Bernalillo

We spent the day up in Bernalillo looking over the property and getting more familiar with the area. The building lot has been measured and surveyed and properly staked which is what I wanted. It looks the same as the last time I was there. We trudged around looking at the flora and the abundant signs of various fauna. It was a little hazy so the view was not as clear as before but we could still see most of it. I took a bunch of video walking over the site and trying to estimate distances. Paul says it is not in the middle of nowhere -- it is in the back of nowhere. So I took that as an indication that he liked it


There was not much else happening up near the building lot....it is very quiet. We drove around Bernalillo, the little town nearby, and then drove up into Placitas, a small village across the highway that was originally settled as a Spanish land grant but now is turning into expensive custom houses. We also scoped out the Rail Runner commuter train stop and it looks pretty handy and well used.

Bernalillo dates back to about 1716, more or less, and is an authentic New Mexico river/farming town, just starting to feel the impact of Albuquerque's growth. Bernalillo is about 15 miles north of Albuquerque and is directly in the path of urban growth as Albuquerque and Santa Fe grow together. Bernalillo is proud of their wine making history and is the site of the New Mexico State Wine Festival each year at Labor Day weekend.

We ate lunch at The Range Cafe in Bernalillo. The Range is a local landmark cafe which expanded to three locations but it started in an old adobe building in Bernalillo. The clientele was a broad mix of ranchers, workers, tourists and a few other artsy types. The food and beer (Alien Pale Ale) was OK.

We looked at a few houses and picked up some information and floor plans and talked to one of the builder reps about them building a house on my lot. That was a little encouraging to know that there were other builder options. I went in and talked to some people at an apartment complex close to my building site and I'll be able to get a one-bedroom apartment on a six-month lease with monthly extentions while the house is built.

We came back to the motel, stopping at Walmart to pick up some groceries. Since we had such a big lunch we were happy to have a light supper of focaccio bread, cheese, apple and some red wine. Coffee and cookies for dessert!

Oklahoma through Amarillo to Albuquerque

Today we started off by meeting a guy who offered us pre-paid legal services. We were having sort of a breakfast at the motel and he introduced himself and gave us each his card. We were behaving ourselves and didn't have any visible tazer marks so I don't know why he thought we needed his services. His office is in the Bronx in New York so if he is going all the way to Oklahoma City to find clients either he is pretty bad or things have gotten a whole lot better in the Bronx and he has to go out looking for clients.


The trip west from Oklahoma City was nice. We hit the first of the wind turbine generators about an hour west. I am always impressed with them. It was windy so they were really spinning.


The Texas panhandle is still bleak and looks more deserted than the last time I went through. We stopped for lunch in Amarillo and then went to the Cadillac Ranch. When we got there there was a tour bus and about a half-dozen cars with people trudging back and forth to the 'shrine' of 1950-1960 era Cadillacs. Before we left there was about 100 people that came and went and this goes on all day, every day. The place reeks of spray paint because everyone is painting something on the cars and now they have started painting on the dirt around the cars. (How do you like our matching shirts.)


We got back on the road and headed toward New Mexico. The flat plains finally transition to broken mesas and hills around Tucumcari. Tucumcari has seen better days. It built up around Route 66 but now most of it is dead or dying. Some of it is trying to relocate near the interstate but nothing seems to be thriving.

We got to Albuquerque about 6:30 mountain time and checked in to our motel and settled in. We walked about a block to Rudy's for BBQ and had pulled pork sandwiches and a couple beers. The workers have t-shirts with a saying on the back: "I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain... to eat vegetables".

OOOOOOOOklahoma Where the Cars Come Screeching to a Halt

Well, Wally and the Beav got started on the road about mid-morning. We had a pretty uneventful day. Not much to write about, really. Going through Tulsa always seems to be a challenge but we made the right turns and got into town and then got caught up in a traffic jam caused by some construction. It took us a while but we finally got back on the turnpike and made it to Oklahoma City by about 7:30. The motel is OK and we will be back on our way in the morning. ...Like I said, not much to write about today.

