EIGHT YEARS AGO ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT.....

FOR TONIGHT'S PHOTOS & IN KEEPING WITH THE HALLOWEEN FEEL, LETS GO UNDERGROUND TO THE....CARLSBAD CAVERNS IN NEW MEXICO (December 21/06)

Halloween night 8 years ago was cold & pouring rain.  I remember that specific night because it was the night we drove out of the old farm house lane near Fullarton Ontario for the very last time.  Kelly had gone on ahead of me in her little 323 Mazda loaded with last minute household things.   I wasn't too far behind her with our 97 Dodge Ram pick-up truck loaded to overflowing with the very last of our possessions.  Just enough room in the cab for Max & I.  It would be another couple of years before we met Checkers & the Motormouse.  So, with windshield wipers slapping time in the darkened night & the truck heater keeping Max & I warm & toasty, we made the 40 minute drive to our new beginnings.  It was the night we moved from the cold & drafty old rented farmhouse we had lived in for 8 years to our newer home here in Bayfield Ontario.   It was Halloween night & despite a nasty 'trick' the weather was playing on us, it was a real 'treat' to be moving into our very own warm & very cozy little place.

It was truly an exciting time for us back in September & October of 2002.  We had signed the papers for our 'new to us' place the weekend after Labor Day & from that week-end on until we moved the last of our stuff Halloween night, it was many trips back & forth ferrying our stuff from point A to point B.  Our move from Fullarton to Bayfield was all made possible by my Uncle Harry.  It was one of the last times I remember being that excited about something except when we later bought our Motor Home of course.

Last year on Halloween night we were in Columbus, New Mexico for an overnighter in a quiet RV Park....we were the only one's there.  A little Mexican boy came to our door dressed up as a........ little Mexican boy.  Had been quite awhile since I heard the word, 'Trick or Treat.'  Three years ago we were recovering at a quiet little RV Park in Ellis Kansas.  We had just tangled with a nasty Kansas cross wind earlier that day & had part of our side awning destroyed.  This is my blog from that stressful day....BIG KANSAS WIND.

I have put together a short photo album of Carlsbad  below........

View Full Album

I am probably going to be using mostly file pics from now until the time we roll out next Saturday.  Our weather is cold, gray & damp.  Not many leaves left on the trees & our countryside has been transformed from beautiful Autumn colors to a drab gray forlorn landscape so not very photogenic.  We did have some hail go through late this morning & some snow showers late this afternoon.

We are down to the final 5 days before heading out on our southwest journey so this is the week the majority of pencil check marks will be be hitting our 'to do' list.  If our list had 50 things on it, 40 of the 'things to do' would all be last week stuff with the majority of those 40 tasks coming down to the last couple days & final hours & minutes before leaving.  Yes, it's going to be a busy week.........at last:)))))))))

GROANER'S CORNER: And, it is only because it is Halloween that I give you this one..............

A man is walking home  alone late one foggy Halloween night, when behind him he hears: BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...
Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him.  BUMP...BUMP...BUMP...
Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him.FASTER...FASTER..BUMP...BUMP...BUMP.
He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him. However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping.  Clappity-BUMP...Clappity-BUMP....Clappity-BUMP...
Spinning around on his heels the terrified man runs.  Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, he locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps.  With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door bumping and clapping toward him.  The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup!  Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket...and,
!

!

!

!

The coffin stops........................

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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.

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32 MONTHS AGO TO-DAY WE WERE DEEP UNDERGROUND

THE CAVERNS ARE TRULY CAVERNOUS AND THE WALKING IS REASONABLY EASY

Figured by now everyone must be getting pretty tired of flowers, birds, & sunroom pictures so decided to reach back in our little bag of travel goodies & come up with something completely different. Enough of green shrubs, colorful birds, & cozy sunroons & lets get ourselves deep down below earth into the darkened caves of the CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK in New Mexico.

