Too freakin' hot!!

Hi everyone!

We made it into Palo Alto last night around 2:30 a.m. but we wanted to share a couple of shots from our drive through the Mojave Desert yesterday.  Keep in mind the external thermometer is not spot on 100% of the time but its good to within a degree or two and these temps were taken while doing about 70 through the desert (with the A/C cranked!). And you thought it was hot where you are!

RhK Rob

The Long-Awaited Pony Post!

Ponies of Assateague Campground A Loop

When we were staying on Assateauge there was one herd that hung out around our campground for the majority of our stay. This allowed me to "get to know" them a bit and have fun playing scientist observing their behavior and interactions.  Their histories I gleaned from badgering the park rangers and volunteers. When we get home I'm hoping to do some more research and find out more about them and fill in some of the missing information below.  Without further ado....The Ponies!

Left to Right - Mohawk, Belly, Footsie

Mohawk

Sex: Stallion

Color and Markings: Chestnut, no markings

Distinguishing Features: Distinctive thick and long mane, overgrown front hooves, especially the left

Age: Approaching teens?

Behaviors: Tends to stay a ways behind the herd on “look out”

History: Mohawk took his current mares from Sham, who is now a bachelor stallion. He grew up around the park entrance and, after being often fed by visitors, became a habitual biter. Eventually he was enough of a danger that the rangers moved him to a coral behind the visitor center area and would walk around the pen, scaring him when he approached to help disassociate humans with food and discourage biting.  He was released at the southern end of the island with other bachelor stallions and eventually made his way back up to the park this year. No biting so far.

Other Names: Joy ("official" park name), The Biter

Park ID:

Unfortunately I did not get many pictures of Mohawk, given his tendency to be behind the herd, and my tendency to stay far away from unknown stallions.

Belly

Belly

Sex: Mare

Color and Markings: Chestnut with stripe and roaning on the left cheek and left belly

Distinguishing Features: Looks pregnant due to salt bloat

Age: 25

Behaviors: Appears to be the lead mare in this band, seen on “look out” while others grazed. When Footsie and Laurie wandered off Belly was calling for them along with Mohawk.

Other Names: No park name given

Park ID: unknown

For her age Belly looks to be in excellent health. Since the park started using contraception to control the number of ponies on the island the life expectancy for mares jumped from 10 to 15 years up to 25 to 30 years! The stallion life expectancy jumped as well, probably due in part to less competition from younger stallions.

Footsie

Footsie

Sex: Mare

Color and Markings: Chestnut with a star

Distinguishing Features: Shaggy coat, looks like cushings. Over grown front hooves, especially the right.

Age: 24

Behaviors: Hangs out by showers and water pumps, known as a camp raider. Appears very independent and tends to be slightly apart from the rest of the herd.

Other Names: Park name may be Annie?

Park ID: unknown

As one of the volunteers put it Footsie is the old lady who does what she wants because she's lived long enough that she doesn't feel like she owes anything to anyone anymore.  She's a year younger than Belly but has aged less gracefully, her extra-shaggy coat may indicate cushings and she has that "old horse" look. I first met her after heading to the restroom I saw some guy washing his dishes at the water spigot (Bad camper!) and after he was done Footsie came over to drink from the puddle that had formed.  She couldn't have cared less about the bathroom door opening inches from her hindquarters, the risk taking tourists that were crowding waaay too close, or the fact that the rest of her herd was nowhere near.

Annie Laurie

Annie Laurie

Sex: Mare

Color and Markings: Chestnut Paint. White legs and rump, white star shape under jawbones.

Distinguishing Features: Nice conformation, good feet

Age: 3-4?

Behaviors: Apparently quite a headache for stallions, Laurie joins a new band when she gets “bored” of the current one. Curious and bold she will approach people if they are “in her way” or to look for handouts and is difficult to shoo away. Known as a camp raider.

History: Laurie is the daughter of the one mare in the park that the contraceptive doesn't work on. She is the 5th or 6th foal from Carol's Girl, who was expecting again when we visited.