The Tumbleweeds Tour: Back to New Mexico

Picture this: End of March, 2009.....a silver-gray Subaru Outback speeding across the Great Plains heading west carrying two happy travelers. Their destination: Albuquerque. The Hartke brothers are taking to the road. This is our first road trip together in over 40 years.

It has been eight months since my last trip out to New Mexico and I need to go back and take a look at the property that I bought and visit with my builder. I also want to look at apartments and get an idea of where I can stay while the house is being built. That is the business part of the trip. There will be plenty of other things that we will be doing.

Home Again -- it's cold here

We had an uneventful trip home. The main struggle was the time zones. We landed in Kansas City a little after 8 PM and it was after 9 PM before we were really on our way home. We got to Jefferson City about midnight. The temperature was about 30 degrees.


We had a great trip. I'm surprised that we got to see so much in only a week. We both remarked that it seemed like two weeks instead on one. We will spend Sunday getting back to the routine and the cats come home on Monday.


Begin Sermon

I think that the only unintended realization from this trip is that we (the collective 'we') need to get very serious very fast about saving the environment and taking action to correct what is happening with pollution and global warming.

I've always been more or less aware of environmental problems and I've done my little bit of recycling, changing light bulbs, etc., but things are coming undone. Jefferson City is making an effort with curb-side recycling and the green way but we don't have the same challenges as they have out west. I don't think there is a general awareness of the magnitude of the problem.

There are 38 million people in California and we saw a bunch of them but we were not even in the most populated areas. I was truly stunned by the amount of pollution in the air even though I knew that they had a pollution problem. Crossing the San Joaquin Valley we passed several water diversion canals that were tapping water in the north and taking it south. That has to have a negative effect on the natural healthy flow of fresh water into the bay and the local environment. Agriculture is almost always the biggest user of water in most places and we didn't see many places without some sort of irrigation channels or equipment. We saw a number of wind mills set up to generate electricity but most were not working. Housing or commercial development covers just about all accessible land for 80 to 100 miles outside San Francisco...except in those areas where they are trying to limit growth. Jim pointed out that Marin County is the "greenest" urban county in the US. That is commendable and a good start but Marin County is the exception. They have made some wise choices and have a land trust set up to take undeveloped land off the market but I don't know if that concept has spread to other areas.


I remember going to Sebastian, Florida (Indian River County), back in 2003 and was impressed with what they had accomplished by becoming "green" and limiting development. Something like 40% of the county's land is set aside and not available for development. They prohibit buildings taller that three stories. They have a population of about 115,000 and were happy staying at about that size. They have a problem with too much water sometimes.

New Mexico has its own interesting set of problems. The population is growing but water resources are not keeping pace. When I move I'll be drilling a well and taking water from the aquifer. The place gets only about eight inches of rain a year. The Rio Grande is pretty much of a trickle most of the time and the aquifer is not recharging enough to replace what is being pumped out. I will also have to install a special super-duper septic system due to new state regulations. People are encouraged to use rain barrels and other methods to reuse or capture water. Lawns are prohibited in new home construction (Yes!!) and xeriscaping is the rule in many areas except in the older residential parts of Albuquerque. Industries there are pretty clean when compared to other places. The Indian reservations surrounding Albuquerque severely limit growth so the city's population pattern is becoming more dense -- which improves efficiency and reduces sprawl. The Rail Runner commuter train moves north and south through the valley and goes all the way up to Santa Fe. They still need to get a better system going east and west.



So, I guess I need to do a better job turning off the lights and conserving water. My environmental "footprint" is pretty small already but I could do a few more things. That picture of the sun setting into a smog cloud is a little scary.

There is a saying in Italian that "even the stones wept" (così le pietre piante) referring to something that is so profoundly sad that the stones weep. I think that it is profoundly sad that something like the General Sherman tree, that is 3,200 years old and was a substantial tree when Hannibal crossed the Alps, is threatened by our modern pollution problems.

