Santuario de Chimayo

We left Mountainair and drove up the east side of the mountains and past Albuquerque. In Tijeras, we stopped at the USFS station to look at an interpretive trail related to the pueblo located there. It was full of interesting information about the trees and plants, how they were used for food, the number of people who lived there, etc. We continued north on NM 14 along the Turquoise Trail (many of the Anasazi mined turquoise in Cerrillos). We skirted around Santa Fe and continued on the High Road to Taos. The first stop was the Santuario de Chimayo, a pilgrimage site for many people since about 1850. All along the chain link fence (which surrounded a pretty scungy corral for horses and a private house) people had placed crosses of various sizes. Some of them were very large and were carried during processions.

Outside the church were these memorials and crosses, covered with flowers, rosaries, candles, crosses and other items. Near the church you could buy candles and rosaries.

The church itself is odd looking with the wooden center between adobe towers. Inside are five painted wooden sacred painting. Off the sanctuary is the room where the pilgrims can dig up dirt and carry it with them. There is also a room filled with crutches and other things indicating the miraculous cures people have had from praying and using the dirt. Off the church was a patio with a restaurant advertising the best tamales in New Mexico. Bob had a burrito on a homemade wheat tortilla and I had the best chicken tamale I've ever had. We shared a bowl of beans with hot chili sauce in it. Later we discovered that it had been written up in Jane and Michael Stern's "Road Food."

We continued on to Ortega's Weaving Shop, filled with wonderful woolen blankets and clothing. Eight generations have worked there. The wool is spun and dyed in the shop and then given to twenty people who weave in their own homes. From Chimayo we continued on to a private disc golf course near Taos. It was 18 holes set around two houses and between a river and an irrigation canal. Bob was the only person playing and I caddied (so that he wouldn't lose his discs on the course). It was called the Two Gray Hares Course and Bob had a great time.

We arrived in Taos in time to set up Snoopy in a relatively spartan RV campground, but it was quiet and had electricity. We went in to Taos to look around the central plaza and in to various galleries. In one of the galleries the owner gave us a real education on quality pots. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant we just found which advertised that it was the choice of Taos for the last two years. It was wonderful New Mexico cuisine.

Lafayette CO & Goldie and Gail

Bob's daughter Goldie and her partner Gail had just moved into a house in Lafayette, CO, about 7 miles east of Boulder. The house had fabulous views of the Flat Irons out of many windows. They fixed us fabulous meals and took us on two lovely hikes on the weekend. The first hike, up Mt. Sanitas, was a work out, rewarded by fabulous views of Boulder and Denver from the top. Boulder is a city with a huge number of people who enjoy the outdoors. We passed lots of young people, old people, kids and dogs on the way.

On Monday we went to Cari and John Muller's house north of Lyons. Cari is the daughter of Bob's cousin Sally's partner. We met them at Ted and Myrna's wedding in Sedona, Arizona in 2005. We were the only people who wanted to hike. We shared a wonderful day hiking in Oak Creek Canyon. They live in this lovely house that was designed by Mark (who is an artist) and Cari's sister. It is stunning inside with Moroccan doors and shutter fitted into the living room, lovely mosaic floors in the bathrooms, and beautiful things everywhere you look. Cari and John have just (June) adopted two siblings (3 and 5 years old) and also brought two dogs and one cat home from Mexico, so their lives have changed a lot recently. They seem to be reveling in the change and Goldie and Gail offered to house sit for them in the future.

This was another example of having wonderful visits with family and friends along this long trip.

Guadelupe Mountain National Park

Guadelupe Mountain National Park, with the tallest peak in Texas, is located in northwestern Texas, very close to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It was only created in 1973. A man had purchased most of this property and then donated it to the National Park Service. The camping area is simply a parking lot with spots marked like parking spots. There is no water or electricity. Despite this, it was beautiful and we had the first cooler night in Snoopy. During the night it blew hard, shaking Snoopy and keeping Bob awake worrying about whether it would blow away or turn over. We met our neighbors, who were a retired National Parks maintenance supervisor and his wife who has volunteered at Carlsbad Caverns for 20 + years. They knew someone in Corvallis who I actually knew - small world.

