Tucson At Last

The Welcome Cactus

Tucson, Arizona.  3/5/2014:  Houston, we have syzygy..the planets have

aligned..and now we're in Tucson.  (Go ahead, look it up.)

You can tell I'm where I was headed by the Welcome Cactus (see above) outside Dale and Betsy's front door.  The SuperStorm may have conspired against me, but I was only a day late and a few dollars short.  But now here's Tucson, and that's lovely.

                                              -0-

The day started in Las Cruces, New Mexico, about 250 miles east of here..

It's a fine thing to set out on a sunny bright morning.  If you're ready for it,
the road rolls out obligingly, promising amazing sights, places to stop and lovely notions that occur to you when the scenery is so impressive.  This is the real desert Southwest; the cactus stands tall, the plains spread for miles and mountains rim the horizon like guardian walls.

Consider them.  Ageless sentinels, host to primitive people who farmed in their shadows.  Witness to birth, death, war or peace..but even older than all that.  Formed as continents moved or volcanoes spilled the Earth's foundation, wise beyond imagination, silent as the night.  My God, they're wonderful.

This is Texas Canyon, a passageway through the high peaks between New Mexico and Arizona.  Settlers and soldiers pulled through here, Indians roamed here.  It's always a good place stop, sit and think.  

So I did.

Finish your coffee, then dive down the mountain from Texas Canyon--or Texas Pass--into Benson, Arizona, just down the road from Tombstone, where Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday fought the Clantons that time at the OK Corral.  From Benson, it's a brief run to Tucson where the GPS takes you through modern city streets to a warm and loving welcome back.

If I sound a little gushy..maybe a lot gushy..I don't apologize.  This is a wonderful place to be among family and good friends..and there is a history written on these rocks that stirs imagination. 

It is good to be back.

Hooray.

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3/5/2014

Back In The Old West

The "Old West" 

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Holiday Inn Express, Las Cruces, NM.  3/4/2014:  There is a place where the modern west abruptly gives way to the old.  

It's magic.

This Time Warp is right at the border between Texas and New Mexico.  You can find it for yourself by traveling west on I-40 through Amarillo.  With pastures on either side of the road, you come to the crest of a hill and, as if you cut it with a knife, the road drops into the brown, rocky landscape you read about when you were a kid.  There is no gradual transition.  Suddenly, mesas, sagebrush, golden grassy plains stretch hundreds of miles in every direction.  It's that dramatic!  And it's a sight I always wait for as I make this trip.  The picture above is just a hint of it.  If there is an ounce of romance in your soul, this will make you sing.

                                              -0-

As you can see, I'm in Las Cruces tonight and I'll be in Tucson tomorrow.  This trip has not been without adventure..but last night, I put all that behind me and settled down to a gorgeous 8 ounce filet mignon in no less an eatery than (I kid you not) Big Vern's Steakhouse in Shamrock, Texas.  That. and a huge glass of the best local beer and all the aches and the pains of the trip vanished .. well, pretty much.

I told you that to tell you this:  There is a place called the Big Texan in 

Amarillo that offers a free 72 ounce steak to anybody who can polish it off.  See picture, taken out the window as I roared by:

I have no idea how many hungry  citizens have pulled off this culinary legerdemain..and I probably don't want to know.  Big Vern's 8 ounce filet was delicious and just about all I could handle at that moment.  72 ounces?  Sounds like suicide to me.

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Finally, I paused today to admire my all time favorite rest stop.  This ultra-modern, solar-powered, high-tech facility is located along I-40 west and old Route 66 west of Amarillo.  It demonstrates the modern, technological Texas.  Happily, my second  favorite rest stop is just across the highway on I-40 east.  Totally Art Deco, it commemorates the glory days of old Route 66, getting your kicks and all.

It's things like that that keep you happy as you roll through the weary miles.

Good for Texas.

See you in Tucson.

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3/4/2014

Out Of The Storm He Rode.

Finally. BIG SKY!  Seen first just west of Oklahoma City.

-0-

Holiday Inn Express, Shamrock, Texas.  3/3/2014:   At one point today,

I left the Natural State and crossed into the Cherokee Nation.  Where was I?

I won't hold you up..I left Arkansas and entered Oklahoma.  And a big moment  it was, too.

 For those who came in late..I was caught in the lower reaches of that horrible storm on Sunday as I made my way west from Nashville, TN toward my ultimate destination, Tucson, AZ.  I got only as far as Clarksville, Arkansas when  the heavy rain and beginning snow suggested I take shelter.  And I did. That was Sunday night.  When I got up this morning--it is Monday, isn't it?  I looked out the door and there was my car and several others covered in at least a half inch to an inch of ice.  It took a couple of hours to get it loose enough to go.  With trepidation, the car and I eased out onto the Interstate.  It looked like this:

Right. One semi-dry lane..ice and snow in the other.  Still, we moved at a pretty good pace until we found them..trucks and cars all in a row, and no way to pass.  

We had us a convoy!

