Author: Leighton and Donna

Yesterday was a very long day. We left Poplar Bluff  and went to the Mingo National Wildlife Sanctuary for a short hike. We thought we would spend the night in Owensboro. While looking for hotels we discovered Owensboro and nearby locations were full. We decided on Campbellville mostly due to availability. It was not the most pleasant stay. In fact it falls in the bottom two. This morning we were up early and headed for Virginia. Since this is our last night on the road before reaching Roanoke we decided to splurge. We are stay at a historic hotel in Marion Va. This hotel made the National Geographic top 150 list of places you must stay and we are enjoying it. We really didn’t plan our return trip well. Next time I think I will put more effort into the return too. For excitement on the way back we have been locating quilt shops participating in the 2017 Row by Row experience. This has been lots of fun. You collect at least 8 Quilt panels designed around a common theme from participating shops. Once you have completed 8 panels you bring your finished project to a participating store and get lots of fat quarters. I have collected rows from  Colorado, Missouri, Kentucky, Arkansas and Virginia so far. Looking forward to arriving in Roanoke tomorrow.

As we walked through the Mingo Wildlife trail we saw some very different wildlife as you can see from the strange fellow below.

There was a white ball from some plant with a pretty flutterby crawling all over it.

The swampy area had some weird flying critters that came in different colors.

The leaves had some shadow patterns on them.

I believe this is the only turtle we saw on this trip.  He was soaking up some rays and he seemed to be saying so long until the next trip.  Hope everyone has enjoyed the past 7 weeks.

We decided to explore a bit of Arkansas today by heading into the Ozarks to see the big cat sanctuary in Eureka Springs. All of the animals were rescued from one tragic situation or another. It is a wonderful place and they are working hard to make sure these animals have a good forever home. After leaving Eureka Springs we traveled up to Branson MO. I have meet several people who vacation there and wanted to see it. It is a bit like Gatlinburg. We drove onto Poplar Bluff to stay the evening. Tomorrow we will head for Kentucky.

When we got to the Rescue park they had a grizzly bear that was having the greatest time in his pool.  He had a stick he played with for a long time the just started doing his water aerobics.  All the animals were rescues given a second chance.  They looked to be well taken care of and as they get more donations they will build larger spaces for the animals so they can all have daily grass time.  At this point they have to take turns having access to the green space.

A yawning and sleeping tigers.

The stare.

We seemed to have visited during the wrong time of the day as most of the cats were being lazy or sleeping, like this bobcat.

They even had a rare white tiger.

When man steps in and changes nature for profit you can end up with the animal like the one below.  It is a cross between a male lion and female tiger (it’s called a liger).  They are missing a hormone that stops their growth over time so they continue to grow throughout their lives.  They said the largest one is over 900 pounds.  Tigers are normally slightly larger than lions and they tend to top out at about 650 pounds so the crossbreeds tend to have bone and joint issues as they get older.

The jail bird really wasn’t one of the rescue animals he just stopped by for something to eat.

They also had some female cougars.  All had been declawed which causes them to walk on their feet when they normally walk on their toes. They also have joint issues because of this.

Since the park is in the mountains they do have occasional visits by outside critters.  Today a snake happened to be crossing on of the tiger areas and it caught the attention of this tiger.  He seemed to be having a good time playing with the snake – not so sure the snake was having a good time.

We spent both days driving through Kansas. Pueblo isn’t far from Kansas, Leighton in 1965 went to Philmont Boy Scout camp in New Mexico, on the way there he visited the Koshare Indian Kiva. This morning we when back to the site in hopes of reliving a memory. It didn’t open until noon and we decided not to spend two hours waiting so we drove on to Dodge City for the night. We visited the historic city which included dinner, a gunfight, and a variety show in the saloon. It was a definite tourist trap but we enjoyed every moment. While we were waiting for the gun fight to begin a young man (there for his second fight of the day) gave us the run down on the fighters, the guns and what to expect. He was having a grand time. In the morning we headed for Joplin Mo. we took some farm roads and saw a lot of wind mills but in general Kansas is kind of long and flat. I never thought I would say this but we were glad to get to Missouri.

The childhood memory that was closed. Oh well, maybe next time.

After the Indian museum was a bust we went to a state nature area and to our surprise there was a locked gate.  We did get a picture of a turkey running away.

A juvenile northern flicker.

And a black headed grosbeak.

We left the closed nature area and went through the town of Las Animas and thought the painted plywood windows of the train station were worth sharing.

We also thought the 1882 courthouse had some interesting architecture.

Southeast Colorado was becoming boring with all the flatness so we took some really back roads that most folks except the farmers ever see.  

