Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Rain
Monday was a rainy day. A rainy day in the desert is a rare and wonderous thing. .71 inches in over 12 hours. It was wonderful waking up to the sound of raindrops on the roof of the trailer. Love that sound!
R and I spent several hours in the volunteer building checking email and down loading photos for our up coming evening programs She is preparing a program on the Desert Bighorn. My subject will be the Sonoran Pronghorn. Both are cool creatures of the desert. These will go nicely with the other creatures we talk about; the Desert Tortoise, the Lesser Long-nosed Bat, the Javelina, and Gila Monster. Interesting animals that have adapted to the harsh desert life.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Ajo
. Ajo is a small town. One grocery store, 5 restaurants, two dollar stores, three gas stations, one barbershop ( a good one though). Actually, the town isn't that bad. In our trips to and from Oregon, we have passed through many towns that have a lot less to offer than Ajo.
During it heyday, 1940s-50s when the mine was in full production, he population of Ajo was about 15000 . It would have been funn to see it then. Many of the early areas of the city are gone, because the mine actually took the land. Where the huge open pit is today was once a residential area. The mine is not shut down, but no mining happens there. A few employees remain because if it were closed, the area would have to be made environmentally clean again and that would be tremendously expensive. Actually, a bi-product of the slag called "Black Beauty" ,a black rock product used for sand blasting is packaged and shipped out of the facility so there is some activity there. The pit can be viewed from a look-out spot along the rim and visiting the small information building nearby.
During it heyday, 1940s-50s when the mine was in full production, he population of Ajo was about 15000 . It would have been funn to see it then. Many of the early areas of the city are gone, because the mine actually took the land. Where the huge open pit is today was once a residential area. The mine is not shut down, but no mining happens there. A few employees remain because if it were closed, the area would have to be made environmentally clean again and that would be tremendously expensive. Actually, a bi-product of the slag called "Black Beauty" ,a black rock product used for sand blasting is packaged and shipped out of the facility so there is some activity there. The pit can be viewed from a look-out spot along the rim and visiting the small information building nearby.
Wednesday 22, 2015
Things are progressing here at ORPI. Both R and I have all of our outlines done for our patio talks and evening programs and are finishing those for the Location Talks and Guided Hikes that start in February. (More fun things for our visitors to do.)
The weather has blesses us with lots of sun and warm temps. Our hike to Victoria Mine on Monday was actually a bit warm.
Tonight is the first time I will give my Desert Tortoise program since last spring. There are a few parts that need work, but I can not update it until we volunteers get access to the computers at the VC. The Powerpoint program on this laptop is 2003 so it is way behind the times. I have three videos in my evening program and yesterday when I tried to run it to help refresh my memory, none of the videos ran. So I will just muddle through and explain, " If you could see this video, you would see a Desert Tortoise hatcing from eggs." Imaginations are wonderful tools.
Because we have the eveing program our work day does not start until Noon, but we don't finish up until after 8pm so it makes up for the late start. Standing up in front of folks does not bother me now. It is something that I never would have done when I was young.
Tomorrow, I conduct the van tour in the morning and R will drive the van to shuttle hikers out to the Senita Basin.
Saturday night we are giving our Vulture program "Meet Me at the Road Kill Cafe" which is always lots of fun.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Frday Jan 16, 2015
Friday Morning.
Lots of sunshine. Low 70s today
R is working this morning. Usually it's me because I am the morning person and she is NOT. R is driving for the van tour which is fun and easy. Nothing to remember, ( you are not the one giving the narration.) You are just driving for someone else, so you are following their directions. easy-peasy.
More pics later. I need to check some websites and see if we can find another park to work at next year. Stay tuned.
Lots of sunshine. Low 70s today
R is working this morning. Usually it's me because I am the morning person and she is NOT. R is driving for the van tour which is fun and easy. Nothing to remember, ( you are not the one giving the narration.) You are just driving for someone else, so you are following their directions. easy-peasy.
More pics later. I need to check some websites and see if we can find another park to work at next year. Stay tuned.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
70 Degrees
70 degrees is the average high temperature for the last week with a mixture of sun and clouds. I was 71 degrees warmer than my sister in Minnesota last week when I called her. Don't miss that.
We gave our first evening program at the campground ampitheater on Thursday night. About 45 guests attended which is a good number considering that the season is just getting started. We also bothg gave our first 15 minute talk out on the back patio of the VC this week. Javelinas were my topic; bats were R's. Lots more to come. I am going to add at least two more; desert tortoises and Gila Monsters.
