Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Apr 4 Monday - back to the UFO museum & then around Roswell a bit
Apr 4 Mon Day 77 clear & sunny, only 16 C, (61 F) & still a little bit windy.
The wind is dropping fast and so is the temp, it is almost cool out. We are off into town to the UFO museum to see the documentary film about the Roswell incident in 1947 that we missed yesterday. It was a TV documentary, so was only about 50 minutes or so. It was good because it condensed the story being told in small bits in the exhibits throughout the museum to a timeline, ie. On July, 1947, sheep farmer Brazel finds a huge amt. of debris in his field, takes it to sheriff in town, on the 6th who contacts nearby airbase. They investigate and Col. Haut, media officer, releases a story to Roswell newspapers saying the army recovered fragments of a spaceship & two dead aliens from Brazel’s ranch. The following day, Gen. Ramey takes over the investigation & another news story is released saying that the ‘spaceship’ was actually just a weather balloon & the ‘aliens’ were human-like dummies used to determine the safety of parachuting from high elevations. Everyone involved in the recovery of the debris & transport of the ‘dummies’ is sworn to secrecy. The cover-up is complete! Some of the affidavits sworn by people about the incident long afterward claim that the airforce investigators threatened them with death if they continued to tell their story. That, I find hard to believe! (Sheila’s thoughts.) If there was a cover-up—why? The documentary said there were 3 reasons: they didn’t want to panic the public; they wanted time to check out alien technology before other world powers had a chance to; and thirdly they didn’t want a lot of attention focussed on Area 51—their top secret weapons testing site.
They also explained why there were so many UFO sightings etc. in the late 40’s & 50’s. Basically, they said that the testing of the atom bomb & the V2 rockets in the area would have piqued their, (extraterrestrials), interest because every advanced civilization knows that nuclear fission is necessary for space travel & that since we were demonstrating that we had that capability, it was time to “check us out,” probably to see if we were a threat to them.
They also show full length Hollywood movies about UFO incidents that occurred both here & elsewhere. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for those. After the film, Sheila started to look around the museum some more, reading just about everything. Just before 2 pm, almost 2 hrs after the film ended and about 1½ hours after I had finished with everything, we left for lunch. By now, though sceptical at first, Sheila thinks we may have been visited by aliens & that they’re monitoring us. She’s in good company as one of the exhibits listed the following people as being believers: US presidents, Ford, Reagan, Truman & Carter, (he even admits to a sighting), generals MacArthur & Marshall, missile expert, Cdr. McLaughlin, the president of Lear Aircraft, rocket scientist, professor Hermann Oberth etc.
The “Cowboy Café” I wanted to go to had closed at 2, so Sheila dropped me at the RV to get myself something & she went back to the UFO museum for more! She also, checked out a couple more stores for tomorrow’s shopping. Yesterday a large forest, (bush?), fire was burning out of control near Ruidoso (where we planned to go next,) and Hwy 70 was closed. This morning it had only one lane open. However, it showed all open by Mon afternoon. Sheila finally returned from the UFO museum around 4 pm and we went to check out nearby River Walk Park & Zoo. The zoo is free & features both indigenous & exotic animals from far away places. They have an adoption program for each animal, which Sheila thinks means their care is paid for by the adopter—hence no entrance fee for the zoo. An interesting idea. We saw goats, coyotes, cougars, bobcats, deer, antelopes, bison, raccoons, lemurs, coatimundi, foxes, snakes, a lizard & a tarantula, eagles, owls, geese, a huge turkey, a raven, & two beautiful peacocks etc. Sheila’s favourite was a very friendly llama that came right up to the fence & practically kissed her. After taking me ‘home,’ Sheila went to a local BBQ, ‘The Snazzy Pig’ for take-out, as tonight is “D. with S.” & “Castle” & there isn’t time to cook supper before D. with S. begins. Dancing with the Stars was especially good tonight, (both Sheila & the judges’ opinion) as all but two of the contestants outdid themselves as they danced to a song that was particularly meaningful to them at some point in their life.