On one of these roads we did see a nice red shouldered hawk sitting on a power pole.

We made it to Kansas for more views of the same terrain, below is a view of Kansas from the window while passing through.  The power line poles provided some break-up to the flat landscape.

While driving through Kansas we came upon the town of Mullinville.  It seems there is a fellow there that owns about a quarter of a mile along US 400 and he has been making political art work for over 25 years.  Much of his art work is offensive to many.  For example there is a Porta-Potty labeled Mullinville Town Council, a former governor is depicted as a fat decapitated rat, and a former state treasurer has his face in a toilet with a sign Out To Lunch.  We enjoyed the time passing his art work and have included three pictures to give you an idea of what was there.

Once we arrived in Dodge City, we went to check out the jail in case we got into some trouble.  We decided we would be good and avoid jail time.

We then checked out Main Street.

The saloon offered drinks and gambling.

I always have to check out the blacksmith shop.

Banks are always interesting.

Especially the vault area.

At this point Donna needed some relief and was caught in the act.  It sure was different from many of our relief sessions.

We decided to participate in the local fare for dinner, it wasn’t bad. 

We then went out and waited for the gunfight to start.

After the gunfight we went to the Long Branch saloon for a corny show with dance hall girls and barkeep singers.  Corny but fun.  I enjoyed the show instead of taking pictures.

Yesterday morning we hike the Far View Sites and then decided to explore Cortez. On the way down the Mesa we were lucky enough to watch a very large cinnamon black bear and her two cubs enjoy a snack before heading uphill. Cortez was a very interesting little town. We went to an art shop where each piece of pottery is made by an American Indian artist that you can watch as they work. Incredible pieces of art. Then we found the local rock shop and of course the quilt shop. We enjoyed our afternoon. We retuned to the Mesa for evening explorations.

Today we left Mesa Verde and headed east. It is amazing how the temperatures and scenery can change in a matter of minutes. Out temps ranged from 52 to 90. We crossed the San Juan mountains to the Great Sand Dunes. The wind at the Dunes was unreal. Derm-abrasion for certain. There was a storm on the other side of the mountains and the wind effect was incredible. Two miles away and there was very little wind. We crossed the creek and hiked up some Dunes. The wind forced us back sooner than we would have liked. After exploring the Dunes we headed to Pueblo for the night.

Ma bear standing over her meal.  We couldn’t see what she was eating but she worked hard at it.  The cubs were also enjoying the whatever but you can’t really see them.

Ma bear about finished eating and hurrying the young ones.

Ma and one cub leaving the dinner table.  Obviously the other cub was told to finish what was on his plate before leaving.

The second cub didn’t like being left behind so he grabbed a leg to go and followed along.

At the end of the day we rode around Mesa Verde one last time and the sunset was awesome.

We stopped near a speed checking device for the sunset pictures and I got to thinking about the movie the Rookie where Dennis Quaid stopped at one of these devices and threw the baseball to see how fast he could throw.  Well I had my camera and stare=ted running toward the device with the camera clicking – it was fun but I only got to 10 mph.

The last sunset picture of the day.

On the way out the next morning we looked long and hard for the bears but only found these four elk at a distance in the field.

We made it to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and were treated to this view of the dunes.

After a stop at the visitors center to hear the wind was making a visit to the dunes difficult, we went to the parking area and decided to cross the creek and walk toward the dunes.

Once there it was surprising how far away and how big they were.  We were told they were up to 1400 feet tall in places.  In the photo below you can get an idea of the size and distances from the people on the first dune elevation.

A nice cactus in bloom near the dunes.

A view away from the dunes showing the storm on the other side of the mountains.  This was the cause of the strong winds that were funneled through the valley directly toward the dunes.  It was interesting that the wind was so strong at the dunes but as you went just a short distance away they dissipated to only a slight breeze.

After the dunes we went to a state nature area but due to nesting habitats most of the ares were closed.  We did get a picture of an interesting duck with a cool blue bill.  We looked it up and found it is a ruddy duck.

We saw not just ducks but also damselflys and 

Yellow and brown dragonflys and just wait,

a red faced dragonfly.  What excitement to close out the photographic day.

Yesterday we left Moab and drove through the San Juan mountains with hopes of cooling off. Perry and Steve started their adventure to other places. We enjoyed our time with them. The mountains we beautiful and the drive every pleasant. I could breath in the mountains and started feeling better. Leighton’s cold caught up with him and he rested while I drove. Mesa Verde is hot but very unique. Today we did the 700 year tour which included going down to cliff palace. We had to climb 4 ladders. It is a hike I will never forget. Loved it.