Other Names: Chin, the paint (by me)

Park ID:

 

White bum and Star under jawbones

Baby 

Baby

Sex: Mare

Color and Markings: Chestnut with a small star

Distinguishing Features: Short mane and tail, leggy

Age: Looks to be around 1½ - 2

Behaviors: Baby is curious and friendly, approaches people, seems to want to make friends rather than demand food. Almost always close to one of the older mares, particularly Belly or Laurie. Occasionally seen initiating play.

Other Names: Park name unknown

Park ID: unknown

Annie Laurie and Baby

Heatstroke and Flagstaff

Good morning viewers,

So  our journey through the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest NP took a bit of a turn for the not-so-good yesterday with Miriam getting pretty sick after a short 15 minute jaunt outside the car and into the 107* desert sun.  We limited most of our siteseeing to slow drive-bys in the sub zero chill of the air-conditioned Buick.  Even so, it was an amazing park, one I would go back to again in a heartbeat when the temperature is back down in the double digits.  Seeing the petrified logs and learning about how they were made from my co-pilot slash geologist was a really terrific experience. 

On our short hike off the road we got to see some spectacular wind-eroded stone, sun-baked desert soil (the crackly kind that looks like tan peanut brittle), and a few amazing specimens of petrified wood in pristine condition.  We also ran across one of only two members of the category fauna that we saw in the entire park,  a tiny and skittish lizard hiding in a cool rock formation (cool as in temperature, although it sure was neat to boot!)  The second animalian cousin of ours was a very proud raven who seemed to LOVE showing himself off to everyone's cameras in the parking lot of one of the overlooks.  I followed him around the parked cars for a bit, snapping shots of what seemed to be intentional poses for my camera.

We met our raven friend at a place called "Newspaper Rock", which was a collection of boulders on the desert floor peppered with beautifully preserved petroglyphs.  Most of the symbols seemed logical - horse/antelope looking things, lizards, stick people, moons - but what it all meant stuck me as quite a mystery.  I'm not sure if anyone has ever deciphered them, but it was amazing to get to see them just as they were thousands of years ago when someone carved them into the rock.  I wonder if they mean something deep and philosophical or just simply the news of the day, like the earliest recorded writings were.  I think it was the ancient Sumarians (I could be wrong here) who first invented a written language not to impart ancient wisdoms onto future generations but simply to keep track of business transactions to make sure their debts and dealings were settled.  Either way, I strangely don't mind not knowing what they mean since it doesn't detract from what an awesome thing it is to actually SEE the handiwork  of people who lived long long ago.  Its a totally different experience from seeing it in a textbook or on a television program. 

Throughout the desert we saw mesa after mesa with beautifully colored stratification and forms.  It was amazing to think that the wind and desert sand can form hills and valleys here when its usually the force of water (about 1,000 times denser than air) that does most of the work shaping landscapes where we live.  The colors in this part of the desert ran the gamut from reds and pinks to violet, dark and light blues, greens and yellows, and the ubiquitous tan and brown with many areas covered in a deep black (ash from ancient volcanoes).  I found the southern end of the park to be far more exciting and beautiful than the northern area, which encompassed the famous Painted Desert.  Maybe it was the diversity in the south with the petroglyphs and petrified forest, rather than what seemed to me as a colorful collection of hills that stretched on forever. 

After passing through the park we stopped a rock shop (I'm sure there's a name for it, kinda like how you call a bread store a bakery)  about 20 miles west where there was an enormous collection of petrified wood among dozens and dozens of other types of minerals and stones.  Apparently the owner had a huge tract of land in the area where he harvested (mined?) the rocks and wood.  We left with a few chunks of petrified wood and picture sandstone to add to our geology collection at home, since taking anything from the national park is illegal, as well as bringing what we have been calling "bad juju" on us, which is certainly not something we want being literally in the middle of nowhere half the time. 

A short hotel stay in Winslow, AZ and an hour drive west on I-40 has found us in a little hipster cafe in Flagstaff, AZ.  So far it has been one of the cleanest and least congested cities on our trip (that we've driven through), and the temperature dropped from 96 on the highway to a bearable 86 in town.  We decided to cut out the rest of the southwest portion of the trip on account of Miriam routinely getting sick from the excessive heat.  Our minds were made up when we saw a weather report this morning warning of a "killer heatwave" about to spread across the southwest,  with temperatures reaching 110 and higher, up to 130 in Death Valley.  We should be able to reach the west coast today or tomorrow and the relative safety of the cool ocean air to avoid another repeat of yesterday. 