THIS PLACE JUST BOGGLES THE MIND

It was December of 2006 when we left our cozy little home in Bayfield Ontario early one morning on ice covered roads & blowing snow. Destination was the American Southwest.....somewhere. Aside from a quick trip to Big Bend National Park in Texas back in 2004 this was our first big adventure. We had a spiffy 2004 GMC Sierra truck pulling a nice 2005 Rockwood 5th wheel & the Bayfield Bunch was ready to rumble. LIGHTS ARE STRATEGICALLY PLACED TO HIGHLIGHT THE COUNTLESS ROCK FORMATIONS

Somewhere between here & there I decided I would like to see Roswell New Mexico because I've always had an interest in that alien stuff. We were making our way west across highway 380 when the weather began to turn sour. We were hearing reports of snow ahead & to the north a bit. Had ourselves a close call on some black ice early one morning so decided we had better get ourselves a little further south. Carlsbad Caverns had always been a place of interest to me so we heaved the nose of the truck over into the southwest wind & set sail for Carlsbad.
PEOPLE ON THE WALKWAY GIVE THE CAVERNS SOME PERSPECTIVE

We made the town of Carlsbad in late afternoon & spent the night at Brantley Lake State Park northwest of there. Cold, cold, cold!! We were up early because we wanted to make the 10 A.M. Cavern tour south of Carlsbad and wouldn't you know it....when we went to retract the slide it wouldn't budge no way no how. Finally had to get out the instruction manual & figure out how to get it in manually. Found the iron slide bar, crawled under the slide, inserted the bar into a whatchyamacallit & cranked the slide in by hand. I was surprised at how easily it went in. With all that done we headed for the Carlsbad Caverns just making it with minutes to spare for the 10 o'clock tour. THESE CEMENT WALKWAYS LINK THE MANY CAVERNOUS ROOMS

Boarded a crowded elevator & descended into what seemed like the bowels of the earth itself. A lot of people on this tour but it was just the way it had to be....darn it!! I know the word 'awesome' is way over used these days & it's a word I stay away from but it's the only word that describes what we saw, walked through, & experienced, over the next 4 or 5 hours. This is truly a great place & a must see for any traveler. I won't try to describe the Caverns in words because I don't have a vocabulary large enough to do that. The photos I took that day don't do it justice either but like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so click on OUR CARLSBAD CAVERNS ALBUM which will take you to our photo album. Try clicking on "Slideshow" when you get there because it will enlarge the photos & make the tour a better experience. First 4 pictures are of us getting ready to leave Brantley Lake & the rest are of the Carlsbad Caverns. We have also been to the Kartchner Caverns in Arizona but we liked Carlsbad better . It's much, much, bigger & after the tour you are allowed to wander the caverns on your own for as long as you want. In Carlsbad one price covers all but at Kartcher you have to pay for each room you go to see. You can take as many photos as you want at Carlsbad but at Kartchner cameras are forbidden:(( Kartchner is a must see as well but if I had to choose just one.... it would be Carlsbad. LONG DESCENT INTO THE BAT CAVE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE ELEVATOR DOWN......WE DID BOTH

We walked for miles underground that day & by the time we got our tired legs back to the trailer we decided to stay at a dumpy little RV Park a few miles east of the Caverns at White City which of course is not a city, just a collection of half a dozen small tumble down buildings. At least we were only 1 of 3 rigs in the whole place so that was a nice bonus at the end of a very awesome underground sightseeing day. THIS MIGHT BE A REAL DARN GOOD PLACE JUST TO UP & GET LOST FOREVER!!

It was the following morning when we left there that we stopped at the Apache Canyon Trading Post nearby & I bought my black cowboy hat that I wear while traveling in the southwest...............:)) BE SURE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICS IN OUR PHOTO ALBUM

GROANER'S CORNER:(( I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

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The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...AL.

INTO THE CAVERN & OFF TO A MONASTERY

Max got me up at 1 a.m. for a doggy wee wee & the weather had me up again around 5:30. Wind gusts were rocking the rig from side to side & at dawn's first light we could see how black the sky's were over the mountain ridge to our north. The thunder, lightning, & rain started coming down hard & then became louder as the hail began hitting the roof. I figured right away that what I was really hearing was the end of our solar panels as they were being shattered into thousands of pieces. I rushed outside & immediately noticed the hail was not the large & rock hard stuff we get in Ontario sometimes so our solar panels we're going to be ok. The storm didn't last long & the winds began to subside as the sun began breaking through the parting clouds. A rainbow appeared over to-ward the northern mountain range. All was well in paradise again:)) A RAINBOW AFTER THE STORM

