The map solution

After some thinking and searching, I've not been able to make a map solution I like.  I'll try posting a screen capture from my map program for a while.

City of Rocks State Park

Making Sandwiches.  Lecturing Jef.

We had a few more days to kill before our date with Carlsbad Caverns.  While staying at KOA campgrounds is nice for sure, it wasn't really the experience we wanted for the whole trip.  So, we took a look at the map and I picked out City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico.  It was just a little drive from our place in Las Cruces, and looked pretty interesting.  Having a 2 hour drive instead of a half-day drive was nice, and getting into the destination at lunchtime instead of dinnertime was also really great.  Sarah was kind enough to make sandwiches, but I think she would have really preferred to stay looking out the window at the scenery.  (Added to the fact that I was a little curt since I was so hungry, and didn't communicate well about hunger levels, etc etc.)  We all survived the trip to the park intact.  Barely.

Checking out the rock wall

I picked this park because it looked like it had a few neat things to do, and we were looking for some hiking.  My expectations were low - the website didn't advertise a whole lot of hiking trails, and aside from the rocks, there wasn't much to do.

I think the website really undersold the park.  This park was really gorgeous.  The geology was very interesting, and different than some of the areas (limestone) we'd traveled through over the past week.

Peek-a-boo

The park was formed by ancient volcanoes - the rocks are either classic volcanic rock (red/brown porous) or what looks like compressed grey ash filled with white and brown crystalline inclusions.  I spent some time looking at one of the walls near the visitor center where a good cross section of the park's rocks was on display.

This park is also really interesting because the area was very volcanically active throughout time.  The rock pinnacles are eroded volcanic matter, most likely carved out by water and wind over a long period of time.  Several times on our hikes I found xenoliths - likely from other nearby volcanoes which, according to the ranger, can throw rocks hundreds of miles.

After making camp, we took a stroll up to a lookout where Sarah enjoyed a rock monument.  The trail was switchback up a steep hill, and the view was really nice - overlooking the rock pinnacles that made up the park as well as a nearby mountain.  It would have been a much nicer walk if Sarah hadn't chosen to throw rocks at me while I was trying to get a picture of a nearby windmill!

Throwing rocks at me!

Friendly Campers and their Cat

We took a stroll around the park at sunset and met a nice couple with a very interesting cat.  She was a rescue cat - someone was attempting to make a new breed.  Part siamese, part bengal, and part persian.  She appeared to be quite the hunter - apparently, on her harness and leash, she'd managed to capture half a dozen chipmunks in the last month or so.  She was very interested in a nearby hill of fire ants - I think she was outclassed.  Very cool, and seeing campers who'd brought their pets along was kind of neat.  Not sure that would work for our critters.

The next day we set off to climb a nearby mountain.  We were told there was a trail to follow, and quickly discovered a couple of cairns to follow.  Unfortunately, after a bit, these became more and more spotty, until we were off trail with no clear route up the mountain in sight.  Additionally, a nearby full-sized bull (complete with foot long horns) was keeping its eye on us.  We decided to make our own way up the mountain, picking a rock-filled gully to follow up to the first ledge.  Once up on the first ledge, we found the trail again, and followed this up to the peak.  The view was really great - we got some great pictures of the campground from the top of the peak.

I really enjoyed the hike because it exposed many layers of rocks, each one slightly different.  It was apparent that some layers were sturdier than others - the mountain had two distinct layers which resisted erosion well and then many layers inbetween made of different types of volcanic rock which didn't resist erosion as well.  I took several samples of rocks to the ranger station to ask about how they were formed.  One was clearly not from the area and was probably from a nearby volcano which had thrown the rock quite a ways to land on the trail where we were hiking.


That night we took another stroll at the golden hour to get some pictures of the rocks in the park and the sunset.  I was happy with the results.  On the way back, Sarah did her best impression of a Japanese Game Show, which was entertaining.  We spent some time looking for the milky way, but the moon was too bright.  I did manage to get a few more pictures of the park at twilight, which I was pretty happy with.

Dinner and Dessert on the Desert

We had a really pleasant dinner yesterday.  From out campsite we overlook the valley and can see the Rio Grande River and the city of Las Cruces.  The mountains in the background are simply gorgeous.

I fixed turkey smoked sausage, loaded baked potatoes, and a cheesy rice and broccoli.  Sarah contributed a salad and we killed the fruit salad from yesterday for dessert.  The cheesy rice and broccoli was terrible - neither one of us could finish it, but the rest of dinner was great.

Plumbing and Door Fixing in Las Cruces

Busted!

