Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monument Valley
On Monday, we left Farmington at about 7:15 a.m. and travelled west. On the way, we passed Shiprock, NM, to the right.
We entered Monument Valley from the Utah side which the literature said was the most senic drive into the valley. It was spectacular!!!
So, here we are. Two tourists getting their picture made where all of the tourists pose.
The formation to the left is called "Three Sisters".
Merrick Butte is shown to the right.
I could load pictures here all night. If you want to see the rest, I will show them to you the next time that I see you. Maybe a good excuse to come and see us and the pictures!
Bisti Badlands
On Sunday Afternoon, we drove from Gallup to Farmington and on the way we visited the Bisti Badlands. There was a threat of showers with mostly cloudy and very windy. We took plenty of water and wore windbrakers and started on about a 3 mile round trip into the badlands. The blowing sand was a nasty fine grey powder that just loved to get into everything. We hiked across something that resembled the surface of the moon. A gentleman who was in the parking lot when we got 
there said he walks here often and advised us to follow the dry wash until we saw two black pillars. So that is what we did. We saw all sorts of little hoodoos, petrified wood and many interesting formations.
On the left are the two black pillars that we used as our landmark
Sacramento Mountains
On Friday the 13th we were brave enough to tour the Sacramento Mountains west of Roswell. This included a stop at Lincoln, NM and a ride up to the top of Sierra Blanca Peak. The area also includes the towns of Capitan and Ruidoso.
The visit to Lincoln was very interesting, it cost $5.00 per person which we thought was a little steep because only one of the three buildings was open due to a lack of available volunteers on that partichlar day. Briefly, a war erupted in Lincoln between the original mercantile operator and an englishman who came to open a competitive 
operation on the opposite end of town. Many people were killed in the squabble and "Billy the Kid" was convicted of murder as a result. While he was being held in the old courthouse, he escaped and killed two of his guards in the process. He was subsequently tracked down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.
The visit to Lincoln was very interesting, it cost $5.00 per person which we thought was a little steep because only one of the three buildings was open due to a lack of available volunteers on that partichlar day. Briefly, a war erupted in Lincoln between the original mercantile operator and an englishman who came to open a competitive 
operation on the opposite end of town. Many people were killed in the squabble and "Billy the Kid" was convicted of murder as a result. While he was being held in the old courthouse, he escaped and killed two of his guards in the process. He was subsequently tracked down and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.We had a good barbecue lunch at Tom's Barbecue in Capitan. The place was small, the food was good and the owners were very friendly.
After lunch we drove up to the top of Sierra Blanca Peak and experienced considerable snowfall.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Aliens
Today, we visited the International UFO Museum & Research Center in downtown Roswell, NM. We figured that when we tell people that we were in Roswell that they all ask if we saw any UFOs or little green men. Now, the answer is YES! 
For anyone who is not acquainted with the Roswell incident, I will briefly explain:
It seems that just after World War 2 in July of 1947 a rancher discovered some strange material on his ranch. After a couple of days, he started asking questions and telling folks about his find. Well, the military stepped in and confiscated all of his "evidence" and wouldn't tell anyone what the whole thing was about. Soon everybody was talking, speculating, imagining and guessing about what happened. Stories about flying saucer landings, aliens, and all sorts of other wierd stuff started to surface. With the intrigue fostered by the U.S. Government and the speculation by the news media, Roswell, NM became a tourist attraction almost overnight.
We visited the museum and took some pictures and now we have evidence that the whole thing exists.
I thing that the whole story makes everybody look like a..................
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Western North Carolina Search & Rescue Exercise
I really need to spend some time updating this thing. Last week I went to the Western North Carolina Search & Rescue Exercise at Steele Creek just west of Morganton, NC. I went on three night time search missions and was the team navigator on each. The first night it was drizzle and a little cool. We got back at about 2:30 a.m. We did a hasty search along a trail down to Steele Creek. We proved where the subjects "ain't". The second night, We bushwacked across a ridge through thick brush. The dumb lucky team that was a mile or so north of us spotted a campfire from the road
and went up and woke up our sleeping "lost subjects". They sat by the campfire and watched us going across the ridge. We flushed a flock of turkeys off of their roost at about 2:00 a.m. We did find a trail to follow down the ridge a ways and had steep going downhill to Steele Creek. We hiked about a mile and a half downstream along the creek to our pick up point which was on the other side of the creek, of course. There ain't any bridges out there either. The third night, we followed the "Mountains-to-Sea Trail" and checked the perimiter of one mountain top along the way. The weather was clear and the full moon was out. It was beautiful! We got picked up at the same location as the night before but not until we descended a 40 degree slope down for a mile or more. Rubber legs! We forded the same stream as the night before to get our ride.
and went up and woke up our sleeping "lost subjects". They sat by the campfire and watched us going across the ridge. We flushed a flock of turkeys off of their roost at about 2:00 a.m. We did find a trail to follow down the ridge a ways and had steep going downhill to Steele Creek. We hiked about a mile and a half downstream along the creek to our pick up point which was on the other side of the creek, of course. There ain't any bridges out there either. The third night, we followed the "Mountains-to-Sea Trail" and checked the perimiter of one mountain top along the way. The weather was clear and the full moon was out. It was beautiful! We got picked up at the same location as the night before but not until we descended a 40 degree slope down for a mile or more. Rubber legs! We forded the same stream as the night before to get our ride.
The food was good and I slept well in 3-4 hr periods during the day (Couldn't miss the meals)