The next morning we woke up and walked part way up Guadelupe Mountain. The top photo is not Guadelupe Mountain, but El Capitan which is nearby. The second photo shows Guadelupe Mountain. The cacti were in bloom and the color of the sky was amazing.












The bottom photos are of a madrone tree and the bark of a tree.




We then continue on to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. When we got there we decided to open Snoopy to house Darwin instead of placing him in the kennel. I tried to help out and unlocked the roof. The wind was so strong that it flipped up the top, ripping the bungie cords, and landing on top of the car, breaking the end of the luggage rack. We couldn't get the lid/top closed again, but finally with the help of two park employees and a rope managed to close the lid. Darwin had to go into the kennel after all.

Carlsbad Caverns is spectacular. I hadn't been there for over 45 years and Bob had never been. Instead of guided tours, there are now two self-guided tours. You can rent wands into which you punch the number that is listed on a sign to get more information. The advantage is that you're not in a mob of people and can spend as much time as you want. The cave wasn't crowded. The cave is now lighted by a theatrical lighting designer and is very effective. It isn't really bright and focuses on unusual formations. I had forgotten how decorated the cave is. After about three hours, we left, heading towards Mountainair, NM, near Albuquerque.

The drive was realtively boring and when we arrived in Mountainair it was dark and cold and windy. It turned out that all the motel rooms and all the RV spaces in town were occupied by workers on a wind farm project about 20 miles away. We were desperate and the woman took pity on us and said that if we just needed an electric hook up, we could park in front of the office. We did so and in the process of trying to put Snoopy up discovered that I had damaged it more than we thought. It is bent and the four hinges inside don't close easily any more. By the time we got Snoopy set up we were cold and tired. The site was right next to the BNSF mainline and freight trains went past all night. However, we were glad we were warm.

Texas Hill Country

We left Port O'Connor Texas heading toward the Hill Country west of Austin. This was the area that Lyndon Johnson was born and lived in. This area was settled by Germans in the 1850s and the town names reflect this legacy. We stopped in Neu Braunfels looking for a restaurant recommended by the Sterns as having really good chicken fried steak (the Texas version of schnitzel). The restaurant was no longer, but was replaced by Friesenhaus, a German restaurant. There I had curry wurst (a northern German specialty) and Bob had pickled herring. Both were very good. There was also a bakery with great bread, but neon-colored napoleons, and German wursts.

We continued on and stopped at Guadelupe River State Park. The weather was warm and there were people still swimming in the river.






The river was filled with these wonderful mangrove-type trees.
We finally made it to Lost Maples State Park. We never figured out why it was called this, though I suspect it is because there are few places in Texas that have maples which change colors like fall trees in the northeast. This photo shows just a touch of color along the river in Lost Maples.

Port O'Connor Texas & Fishing

Among the friends we have stayed with on our travels have been people we met through Faith In Practice. First we went to visit David and Ruth Hamilton in Hot Springs Village Arkansas. David and Ruth were facilitators on earlier teams. They showed us around, fixed us wonderful meals and Ruth and I went into Little Rock to visit the Clinton Museum and the Old Arkansas State House. The Clinton Museum was fascinating, including a guided tour by Bill Clinton, exhibits organized on the basis of different themes and lots of memorabilia. There was little mention of the impeachment trial, except to explain it as a Republican attempt to get back at him for Democratic gains during the off-year elections. He made numerous positive comments about Hilary. It was striking to hear his view of diplomacy (meet and get to know leaders so that you develop a respect and can use that to encourage people to take unpopular stands) which stands in stark contrast to the present administration. Arkansas politics were the focus at the Statehouse. There are a lot of famous and infamous Arkansas politicians including Orville Faubus, Dale Bumpers, William Fulbright, and Bill Clinton. The League of Women Voters was founded in Arkansas, which was the 12th state and 2d southern state to sign the amendment giving women the right to vote.