By 8:30 we were scurrying quickly through the campground & across the parking lots heading for the Discovery Center & hopefully the first cave tour of the day. We made it with minutes to spare as the park ranger tour guide & his assistant were just loading 3 other people onto some little tractor pulled carts. Because no cameras are allowed in the caverns I felt I had left a part of me back in the motorhome. We were very fortunate to be part of such a small group because tour groups usually consist of 20 people. And the biggest bonus..... no screaming & hollering school bus tours. A short 3 minute uphill drive had us at the outside entrance point of Kartchner Cavern's Rotunda & Throne room. http://azstateparks.com/Parks/KACA/index.html We were given very detailed instructions on the do's & don'ts of our impending tour. They are EXTREMELY sensitive about protecting these caves from any harm or contamination of any kind. We were even instructed on how to properly carry our coats if we should decide to remove them once inside the cavern. Four heavy duty steel doors made sure outside air would never enter inside. Temperature in the area this morning was about 50F & as we entered through the last steel door the cavern temperature was 70F. Between two sets of doors we were actually sprayed with a fine mist as we walked through a section of man made tunnel. The water spray is to prevent any lint or skin particles from falling off people in the cave & contaminating the cavern. You now understand why I capitalized the word......... EXTREMELY!!

Our tour guide was an older man who has been a ranger here at the Kartchner Caverns for the past 10 years. It was very obvious he loves his job & his primary focus has been to protect these caverns. An excellent guide who explained everything with enthusiasm & dedication. The caves are beautiful & mind boggling. It was the same overwhelming feeling we experienced when we toured the Carlsbad Caverns a couple of years ago. http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/THURSDAYDEC21 The Kartchner tour lasted 50 minutes & culminated in the Throne Room with the majestic 58 foot Kubla Khan column. A 5 minute light show with accompanying music rounded out the very well conducted tour. Sure wished I could have taken my camera in there................................ A PAINTING OF KUBLA KHAN

A year ago at this time while staying at Hickiwan Trails over near Why, Arizona we met another RVing couple, Bea & Herb. We met them again up in Quartzite the following month & since then have kept in touch via email & Facebook. Bea & Herb hail from Aberta , Canada & like to spend their winters traveling in the American Southwest. Our paths crossed again when we rolled into this area yesterday. Bea & Herb had stumbled across a quiet little place a few years ago that just happens to be a Monastery with full RV hook up sites. Anyone can come here regardless of religion & there is no pressure from the people living here to change anyone's religious views . The Holy Trinity Monastery is located just south of St. David, Arizona which was just a 20 minute drive from our campground at Kartchner. St. David is about 8 miles south of Benson Az. LADY OF GUADALUPE CHURCH

Nice to see Bea & Herb again & we all set off on a mile walk around the back property of the Monastery which leads through a woods alongside the San Pedro river. Stopped to look at some machinery that shakes the husks off the pecans. Pecans are a big industry in this area. Pecan orchards everywhere. The path led through some heavy thickets & open fields bringing us in a large circle back to the main part of the Monastery. Walked through the cemetery & stations of the cross area to the Lady of Guadalupe church. Always so nice to see this southwestern architecture with it's heavy use of adobe & wood. Church & grounds were very nice & we even got to fill our pockets with pecans in the pecan orchard. Didn't see many people though so I guess they were all inside somewhere. Our walk took us about an hour & a half & it was good exercise for our legs. Back to Bea & Herb's rig for some pecan pie & egg nog ice cream. All & all, a pleasant way to spend an afternoon with some nice fellow RVing folks. After a short stop in Benson for some gas & groceries we were back to our rig by 4:30 & that was about it for our day. Thought I would take a chance & try out the Park's shower facilities & see if they were scrimping on their hot water here too. Well, was I pleasantly surprised when turning on the shower tap to see steaming hot water coming out. Within seconds I had the water so hot in there I melted all the shower tiles!! Stayed in there so long 112 shouting people lined up beating on the door!! Had it been a coin operated shower I would have had to go to a bank for a loan!! And, if I don't end this blog right now I'm going to fall asleep at the keyboard again & fall right off the chair onto the floor!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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