The Hoover Dam was a significant engineering feat. It was also a major planning exercise. In addition to creating Boulder City to house the workers (which Cathie mentioned in this post), the planners built a railroad to transport the equipment to this remote part of the country. Building the railroad involved creating five tunnels in this mountainous area. When the railroad was dismantled in 1962, the area was left unused. In 1992 the government established a multi-use trail on the former railroad. The trail now connects Hoover Dam to the Visitors Center, the campground and other trails in the area.

There is a nice video on the National Parks Service website for the trail. Scroll down to see the video or click on this link. There is also a nice, detailed post by Travel with D and E on the trail, including its history, here. No need for me to repeat what they said.

Yesterday I rode my bike from our campsite to the start of the trail. During the ride I realized that the path was all uphill, and not just a slight incline. It was a good workout! So, rather than use up all my energy getting to the start of the trail, I asked Cathie to drive me to the start of the trail and I took off.

After a slight incline from the starting point to Tunnel 1, the ride was fairly level through the five tunnels. The gravel road was wide enough but there were no guardrails. At some places, there was a steep dropoff.

East of the five tunnels, the trail gets a bit more complicated. I don’t think it followed the original railroad line; it was too curvy with significant changes in elevation. I rode on it for a while.

I didn’t quite make it to the dam. The remaining mile was mostly downhill, which meant I would have to ride uphill to come back. Rather than stress my body in the desert heat, I chose discretion over valor and turned back.

Once I rode past Tunnel 1 and got to the trailhead parking, the ride was downhill, all the way to the campsite!

It’s so pleasant sitting in our RV, looking out at Lake Mead. The blue water is a stark contrast to the barren hills around it. It’s also a bit sad.

Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the US, providing water to California, Arizona, and Nevada as well as producing electrical power. However, the amount of water in the lake has reduced significantly over the years and is now only 34% capacity. That has resulted in less water available to the southwestern states and probably 40% less power output this year.

There is an interesting confluence of events that has created this problem. Climate change has resulted in less snow in the winter and less spring water runoff. Hotter temperatures caused by climate change has resulted in more demand for water. Evaporation is a problem as well. Then there is the Colorado River Compact, a 1922 agreement that regulates water distribution on the Colorado River between seven states, the ones listed above plus Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Among the many problems in the agreement (Native American rights anyone?) there is one glaring issue. The Compact assumes that there is 15 million acre-feet per year available for use. That number was determined during a period of high precipitation (1905-1922). Historically, the amount of water available was 2 million acre-feet lower and today the amount of water available is even lower, due to a long term drought since 2000.

This year, things will get more interesting. Some key agreements between the seven states expire at the end of the year and guess what? There is no consensus yet on how to proceed. The Upper states (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming) have a proposal but the lower states (California, Arizona, Nevada) rejected it.

The lives of 40 million people are directly affected by this. But the rest of us are also impacted. Where do we get much of our fruit and vegetables? What will happen when there is less water available for the large farms in California?

It’s still a beautiful view.

This phase of our trip is ending and another one is about to begin.

We’ve been driving west since Mobile, AL, over 1,600 miles. In Phoenix we said goodbye to I-10, which we drove on almost the entire time since Mobile. Between Tucson and Phoenix we started heading northwest. Tomorrow we will leave Phoenix and continue in a northwesterly direction to Boulder City, NV and Lake Mead, our westernmost stop on this trip.

Since Mobile and for the month of April, our goal has been to get to Utah. We made many stops and enjoyed several towns along the way, but mostly we were trying to get to a destination. And we’re almost there.

The first three weeks in May we’ll get to experience Utah and the National Parks there. Our self-described ‘National Parks Tour’ started in Tucson (Saguaro National Park), will continue in Nevada at Lake Mead, thru Utah and into Colorado where we’ll visit Mesa Verde, a total of eight parks in just over five weeks. We will finish the merry month of May in Santa Fe, NM.

This is our last day of hot weather this spring. Phoenix has been a cooler than Tucson; it might not reach 80 degrees today. Lake Mead will be a tad cooler and parts of Utah might get to freezing overnight. The low humidity has been nice, but the dryness has me reaching for moisturizer during the day and pushing myself to drink more water. Last night it actually rained for a couple of minutes. Didn’t change the humidity, though.

In 1991 we visited Tucson as part of our southwest trip. That trip included Grand Canyon and Sedona, among other places. I remember seeing the Saguaro cactus at the time, such majestic plants. Since then, in 1994, the National Parks Service created a park dedicated to preserving the saguaro. This was our first chance to see the park.