Friday -- Heading North (More pictures added below)

We got our breakfast and packed up and were on our way by about 9:30. The Wuksatchi Lodge was a nice place and pretty reasonable at this time of year considering it is in a national park. You can tell that both the lodge and the park could use an investment of a few more dollars. Some of it is beginning to look a little frayed.

We had an hour's drive just to get down from the mountains and we wanted to go slow so we could maybe get some bear pictures. We were not disappointed. The first one was climbing a hill next to the road so all you get to see is bear-butt, mostly. We drove farther down the slope and surprised a mother and a cub that were walking up the road. This is close to where we saw the other mother and cub yesterday but this cub was bigger. This time the mother scrambled down the slope toward the river but the cub was curious and stayed on the road to see what we were doing. The cub was young enough that is was still the tan color. We saw a total of nine bears while in the park. We also encountered a number of Mule Deer at various times. You do get the feeling, after a while, that you are being watched.

We also stopped at an overlook to take another picture looking back toward the valley without the smog. The sky was perfectly blue and cloudless. The view down toward the valley actually is of a number of smaller and lower mountain ridges but off in the distance you can begin to see the haze building.

We decided to take I-5 back north instead of Highway 99. We had to cross the valley all the way over to the west side to catch the interstate so we got to see more farms. We weren't more than a few miles into the valley when the haze became so thick that visibility was cut to maybe two miles. It felt like we were travelling in a bubble. We saw some cotton growing and Jill said that she is glad that this wasn't the first part of California that she saw. It was too much like Waco.

Jill navigated with the maps and got us safely back up to the San Mateo Bridge and then on into San Bruno. We are staying very (very!) close to the airport so we will be able to return the golden rental car and get to the airport in time for our 1 PM flight. We got a carry-out pizza and watched an old Mrs. Marple and a Sherlock Holmes on TV.

Back on the Grid & Catching up - Wednesday and Thursday

WEDNESDAY
The Quality Inn in Petaluma was a nice motel..the elderly Chinese lady at the front desk was friendly and wanted us to be sure and eat a good breakfast. They had a good breakfast there so we pigged out both mornings.

Today we were thinking about going to a winery but decided that we would rather get to Sequoia National Park early...at least in daylight. I've been to enough wineries for a while and I told Jill I'd take her to Casa Rondeno in New Mexico sometime. Sequoia was a five hour drive south on a few freeways through Berkeley and Oakland and then on through Fresno and the San Joaquin valley.

I sometimes sense that people are concerned about my driving. Occasionally I hear people screaming at me while I'm driving and sometimes it is coming from outside the car. At times I feel I have a civic and moral duty to make other drivers' lives flash before their eyes. Maybe they will mend their ways. But, actually, today's drive to Sequoia was uneventful, traffic-wise.

The San Joaquin Valley is a huge garden -- industrialized farming seems to be the thing. Lots of grapes, fruit orchards and some corn. The soy bean processors were working hard...based on the smell. There was one cattle feedlot that came up on us before we could close the windows. Once we headed into the foothills we hit a bunch of orange groves. The air pollution kept getting worse as we headed south. This is obviously a serious problem...my eyes, nose and throat burned. We couldn't see the mountains and were surprised when the low foothills appeared out of the smog.

We got to the national park after 4 PM and it was getting dark as we climbed up into the mountains. We still had an hour to drive after we got into the park. About halfway up we pulled into an overlook to take some pictures and the entire valley below us was in a dense pink fog. The mountains were clear and seemed to float on a sea of smog. We continued climbing and saw a bear...then another one...then a third one on the road. The are Black bears and a little larger than an Old English Sheepdog. They were not afraid of the car and just went about their business. There were no other cars on the road. A little farther on we had to brake for three mule deer on the road. Jill saw something that might have been a Ringtail Cat climbing up the slope.

We got to the Wuksatchi Lodge just as the light was fading. We were glad we didn't stop at a winery because it was soon pitch black. We got into our room in the Stewart building and unpacked...it was a nice room. At 7,000 feet we had no cell phone or Internet service but the TV worked. The satellite radio in the car was going in and out as we climbed into the mountains. There was a little snow on the ground from a few days earlier.