The wind is dropping fast and so is the temp, it is almost cool out. We are off into town to the UFO museum to see the documentary film about the Roswell incident in 1947 that we missed yesterday. It was a TV documentary, so was only about 50 minutes or so. It was good because it condensed the story being told in small bits in the exhibits throughout the museum to a timeline, ie. On July, 1947, sheep farmer Brazel finds a huge amt. of debris in his field, takes it to sheriff in town, on the 6th who contacts nearby airbase. They investigate and Col. Haut, media officer, releases a story to Roswell newspapers saying the army recovered fragments of a spaceship & two dead aliens from Brazel’s ranch. The following day, Gen. Ramey takes over the investigation & another news story is released saying that the ‘spaceship’ was actually just a weather balloon & the ‘aliens’ were human-like dummies used to determine the safety of parachuting from high elevations. Everyone involved in the recovery of the debris & transport of the ‘dummies’ is sworn to secrecy. The cover-up is complete! Some of the affidavits sworn by people about the incident long afterward claim that the airforce investigators threatened them with death if they continued to tell their story. That, I find hard to believe! (Sheila’s thoughts.) If there was a cover-up—why? The documentary said there were 3 reasons: they didn’t want to panic the public; they wanted time to check out alien technology before other world powers had a chance to; and thirdly they didn’t want a lot of attention focussed on Area 51—their top secret weapons testing site.
They also explained why there were so many UFO sightings etc. in the late 40’s & 50’s. Basically, they said that the testing of the atom bomb & the V2 rockets in the area would have piqued their, (extraterrestrials), interest because every advanced civilization knows that nuclear fission is necessary for space travel & that since we were demonstrating that we had that capability, it was time to “check us out,” probably to see if we were a threat to them.
They also show full length Hollywood movies about UFO incidents that occurred both here & elsewhere. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for those. After the film, Sheila started to look around the museum some more, reading just about everything. Just before 2 pm, almost 2 hrs after the film ended and about 1½ hours after I had finished with everything, we left for lunch. By now, though sceptical at first, Sheila thinks we may have been visited by aliens & that they’re monitoring us. She’s in good company as one of the exhibits listed the following people as being believers: US presidents, Ford, Reagan, Truman & Carter, (he even admits to a sighting), generals MacArthur & Marshall, missile expert, Cdr. McLaughlin, the president of Lear Aircraft, rocket scientist, professor Hermann Oberth etc.
The “Cowboy Café” I wanted to go to had closed at 2, so Sheila dropped me at the RV to get myself something & she went back to the UFO museum for more! She also, checked out a couple more stores for tomorrow’s shopping. Yesterday a large forest, (bush?), fire was burning out of control near Ruidoso (where we planned to go next,) and Hwy 70 was closed. This morning it had only one lane open. However, it showed all open by Mon afternoon. Sheila finally returned from the UFO museum around 4 pm and we went to check out nearby River Walk Park & Zoo. The zoo is free & features both indigenous & exotic animals from far away places. They have an adoption program for each animal, which Sheila thinks means their care is paid for by the adopter—hence no entrance fee for the zoo. An interesting idea. We saw goats, coyotes, cougars, bobcats, deer, antelopes, bison, raccoons, lemurs, coatimundi, foxes, snakes, a lizard & a tarantula, eagles, owls, geese, a huge turkey, a raven, & two beautiful peacocks etc. Sheila’s favourite was a very friendly llama that came right up to the fence & practically kissed her. After taking me ‘home,’ Sheila went to a local BBQ, ‘The Snazzy Pig’ for take-out, as tonight is “D. with S.” & “Castle” & there isn’t time to cook supper before D. with S. begins. Dancing with the Stars was especially good tonight, (both Sheila & the judges’ opinion) as all but two of the contestants outdid themselves as they danced to a song that was particularly meaningful to them at some point in their life.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Apr 3 Sunday - Into Roswell & the UFO Museum