The saguaro needed a park dedicated to their health. Even though a saguaro can create over 4 million seeds over it’s lifespan, typically only one of those seeds produces another plant. So, at best, the saguaro is at replacement level. The first couple of years are the hardest for the plant. The conditions have to be just right, with the right amount of rain, sun, heat, etc. for the plant to survive. After two years they are only about 1/4 inch tall. By 75-80 years, they are considered an ‘adult’ and may start to produce arms. Some never develop arms. Some develop many arms. They can live 200 years. The saguaro is native to the Sonoran Desert, which encompasses parts of Arizona, northern Mexico and southeastern California.

The Saguaro National Park is divided into two sections, West and East, on either side of Tucson. On Tuesday we visited Saguaro West. On a hot afternoon (90+), we braved the weather and toured the area. There was a 5-mile loop trail that we drove on, seeing many of the saguaro cacti. We also took a 1/2 mile walk (yes in the heat!) and got a closer look at the plant life. This time of year the saguaro produces flowers, which turn into fruit in May. The fruit is used by the Tohono O’odham and other Native American tribes to make syrups, jams, jellies, and wines.

We finished the day with dinner at one of the many great Mexican restaurants. I could spend quite a few days eating my way thru Tucson.

Some pictures from our visit to the Tucson Botanical Gardens

Today we left Texas Hill Country, headed west. Within 100 miles we noticed the terrain changing. We’ve clearly moved to the more arid southwest.

We are staying one night in Fort Stockton, Texas, our last stop in the Lone Star state. The campground is on a small hill just outside of town. The highway is nearby. Looking west, there is just the road.

The campground has lots of eclectic things spread throughout the site, large chess and checkers sets, metal sculptures, and flags of all 50 states around the edge of the campground. I took a pic of the Ole Rhody flag waving in the wind.

We left Austin this morning, the start of three days driving across the southwest to New Mexico. In total, we are driving ~630 miles in these three days. For some, that’s not too far but our style is 200 miles, then stopping for a few days to a week. This feels a bit like a marathon.

Tonight we are staying at a farm near Harper in the Texas Hill Country. It’s quiet here. There is a bird nearby that keeps chirping out its song. Once in a while we can hear a car on the road. That’s quite a departure from the campground in Austin, where we could see and hear the traffic jams on I-35 going into the city.

I always knew that Texas was big. It’s an experience driving across it. It’s not like I-95 in Rhode Island, a paltry 42 miles. Interstate 10, the major east/west highway in Texas, is 877 miles in Texas and we’re going to drive on most of it. Whew!

Texans love their Lone Star. The star is everywhere, on trash cans, street lights, highways, and on all the flags that they fly throughout the state.

The Lone Star symbolizes that Texas was once an independent country, the Republic of Texas, 1836-1846. Although some romanticize that time, most Texans at the time didn’t want Texas to be an independent country. The majority of the population in 1836 were citizens of the US. The new country was in debt from the war with Mexico and wanted to join the US. But the US was hesitant. Texas allowed slavery and some states didn’t want another slave state in the union. Rhode Island submitted a resolution in 1838 against the annexation of Texas, partly because of slavery and partly because they were concerned that annexation would lead to a war with Mexico. Other states, supported Texas admission. In 1845, Texas was admitted as a state. A year later the Mexican-American War started.

Texas has been part of five nations, Spain, France, Mexico, Confederate States of America, and the United States of America as well as an independent country. Its complex history is partly why Texans are so patriotic. March 2nd is Texas Independence Day, marked with parades, festivals and ceremonies across the state. Does your state celebrate an Independence Day?

Austin, where we are staying for another couple of days, has a distinctive skyline. In the picture above, you can see that some of the high rise buildings look like blocks that aren’t completely lined up. The building on the left is most noticeable but there is another in the distance on the right. Many buildings also have balconies part way up the building.

Since we’re staying on the Bolivar Peninsula, I thought I would honor the peninsula’s namesake, Simon Bolivar.

Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar Palacios Ponte y Blanco (whew!) was born in 1783, in Caracas, just after the end of the American Revolutionary War. He grew up learning about the French revolution. In 1805, he swore to end Spanish rule in the Americas. With the help of others, he largely succeeded. The countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela gained independence due to his efforts. Today he is known as El Libertador in much of Latin America.