Driving toward Mesa Verde, we went through the San Juan mountains and enjoyed some pretty scenery.

I would liked to have gotten better photos of the waterfalls but I couldn’t see any way to get there other than a long hike so this is what you get.

We were really surprised at the number of bike riders we encountered in the mountains.  Most were going the opposite direction but this fellow was going the same way we were.  We kept passing each other (we would stop for some reason or other and he would catch up).  Since we kept seeing him I thought a picture was in order.

Some of our stops were to look at the flowers,

some were to look at the seeds.

We saw pretty lakes.,

The park is about 8,000 in elevation and you can see below the long climb to the top.

It was getting late when we reached the top, finished checking in at the lodge and got back on the trail of finding the cliff dwellings.  The first one we saw was tucked under a section of rock that had broken out leaving the alcove.  (It turns out they were all in similar areas.)

You can see the cliffs they built in.  The had to make hand and toe holds to climb up and down or use ladders.

To see these structures in person is a true wonder.  The ancient Puebloans had remarkable skill and tenacity to build these in the cliffs.  Each day they had to climb out and go to the top to do their farming.

Once we got back to the lodge, I took some sunset pictures of the local flowers.

Mesa Verde has “housing” dating from about 600 AD to about 1300 AD.  The earliest versions were basically pits in the ground with wooden poles holding up a roof.  They had a fire pit in the center and smoke would rise through a hole in the top.  There were several problems with this design, first the smoke didn’t always cooperate and they had health issues from smoke inhalation. Second, when it rained the sides of the pits would weep water into the living area.

Over time they figured out that if they mixed urine and some other materials in with the dirt the could form a waterproof type of plaster.  The smoke issue was resolved by adding an air deflector in front of the air intake port.  Below is a latter version showing the air deflector – obviously much more refined over the first pits.

Over time the surface houses became more complex incorporating many rooms.  Many of the rooms appeared to have no access and when I asked one of the workers at the site about this he said he had noticed that but hadn’t asked about it.  I would think if you were working to repair these structures you would be curious about what you were working on.

All of the later versions of these communal living complexes contained one or more of these circular structures they called Kivas.  They were used for mostly ceremonial purposes but may have on occasion been used for pot luck suppers.

Another view of the Kiva.

Since the atmosphere is so dry, the wood doesn’t rot and they found many places with the original wood still in place when they excavated.

Tunnels were sometime used to connect rooms and Kivas.

They also built towers.  I don’t know the purpose but it could have been for storage or just and elevation from which to look around and make sure no one was coming to attack.

After a few hundred years they decided to move into the cliffs and started building in the alcoves that had seeping springs (the water just kind of leaks through the rocks and many are still active today but they don’t let you see them).  Below is an overview of the Cliff Palace we toured.

It was truly amazing the amount of work they had to put into creating these spaces.

Here is a three story structure still containing the original wood beams.

Each day they had to climb to the top to tend their crops, and in many places they only had finger and toe holds to go up and down.

Notice the main building level and the level above that.  They utilized as much space as possible to accommodate as many people as possible.  Toward the end of their time, there were around 10,000 people living in the area.  

I know everyone looks forward to the lizard of the day picture and I didn’t want to disappoint.

Although we have both been fighting off a nasty cold brought on by hay allergies, we are plodding on. Leighton seems to be improving much faster than I am. Yesterday, June 18th, we went to Arches National park. It is just plan hot here. We past Perry and Steve several times during the day. We meet up for dinner and had a wonderful time. Beautiful scenery but a lack of wildlife.

Today we drove to Canyonlands national park. Perry and Steve went to Potash and then to Canyonlands. Again we both had great days and met again for dinner. This park is not big but was loads of fun. Leighton and I  started hiking up whale rock. Not feeling my best I suggested he go ahead. Within minutes I saw Leighton running across the top of whale rock. Before I was half way their he had run back down. He loved being up there alone. I was coughing a lot and drugged. For those of you who know me well, you know that coughing and my bladder don’t get along. We were on a canyon cliff and I had to go after a long coughing spell. I had to find some privacy so I climbed a few terraces closer to the edge and found a ledge. On the ledge above there were a couple of trees. I had just finished when I heard a great noise and felt wings on my head. A Raven didn’t think much of what I was doing and dived bombed me. I almost fell down another ledge. It got my heart racing. We then left the park and drove down mineral bottom road. This is a dirt road described by the park service as 4 wheel drivable but a bit scary down to the river. On the way out we came across 2 wild horses. Leighton when out to take pictures and the horses kept getting closer and closer. They slowly made their way to Leighton and let him pet them. I couldn’t believe it. I had to take a picture. I suggested we drive to the top of the cliff and look at the road down that all the crazy people drive. We got there and Leighton didn’t stop. I didn’t want to be crazy, just to look at the road. I prayed loudly all the way down and up. I thought our lives were over. It is by far the worse road I have ever traveled my entire life. Leighton loved it. The hair pin turns were so tight you could see the your own tail lights before you got out of the turn. We got to the river; we were totally shocked to see a sigh pointing to a boat ramp. There is no way someone could take a boat down there. We survived and Leighton had a blast. We enjoyed dinner with Perry and Steve again. We are all exhausted. Steve was so tired he spent a fair amount of time trying to turn off the skylight in his bathroom. Tomorrow we head to Mesa Verde while Perry and Steve head to Blanding.

