Colorado Days

We have been in Colorado for nearly three weeks. We plan to pull out of here later this week and head towards Wyoming. Our plans are a little vague as to what we will be doing, but certainly we will go up the Bighorn Mountains to see the flowers. We may also go to Bighorn Canyon and veg out a bit. From Wyoming we will head to Hatch, Utah in July to a meeting with our Escapee freinds. There will be fourwheeling, hiking,and lots of fellowshp.

See he Colorado pictures. We went up to Bear Lake, in Rockey Mountain National Park last Sunday. There was still snow above 9,500 feet, as you can see. The trout were spawning in the creeks, and the ducks have hatched their young. Meanwhile, I visited daughters and granddaughters, who came to celebrate Katy's graduation.

Bear Lake in June; Dan and his Daughters

 
 
 
  

San Rafael Swell from I-70

 
 
  

Front Range, Colorado

We arrived east of the Rocky Mountains a week ago last Thursday. The ride from Las Vegas to Boulder, Colorado is beautiful. First you go through the desert up to the corner of Nevada, Arizona and Utah. The Virgin River runs through the corner of the three states and forms a very colorful and beautiful canyon. After driving through the canyon, a chain of mountains is crossed. We stayed the first night at Salina, Utah. Silina is the last town, in fact has the last house until Green River is reached, a stretch of over 100 miles. This trip crosses over the San Rafael Swell. This is an uplift of several thousand feet, characterized by spectacular cliffs, mesas and badlands.(Some day, perhaps next year, we plan to take several weeks to explore the swell. There are canyons, reachable only by 4-wheel drive, well known for their petroglyphs. There is also a museum of dinosaur bones, said to be one of the best in the country. There are numerous hikes and other sights to see, I have been told. From Green River, you travel over relatively flat country, following a line of cliffs on the north, until you come to Grand Junction. Here you start what at first is a gradually climb over the Rockies, following the Colorado River. We stayed the next night in Glenwood Springs. Then the climb becomes steeper and two passes, Vail Pass and Loveland pass have to be negotiated. Fortunately, Eisenhower Tunnel makes the entire climb over Loveland pass unnecessary. Then it is down the mountain to Golden, Colorado (home of Coors Beer), about 25 miles west of Denver. All in all it is a beautiful trip, which could easily be made in a car in two days.

We have had few adventures since we arrived. We attended Katie's and Claire's award ceremonies last evening -- a sort of pre-graduation event. Tomorrow is graduation day. Meanwhile,, daughter DD and grand daughter lil' Diana arrived today to enjoy the festivities, so there are some exciting family affairs this weekend.

In the Spring Mountains

This week we moved from Red RockCanyon, near LasVegas to one of the National Forest campgrounds about 25 miles north of LasVegas. We are at 7,000 to 7,500 feet in altitude, so we have gone from 95-100 degree weather to quite a pleasent climate, with very cool nights. We are on the lower slopes, I beleive of Mount Charleston. At any rate there are some snow-covered peaks near us.

Below see some picthres we took of a hike into Fletcher Canyon. This was about a three mile round-trip hike, that started through pleasant woods, with lots of Ponderosa Pines, and eventually came to a small stream . We then followed the stream bed into what eventully became a slot canyon and ended up with three small, but very beautiful waterfalls.

Then we travelled home, had a visit from family, so we had a picnic supper, followed by Grandpa and Great Grandchild Christie making somoas.

Hiking in Fletcher Canyon

 

Red Rock Park, Las Vegas

Saturday night our grandson, Chris and his wife and children came out to our RV and had dinner. Chris and his two boys stayed at the park and tented overnight. It was a bright night with a nearly full moon, so it was a wonderful night to camp out on the desert.

The nest morning Madie and I , Chris and the two boys took a hike out in the desert. In the picture below see Chris, Max and Oscar resting on a rock, against a background of cliffs. In the other picture I am taking a little rest, also . As you can guess, it as pretty hot, so we had to wear hats and drink lots of warer.

