you can see the bridge platform has been extended by several sections.

As I mentioned in a previous posting, the bridge is scheduled to open in December and it will have pedestrian access.  Pictures next year!

Susie and Heidi got finger and toenail jobs on Monday.  Heidi whipped up some fajitas.  Nice, restful day.
Tuesday we left for San Jose.  Sunday night I had searched the internet for tickets -- there were lots for sale, but most ticket sellers only indicated that they would FedEx your tickets to you.  As we would be traveling, I wasn't sure how we would make the connection.  Finally, on the razorgator site I found a phone number and succeeded in talking to a live person on Monday morning who set up a ticket sale and pick-up for us at a FedEx site in San Jose. 

Before we left Albuquerque, I put our names on a waiting list to get two of the tickets allocated to the teams that make the tournament.  Because we're not Lobo Club members or athletic program donors, I realized I wouldn't be high on the priority list.  On my application, though, I noted that I'd been a season ticket holder for 41 years and had also been picked several years ago to be recognized as the 10 millionth fan in the Pit.  Didn't seem to work, though, because on Sunday I got email from the Lobo Club saying it didn't look like we would get two of the UNM allocation of tickets, but maybe if some of the folks ahead of us declined their tickets, we'd get a chance.  Thus it was that Monday morning I went ahead and bought tickets from razorgator.  I had this nagging feeling that because there were no glamour teams, or teams with large fan bases, besides the Lobos, scheduled for San Jose, that there were apt to be lots of street scalpers selling tickets on game day.  But, I wasn't sure enough of that feeling to risk being wrong, so for peace of mind, that's why I bought somewhat marked up tickets from razorgator. 

I told you all that to tell you this.  A couple of hours after leaving Las Vegas on Tuesday morning I got a call from the Lobo Club.  Two tickets were available.  Did I want them?  First I said No.  I had already bought tickets.  Then, we got to thinking: the UNM tickets were better seats - main level instead of nosebleed upper tier- and we'd be with Lobo fans and that would be part of the fun, so I pulled over and called back.  We'd take the tickets and hope we can sell the razorgator tickets when we get there.  Stay tuned.

From Las Vegas to San Jose is just over 500 miles.  We'd decided to take two days and see something along the way.  Between Barstow and Bakersfield you cross a small mountain range.  A nice scenic area, shining brightly green with new grass this time of year.  At the top of the pass is the town of Tehachapi.  It advertizes itself as having four seasons (as opposed to what they have back down there on the Mojave Desert floor).  We found a downtown cafe for lunch.  The town history on the menu noted a 7.7 earthquake in 1952 that about destroyed the town. 

When we drove through Tehachapi a couple of years ago on our way to Monterey, Susie had told me that when Manny graduated from Highlands U, he and she had teaching offers from Tehachapi and another California school district.  They turned them down and ended up in Roswell.  And the rest is history.  It was fun, though, to see the town that might have been.

Tehachapi is a railroad town.  Main line goes through here.  One feature is the Tehachapi RR loop: the RR makes a spiral as it ascends toward the pass.  Here's a picture from the website.

Here's some of the terrain near Tehachapi.  As we travel we often see country that reminds us of New Zealand, pardon the country-name-dropping.  As Susie points out, we've got a lot of similar country; it's just that NZ has it more compactly.  The present highway is at the right edge of this picture.  The old one winds down the hillside opposite.  Looked like it would be fun to explore the region.

 As usual, we don't like to constrain ourselves by a lot of planning but by the time we got in the area it looked like we had time to drive into Sequoia National Park.  Warning: We stop for big trees!  Stay tuned for the next posting.

Cheers,

Susie and Rob 

Vegas, Baby!

Greetings, Family and Friends:

We're headed back to Las Vegas this week for the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament. To set the stage I want to provide some pictures and info from our visit a month ago.

We went to Las Vegas in Feb. to see the Lobos game against UNLV, and also to see Heidi and Joseph. It turned out that Susie's sister-in-law, Joyce, and her husband, Jay, were also in Las Vegas. They had just visited us in Cedar Crest for Super Bowl weekend. They travel in (actually, they tow) their fifth-wheel RV doing Habitat for Humanity builds and had transited from projects in Las Cruces to Las Vegas via Albuquerque. Here's their picture at the campground they stayed in near Coronado State Park, just north of Albq.


When we re-rendezvoused in Las Vegas, Jay and I decided to drive out to Hoover Dam to see the dam and especially the new bridge being built over the Colorado River at that site. Joyce, Susie, and Mandi (who had flown out from Denver for the festivities) went shopping.

This project has been ongoing for several years. Because of construction and congestion RVs and semis had been routed from Kingman, AZ to Laughlin, NV to Las Vegas during this time. Last March when I went out to the Grand Canyon Skywalk (you remember that, don't you?) the construction was at this stage:



The two arms of the supporting arch were reaching out to each other. Now, they've met and the roadway and its supports are being added. Building materials - forms and cement - and construction workers are transported along those high wires.



The bridge will be about 2000 ft. long and 900 ft. above the river. It is scheduled to open the end of this year. Pedestrian access is part of the design. I can hardly wait (notice I did not say we). This picture gives you the big picture. Bungee-jumping, anyone?



Not to be forgotten, here's Mr. Hoover's dam:



Meanwhile, back in Las Vegas we visited Heidi's new work site, the Aria hotel and casino, and went to the ballgame. Exciting game and UNM got a narrow win. Here are some tourists at the Aria:



Somewhere along the way, Susie and I decided to continue the Lobos road trip from Vegas to Salt Lake City. The Lobos got another close, exciting, overtime win. This must have been one of the all-time great roadtrips for UNM and we were excited to have been along. It got even better when it turned out that we were on the same flight home as the team. Got to exchange high-fives and comments with several players and coaches. Susie was afraid I might embarrass her, but I think I maintained proper decorum. What happens in Salt Lake City, stays ... .

And, the Lobos just kept on winning. They won their last 14 conference games in a row, finished the regular season with a 28-3 record and a No. 8 national ranking. This week's tournament will determine their seeding in the NCAA tournament. We're hoping to travel to wherever they are assigned for first round games next week. We're hoping for San Jose or OK City. If it's the former, we'll just drive there from Las Vegas. We're making this trip by car, not Tuzigoot. Haven't had much chance to get Tuzi ready for travel this "spring" - still got snow in the driveway - and going by car gives us more speed and agility -- like a good basketball team.

Stay tuned.

Cheers,

Rob and Susie