We set off early Tuesday morning October 14 to get to Houston for the FIP Gala. Despite the stock market crash the previous week, about 500 people turned out and FIP raised about $347,000 gross. The next day we headed off to Port O'Connor Texas, where Joe and Vera Wiatt, the founders of FIP, live. We drove through a driving rain storm down to the Gulf coast. They live right on the beach.

This is a photo of the sunrise over the bay. When we arrived a cold front was moving through and there was a wind and the bay was choppy. Thursday night we watched the Coast Guard practice rescues in the bay with helicopters, boats and baskets.
Joe and Vera are avid fishermen and hadn't been fishing for three months. When the weather cleared up, they took us out wade fishing for Red Fish. You wear booties and wade through water that is mid-calf to mid-thigh deep. You shuffle along the bottom to scare the sting rays away and to avoid stepping on them. The goal is to cast you mullet (a bait fish which Joe caught with a net) into sandy areas where smaller fish would follow it and cause a Red Fish to come out. Both of us caught 24" Red Fish. This is the first time I've really gone fishing and I had a blast. Vera was my coach and I got to the point I could put the bait on my hook, though I couldn't tie hooks on when puffer fish cut them off or remove my fish. It was thrilling to catch these large fish, which really put up a fight. We went out for an additional half day of fishing, but were unsuccessful. Our grins show how happy we were. We then returned to dock where Joe and Bob cleaned the fish and we prepared a big fish fry. Yummy!
While Joe and Bob were cleaning the fish I watched the barge traffic on the intercoastal waterway. This is an artificial waterway that runs near the shore and is protected from the rough water of the Gulf. There is a lot of barge and boat traffic on it. While waiting I watched petroleum tankers and barges filled with gravel travel up the Intercoastal.
When the guys were finished cleaning the fish they threw the carcasses to the brown pelicans who gathered around. The pelicans are everywhere. This area is along the flyway and we saw brown and white pelicans, Great Blue and White Herons, Pink Spoonbills, ospreys, turkey vultures and lots of other birds I couldn't identify. The pelicans used to be endangered, but they aren't any more.

Pleasant Hill Shaker Village

On our way to Louisville, we stopped at the Pleasant Hill Shaker Village, about 25 miles south of Lexington. Pleasant Hill was founded in 1805 after Shaker missionaries came to participate in camp meetings in Kentucky. At its height Pleasant Hill had 500 residents, divided into five families. The village lasted until 1910. Its downfall occurred from a combination of the Civil War and bad business decisions. During the Civil War, the Shakers were pacifists who opposed slavery. However, they were not attacked by either side. However, 10,000 troops passed through the Turnpike to the left on their way to and from battles, particularly the Perryville campaign in 1862. The Shakers fed the troops and treated the wounded, at great personal sacrifice. After the Civil War many converts came to Pleasant Hill, some because they were disabled and couldn't support their families, some widows with children, and some orphan children. As a result there were children in Pleasant Hill. Prior to the Civil War the Shakers had made and sold brooms, boxes, seeds and the first medicines available from a catalogue, mainly to southern markets. Those markets dried up after the war. That, combined with the industrial revolution which improved the lives of all people so that the relatively prosperous life represented in Pleasant Hill was no longer such an attraction, plus some bad business decision caused the abandonment of Pleasant Hill in 1910.