The Buick is also fairly unhappy in this high heat, threatening several times to overheat when we drive slowly or uphill for extended periods (like getting to a campsite or through a city).  On the highway it is still running just fine, even when the outside temp is reading 110*.  The less we have to stress out our 20 year old car in this heat, the better off we'll be down the road.  We are also going through ice much more quickly with this relentless heat, making it risky to keep fruit or meat  with us, and we're both pretty sick of oatmeal and canned food at this point.

So its on to the west coast at this point.  We'll miss the Grand Canyon and Arches NP, but we're going to try to make it to Joshua Tree, although the temperatures are not looking terribly agreeable there either. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures with this post, all our photos were taken on the real camera and I'm once again on my phone. Updating has proven to be more cumbersome and difficult than we anticipated, especially when it comes to doing so with the laptop.  Hopefully when we are in a "base" in San Fransisco or Palo Alto we will be able to do a better update and fill in some of the gaps in our trip (there are many!).

Till next time!
RhodeKill Rob

Too Hot!

So Petrified Forest was very cool, and we got lots of pictures that (as usual) will be put up at a later date...cause that's how we roll! Unfortunately once we got out of NM and the "high desert" and came down to the Arizona "burn your face off desert" (as Rob so endearingly dubbed it) my northern temperate heritage could no longer handle the heat.  After only about 15 minutes out of the car looking at the awesome petrified logs, I started noticing signs of overheating that set off my personal warning bells (I imagine them as the kind that go "woooop woooop woooop") letting me know that I was in trouble.  Back in the air-conditioned car I drank 2 full nalgene bottles and we drove straight through the rest of the park, enjoying the amazing scenery from the car.  We also got to look at the car's outdoor temperature sensor (which is surprisingly accurate) and got to see it hit a whopping 107*!
Despite hanging out in the visitors center for a bit and getting some cold water in me, the damage from getting over heated was done. The stress on my body set off my anxiety and after dinner we decided to get a hotel for the night.  Rob was excellent, managing to get us a room (and me inside it) while making sure not to do anything that would make my anxiety worse. Not as simple a task as it may sound like folks!
So after waking up this morning feeling much better, we checked the weather and saw the massive heat wave headed this way (130* forecast in many areas!) we have sadly made the decision to start heading toward Califonia, and leaving the many amazing sites out here for another trip, preferably in late fall! So stay tuned for further unexpected adventures of Miriam and Rob, Road Trippers!

-Miriam, The No Longer Overheated

Moving on to AZ

Good day vicarious travellers!

Today we left our camp for the past 4 days at BWSP and headed farther west down Rt 40 to our next stop at Petrified Forest National Park.  We are going to try doing some hiking off the roadway today even though its 100 degrees and the clouds are few and far between.

Till later,
RhK Rob 

Assateague Pictures, 1st batch

Welcome to Assateague! I have many stories but want to get the pics up first, since they are worth 1,000 words and it's much quicker to put up 1 picture than 1,000 words.

Assateague is a barrier island so it's extremely long and skinny.  Our campsite was on the bayside, I'd been given a hint by my awesome barn owner Lisa that bayside was the place to be if you wanted to see horses. She brings the 4-H team and other interested parties down here every couple of years so she knew what she was talking about!

This is our initial unloading. If you compare to the Water Gap pictures you can see we are already getting a bit more efficient.

We discovered that chocolate wrappers are NOT waterproof. My insistence that they be stored in the cooler to keep them from melting backfired as the ice melted and waterlogged our delicious Job-Lot bought swiss chocolate stash.  We decided to try and dry them out, since wasting chocolate is never an option.

 They still tasted somewhat like chocolate, and wet chocolate is better than no chocolate!

A view from the other side of the camp.  Beyond our stuff you can see the marsh, beyond that is the bay, and then the Maryland coast is just visible as  dark line.

Our dinner, kielbasa and corn. Nom nom nom!