Something new offered this year are guided hikes and location talks. Guided hikes are just that; a ranger led hike to a specific area with spots along the way to explain a certain feature or event. Location talks are a program conducted at a certain location; a ranch site, archaeological site, historic site, or a prominant geological feature. The park is going to offer van rides to folks who chose not to drive out to the areas, but those who want to drive can meet us at the special spot. According to the standards set up at this time, location talks have to be in a readily accessible area that is close to parking. I asked about having a talk at a ranch site that is a mile from a parking lot and I created some confusion with our bosses After a long discussion, trying to put it in one of the two boxes, I decided to wait a while and ask the question again some time later.
Three of us volunteers drove out to two sites to do research for location talks. Dos Lomitos Ranch
and Gachado Line Camp
are located along the Mexican border just east of Lukeville, AZ. This area has been closed to visitors since 2003 so it is a really cool to be able to visit these places.
The drive from Gachado to Dos Lomitas is 3 miles on the border in the Roosevelt Reserve which is 60 foot strip of Federal land that runs from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. There are 13 boundary markers that marker the border in the boundaries of Organ Pipe National Monument.
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We gave our first evening program at the campground ampitheater on Thursday night. About 45 guests attended which is a good number considering that the season is just getting started. We also bothg gave our first 15 minute talk out on the back patio of the VC this week. Javelinas were my topic; bats were R's. Lots more to come. I am going to add at least two more; desert tortoises and Gila Monsters.
Something new offered this year are guided hikes and location talks. Guided hikes are just that; a ranger led hike to a specific area with spots along the way to explain a certain feature or event. Location talks are a program conducted at a certain location; a ranch site, archaeological site, historic site, or a prominant geological feature. The park is going to offer van rides to folks who chose not to drive out to the areas, but those who want to drive can meet us at the special spot. According to the standards set up at this time, location talks have to be in a readily accessible area that is close to parking. I asked about having a talk at a ranch site that is a mile from a parking lot and I created some confusion with our bosses After a long discussion, trying to put it in one of the two boxes, I decided to wait a while and ask the question again some time later.
Three of us volunteers drove out to two sites to do research for location talks. Dos Lomitos Ranch and Gachado Line Campare located along the Mexican border just east of Lukeville, AZ. This area has been closed to visitors since 2003 so it is a really cool to be able to visit these places.
The drive from Gachado to Dos Lomitas is 3 miles on the border in the Roosevelt Reserve which is 60 foot strip of Federal land that runs from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. There are 13 boundary markers that marker the border in the boundaries of Organ Pipe National Monument.
This is number 166.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
The Trip South
The Trip has been completed. We are settled in our site in the VIP campground. Our trip went as below.
We left Canby Friday morning and drove to Eugene. While fueling up at Fred Meyer, I checked the ODOT webcam and report and found that Willamtte Pass required chains. Bad. So had to back track and drive over Santiam Pass. It added several hours to our trip, the rig got coated with pumice dirt, but we got safely over the pass.
First two nights in Klamath Falls with J & T.
Second night in Hawthorne, NV at the Whiskey Flats RV Park, a good place to stay in the area. We spend some time getting things put away that had been packed at home after the slides were closed so this was the first time they were reopened. It was cold there so homemade chicken soup tasted great. 19 degrees when we got going the next morning. Had to scrape the windshield. Sunny drive south
Third night in Parker, AR. in a less then average mobilehome and rv park. left the rig hooked up again. Basically ate and went to bed. Not as cold.
That left us with a 200 mile trip for our last day. Stopped in Buckeye for fuel ( $2.71/ gal diesel) and groceries at Fry's (Kroger group store along with Smiths, and Fred Meyer). 116 miles south and we arrived at ORPI. Hugs at the Visitor Center and then to our site. 1400 miles in total.
We left Canby Friday morning and drove to Eugene. While fueling up at Fred Meyer, I checked the ODOT webcam and report and found that Willamtte Pass required chains. Bad. So had to back track and drive over Santiam Pass. It added several hours to our trip, the rig got coated with pumice dirt, but we got safely over the pass.
First two nights in Klamath Falls with J & T.
Second night in Hawthorne, NV at the Whiskey Flats RV Park, a good place to stay in the area. We spend some time getting things put away that had been packed at home after the slides were closed so this was the first time they were reopened. It was cold there so homemade chicken soup tasted great. 19 degrees when we got going the next morning. Had to scrape the windshield. Sunny drive south
Third night in Parker, AR. in a less then average mobilehome and rv park. left the rig hooked up again. Basically ate and went to bed. Not as cold.
That left us with a 200 mile trip for our last day. Stopped in Buckeye for fuel ( $2.71/ gal diesel) and groceries at Fry's (Kroger group store along with Smiths, and Fred Meyer). 116 miles south and we arrived at ORPI. Hugs at the Visitor Center and then to our site. 1400 miles in total.
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