Now, I don't want to go on about this too long.  I know a lot of people have a 

similar story to tell. I just wanted to show you how vast this stinkin' system was!  I stopped seeing snow on the ground at about the time I crossed the Texas border.  Look at the side of the car--that is solid ice that would not knock off until I got it into a car wash here in Shamrock and blasted it with hot water.  

I am getting the idea that Mother Nature is sending a message.  Either that, or she is drenching us with water--frozen and/or unfrozen--to fill up the ground because she is planning one hellish summer.  Just a theory, you understand..but think about it.

Tomorrow..Albuquerque and beyond with beautiful weather (I hope).

Seeya.

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3/3/2014

Curses! Foiled Again!

Rain, rain, great big pain.

Sherwood Best Western, Clarksville, Arkansas.  3/2/2014:  I really thought I'd ducked the storm.  I went south to get under it, spending last night in Nashville.  But it found me.

When I started west from Nashville this morning, it was 43 degrees. Then, in a few minutes, the rain started and pretty soon, it was 32  (see temp gauge, lower right speedometer).

 

But I persevered..or plowed on, as the case may be.  

               -0-

It's interesting what you notice while driving through a flood.

I passed Grinder's Switch, Bucksnort, Mousetail Landing and Loretta Lynn's Dude Ranch.  All of that, just west of Nashville.

I wondered as I crossed the Mississippi: why does Arkansas call itself the Natural State?  If it were natural, it would spell itself Arkansaw.  I didn't see anyone running around in the buff, so that can't be what it means.  The roadsides and the fields and lawns look reasonably tidy, so they haven't gone back to nature.  Bill Clinton's from Arkansas...naw, that's not it.

But I had plenty of time to think..even paused in a covey of long-haul big wheels while police cleaned up a mess somewhere up there where I couldn't see.

              -0-

Anyway, I'm dug in.  They say it's snowing up ahead in Oklahoma.  I know this is no big whoop to those who live in the battered northeast, but I thought I'd let you know the storm stretches from you clear to Texas.  I can see it.  I don't have any idea where I'll be at this time on Monday.  

Maybe right here.

Oh, well..there's a Pizza Hut up the street and a Mexican place just outside my door.  

Hibernation is good. Right?

Riiiiight.

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3/2/2014

Headed Out Again

Daybreak

Best Western Hotel, Nashville, TN.  March 1, 2014:  Headed south on 
I-79 early in the morning, hoping to get away from the impending snow storm.
Maybe Nashville will do for tonight, maybe not.

Whatever, I've the got cameras packed and I'm headed for Tucson..a place
full of great family and friends, lots of things to do and great food.  Besides, it's warm.

Today's is going to be a short blog because I'm pooped.  I drove a little long and 
pretty hard today to get that distance.  You could see the temperatures rising as I got further south.  At first, it all looked like the weather was on pause between episodes.  Take a look at the shot on the right.

SnowShow

Although the road is perfectly dry, you can see snow on the forest floor of that hill there.  When I took the picture, the temperature was 22 degrees.  By the time I got to Charleston, WV from my home in Morgantown, the temp had risen to 28 and there was no snow on the ground.  The forecasters say that's going to change in a big way in Morgantown and points east..and that's why the Marshal got outta Dodge so fast.

It takes about three days for me to get to Tucson on the interstates in normal times..we'll see what happens on this trip.

Anyway..it's good to be geared up and going again; it's been a long dry spell.
So here I go, "racing the sun and chasing my shadow" once more.

Wow.

Stay tuned.

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3/1/2014

Colorado. Bits and Pieces

Colorado Skies

Heading Home.  Colby, KS.  7/27/2013    I've lifted anchor and set sail for home.  It's been a great couple of weeks in the Rockies, but there are things to be done on the home front, and I must go, however reluctantly.  I love it out here..but I love it back there.  What's to do?

   There are leftovers in my camera files.  They're too good to let go..so here's where we'll put them.  

   Larry Guss and I "lit out early" yesterday to look for pictures, ending the day at Steamboat Springs' regular Friday night rodeo.  Great day.  

   Looking for a big-eared deer?  I've got one.

 This one was foraging when we drove by..I don't know if it was curious or confident.  Whatever..it posed nicely and then moved off into the underbrush.  

  Hunting animals with a camera is pretty easy out here if you don't get too close (never good with a bear or mountain cat, anyway)..I use a camera with a 300 mm lens, set to shoot about 4 pictures a second.  You can stand your distance and get your shot and everybody..including the deer..is happy.

   I call this one "The Water Snake."   The cattle stay close to water--in this case, a winding creek.   Fun.

-0-

  Steamboat's Rodeo arena.  

   If you don't live out here, you might not understand what a big sport Rodeo is.  More precisely, it is part of the social fabric and ranch kids start riding horses before they get on bicycles.  Rodeo covers many of the working cowboy's skills--roping, riding and wrestling (steers).  Girls start practicing barrel racing at a very young age.  It is the one Rodeo event that is almost exclusively female.