After the "stampede" the first night we caught a picture of this horse out in the marsh behind the campsite. This is the first of many, many horse pictures (not included in this post) and is the mare I  later dubbed "Belly". She can be identified by her large belly (I'm so creative!) and the roan patches on the left side of her face and belly.

You got to see the view of our sleeping quarters from the outside of the car, here's what it looks like from the other side! There's no cooler with us, there are no bears on Assateague but we did push the cooler under the picnic table so that hungry ponies couldn't get into it.  Don't laugh...there are signs and pictures all over the park of how destructive these guys can be if they think you have something tasty in a tent or cooler.

Allright folks, I want you to know that in this next picture no trick photography was used, no stunt doubles or photo-editing...

Yes indeed folks, believe your eyes that is the Miriam you all know and love cooking. Here's another shot for those who remain skeptical.

So the first morning on Assateague we had bacon and potatoes fried in bacon grease...mmm mmm yum! (And for all you people appalled by the health risks of this breakfast, please note the very healthy tea and cranberry juice also included...Rob had coffee and an 11 mile bike ride)

It turns out that despite my lack of enthusiasm for cooking in a kitchen, outdoor cooking seems to tickle my fancy and I've been quite happy to prepare most of the meals (and do the dishes!) on this trip while Rob does site set-up, car-packing and fetches water (6 gallons at a time! That's heavy!) The division of chores out here has been much easier and we've had much less stress over who does what than at home.  Hopefully we can take some of our trail skills and attitudes with us when we find ourselves back in the "real world"

That's all for now folks, We're pretty tuckered out from our hike this afternoon (and hungry!).  I'd like to stay here in the air-conditioned (down to what feels like a chilly 80) Grants Public Library and keep getting you all caught up but I fear it must wait, hungry and tired Miriams and Robs are probably as unpleasant to be around as the bears we've been lucky to not see. Till then,

Happy Trails!
-Miriam, the Camping Cook

Canyon hiking

Hi everyone,

I'm posting from my phone without the keyboard so this may be brief.  Our hike down and through the nearby canyon at Bluewater SP was really fun today.  It lasted about three hours and spanned a few miles (with significant elevation changes).  We're not too sure on specifics as far as elevations and distances go but it was definitely a lot of fun...despite it being about 92 degrees the whole time.  We stopped and had lunch on the canyon floor under the shade of a cliff overhang, a very nice day indeed!

On the floor of the canyon we happened upon a herd of horses that were seemingly left to their own devices down there.  We managed to get real close and were in the outskirts of the herd for a little while, filling and taking pictures as they grazed and drank from the creek.  These were domesticated horses though, as indicated by the big "CX" brand on their shoulders and reinforced by the fact that the head stallion didn't mind us getting too close to his mares and foals.

We also came across a small herd of beef cows, bit we didnt get many pics since who really wants to see a cow?  The tiny lobster thing was one of many crayfish that we spent some time watching in a particularly shallow area of the creek.  They scrambled along the silty bottom pretty quickly from one clump of algae to another, although judging by their speed and look of intent they appeared to be constantly chasing some dinner that was moving.  Every time they stopped we expected them to start fighting with another crayfish or begin an attack on something delicious but without fail they would just start stuffing their faces (if they have faces) with algae and creek-weed (I find seaweed inappropriate to use here as the was was about a finger length deep).

By the way the enclosed pics are just what was on my phone from the hike.  Miriam snapped many more with the actual camera but getting pictures from one device to another is somewhat a pain since the SD cards are different sizes. 

Hopefully Miriam will be following up with a computer update shortly to catch everyone up a bit better.

Till next time,

RhodeKill Rob

More Pine Barren Pics

Setting up the campsite in Wharton. We only stayed for a night and were pretty tired so it was a minimalist sort of deal.

It is nice to relax with some water after a long day.

The four plants I saw were....grass (you know what that looks like), scrub oak (the short stuff in front), wild blueberries (the lighter bushes in back), and pines, (the trees...duh). There were also some lichens and a few weedy wildflowers but not many.

Another view, different from our northeast forests isn't it?