Those little kids did real well walking. We went about a mile and a half, perhaps two miles. The trip was just about the right length, as the boys were just about ready to quit when we were done!

A Wild Time in Las Vegas

We have been in Las Vegas about a week and a half, visiting our daughter, Diana and her family, my grandson, Chris and his family and my granddaughter, Dale and her family. So we have had a good time, renewing our bonds, and of course getting together with all the great grandchildren. There are five great grandchildren in all.

We are parked up at a BLM campground West of Las Vegas. It is a beautiful place with lots of good hiking and beautiful cliffs and mountains. So far the weather has been pleasant – up in the high 80’s to low 90’s in the day, down in the 60’s as soon as it gets dark. Next week, hotter weather is predicted, and we may move to higher altitude.

As you can see in the pictures below, there is a wild crowd here in Las Vegas. Wild indeed, we have seen a coyote hunting in our camping area, and there are lots of long- legged jackrabbits hopping about. We were riding around the other day and saw several wild burros. They are protected here. There is a picture of them below under the shade of a Joshua tree – so you also can get an idea of what a Joshua tree is.

Of course many people come to Los Vegas to gamble. I have decided that I don’t like to gamble at all, so that is not much of a temptation for me. It is surprising how pervasive gambling is here, with slot machines widely distributed in area far outside the strip. In the grocery stores and in gas stations there is usually a small area set aside for slot machines.
I wonder how ordinary people could afford to feed that thing for an hour or so every day. Anyway, it seems to be a normal thing here.

We have just done a little hiking. We went on a 3-mile trip the other day. It gets too hot after 11:00 to be very comfortable walking.

Wildlife in Las Vegas.NV

Deserts

Today we are in Los Vegas, NV, visiting our daughter and her family and our grandson and his family. We are camping in Red Rock Canyon, which is a park, operated by the BLM with a small campground. So we are again out in the desert, pretty much surrounded by mountains. We are dry docking, but with all the sunshine here, our solar panels are keeping us in pretty good shape.

From here, we will head for Boulder, CO around Memorial Day. We have not decides whether we will participate in the 8 kilometer race/stroll. I am having some issue with my hips, which may make the walk a little risky for future summer hiking.

I am reflecting that in a little under 90 days we will have encountered all four of the great American deserts: the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave, and the Great Basin Desert. It is somewhat confusing what distinguishes one desert from another, and I gather that the demarcation between them is not sharp. I believe the Sonoran Desert is is characterized by the giant Saguaro cactus. There is a picture below of one of these, said to be one of the largest in Arizona and New Mexico. It is in the Escapees RV Park near Congress, Arizona. Joshua trees grow only in the Mojave Desert. However that is confusing. On the road to Los Vegas from Phoenix, there is one spot where both Joshua Trees and Saguaros grow! In any event deserts can be very beautiful. When the sun is low in the sky in early morning or evening, the colors of the stones in the mountains come out, with many different shades. There is a surprising amount of life in the desert. Here where we are camping we see lots of jackrabbits and an occasional coyote.

A cactus Wren, home in Methuselah

 

Methuselah, said to be about 400 years old

 

Spring in the Desert

Since our last posting we have gone from Texas to Clifton, Arizona and on to Roosevelt Lake. The trip through Texas was very hot and uncomfortable. One day we were told the temperature got to106. We finally arrived at a higher altitude at Van Horne, Texas where the climate and the scenery were more pleasant. Whew! It does seem nice to get west again.

We paid a quick visit to Clifton, Arizona. We have a member of the family there who is extremely ill. We visited him and his daughter, was also visiting. It was sad to see a person so devastated with illness, and we hope he gets feeling better.
After Clifton, we worked our way west to Roosevelt Lake, which is about 70 miles northeast of Phoenix. We stopped a few days to relax a bit and catch up on stuff. It is spring in the desert now. Although they are in the middle of a multi-year drought here, there are still some spring flowers. The cacti are beginning to bloom, and of course the some off the trees and desert flowers are in bloom. A few pictures of the desert are attached.