Apr 3 Sun Day 76 – very windy and very hot, 32C (89.6 F) windy all the way to Roswell
As Sheila had some dollar store stuff to get & I needed gas & some RV stuff we took off separately & met at Wal-Mart,acpl kms down the hwy from the campground. I pulled out of Carlsbad RV Park in the RV @ 138111 @ 10:35. The day before while I was topping up my tires my CDN TIRE air compressor kept stopping and I had to wiggle & twist the power line to get it to start. I discovered that the end of its power line that goes into the 12 Volt receptacle on the dash had partly melted and was misshaped so it couldn’t make a connection properly. So into Wal-Mart & I got another compressor, a better one I hope, the other goes back to Canadian Tire when I return home. I filled my gas tank at the Wal-Mart gas station, this time with 88 octane plus gas; it is 10 cents a gallon more than the 86 octane regular gas. Sheila arrived & we hooked up and left Wal-Mart lot @ 138114 km @ 11:45. It was a very windy drive up, (weather report on TV said the winds were 60 to 66 mph), but due to the highway’s winding we never had to face it as a full head wind. We passed a fire in the dry road side grass that looked like it had recently started, no one there, no sound of sirens approching. We didn’t phone 911 because we had no idea exactly where we were and there were enough cars going both ways that someone must have called it in. Later we realized that we could have stopped & used the GPS to pinpoint where we were & called 911. We arrived at Trailer Village RV Park in Roswell @ 1:30 @ 138241. We had lunch and then went into town to the UFO museum. Lots of info both pro & con. From the articles & reports they had it seems there was something out there in the desert that crashed July 4, 1947. Was it an alien UFO or some top secret military thing? It definitely was not a weather balloon as the military cover story said, but what? Alien or Terrestrial? After that we went out for supper at the UFO themed McDonalds, then home for the evening. Sheila did laundry while I did the ‘usual’— journal, expenses etc. The wind is blowing very hard and it is still hot well into the evening. We periodically used the A/C up to 10PM.
As Sheila had some dollar store stuff to get & I needed gas & some RV stuff we took off separately & met at Wal-Mart,acpl kms down the hwy from the campground. I pulled out of Carlsbad RV Park in the RV @ 138111 @ 10:35. The day before while I was topping up my tires my CDN TIRE air compressor kept stopping and I had to wiggle & twist the power line to get it to start. I discovered that the end of its power line that goes into the 12 Volt receptacle on the dash had partly melted and was misshaped so it couldn’t make a connection properly. So into Wal-Mart & I got another compressor, a better one I hope, the other goes back to Canadian Tire when I return home. I filled my gas tank at the Wal-Mart gas station, this time with 88 octane plus gas; it is 10 cents a gallon more than the 86 octane regular gas. Sheila arrived & we hooked up and left Wal-Mart lot @ 138114 km @ 11:45. It was a very windy drive up, (weather report on TV said the winds were 60 to 66 mph), but due to the highway’s winding we never had to face it as a full head wind. We passed a fire in the dry road side grass that looked like it had recently started, no one there, no sound of sirens approching. We didn’t phone 911 because we had no idea exactly where we were and there were enough cars going both ways that someone must have called it in. Later we realized that we could have stopped & used the GPS to pinpoint where we were & called 911. We arrived at Trailer Village RV Park in Roswell @ 1:30 @ 138241. We had lunch and then went into town to the UFO museum. Lots of info both pro & con. From the articles & reports they had it seems there was something out there in the desert that crashed July 4, 1947. Was it an alien UFO or some top secret military thing? It definitely was not a weather balloon as the military cover story said, but what? Alien or Terrestrial? After that we went out for supper at the UFO themed McDonalds, then home for the evening. Sheila did laundry while I did the ‘usual’— journal, expenses etc. The wind is blowing very hard and it is still hot well into the evening. We periodically used the A/C up to 10PM.
Apr2 Saturday Day 2 - going 750 feet underground - again
Apr 2 Sat Day 75 Hot, hot, hot. Into the 90’s F, that’s over 30 C!.