Here's a view of our cozy bed. The cooler got to sleep with us because there weren't any bear boxes, but it wasn't too squished...mostly :P

One last shot of the campsite. We put our boxes and various bags in the big black Bell bag (say that five times fast!) to stay dry if it rained, and out of the paws of any curious critters.

Quick update

Just a quick update, we're off on a hike today at our camp in Bluewater

Laundry Day

Today we are in Grants, NM, a quaint little desert town about 20 or so miles from our camp at Blue Water Lake SP.  The town is fairly charming although the frequent use of bars on the windows and doors of local establishments seems to indicate that it is a fairly depressed area.  The roads are bumpy and ill-kept and there are a number of abandoned buildings and storefronts.  The people here seem to be mostly friendly although we've yet to encounter more than a half-dozen locals since yesterday. 

The POD (plan of the day) is to get our laundry done and restock our food and camping supplies at the local WalMart (blech!) and perhaps find some wifi to do some more updates at the local public library.  At the moment we are getting our clothes and sleepgear pushed through the driers at the Capri Laundry (look us up on Google Maps to see right where we are!).  For a place where water should be at a premium, the laundry machines here sure are cheap.  They're about half the cost of doing laundry in RI, although I guess higher water costs are augmented by much lower fuel costs (assuming that the machines and hot water are run on street gas). 

Overall it should be a relaxing day of just catching up on some cleaning and maintenance.  We will hopefully post more later on about our midwest drive and first days in the southwest. 

Till later!
RhodeKill Rob

P.S.  I'm experimenting with the Blogger app I recently installed on my phone, which allows photos to be added in the post.  I'm not sure where the added pic will appear on here, but we'll see.  As there is no provision for adding captions, it was a photo I took during our drive into the southwest just around sunrise.  Yes Miriam was sleeping at the time and no, I didnt crash while taking it (yay!)

Pinion Pines and Sandstone

After 18 hours of driving' and well over twenty spent in the car, we are parked at a campsite with a beautiful view of Bluewater Lake at Bluewater Lake State Park in north-western New Mexico. We are both pretty wiped after the drive, when we got in around 9 or so I put down a tarp and the airline blankets and napped. Rob did some house-keeping before crawling in between the boxes in back to sleep. He's still napping but I'm feeling refreshed and despite a nasty headache from the car door trying knock me out while we were fueling up in Amarrilo, starting to feel a bit antsy.  I realize that without seeing our campsite the pun there is lost on you but so far the only insects that have been spotted here are a healthy population of black ants, happily feeding (and occasionally getting stuck in I'd imagine) Pinion Pine sap and camp food crumbs. Compared with the swarms of bugs out east they are hardly a nusience (spell check I miss you!) but noticeable; especially when they occasionally try climbing up a pant leg.

I always forget how much I love the Southwest in between my visits. The landscape, harsh as it is, is breathtakingly beautiful. The land is wild beyond anything we have in the east, protected by humankind's inability to twist it to our use.  That untouched strength of being is palpable even where we have put roads and telephone poles, barely nutritious pasture, nicely graded campsites.  A glance to the buttes on the horizon,layered with red and gold sandstone, or the scent of juniper, pinion, and wild sage in the air reminds you that this land is untamed.
Every old survival instinct I still posses tells me this land is to be respected. While Coyote loves clever tricks and jokes, this land will not tolerate foolishness and hubris.   Harsh as it is, hard as it would be to live where water can be more precious than gold, the way the dry wind folds itself around me, the way the sandstone holds the suns heat as granite never could, all the small details of this land make me want to sink my roots alongside the pinions on the rim of a canyon, and earn my survival here. Friends and family, I may live near (mostly) all of you in little Rhody but this wild land sings to me in ways the ocean never has.

Interstate 40

hello all! This is Miriam with a very quick update to let you know we're alive and well. updating has been dificult, we never seem to have both wi-fi and the energy to update at the same time. So I'm risking car sicknes and updating on the very flat and staight interstate 40 through Oklahoma. please forgive the grammar and spelling. so after ouir last post we spent three nights at mamoth caves and have some very colol stories to share from there. Last night we stayed inn Hot Springs AR. And our plan today has been to book it through tornado alley and get into the southwest as fast as we can.  So Rob has taken the challenge to drive as long as he can and we'll find somewhere to stay wherever we wind up. We left Oklahoma city an hour ago and are about three hours from Amarillo TX. So look for rt 40 and wish us swift travels!