Spring in the Desert

 

Thoughts on Cosmology while Travelling Thru Texas

We have an abrupt change in plans. Rather than go to Red Bay, Alabama to work on the rig, we have decided to go to Arizona to visit a relative who is ill. So this morning we are in an RV park in Tyler, Texas. The temperature was 91 degrees yesterday, but it cooled off nicely last evening. I had forgotten just how big Texas is. It takes a lot longer than a day to cross, if one wishes to make a reasonable RV driving day (5 to 7 hours).

While driving on this trip, I have a chance to contemplate the contretemps between the believers in evolution and creationism. (I feel this is a dispute by those who feel they must make a choice between science and religion.) However I do not want to walk through that worn dispute. What I do want to think about is the wonder and mystery of the way the actual universe is put together.

One of the delights of story of the creation in Genesis, is the imaging and differences in the world as we know it today and during the time of creation. However, what we know now about the way the universe is put together and the way it was formed seems to me to have mystery far surpassing anything ever conceived even a century ago. We know that in the universe there is a huge amount of “dark matter” and energy, whose properties we do not understand. Atoms are far from the basic building blocks of matter. Rather matter is made up of quarks, which change to charms and on to top quarks if stimulated with sufficient energy. And perhaps even the quarks are not the basic form of matter. The fundamental unit may be tiny forms of energy/matter called strings. As if that were not enough, physicists are postulating additional dimensions, some large and some tiny, rolled in tubes. And the “ Big Bang” seems to be an event that occurred with certainty. To think everything was at one time concentrated to the size of a pinhead. As far as I can tell, no one knows what happened before the “Big Bang”, if anything. Did time exist? Could time exist if there is no space? The wonder of the universe (one of many universes? Perhaps!) and it’s creation seems so marvelous, that it does not seem to me, we need a supernatural explanation of the nature of things. I do not believe we have to have a supernatural explanation of the universe to have religious and ethical concepts of our life.

Spring Training and What's Next

It is spring, and I took the opportunity to go to three of the Cardinal spring training games in Jupiter, FL. I saw them play the Dodgers, Marlins and yesterday I saw them play them their last spring training game against the Mets. The Cardinals look pretty good this year, but perhaps not as good as last year. There seems to be some weakness at second base, and in the paper today I saw that Miles won that position. He does not look nearly as good as Grudzielanek looked last year (although his name is easier to spell). I don’t see any super hitters in the outfield. Edmonds seems to be dragging a little; I am not sure why. According to the newspaper, Cardinal pitching is said to be in good shape, and I suppose that, more than anything will be the key to a winning season.

Anyway, it is lots of fun to go to spring training games. The stadium is small. So all seats are pretty near the field. There are lots of Cardinal fans here at the games, so that makes for a friendly filed. Lou Brock and Bob Gibson are here as advisers. I didn’t see Gibson, but Brock is about on the field, and seems friendly --- signing autographs, and doing the honors with visiting kids on the field. Red Schoendiest was managing the first game I saw (I think La Russa was out of town), so he brought out the lineup for the umpires. He looks good, and it made me nostalgic for the old days in Saint Louis when he was manager.

Tomorrow, we start on our migration west. We will go to northern Florida, where I will visit my sister and Niece for a few days, and then it will be on to Alabama to get a little work on the rig.

We have changed some of our plans. We cancelled our trip down Grand Canyon. I was getting apprehensive, because of some health concerns. The problem is that once you start the trip down the Canyon, there is no turning back unless you have a helicopter come and get you. That is a very big deal, and a rather expensive emergency. Amore likely outcome is spending a series of miserable days on a raft, until the trip is over. I hate to give in to what I guess is aging, but probably it is a wise decision.

Dan and Madeline

Here is a recent picture taken in March. 

Parenting Issues

I read an interesting article by David Brooks, the conservative, but reasonable columnist for the New York Times. He discussed a book, Unequal Childhoods, by Annette Lareau. She is a sociologist who has written about how parenting style influences the behavior children when they become adults. While, it may be oversimplification to generalize, the article discussed how working class parents raise their children compared to upper-middle class parents. .