After breakfast, we drove into town to check out the River Walk public area by the Pecos River. Sheila waded in with the thermometer & found the water coldish – 66F, that’s 19 C. They have a nice area for swimming & a nice beach with sand. They also rent kayaks & peddle boats & run 1 hr. river cruises in a small paddle wheeler from there. Unfortunately we did not have time for any of the above. After that, we drove back through town stopping for lunch @ the Dragon China Buffet before heading down to Carlsbad Caverns again. I should be used to it by now, but we keep getting amazed at restaurant prices here. Our Chinese buffet lunch was $6.85, minus a 10% senior’s discount. Supper is $8.25 minus discount. However those prices don’t include beverages (between $1 & $2 extra). It was a large buffet with very many dishes including a roasted crab casserole dish that was different & delicious, and they had a lot of sushi plus good desserts. We arrived at the Caverns in time for our 2 pm Ranger Guided tour of the “Kings Palace” room. It was easily the most spectacular room we’d seen--all kinds of stalactites, soda straws, draperies, & popcorn hung from the ceiling with almost no room between them, quite impressive. As I mentioned before taking pictures is hard because of the huge space & distances that a flash just will not fill. Two movies that were filmed here were the original “Journey to the Centre of the Earth,” (with Pat Boone), & “King Solomon’s Mines.” The tour was just over an hour long in that one room, and at one point the Rangers turned the lights out for several minutes so we could experience total blackness & total silence. There were questions on how long it takes for one of the big stalactites to form. The answer is they don’t know because the climate has everything to do with it, how much rain & snow falls up top & how much of that seeps down into the ground. The Ranger said that it can take 8 months for water from the surface to seep down 140 feet to a cave. There is an example of some very small stalactites forming on the ceiling of a tunnel that was blasted to gain access 70 years ago; they are now maybe ½ an inch or less.
At the end of the tour, Sheila went off to explore the part of the “Big Room” we did not get to yesterday while I went up the elevator to see some Ranger presentation films in the Visitors Centre up top. There was one on the Mexican Freetail bats which live in the caverns below: I learned that: they eat two times their weight a day in insects, such as mosquitoes. Yea-a-a! A cave full, several million of them, can eat 2½ tons of insects a night! Sheila is now thinking of having some bat pets to take with us whenever we go into mosquito country. Their feces, called guano makes good fertilizer. It was mined here from 1935 to 1969. One square foot of ceiling can hold as many as 200+ adult bats! They sound like a very snuggly animal.
When we got back to the car at 5:00, the dash temperature readout was 33C, (91.5F). It would get some heat from the car metal sitting in the sun but once we were driving it only came down to 30 or 31C. On the way home, Sheila told me about her tour around the back section of the Big Room loop. She said it was a bit ‘spooky’ because they closed that section just after she entered & she was the only one walking the dimly lit trail in complete silence with the rock formations casting ghostly shadows all around her. “Dum de Dum, Dum!” It was a welcome relief whenever she came to a lighted decoration, (column, stalagmite, etc.) & it’s sign post. They were few & far between, however, since that portion of the Big Room doesn’t get as much water seeping down from above—hence there are less speotherms, or ‘decorations’ as they are called. She did see the Bottomless Pit, so named because when the caverns were first explored, they didn’t have lights strong enough to see the bottom of the hole. Later, they discovered it was a mere 140 ft. deep. However, because there is a very high rock dome over the hole, it creates the highest ceiling in the caverns—370 ft. from pit bottom to domed ceiling. Another, interesting fact: The caverns are dimly lit by 19 miles of concealed wires & 1000 bulbs, & fluorescent tubes. Theatrical lighting experts were hired to do the spotlighting of the speotherms.
Back home, we made a light supper & watched a DVD rental movie that came free with our campsite. It was a romantic comedy of the “When Harry met Sally” vein, called “Alex and Emma.” It was quite fun to watch.
After breakfast, we drove into town to check out the River Walk public area by the Pecos River. Sheila waded in with the thermometer & found the water coldish – 66F, that’s 19 C. They have a nice area for swimming & a nice beach with sand. They also rent kayaks & peddle boats & run 1 hr. river cruises in a small paddle wheeler from there. Unfortunately we did not have time for any of the above. After that, we drove back through town stopping for lunch @ the Dragon China Buffet before heading down to Carlsbad Caverns again. I should be used to it by now, but we keep getting amazed at restaurant prices here. Our Chinese buffet lunch was $6.85, minus a 10% senior’s discount. Supper is $8.25 minus discount. However those prices don’t include beverages (between $1 & $2 extra). It was a large buffet with very many dishes including a roasted crab casserole dish that was different & delicious, and they had a lot of sushi plus good desserts. We arrived at the Caverns in time for our 2 pm Ranger Guided tour of the “Kings Palace” room. It was easily the most spectacular room we’d seen--all kinds of stalactites, soda straws, draperies, & popcorn hung from the ceiling with almost no room between them, quite impressive. As I mentioned before taking pictures is hard because of the huge space & distances that a flash just will not fill. Two movies that were filmed here were the original “Journey to the Centre of the Earth,” (with Pat Boone), & “King Solomon’s Mines.” The tour was just over an hour long in that one room, and at one point the Rangers turned the lights out for several minutes so we could experience total blackness & total silence. There were questions on how long it takes for one of the big stalactites to form. The answer is they don’t know because the climate has everything to do with it, how much rain & snow falls up top & how much of that seeps down into the ground. The Ranger said that it can take 8 months for water from the surface to seep down 140 feet to a cave. There is an example of some very small stalactites forming on the ceiling of a tunnel that was blasted to gain access 70 years ago; they are now maybe ½ an inch or less.