This morning we had a visitor to greet us as we prepared to leave.

As we entered Arches National Park we were treated to some fascinating rock formations after we had a lesson in how to dress to go to a park.  I love the white heels.

Soon we received another lesson on taking pictures in the park – no need to worry about oncoming traffic.

We finally got around to finding and photographing some arches for your enjoyment.

The next day we headed to Canyonlands National Park.

Cool curves in the rock.

Alligator rock?

Balancing rock.

Whale rock size perspective (see the person in the center of the picture).

View from the top of Whale Rock.

Whale Rock.

After we left the park we went down a dirt road leading toward Mineral Bottom.  Along the way we saw these two horses and of course I had to have some pictures.

Donna was concerned about me getting to close to the horses but since they came to me I got to pet them.

We left the horses and went on down the road to where it started down into the valley.  We looked over the edge and decided to see what it was like. It was sooo much fun listening to Donna say interesting phrases as we went down I had to continue.  We were surprised at the bottom when the road split and to the right was to the boat ramp and to the left the rim road around Canyonlands.  The rim road requires 4 wheel drive and 3 or 4 days to go around.

This is the view from the top.

Here you can see a portion of the road into the canyon.  It doesn’t really do it justice.

Just so you wouldn’t be disappointed, I included the lizard of the day picture.

So happy to be out of hay valley. The fresh cut hay really kicked our butts. The minute we go out of the car in Capital Reef I felt 1000 times better. The local pharmacist said we picked the worse time possible to be in the Delta/Fillmore area (Yes Fillmore is named after Millard Fillmore, 13th president, since he made Utah a territory and Brigham Young the governor). We are now in the Moab house for 3 days. Already doing laundry. It is 100 degrees today and is forecast to get hotter. Perry and Steve are still out playing. They will show up eventually; they have laundry to do too. Capital Reef is amazing. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Capitol Reef National Park (at least the part we saw) consists of roads and lots of interesting and colorful rock formations.  Below are probably more pictures that you care to view but look at them all so my efforts weren’t wasted. 

I got tired of just the rock formations and since there were some pretty flowers, I included some.

Once we left Capitol Reef we went to see the petroglyphs along highway 24.

Well today was hot as Hades but still fun. Perry, Steve and Leighton mined topaz at topaz mountain. I screened a bucket and stopped. To hot. I enjoyed the shade, birds and lizards. Perry was going strong when we left. Steve was sitting in the shade waiting for Perry. I couldn’t take the heat any longer. Leighton wanted to drive to the clear lake bird refuge and then we headed for our hotel. I must admit Filmore is not my favorite place.  The hay is being harvested and both of us are reacting badly. We had lots of fun but I must admit I don’t plan to return and am looking forward to some allergy relief. Perry and Steve will continue to hunt rocks tomorrow while Leighton and I go to Capital Reef National Park. We will meet up again tomorrow evening at our house in Moab.

Fortunately topaz day was sunny and clear.  It just also happened to be fairly warm.  As you can see there wasn’t much shade around where we had to hunt.  The area below was a site that was open to the public to scratch and dig as much as you like.  We chows to go the easier route.

We went to an area where they dynamite the rock so you don’t have to spend as much time breaking the rocks, but you still have lots of rocks to split.

Perry is up on the pile splitting rocks while the rest of us watched from below.  Donna had coaxed me down with the promise of panning for gold.  They had some concentrate and a drum of water so I went through a couple of bags of concentrate.  Since I was rich from all the gold I found we figured we had enough topaz specimens and called it a day but Perry continued on.

While Perry and I were busting rocks (good practice for when we are in prison) Donna and Steve made sure the shade tarp didn’t blow away.  Looks like hard work.

On the way out from topaz hunting we found what the local boys do for entertainment.  I don’t think this is much different from any other rural area.

On the way to the bird sanctuary we went by a marshy area and noticed we were being watched as we passed.