This is Centre Family House, home to 100 men and women who lived on separate sides of the house. They ate in the house, had an infirmary, and met for evening Meetings in an upstairs room. The building was designed by a man who also designed many of the other buildings in the village. He placed the buildings to take advantage of the Kentucky winds and ensured that every room had cross ventilation. There was a cupola that opened to let the hot air out. There was an infirmary, over the kitchen, to treat the ill.
One of the things that the Amish manufactured was brooms. This man still does so. The Shakers used to raise broom straw, though it is now imported from Mexico. In addition to making floor brooms (which last for decades), he makes turkey wing wisk brooms, pot scrubbers, cake testers, etc. He was a font of information. Among other things, there are about 190 employees.
This shows the dual stair cases in Centre Family House (used separately by men and women). One of the Shaker beliefs is that since man sinned they must be celebate. This photo also shows the lovely design of Centre House (arches and wood work).

Monticello, VA

Thomas Jefferson built Monticello (little mountain) over a period of 40 years. He started by flattening a mountain top on the 5000 acres he inherited. He and his wife began living in one of the small houses at the ends of the L's that embrace the main building. Monticello was busy (even though it was a Monday in October). We had a tour of the house, including the green house, Jefferson's third library (one was destroyed by fire and the second was donated to what became the National Archives), his room filled with evidence of his multiple interests, and the entry hall filled with artifacts from Lewis and Clark and others which were intended to educate people while they waited to see Jefferson.
There was no good water source at Monticello, which is on the top of a hill. Jefferson built four cisterns and collected rainwater. Since the L's were built underground with walkways on their roofs, he made the roof corrugated (note the different width beams in this photo) to collect additional rainwater. Jefferson also designed an underground corridor which connected each L under the main house. There were store rooms, a wine cellar (NPR says that will be open to the public next year with a lot of information about the types of wines Jefferson collected) with a dumb waiter to carry bottles to the Sitting Room, a cider/beer cellar, etc.
Jefferson became a devotee of French cuisine after he served as the US Ambassador to France. He brought one slave with him to be trained as a French chef. Monticello's kitchen included this 8-burner stove which permitted the simmering of sauces. The copper pots came from France. The kitchen also had a fireplace with a spit which operated by means of a weighted pulley system and a baking oven.
Monticello also includes this huge garden (1000' long) which was originally surrounded by a palisade wood wall. The garden was built on a flat ledge which was partially built on a stone wall. In the garden Jefferson experimented with over 350 different varieties of vegetables. Below the vegetable garden was an orchard with more than 150 different varieties of trees. Jefferson did a lot of grafting himself.

We walked from here to his gravestone which famously remembers him only for the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia freedom of religion clause in its constitution and the creation of the University of Virginia and ignores his service as VP, President and ambassador, positions Jefferson thought it was simply his duty to fill.

Jefferson, had about 200 slaves and only freed about 7 during his lifetime. Though he abhorred slavery and had promised the slaves freedom at his death, due to the huge debts on the plantation, they were all sold.

University of Virginia

We headed off from Tunkhannock after a stop in Wilkes Barre to have the power converter (which converts 110 to DC and runs all the lights in Snoopy) replaced. We had an unpleasant experience with the service provider, but they had us and we had to pay more than we had agreed to. We went down to Kendal (near Philadelphia) to visit my Aunt Allie (94) who is still very sharp. She told us some more things about the Cottage (which was built in 1908). I had remembered a huge washing machine made out of a barrel in the basement. She said it was a commercial washing machine purchased by Louis and Caroline since there were 3 kids in diapers. Then we headed to Newtown Square to visit Albert Fletcher, the father of our Corvallis vet. When we got there, the Volvo refused to start. Bob spent a long time dealing with AAA to get a tow, etc., but when he finally went out to meet the tow truck it started again (Yeah!!!!). We took off towards Gettysburg, where we arrived about 10 p.m. (the latest we've arrived anywhere on this journey). We ended up stopping in York PA at Sal's Italian restaurant for really good pizza.

The next morning we took off towards Skyline Drive in Virgina via the back roads. Skyline drive goes right along the narrow spine of a mountain range. It was designed as a national park in the 1930's specifically for cars, so it has multiple viewpoints. It was intended to give East Coast residents a taste of the outdoors. Over the years, it has grown more wild.

