Nov 8th - 11th 8050 Miles. Random Thoughts on Javelinas

     Driving up from Biloxi yesterday thru Mobile and on to Atlanta I got musing about some little items of questionable import that I haven't included in any previous postings. Pistachio trees grow in abundance in southern New Mexico and this is a picture of the worlds largest artificial pistachio nut. I was in too much of a hurry to get to the White Sands so I didn't stop for a photo so had to steal this from google images. Check out the link on the lower right of this page (scroll down)....its amusing and may help with your Christmas shopping!
      One item on my bucket list for this trip was to stop at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and rent a book on tape.....and then return it to another Cracker Barrel somewhere down the road. Lame but it seemed important at the time. So I stopped way back in Sept. in Michigan, rented a trashy novel set in Nantucket (trashy place)  and returned it in Sioux Falls SD. The book I've really enjoyed though was lent me by my friend Kathy Gagliardi, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. Its long, almost 23 hrs. and I have only two cd's left. I start the car and its like having a friend waiting for me!

     Allright. Next, I haven't told you about the javelinas. This animal resembles a wild pig and is prevalent in Arizona.  Hats, Lynn and I stopped to explore Walnut Canyon enroute to Winslow. This is a cool place where you can hike a mile around the rim and actually go thru 700 yr. old Sinagua Indian cliff dwellings. Well, a warning sign at the top explained what to do in case of meeting some animals: bear - don't stare at them, no eye contact, walk away; mountain lion - do stare at them, make yourself "BIG", don't run; javelina - they can't see very well so if you startle them they may run at you. Run out of the way. Well,  this was way too much info and we couldn't keep it straight between the three of us. "Stare at the bear...no,no, never stare at the bear." We just got back in the car and left.
     I could do an album of just pictures of rattlesnake warning signs. The sign below was in Chamberlain, Missouri. Dale and I didn't walk down this path either.

"Roam Free" may be a misnomer here!

Amen Dr. Scott

     I've had no trouble whatsoever on the trip and only one nervous night. That was at a not so great Rodeway Inn at the Carlsbad Caverns.  It was 30 mi. back to civilization in the town of Carlsbad (in the wrong direction) so I stayed here. It was a little reminiscent of the "Bates Hotel" and I had my airhorn and pepper spray with me in the room.  All was fine.

     This past Tuesday I drove along the gulf coast from New Orleans to Biloxi. The only people on the 32 mile beautiful white sand beach were cleanup men from BP. I waded in and took a photo with a timer just to prove I've touched the southern most body of water on my trip. Didn't see any tarballs.
     Happily I'm with my daughter Meg now in Atlanta and looking forward to four days of adventures together.