Titanic Viewings and Pine Barren Pics

So I tried to put up an update last night but Titanic was on and who can concentrate when Leonardo DiCaprio is about to freeze to death? "Titanic?" you say, "While camping? What madness is this!” (you say). No, good followers, we did not get Titanic beamed directly into our brains while lying in a tent via futuristic technology, it was on a very non-futuristic television and we were lying on a moderately comfortable mattress.
Our plans took a bit of an S turn yesterday. After leaving the awesome bookstore/café (where I did not buy any books!) we headed out towards New River Gorge in West Virginia. This park was about 1/3 of the way to the caves, we would be able to get there before dark and set up camp. However, as we talked about it, and about our difficulties getting out of camp as early as we always plan to, we decided inertia was the better option. Since we were already rolling it would be much easier to keep rolling, so we rolled on past New River into the heart of West Virginia. Our new plan was to grab some food at a restaurant, make it to the western side of WV where there were a few other parks, set up just the tent, which we could break down easily and wouldn’t have to repack the car for, and hit the road early the next morning.  Everything was going smoothly until we decided to find something to eat in Charleston. We located a restaurant that had some gluten free options via a nifty app on Rob’s phone and, after considerable effort, we found ourselves outside an abandoned pizza joint. So we chose another restaurant which was also a bit of a trick to get to (turning around in the skinniest parking lot we’ve seen driving Moby? Not fun!) and finally sat down to eat. By the time we finished tempers were cooler, we were fully refueled, I was a bit tipsy, and 1 bottle of cider had shattered. We decided the evenings forward inertia was already shot so we may as well find a hotel and be comfortable for the night.  I should also mention that my anxiety had been acting up all day so a hotel was a really good option since I may or may not have been able to help Rob set up camp.

It turns out finding a hotel was just as difficult as a restaurant.  The first had no rooms, despite the fact Rob had called 10 minutes earlier and they told us they did. The second we wound up taking the wrong split at exit ramp and had to pull some u-turns to get headed back in the right direction (always fun while driving a whale).  Once we were finally in the room (after needing to get the keys re-programmed) we decided hotels were far more difficult than campsites. We did take full advantage of the hot water, comfortable-ish mattress, and television, which brings us back to the point of the story, how we were able to watch the end of Titanic. Whew!

So I'm going to take this chance while Rob loads up the car to share some more pictures! Yey!  Since I'm trying to go in order they're from way back (at least that's what it feels like) when we were in the Pine Barrens.  The Barrens are named, not, as Rob thought before he saw it spelled, because they were owned by feudal overlords, but because they are barren. The soil is extremely poor, almost entirely sand, so very few types of plants can survive. Bugs however were quite happy (much to Rob's dismay). On the plus side poison ivy was not one of those hardy plants. Awesome! 

So here you can see an empty portion of the campground, and how sandy the soil is.  Where there aren't tree roots to keep it in place it actually turned dune-like and driving through it left deep tracks.

Sand castles anyone?

Speaking of tracks I found a few really nice deer tracks; there is a semi-famous wilderness survival and tracking school that runs out of the area, with the way the soil hold tracks now I can see why!

Here's the site we chose to set up camp in, as far away from the other campers as possible.

Nice campsite, flat and open.

They really weren't the best camping neighbors, they were pretty loud, took all the fire wood from the unoccupied campsites, and really weren't very respectful of the area.  What really got Rob and me steamed was the kid who had a hatchet and was chopping at branches still attached to trees.

I am the Lorax and I speak for the damn trees!

Don't worry, I didn't insult anyone (even hatchet kid) verbally or otherwise, even though I was really, really tempted. It was a primitive camp ground (just pit toilets, no drinking water) and there wasn't a ranger station so no one to complain to but it looked like one stopped by in the evening and they did quiet down after that.

It's time to hit the road, I'll put up the rest of the photos as soon as I can!

Happy Trails!
- Miriam (The Lorax impostor)