We arrived in Charlottesville, VA where my friend Madelyn Wessel (a fellow higher ed attorney) and her husband (a fellow MD/PhD diabetes expert) and their two dogs (Penelope the Springer Spaniel and Keppler the beagel) live. Madelyn had a wonderful dinner for us when we arrived and gave us a tour of the University of Virginia on Friday. Here we are in the back of the gardens along the Academical Village. The gardens are behind the Pavillions where VPs, the Provost and other high-ranking administrators live. They are open to the public and anyone can go in and sit down to eat or enjoy the space.

Thomas Jefferson designed the Academical Village. This view shows the Pavillions (with the tall columns) and the Student Rooms (behind the smaller columns). Seniors, chosen by their peers, live in the Student Rooms, each with its own fire place and no bathroom. The Rotunda was closed for Board of Visitor meetings, but we went up to the dome room.

This is a picture of the walls that surround the Academical Village. They are all serpentine. When Madelyn went back to work, we visited the Special Collections. One was on North American Maps from 1500-1800. The other was the Albert H. Small Declaration of Independence Collection. It includes one of the first 25 Broadsides of the Declaration of Independence distributed to newspapers and elsewhere the day after the Declaration was agreed to, various letters related to it, examples of various reprints of the Declaration and various takeoffs (including one promoting temperence).

More Tunkhannock Photos

This photo shows the beginning of the fall colors in Tunkhannock. As we drove south, the colors became less pronounced.
Some of the historic houses in Tunkhannock. This is the Piatt-Ogden House, built in 1896 by a local lawyer.

The view from the look out over the Susquehanna. The property across the river is owned by the Nature Conservancy. The Susquehanna at this point makes a huge goose neck, called the Narrows. Tunkhannock is in the center right of the photo. Our property does not include the look out, though we do own some property down on the river in the center right of the photo.

Reflections on Tunkhannock

Bob and I returned to Tunkhannock the end of September in order to fit in a visit with friends in Virginia who weren't returning from Germany until October 1. As we were driving from Connecticut to Tunkhannock, just prior to stopping at a disc golf course east of Scranton, we got a phone call from Markus asking when we were going to arrive. The masons and the cement truck were arriving Friday morning at 7:30 to finish the back of the garage space under the Cottage and were also going to pour the floor for the GARN unit in the carriage house. To be ready, we needed to spread gravel and place steel mesh in the Carriage House and Markus was alone (though Tiny Sands was coming with a skid steer to help move the gravel). We pushed on to Tunkhannock and Markus and Bob worked till about 9 p.m. to get everything ready. We all woke up the next morning to dig the space and build the form around the pad for the emergency generator in the Carriage House. We finished just in time for the cement pour.

Markus left Monday afternoon and Bob and I were alone in Tunkhannock. We stayed in the Cottage and would work part of most days. We finished the following jobs:

1. Placed rocks as steps at the opposite end of the pond from the beach. Since the pond had to be lowered to repair the leak this is the only time these rocks could be placed.
2. Repaired a portion of the drive that had eroded with large rocks and gravel.
3. Finished installing the south window and door in the living room and put foam around the west facing windows.
4. Removed the wood frames from around the concrete slabs in the Carriage House.
5. Moved almost all the tools and supplies from the porch to the basement and organized them.
6. Raked and shoveled dirt around the door slabs on the back of the house.
7. Put more gravel into the Carriage House next to the GARN slab so there is a flat surface to walk on to place wood.
8. Painted two coats (primer and enamel) on the roof of the Horse Shed.

It turns out that Markus and I egg each other on into a frenzy of work. When Bob and I left Tunkhannock, we were exhausted (as was Markus). I was trying to keep up with Markus and he was trying to keep up with me. Bad combination. We understand that we have to slow down in the future. Without Markus around, Bob and I rarely worked more than 3-4 hours a day, a much more reasonable pace. We also had to slow down due to three days of steady rain.