The bird sanctuary was a small body of water (it looked like a lot of it had dried up) and there were a few small water fowl and a lot of damselflys that congregated on one bush.

The most interesting fowl I saw was this devil looking bird called an eared grebe.  You just gotta love those eyes.

On the way to Fillmore we say another interesting formation and as we looked closer it was a lava flow.  This looked like it was one long stream of lava but when we got to the end it was many “rows” of lave.  We really didn’t see and information about it so it remains a curiosity.

Today we traveled down to Delta to meet up with Perry and Steve. We went to a great rock shop in Delta where we met Bob. Bob had a German ammonite cluster I thought was amazing. Thanks to Bob it will be coming home with me. Next we attempted to find trilobites on our own. After a great adventure Leighton and Perry hunted for trilobites at U-Dig Fossils while Steve and I had a very hot hike on one of the nearby hills. It was more that nice sitting under a tree sharing some special time with Steve. Teresa your bother is as wonderful as you. Tomorrow we are heading for Topaz mountain. Should be another exciting day. I must admit one of my exciting finds today is the shoe tree. There is either one pair per person in the nearby town or a pair for every person who has moved on.

It turns out that if you want to look for interesting rocks and minerals in the west you have to go to the middle of nowhere.  As you can see below we were in the middle of nowhere.

We did find a Pronghorn that had an itch and was scratching its neck on the sagebrush.

There was also a salt flat but we were told it was to early to drive on it.  They said it needs time to completely dry out which happens in the August time frame but some people push their luck and try it now and end up having to get pulled out.

We took the advice and stayed off.

Other wild life we found was a Great Basin Collared Lizard.  Colorful and cute don’t you think?

I thought he was cute so I included a close-up so you could really see his smiling face.

Traveling down the road to the U-Dig It site we did see a group of wild horses just milling around.

The U-Dig It site was in the hills past the salt flats, horses, long, bumpy, dusty dirt roads but we did make it.

We did find some trilobites and below is an example of what we found.  To find them we had to split the shale rocks and hope to expose one or more.  It was hot work for Perry and me.  Donna and Steve sat under a shade tree for a while and then went to the shaded tables and waited.

It was a bit sad leaving Kemmerer this morning. We enjoyed our time with Patrick, it felt like we were leaving a dear friend behind. Perry suggested we check out Antelope Island State Park. This is an island in the Great Salt Lake. Perry ran errands and Leighton and I went on to the island. What a beautiful place but the entrance said the no-see-ums had hatched and there would be no refunds because if the insects.  Our first stop was at a beach access.  We took off our shoes and socks and started the quarter mile walk to the water.  We were quite surprised to find the sand was full of rocks and much of it had a crusty layer making it painful bare footed. We finally made it and Donna braved the shoreline muck and walked a fair distance out into the lake. Many people were out much farther than me and were barely up to their knees. The shoreline was nasty but once past it the water was fine. Leighton enjoyed the birds on the island and got some great shots. We didn’t pay attention to the time and had to drive through Salt Lake City during 5 o’clock traffic. We are spending the night in Springville in a Bestwestern. Nice place. Tomorrow we will meet up with Perry and Steve (his brother in law) in Delta. Time is going by to fast for us; we are not ready for this adventure to end.

We made it to Utah.

Utah also has a version of the devils slide.  It does make one wonder about these states that have a slide to keep the devil entertained.

Crossing the causeway to Antelope Island we had this view across the lake, we really liked the reflection.

Here is a view of the beach area we went to.

Donna wading in the lake.

Others were more adventurous and walked out further.

Lots of pesky flies were near the lake and you can get an idea of the rocks in the sand there.

Walking back to the car (with our shoes on) we saw this grass, the ends were soft to the touch.

An American Avocet was wading around in the lake while

his buddies were sleeping and preening.

Driving on the road near the bison corals we saw a Great Basin Whiptail lizard the was very cooperative, until another car came along.

I thought you would enjoy a closeup so you could really see what he looks like.

Lots of critters I haven’t seen before were there.  The following is a horned lark.

I finally got a picture of this bird which is called a Chuka Partridge.  The Chuka is a game bird that was introduced in this country from Eurasia.  It is now found in the Great Basin and southern Canada.  It has also been introduced in Hawaii. 

As we were driving down a road there was this burrowing owl just standing by the road.  I figured as long as it was willing to pose I should grab a couple of shots.

We came across a horned lark just standing on a rock.  We figured it’s feet must be cold.

On the return trip up the hill we saw a couple more burrowing owls.  They blend very well into the terrain.

While traveling around the island we kept seeing a harrier hawk.  It was being very elusive and this was the best I could get.