Sarah broke the door.  We were using the screen door only since it was so nice outside (72 degrees, slight wind, no humidity) and she pulled on part of the screen door that was a metal panel in a couple of frame slots.  The metal panel came out a little bit.  To her credit, she managed to halfway fix it before calling me in to complete the repair, but still, another repair to be made.

Hand-tightening fixtures

Later in the day, I had a plumbing issue to finish up.  Early in the trip I found the bathroom sink leaking a little bit from the pipes connecting to the faucet.  This wasn't the first time I'd seen this - on our trip to Alexander Springs, I found the shower faucet leaking into the wall.  The problem this time is that the RV is old, and the connectors used aren't really made to deal well with rattling and shaking over the open road, over years and years of use.  They're hand-tighten nylon connectors that mate up to nylon fixtures.  Over time they've come loose, and started to leak.  In the case of the shower, a little bit of teflon tape seemed to do the trick.  The faucet in the bathroom sink could only be attacked from below, and was really painful to get at.  I was happy to have the job done.

Not comfortable.

Simon!

We got in touch with my friend Simon yesterday.  I've known Simon since 1992 - almost 20 years now.  It's been a great friendship because I can talk to him once or twice a year at times and then when we talk next it was like we just chatted yesterday.  I was really sad because he had a falling out with the phone company a couple of months ago (ok, well, he kind of disagreed with their billing practices) and I never got his new number (after he swore off cell phones for a while and then got a new one).  As Sarah pointed out, it would feel wrong to visit New Mexico and not see Simon.  I couldn't agree more.

I only had an old email address and some hope that he'd be watching it.  Fortunately, he was, and we talked to him yesterday for a while.  It was like old times.  He even tried to justify to me that his life was pretty normal.  Yeah right.   

Sarah pointed out that the very first time she met Simon, he - and the entire kitchen including the ceiling - was covered in hot chocolate from a blender explosion - which he was able to justify was because the hot chocolate he was making was not homogenous enough for his taste and he didn't anticipate thermal expansion when pouring hot fluids into a glass blender and that the O-rings and lid gave way - definitely not his fault! 

I also reminded him of being chased by a fire truck and getting mugged in downtown Nashville and his protest of the US Mail system for a few months...and a few others.

In conclusion, I stated that statistically speaking, my data set was both large enough and over a broad enough period of time to justify a pattern of non-normality with very little doubt.  Scientific Simon had to agree.  We all had a good laugh.

We'll probably get a chance to meet up with him in about a week after we're done with Carlsbad Caverns.  Not sure what we'll do - probably some food and some story swapping.  We're looking forward to it.

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EDIT:  Simon called to say that he required a correction.  We met in 1992, the year the International Science and Engineering Fair was in Nashville, TN.  We both had robotic crane projects, and we met while discussing each other's projects.  I've fixed this.  Thank you Simon!

Fixing the Fridge

PC Fridge Fan

Our fridge has been acting up.  It's just not keeping up.  The freezer is great - everything stays frozen and there are ice crystals on the walls.  The fridge has a metal radiator which gets cold and occasionally has ice on it, but nothing in there seems to stay cold, getting up to nearly 50 degrees at times.  (It should be around 30-40 degrees)

After having to throw away food for the second time, it was time to do something.  I stopped at a local Radio Shack and purchased a 12V car cigarette lighter and a PC case fan.  Since I had no soldering iron (didn't make the cut for the road tool box) I used nylon zip ties and flaming duct tape.  My theory is that the radiator is cold, but there's not enough air circulating in the fridge to take advantage of this.  If I can force air over the radiator I think it may work better.


When I woke up this morning, the fridge was 33 degrees.  I think it just may be working!

Morning in Las Cruces, NM

Sunrise at the KOA in Las Cruces, NM

Morning Coffee Walk

Woke up this morning to 41 degree desert air.  The furnace in the RV kicked on last night to keep the cabin at 59 degrees, which was pleasant since we were between a 4" memory foam mattress and a 2.5" thick flannel sleeping bag.  We took a nice walk around the KOA at sunrise with some coffee.

Our campsite is at 4,000 feet today, overlooking the city of Las Cruces, NM.

Camp spot in Las Cruces KOA

I spent the morning making cinnamon rolls and figuring out what we should do for the next day or two.

Making Cinnamon Rolls

One of the neat things about this campsite is that the gravel is all raked.  As you roll into your spot, you're rolling over nice lines of gravel, kind of like a Japanese Zen Garden.

I really felt bad for the guy that had to get out a rake and do this since it looked like a real hassle for upkeep, until I saw this neat rig.

Gravel Raking Golf Cart with Sprayer

It looks like they spray water to prevent the dust from kicking up, then hit the gravel with small rakes.  Nice.

I'm relaxing with a cup of coffee

She is getting serious about this blog-off.