At the end of the tour, Sheila went off to explore the part of the “Big Room” we did not get to yesterday while I went up the elevator to see some Ranger presentation films in the Visitors Centre up top. There was one on the Mexican Freetail bats which live in the caverns below: I learned that: they eat two times their weight a day in insects, such as mosquitoes. Yea-a-a! A cave full, several million of them, can eat 2½ tons of insects a night! Sheila is now thinking of having some bat pets to take with us whenever we go into mosquito country. Their feces, called guano makes good fertilizer. It was mined here from 1935 to 1969. One square foot of ceiling can hold as many as 200+ adult bats! They sound like a very snuggly animal.
When we got back to the car at 5:00, the dash temperature readout was 33C, (91.5F). It would get some heat from the car metal sitting in the sun but once we were driving it only came down to 30 or 31C. On the way home, Sheila told me about her tour around the back section of the Big Room loop. She said it was a bit ‘spooky’ because they closed that section just after she entered & she was the only one walking the dimly lit trail in complete silence with the rock formations casting ghostly shadows all around her. “Dum de Dum, Dum!” It was a welcome relief whenever she came to a lighted decoration, (column, stalagmite, etc.) & it’s sign post. They were few & far between, however, since that portion of the Big Room doesn’t get as much water seeping down from above—hence there are less speotherms, or ‘decorations’ as they are called. She did see the Bottomless Pit, so named because when the caverns were first explored, they didn’t have lights strong enough to see the bottom of the hole. Later, they discovered it was a mere 140 ft. deep. However, because there is a very high rock dome over the hole, it creates the highest ceiling in the caverns—370 ft. from pit bottom to domed ceiling. Another, interesting fact: The caverns are dimly lit by 19 miles of concealed wires & 1000 bulbs, & fluorescent tubes. Theatrical lighting experts were hired to do the spotlighting of the speotherms.
Back home, we made a light supper & watched a DVD rental movie that came free with our campsite. It was a romantic comedy of the “When Harry met Sally” vein, called “Alex and Emma.” It was quite fun to watch.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Apr 1 Fri - Into the bowels of the earth we go into the mystic world of Carlsbad Caverns - 800 feet underground
Apr 1 Fri, Day 74 – Sunny & hot, (90 F)
We headed out to Carlsbad Caverns about 11 am. We checked at the ranger info desk & they said that it is not practical to do the two walks/tours that we planned in one day. They do have an elevator that goes down 750 feet or you can walk down from the natural entrance with an audio guide for a self guiding tour. So away we go into the depths. We are going 800 feet down on a 1¼ mile winding trail. It is a constant 56 F (13C), in the cave so walking down isn’t too bad. It takes us over an hour because we stopped often at information spots to listen to the audio guide & rest. We learned that Carlsbad Caverns were discovered by a 16 yr. old cowboy, Jim White in the mid 1800’s. He spent many years exploring it & naming many of the beautiful rock formations. Later the Nat’l Geographic Society came to further explore & and measure it. In 1923, it was set aside as a Nat’l Monument, then 10 yrs. later upgraded to a Nat’l Park. Although it is not the largest cave in the world, (the longest is ‘Mammoth’ in Kentucky, the deepest is in the country of Georgia in eastern Europe, & there’s one in Borneo that boasts the largest room). Of the caves we’ve seen this one is the biggest. Its 1037 ft. deep, & 30 mi. long.
