My Trails

There is a mosquito in here. I can hear the tiny whine of her fluttering wings as she circles above me in the dark, waiting until I let my guard down, waiting for me to drift off to sleep. I know she’s up there somewhere, but her faint sound gives me little indication or target, even so, I flail and slap at the air in a futil attempt to strike her down. 

It’s too hot to hide under the blankets. I lay mostly naked, clad only in my boxers and socks, exposed flesh ripe and inviting to her blood-thirsty quest. Sometimes I feel the soft tickle and think she has landed. I slap my skin even though I know it’s only a ghost bite, my mind playing paranoid tricks on me.  I know she will win in the end. She will attack when I least expect it. She will take my blood. 

I stayed in Davy Crockett Nat’l Forest for a couple of days. They have some nice hiking trails and bike paths. There was a backpacking trail near there, but it was one of those hikes that starts here and ends 20 miles someplace else. I couldn’t figure out how to do it. 

The next day I visited Hot Springs, Arkansas. This is the place where families go to vacation. There are amusement parks, water parks, wax museums, petting zoos, shopping, dining, you name it!  All the fun you can imagine. 

It started back at the turn of the century. Everyone who was anyone wanted to travel to Hot Springs to bath in the therapeutic and curative natural spring water. Entrepreneurs happily built rows of bath houses, promising to cure all sorts of ailments with there miracle waters. Patrons willingly spent a week or more soaking their afflictions away. 

I toured one restored bathhouse (now under management by the Park Service) and strolled along the path where 140 degree water seeps from the base of a hill. It is very hot! Do you think I put my finger in it?

What’s this!? I seem to be losing all the hair on top of my head!  I knew that radiation would cause problems with my body. Next, I’ll probably start losing my memory! 

Anyway, I decided to stop at Carlsbad Caverns (I don’t think I’ve ever been there before). Everything looked familiar… must have been a dream I had.  Seriously, it’s just such a neat place I could walk through there every week. Instead of riding the elevator to the top, I walked back up the path to the natural entrance, over a mile in length and 850′ of vertical climb. It’s a good workout but nothing compared to the Grand Canyon. 

Don’t let anyone tell you this country is over crowded. Just drive across Texas. I’ve never seen such miles of nothingness in all of Interstate 10. From Carlsbad to Pecos, to Fort Stockton and beyond, all there is is oil derricks and wind turbines, scattered along rolling hills as far as the eye can see.  I guess it’s one of those landscapes that grow on you, but I long for a tree or river. 

I may head for Corpus Christi in a few days. I don’t think I’ve ever been on the Texas coast.  

Today I visited a place called Trinity Site. It’s in a remote section of White Sands Missile Range, not far from Socorro, NM. The site is quite significant because of what took place there over 60 years ago. On July 16, 1945 the first atomic bomb was assembled in a small farmhouse two miles away, taken to what is now called ground zero, raised on a 100′ tower, and detonated just before dawn. After that, life on earth would never be the same. Like it or not, we entered the nuclear age.

There is not much left there anymore and contrary to general belief (I have to admit I was a little worried about the radiation), I didn’t glow when I got back to my camp. Because the place is only open twice a year, there were mobs of people visiting. It’s all free, even the bus that takes you to the McDonalds Ranch where the final assembly took place. 

I have a feeling the crowds will be smaller next year. When I left I noticed a sign stating that starting next year, because of budget cuts, there would be a charge of $25 per car to enter. It’s nice to say you’ve been there but not worth that much money otherwise. Most of the landmarks were only information boards with crowds of people standing in front of them. If you are really interested in ‘The Manhattan Project’, read about it on the Internet.

I’ve been staying at a campground called Valley of Fires Nat’l Recreation Area, about 50 miles east of Trinity Site. It’s the nicest BLM campground I’ve ever been at: spacious sites overlooking the valley of an ancient lava flow, new modern restrooms with showers, and even electric and water hookups if you need them. Tomorrow I will head on east toward Carlsbad Caverns. I can’t go by there without stopping.