We’re enjoying our time at the beach. I’m reclining on our couch and looking out at the waves from the Gulf. There is a constant breeze from the water. Neither of us have the energy to much of anything, let alone drive to Galveston, which we originally planned to do today. It’s nice just hanging out here. We had a mix of sun and clouds earlier with temps in the 70’s; it’s now cloudy with some threat of rain tonight. The humidity is ~80% but it feels higher. Everything seems to have a light coating of salt water, including us! In fact, our smoke alarms went off last night, due to the high humidity. (I never knew smoke alarms can be triggered by humidity!)

i thank You God for most this amazing day

California artist Tony Natsoulas created these ~5 foot high ceramics, which are on display at the Louisiana State University Museum of Art. Natsoulas was a fan of the Beatles and described them as the “background music of life when growing up.” After studying ceramics in college, Natsoulas became an artist, focusing on large-scale figurative ceramics. He produced these pieces in 2001, picking a different period of Beatles history for each band member.

George: I, Me, Mine, refers to his quest for spiritual enlightenment and embrace of Eastern religions, specifically Hinduism.
John: Tomorrow Never Knows, alluding to the farewell rooftop performance at Apple Studios in London.
Paul: This Boy, represents the early days, when the band wore collarless suits.
Ringo: Sea of Green, refers to the psychedelic clothing the band wore in the animated film Yellow Submarine.

Fun fact: Prior to 1940 there were no bridges that crossed the Mississippi at Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge is the last major city on the Mississippi before New Orleans. Our campground is just west of the city in Port Allen, across the river from Baton Rouge. When we arrived here, I noticed that the area was mostly industrial, with very few residential neighborhoods. Once I learned that there wasn’t a bridge before 1940, I realized why.

The city of Baton Rouge really was named after a red stick. French explorers found a red stick (or pole) that marked the boundary between two tribes’ hunting grounds. The French established a colony at that site in 1721.

We toured the city a bit today. Baton Rouge has a nice multi-use trail that starts in the city and meanders with the river for about 14 miles. If the weather cooperates, I might take a bike ride on it.

Last Saturday I attended the No Kings rally in Mobile. It was a festive occasion with people carrying signs, lined up and down one of the main streets in town. Cars drove by honking in support. I wondered how the rally would be received in such a red state. One protester told me that Mobile is probably the most liberal town in Alabama. There weren’t any counter demonstrators and the rally felt safe. After the street demonstration, people went to a nearby park where there were tables with various progressive literature. There were a few speakers and everyone went home feeling that they had done something important. It felt good to be there.

Our RV travels usually break out into phases. The start of this trip was delayed by the 36 inches of snow that hit Providence in late February. Once we got on the road, we visited family in MD, DC and NC and are now exploring the Alabama Gulf Coast and Mobile.

For the next phase we are going west to explore the Utah national parks. We will spend a month or so traveling thru Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. When we planned the trip, I expected the weather in April wouldn’t be too oppressive in these states. Well, it looks like Mother Nature had other ideas. We will likely have hot and humid days as we travel west. Hopefully there will be a break in the weather before the Southwest experiences the full summer heat.

I’ve wanted to visit the ‘Mighty Five’ in Utah for several years. Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Arches and Canyonlands are so unique with stunning views and incredible rock formations. I want to see these wonders for myself and scratch the itch I have to visit. Hopefully, the plans I’ve made will allow Cathie to see many of the highlights in these parks as well.

And then? Well we’re not sure. After Utah we want to spend some time in Santa Fe. By late May we will be ready for the next phase of the trip. Since we probably won’t be out west again, maybe we should do some exploring!

Gulf Shores and Mobile have been so pleasant. The weather has been wonderful, with highs in the 70’s, cool nights and no rain. Mobile is pretty low key; today we toured some of the city and sat in Bienville Square, a pretty park in the center of Mobile, named after the founder, Jean-Baptise Le Moyne, Sieur de Beinville. (Bienville was a colorful character, who also founded New Orleans and is often described as the father of Louisiana.) The campground where we are staying is 15 minutes from Mobile, in the upper marshes of Mobile Bay. There is a boardwalk over part of the marsh where you can see the wildlife.

Cathie covered the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in her article. I wanted to add a couple of pictures I took that tells the story of segregation through housing.

The black areas of the map are the sections of the city where blacks could live in 1926. At the time, ~39% of the residents of Birmingham were black.

Birmingham is still one of the most segregated cities in the US.