   It takes a real rider to make those tight turns..and a smart horse, too.

   Try that on your Harley. 

   As I said, they start young.  In some of the Junior events, there were riders as young as six.  This little girl got a ride in an early competition with the help of an older sister..but she made the circuit.  Notice how the horses are tethered together.

 Her time was a little over a minute.  But that's a start.

   Then the big guys took over in the evening show.  I'm referring, of course, to the Bulls and the Broncs.  Steamboat's rodeo is a combination of local riders and the pros, who come through town on the rodeo circuit.  It's held every weekend during the summer.

 Ouch.

Man overboard.

   Git'im!!  Now, this is complicated.  The guy who threw the first rope has to get the calf around the neck (the horns and neck are protected by a helmet) and the guy on the other horse has to rope it around its hind leg or legs.  I don't know how it's done, but it doesn't always work.  Just sayin'.

 Going the other direction..

Ay, yi yi...

 Peer's grandstand..

Cowboy

 Buddies

This guy just kept an eye on me.

Ah, well...

 End of a pretty neat day.

Can't wait for next year.

Oh, that was fun.

Seeya.

###

7/27/2013

All photographs in these blogs are copyright of Jim Slade.  2013

Back In Cow Country

Gracenote

Steamboat Springs, CO.  7/25/2013:     If you take a bad picture out here, you're pointing the wrong side of the camera.  

  My old friend, Larry Guss and I set out for Routt National Forest yesterday, intent on nothing but finding pretty things to shoot.  We only quit when we got hungry.

  This is cow country..ranchers are getting hay in right now..mowing and baling huge fields that spread wide in the valleys.  Cattle feed in pastures high on the mountainsides.  The long views are spectacular, but the closeup details are just as wonderful.  So here's another little album dedicated to nothing but peaceful beauty.

  

  

  Rivers race out of the mountains over rocky beds.   On the banks, wildflowers soften the mood.  The red plant is called Fireweed..not because of the color, but because it's the first to come back after a fire.

  

  Aspens and pine.  Everywhere.

The more you wander, the more you see.  The hours slip away quickly.
Those are the Zirkle mountains in the distance.

-0-

   I jokingly ask people out here how they can bear to live among such beauty.  They just smile and roll their eyes.  In truth, the land exacts a price from those who choose to find a living here.  Family ranching is hard, year-round work.  The weather plays a big role, summer and winter..and winter lasts a long time.  But those I've met have never told me they'd rather be somewhere else, doing anything else.  

   Good.  

   We need them.

                                                  -0-

  Passing generations leave their mark.  This old homesteader's cabin was once the center of a busy enterprise.

                                  Now it just tells a quiet story.

Left behind.

Corral.

-0-

    It's wonderful. 

    You'd like it here.  

    I'd bet on it.

Adios, Compadre.  

For now.

                                   Photo courtesy of Larry Guss

                                                   ###

7/25/2013

A Day At the Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park

Lake Country at 8500 feet above sea level

Rocky Mountain National Park.  7/22/2013:   Back home, I usually don't huff and puff to get to the lake.  In fact, it has been my experience that lakes are usually in low spots.  Not so out here.  Lakes in the Rockies are high.  Generally an artifact of the glacier, they're like chains of ponds among the mountains--at least, that's how it works in this instance.

  My first stop after breakfast today was Bear Lake, a popular spot in the Moraine Park area.  Even though I got there at about 7:30AM, the parking lot was nearly full.  The thought occurred to me that I would love to have the amount of money all the cars and cameras in this park are worth at any given moment.  Talk about rich!  

  Anyway..

  This is Bear:

  Check the scenery you can view from that bench. 

   You can walk all the way around Bear Lake at a leisurely pace--good thing, too, because you have to stop every twenty paces or so to take another picture.  At least, that's how it works with me.

   A Park Ranger once told me that any hike he ever took in the mountains was  two miles up and one mile down.  It sure seemed like that today.  I trudged off from Bear to the next nice pond, Nymph Lake, which, the sign assured me, was only a half mile up.  It seemed a lot more than that..but it was a pretty walk, nevertheless:

                        I love sunny spots in the woods.  Don't you?

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         Nymph Lake is smaller than Bear..but it's got water lilies..flocks of 'em.

    These small lakes are bracketed by three 12-thousand foot peaks; Hallett, Otis and Flattop..and what that means to a photographer is reflections.

   That's Hallett Peak there, seen at/in Nymph Lake.  And isn't it gorgeous?

      Well, after all the admiring was done and all the pictures were collected, it was time to shove off.  Needless to say the trip downhill was a lot faster..and easier..than the trip up:

  Like the man said:  "Two miles up, one mile down."  

  I just coasted.

-0-

    I'm off to my friends, Jackie and Larry, in Steamboat Springs, CO tomorrow.  I don't know when I'll post the next Footnote..but keep checking.  Who knows what happens next?

   Seeya down the trail.

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7/22/2013