We finally got to the bottom and then walked up a bit to the rest area where we could get lunch. Sheila was pleased to find that they had healthy food for sale. Lunch at 750 feet underground! After a lunch of salads & a yogurt parfait, we went to see the cavern called the “Big Room,” and “big” it is, the size of 14 football fields! They have a trail that goes in a loop up one side & out on the other side, it is 1¼ miles long. By this time we are getting a bit worn out so we took the short cut that cuts the distance in half but you do miss the far end of the cavern. We went into the cave entrance about 11:30 am and came up the elevator and out around 4:00. Sheila talked to the rangers and got information about the types of cactus we had been seeing over the past few weeks. He told us that the Chihuahua Desert has more cactus than anywhere in the world. Some varieties are only found here. We learned that the Yucca & the Agave plants are not cacti. They are succulent trees & quite similar to each other. The one we saw the most of as we drove into the caverns, (a round bottom of pointed leaves with a thick stalk covered in light yellowish blossoms growing out of the centre) is called a Torrey Yucca. It is only found here. Sheila also asked them if they knew why some Prickly Pear cactus had a purplely/pink tinge to the paddles, (leaves). Apparently there are several varieties of Prickly Pear & the purple tinged one is just one variety. The shape of the paddles is also indicative of variety, there is a prickly pear called, Cows Tongue because of the shape of the paddles. Nothing is ever simple!
Back out at the car, in the parking lot, the dashboard temp read-out says 33C, (91F), but drops to 31C, (88F), by the time we are down to the main hwy. Then off home we went for a dip in the pool; had a late supper and did the journal/computer work in the eve while watching some TV.
We headed out to Carlsbad Caverns about 11 am. We checked at the ranger info desk & they said that it is not practical to do the two walks/tours that we planned in one day. They do have an elevator that goes down 750 feet or you can walk down from the natural entrance with an audio guide for a self guiding tour. So away we go into the depths. We are going 800 feet down on a 1¼ mile winding trail. It is a constant 56 F (13C), in the cave so walking down isn’t too bad. It takes us over an hour because we stopped often at information spots to listen to the audio guide & rest. We learned that Carlsbad Caverns were discovered by a 16 yr. old cowboy, Jim White in the mid 1800’s. He spent many years exploring it & naming many of the beautiful rock formations. Later the Nat’l Geographic Society came to further explore & and measure it. In 1923, it was set aside as a Nat’l Monument, then 10 yrs. later upgraded to a Nat’l Park. Although it is not the largest cave in the world, (the longest is ‘Mammoth’ in Kentucky, the deepest is in the country of Georgia in eastern Europe, & there’s one in Borneo that boasts the largest room). Of the caves we’ve seen this one is the biggest. Its 1037 ft. deep, & 30 mi. long.
We finally got to the bottom and then walked up a bit to the rest area where we could get lunch. Sheila was pleased to find that they had healthy food for sale. Lunch at 750 feet underground! After a lunch of salads & a yogurt parfait, we went to see the cavern called the “Big Room,” and “big” it is, the size of 14 football fields! They have a trail that goes in a loop up one side & out on the other side, it is 1¼ miles long. By this time we are getting a bit worn out so we took the short cut that cuts the distance in half but you do miss the far end of the cavern. We went into the cave entrance about 11:30 am and came up the elevator and out around 4:00. Sheila talked to the rangers and got information about the types of cactus we had been seeing over the past few weeks. He told us that the Chihuahua Desert has more cactus than anywhere in the world. Some varieties are only found here. We learned that the Yucca & the Agave plants are not cacti. They are succulent trees & quite similar to each other. The one we saw the most of as we drove into the caverns, (a round bottom of pointed leaves with a thick stalk covered in light yellowish blossoms growing out of the centre) is called a Torrey Yucca. It is only found here. Sheila also asked them if they knew why some Prickly Pear cactus had a purplely/pink tinge to the paddles, (leaves). Apparently there are several varieties of Prickly Pear & the purple tinged one is just one variety. The shape of the paddles is also indicative of variety, there is a prickly pear called, Cows Tongue because of the shape of the paddles. Nothing is ever simple!
Back out at the car, in the parking lot, the dashboard temp read-out says 33C, (91F), but drops to 31C, (88F), by the time we are down to the main hwy. Then off home we went for a dip in the pool; had a late supper and did the journal/computer work in the eve while watching some TV.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