As a result, we also did a lot of fun things. We visited Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton. This is a working steam engine repair facility with a working round table and repaired steam trains and a great museum. Since it was mid-week and after school started, there were not a lot of people. We took a tour to the repair facility, which was really interesting. The facility has collected lots of machines necessary for repair of steam engines and cars and they are actively repairing engines. The top two photos are of the UP engine (25 of the largest steam engines in the world were built for UP to go over the Rockies) with a little switch engine and the turn table in the round house operating. We spent most of a day at Steamtown. There is also an electric trolley museum next door that we didn't visit.

The Deiterich Theater in Tunkhannock has a film festival in the fall. We went to one movie every day. We saw the following films:

American Teen - A documentary of HS seniors in NE Indiana, including the most popular girl, her cohort and various outcasts. It is an amazingly frank look at the lives of teen agers, sex, drugs, depression, etc. The movie also uses animation to express some of the dreams of the teens. Highly recommended.

The Children of Huang Shi (starring Johathan Rhys-Meyers) - A true story of an English journalist who sneaks into China to cover the Sino-Japanese war who ends up running an orphanage. The orphans are all boys and to avoid conscription into the army, he takes them on a 500 mile trek through the mountains in winter. It's called the Mini Long March. The scenery is fabulous, the story amazing, and there is great acting. Highly recommended.

Elsa and Fred (in Spanish) - A love story among septagenarians. A very sweep film which we enjoyed immensely.

Encounters at the End of the World (by Werner Herzog who directed Grizzly Man) - A story about McMurdo Station in Antarctica and all the strange people, inveterate travellers, who end up there. The photography is stunning, the science being conducted on volcanos, penguins, under ice organisms, etc. is really interesting and the interviews with the people are quirky. Highly recommended.

The Last Mistress (in French) - This was the one movie we didn't really like. It is beautifully photographed, but is about a young man who has a long-term liaison with a mistress. There was lots of sex and sexually explicit discussions, but it left us cold.

Mongol (in Mongolian) - This is the story of Ghengis Khan and gives one a different perspective on this man's life. The photography is gorgeous and the battle scenes are like some of those epic battle scenes in the Tolkein trilogy. Apparently he was a very devoted husband and father, though he spent more time away from his family than with it and his wife was almost as amazing as he was. Highly recommended.

Transsiberian (with Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer and Ben Kingsly) - This is a thriller set on the Transsiberian RR. It was the first movie we saw, and though there is some violence, the story is gripping. Highly recommended.

Up the Yangtse (in Chinese) - This is a movie about the effect of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam and the people in its wake, seen partly through the eyes of tourists riding up-river on a boat. There are haunting pictures of these markers along the river showing where the flooding will rise to. The movie is seen partly through the experiences of two people who work on the boat, one a self-centered young man who speaks good English and the other a very poor girl who wants to go to school but whose parents need her to work and send money home. The photography is beautiful and the effects of this dam on the people is brought out through the two stories. Highly recommended.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Woody Allen's latest film) - This is a truly funny film about love in Spain. It's better than a lot of Woody Allen's recent films, but I'm not a total fan. Recommended.

The Visitor - This is a fabulous film about the interaction between a widowed economics professor from Connecticutt who comes back to his Greenwich Village apartment to find an African couple living there. The man plays drums and teaches the professor. The women makes jewelry and sells it on the streets. It was the best movie we saw; investigating the problems of illegal immigrants and the US policy about them.

Ann and Vern arrived on Sunday for two days and we walked around Tunkhannock looking at the historic houses. We also drove out to Nicholson to show them the Nicholson viaduct (the longest cement bridge in the world). It was built to shorten, straighten and remove track crossings on the railroad in the 1920's. The owner of the Lackawanna RR spent the equivalent of $1B to make all sorts of repairs and improvements to the RR to move freight faster, and thus earn more money. We also walked out to the overlook 500' above the Susquehanna (Bob hadn't seen that either).