I read a depressing story in the NY Times today. There is an Islamic school in Homewood, Alabama, just south of Birmingham and close to the Vulcan statue Cathie mentioned in her post yesterday. They want to purchase a building for the school in Hoover, the next town over. These are towns we drove thru from the campground on our drive to Birmingham. There is an uproar regarding the purchase, and the permit to purchase the building was denied. The article mentions several leading figures, including the “esteemed” Tommy Tuberville, US senator of Alabama, who made racist statements about the school.

It’s different here. Sometimes I try to minimize that fact when we are traveling. But it’s always there, hiding just below the surface. I’ve felt it whenever we have been to the Deep South. There is a racist past and a racist present which I find hard to forget.

Masjid Al-Rahman, the Muslim Center of RI, is on Central Avenue in Pawtucket, RI. We drive past it on our drive to the RV storage facility. The community has moved twice since they were founded in 1999. I don’t think there was significant controversy regarding their moves. They are now on a busy street, seen by many in a working class community of our state. I’m sure the Muslim center members have suffered from Islamophobia. The world isn’t perfect. But there is at least some amount of acceptance of the ‘other’ where we live.

I guess Randy Newman said it best in his song, Rednecks.

Attention all Trekkies. Birmingham Alabama has a center for Vulcans!

We started our latest RV trip just over a week ago. We were delayed a few days because of the snowstorm. Getting out of town proved to be an adventure. Let me explain.

A few weeks ago I had new tires installed on the RV. I knew there were some issues with the wheel covers but didn’t realize the significance of the problem until a couple days before we left. In short, we needed to go to a Goodyear Commercial tire center in order to have the wheel covers placed properly or I wouldn’t be able to fill one of the tires or check on its tire pressure. I found out that I could take it in on Thursday, the day we were leaving. Also, the facility was on the way, so that was good.

On Wednesday afternoon, Cathie called me to say her car (the one we were taking with us) hit a pothole and the tire was leaking air. Fun. She went directly to a local Firestone store. They thought they would be able to look at it on Wednesday, but alas, they ran out of time.

There we were on Wednesday night. We were ready to do our final prep but we didn’t know if the car would be ready in time for us to leave the next day. Was it just a patch or new tire or was the wheel damaged? Thursday morning we got ready, assuming the best, and drove to the tire store. It needed a new tire. Yay! After the repairs we drove home, packed the car and drove to the storage facility to get the RV. Fortunately, the Goodyear store resolved the wheel covers issue and by ~1pm we were on our way.

Family Time

After an overnight stop in northern NJ, we spent the first week visiting family in Maryland, DC and Raleigh, NC. That part has been a bit of a whirlwind, so we scheduled some relaxing time next. We are now in Birmingham, AL for a week, where we hope to visit the city and just hang for a few days.

But there is no escaping wild swings in the weather this year. On our first night, we were parked next to a snow bank. By the time we were in Raleigh, the high was in the 80’s. The next night, the low temperature was in the 40’s. Now we are in Birmingham and on Monday night the low will be in the 20’s! We haven’t camped in temperatures that low. I’ll have to disconnect the water hose, lest we have freezing pipes.

RV’ing is always an adventure!

We planned to start our late winter/spring RV trip on March 1 but Mother Nature had other ideas. With over three feet of snow last Sunday night/Monday, there was no chance for us to be ready. Instead, we’re hoping to get out on March 5th, as long as we don’t get another major storm between now and then.

We went out to the RV yesterday and it wasn’t pretty. Piles of snow on either side of the RV. After clearing the snow from the front, I tried to move the RV forward, so we could open it up and bring in things. I was stuck in a rut! Couldn’t go forward or back! I had to clear the snow from the sides so I could get to the rear tires. Then I put a couple of levelers under the tires for traction. Fortunately, I got out, destroying the levelers in the process.

Thursday can’t come soon enough!

I’ve been singing the song below for the past week or two. I decided it needed new words for the current situation.

(Sung to the Tune of We Gotta Get Out of This Place)

In the coldest part of the city
Where the snow refuses to melt
People tell me the shoveling ain’t going well.

Now my wife she keeps on waiting
Stuck inside another day
Is she going to leave this house before May?

Every day I wake up crying
I got to shovel another day
I’m working and slaving my life away.
Oh yes, I know it

I’ve been shoveling so hard
I’ve been shoveling late
Every night and day
Yeah yeah yeah yeah

We gotta get out of this place
If its the last thing we ever do
We gotta get out of this place
‘Cause girl, there’s a better life
For me and you.

Credits/apologies to The Animals (performers) and Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil (writers) for the song above.