We ate at the Lodge....good food. We ended up buying a couple sweatshirts because it was going to be cold in the morning and we didn't have sufficient warm clothes. We went back to the room and relaxed and were asleep by 9:30.

THURSDAY
We slept well and had a good breakfast at the lodge. We put on our matching Sequoia National Park hooded sweatshirts and started out. We saw a bunch of impressive Sequoia trees on our way up to the lodge but it was too dark to get a full view. Today we headed to the main grove and were stunned by the size of the trees. We took a hike around a large meadow among some huge trees. These were maybe 10 to 15 feet in diameter and went up about 100 feet before there were any branches. We took a bunch of picture. A little farther along the trail and we discovered a film crew that was shooting some kind of a travel company commercial among the trees. Other than the film crew and a few other people, we had the place to ourselves.

Next we went to see the tunnel tree....this is the one that you can drive through except that it is laying down across the road. We took a picture of our golden rental car going through the tree.

Our next stop was Moro Rock. There is a steep trail and 400 steps that take you up to the top of a huge granite rock dome that towers over the valley. We started climbing...and climbing. There were plenty of railings and the trail was paved or cut into the rock. It was very narrow and twisting in places but we panted our way up to the 6,750 summit observation area. Just as I was thinking I had gone as far as I could, a pregnant woman came down from the top. We met a little 72 year old lady at the lodge this morning who told us all the stuff she had done...including climbing up Moro Rock. Well, if those tow can do it, so can we. But, we had to stop and catch our breath at the top before we could take pictures or pose for pictures without looking like we were dying.

That 72 year old lady also told us that she was walking along a trail with a bear following close behind...like maybe four feet behind. She said it just followed her for a while but she finally had to turn around and clap her hands several times to make it run away. The bears seem pretty unconcerned about humans but that is a little too close. Jill bought some "bear aware" bells to carry with us, just in case.

Another discovery of the morning was that we had less than a quarter tank of gas and the closest gas station was an hour away in the town of Three Rivers, outside the park. We coasted most of the way down the mountains trying not to use much gas. We were the only car on the road for most of the way down. At one point we came around a sharp curve and surprised a mother bear and her cub standing on the road at the base of a steep slope. The cub got up the hill but the mother had a hard time finding a way up and got a little panicked. By that time we were past them and they were OK but they went on up the hill anyway. The cub was a tan color and had not turned black yet.

We made it to Three Rivers and filled up on gas. It was about 1 PM and we were hungry so we stopped in "The Three of Us" Bakery and got lunch. I had a huge omelet and Jill had a French Dip...pretty reasonable prices and good food.

We headed back up into the mountains. Our quest was to see the General Sherman tree...the biggest living tree (more or less). At least the General Sherman tree gets the credit as such. The tree is not easily accessible. Once you get to the parking lot you have to hike down a paved trail that winds down a ravine. Finally you see it and it is tremendous. It is maybe two to three times bigger around than the trees we were so excited about in the morning. It looks like part of the top of the tree is missing but it is still very tall. This tree has more volume ov wood than any other when measued in board feet. We took bunches of pictures and walked among the giant trees. This grove had several huge trees besides General Sherman.

We were tired after our second hike at about 7,000 feet. They were not long hikes but were challenging for us at this elevation. We drove back to the Lodge and made reservations for dinner and then drove farther up the slope to see the Lost Grove of Sequoias. This grove is pretty far up the mountain and across Little Baldy saddle so it is separated from the other big trees. There was no one else there so we had the entire grove to ourselves.

As we headed back to the lodge we had a view of the sun setting what looked like the ocean. Actually it was setting into the cloud of smog that engulfed San Joaquin Valley . I'm hoping that there was some kind of temperature inversion and that this is not typical. They did point out at the park museum that Sequoia National Park was one of the most threatened parks because of air pollution.

We ate so much for lunch that we just had tomato bisque soup and I also had a salad...but we got dessert to take back to our room for later. We watched TV and looked at our photographs before going to bed. Tomorrow we head back north and stay by the airport in San Bruno.