Working class people tend to think adulthood comes soon enough, and make a sharper boundary between childhood and adult life. Children of working class people tend to be more relaxed, with less whining. Parents tend to give orders, without discussion.

On the other hand, upper-middle class children seem to involve their children involved in many “adult-supervised activities” (thus, for example, we have soccer moms). Children are given choices, and there is a lot of discussion, even arguments, which turn into battles, on what is to be done. However, from this children learn how to talk to adults, and how to navigate in an adult world.

The final outcome? Well although the child’s world in the upper-middle class life is turbulent, as adults, the children seem better prepared for life. They are better able to compete in the world. The children have higher expectations and demand more, whereas the children of the working class parents seem to be less able to compete. David Brooks concludes. “ …. Today’s rich don’t exploit the poor; they just outcompete them.”

I am not sure I agree with Brook’s conclusions. Certainly the availability of a college education is vastly different between the rich upper-middle class and the working class. If it is going to cost $40,000 to $50,000 to send a child to college, obviously a child of a working class parent may well have lower expectations than a child of an upper middle class parent. Nevertheless, there may be something to be said for raising children in an environment more in tune with teaching children at an early age how to interact in an adult world.

Still in Florida, Musing about Health Care

We are still in Florida. Madeline is spending much of her time with her grandchildren and of course, her son and daughter-in-law. Over the last month or two we have spent a lot of time maintaining our health, but also we are seeing some of the problems that friends and other elderly members of our family dealing with health care issues.

We seem to be very fortunate in implementing the new Medicare prescription program. We were able to access the Internet, and price out various options with a wide choice of providers. There are puzzles that I don’t understand. We are technically Texas residents. If we were residents of another state, our premiums could be either more or less. Why?

I believe the program will end up lowering drug costs by a considerable amount. The price drug companies charge for drugs when purchased via a health provider, seem to me to be a lot less than were the costs of the drugs formerly when we got them from our pharmacy. Also, information is provided on the web sites giving the cost of similar, but not exactly the same drugs from generic sources. Thus, one could reduce their drug costs even more by investigating these generic options.

What is alarming about the new program is that it is very complex, and one really has to be able to use the Internet to investigate the options in a rational way. Of course many elderly people – many whom we know - are unable to use the computer in this way, and in fact do not even own a computer. Without doubt these people in many cases will just go to a provider they trust --- it may not always be the best choice.

We are of the age where nearly all our health care is paid by Medicare or Medigap health insurance. It is difficult to see what is the future of the Medicare entitlements. I know we get excellent health care. If government programs are to be curtailed, it will still be necessary to find a way to provide health care for everyone. It seems to me the main argument is whether it can be done with less costs if paid by an individual rather than the government. Anyone that has ever had the unfortunate experience to compare the cost of medical care when the price is negotiated by an insurance company as compared to a price dictated to an individual, understands clearly that an individual seeking medical care has almost no negotiating power, and his (or her) medical cost will be of several magnitudes of what they would be,, if negotiated by an insurance company. “Nuff said, the “good old days “of individuals paying their own medical bills will not work!

January in Florida

Since our last posting we have traveled over the Florida. We spent Christmas week in the West Palm Beach area, then after New Years Day traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville for our annual physical exams.

We survived the physicals. Madeline came through with flying colors, with only the confirmation that she needs new glasses. Dan was evaluated for a cochlear implant. Although the specialists agreed he was quite deaf, he still is not deaf enough to qualify for in implant. We have mixed feelings – relief not to have to go through the extensive work to learn to use an implant, but disappointed that some substantial help is not in sight. Probably we need to investigate new hearing aids.

From Jacksonville we went to Crystal River to visit Dan’s sister and his niece. We found them doing well, and had a good visit. Now we are in Lakeland to attend a wedding of Madeline’s grandnephew (or is it a nephew once removed?)

No big adventures so far. We are enjoying the nice Florida winter weather, but we do miss the Mountains out west. We are looking forward to getting west this summer.