White Sand really are white

Hi, Thelma here.

For once our staff took us with them when they went out to see a place. That place was White Sand National Monument. Actually they didn't have a choice. They were able to drive the bus on a 16 mile loop through the sand dunes. And were the bus goes, we go.

I now understand why humans wear sunglasses. The sands were so white and bright that my eyes could hardly stand it. Of course my sister Louise and I have very sensitive eyes.

I wanted to get out and roll in the sand. But Loren told me, "No!. Besides, it's not really sand".

Well that just shows how much he knows. Sharon read to me from the brochure that it is a very special kind of sand, made of gypsum. The common mineral gypsum is rarely found as sand because it it easily soluble in water. But here in the desert, water is rarely found. So the gypsum remains as sand.

Any way I won't bore you any more with science class. Here are some of the pictures. Enjoy.

Sharon and Loren climbed up one of the dunes and took a picture of the bus.
You can't really see me, but I'm standing on the dinning room table, looking out the middle window.

Yes in the desert you still need a warm jacket.

It is hard to get a good perspective of size from a photo. In most of these photos we were in the middle of the dunes, and you can not see were they end in any direction. They cover about 275 square miles. And the dunes are moving North East by as much as twenty feet per year. They are not very tall, maybe two stories tall.

The desert is a truly beautiful place

Hi again. This is Thelma. Sharon and Loren went "walk-about" in the desert. They left Louise and I alone in the RV. They had all the fun, we had another boring day. We did have a great view out the window. They told us all about their adventurous "walk-about" when they returned. Below are the pictures, and their story.

This is a picture of the trail at a point about a quarter of the way up.

As you can see, it was an easy walk. NOT! In place the trail was easy.

But many places were steep and rocky.

This is the canyon wall. It is very steep, almost vertical. The canyon is about a mile long. The wall of the canyon ( in fact the entire Kofa Mountain range) is the remains of a series of volcanos that blew there stack million of years ago. The rock is rhyolite, very hard but brittle.

The weather was cool. Part way up we stopped for a breather and to take

a drink from the water we carry with us every place we go. The desert will'

not forgive those who get thirsty. As you can see the trail was well marked

and easy to follow, but made of loose broken stone that made for difficult

walking.

This picture is from about half way up the canyon. You can see the ribbon of dirt road that winds and bumps it way for seven miles back to the paved road. Then another 18 miles back to Quartzsite and the RV. We are standing at about 300 feet above the floor of the desert. We have to climb another 200 feet up, and another quarter of a mile into the canyon before we can see the palm trees.

This is what all the effort was about. The sign point to a side canyon.
And up there is 40 palm trees. This is one of only a few places were
palm trees grow native in Arizona. In is thought that they may be the last
remnants of a grove that was growing here during the last ice age when the
climate was much more tropical. The palms are about 20 feet tall. They are
very high up the side canyon. We did not try to actually reach them.

On the way down I stopped to explore a cave. Sharon kept yelling at me that

I was going to wake a sleeping bear. Not likely. A Mountain Lion, maybe.

The cave was about 20 feet deep and probably a rock hound miners dig.

The last four picture give you an idea just how beautiful the desert can be.

Thelma and I tried to blow up the world

We made it to Tucson. Finally!  But that is not the story I want to tell.

I'm Louise, my sister Thelma and I broke into a Titan Missile complex and tried to start WW3. We almost did it. First we had to sneak past the gate

Then we quietly, remember, we are cats, sauntered over to the silo opening. And amazingly it was open. So we saw the eight story tall Titan Missile.

We sneaked down below to the launch control room, but our cousin Celeste was already there. We didn't need her help since it only takes two to launch, and we are two very capable cats. Even if turning the launch key does require thumbs, we could have done it.

We had stopped on our way down to check all the fittings and make sure the fuel was loaded in the two stage liquid fueled rocket.

But that was when the jig was up, They turned the keys, the count down started, but the missile didn't leave the launch tube. Darn! Thelma and I always wanted to be world class villains.

More Later.

All the way across Texas

Hi, this is Louise,

We left Dallas on Monday morning, setting tires to the road for Tucson. With stops in Midland, Tx and El Paso, Tx.

From Dallas to El Paso is mostly flat, dull, dry, windy, and booooooring. Until you get to Midland. The it is still all of the above plus a zillion oil wells.

I don't have much to say about Midland, except it is a busy place. The camp ground we stayed in was full. We got the last spot. The oil boom has hit Texas oil country. Every where you looked there was activity. Many of the oil wells we passed were pumping and the rest were just waiting for their "pool" to fill up, so they could pump some more. At $100 + per barrel, if it could pump it was. And if there was an empty space there was a derrick in that spot drilling a new hole. Other that that observation, Midland is dirty, dusty, noisy, and no place a sophisticated cat, like my self, would ever want to live in.

When you get "West of the Pecos" you go over a pass
in the Guadeloupe Mountains. At the top of the pass is a "Picnic Area" Texas style.

Tonight, we are in El Paso, Tx. A little scary since they have a guard and a mean sounding dog at the gate. Not that dogs ever scared me or Thelma. We have dog for lunch once or twice a week. But the most porous border in the country is any a few miles down the road.

We got here early today, so we let Loren and Sharon have a little time off to go sight seeing. When they got back they told us all about the places they saw. They drove down the "Mission Trail". It goes to three historical missions that were founded before the American Revolution.

The Ysleta Mission
The first mission in the country

The Socorro Mission
The oldest continually used church in the country.

The San Elizario Chapel
A few years younger than the others
but only one still holding regular mass services

After seeing the churches, Sharon and Loren completely forgot about us and went to dinner. Loren tried to convince Sharon to stop at a road side Mexican restaurant, but with no success.
They settled on a local restaurant with a good reputation called "Los Bandidos de Carlos and Mickey's".

Yes those are pictures of the 1975 Miss Universe
and the 1976 Miss American on the wall

They enjoyed the Fajitas and fried ice cream for dessert. They even brought home a kitty bag for us. Minus the jalapeno peppers that were hidden in the beans that Sharon took a big bite of.

Well that is all for now. Loren left the cupboard over the desk open and Thelma is up there and I can't wait to join her for an adventure. A new place in the bus that we have not fully explored yet Woopeee!