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updated her status.
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2 days 3 states 560 miles and all we did was reenter TN
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Crossing the Old
Man
Meanwhile at the banjo museum my
thoughts turned to quilting designs
A few pics from
today's exploration of Washita battlefield National Historic site ...1866
cavalry led by G Custer massacred Cheyenne at dawn. Western OK
Beautiful,
peaceful, hallowed land. Full of cattle now. Used to be buffalo
Sod house from the"Sooners" in the
1892 land rush. Sooners were cheaters who snuck on to the land ahead of the
date to stake their claim Sod house from the
"Sooners" in the 1892 land rush. Sooners were cheaters who snuck on
to the land ahead of the date to stake their claim Dianne Gruber See the brown
package? He's bought another history book from a NPS bookstore
Red grass where
the women and children hid 
Washita river. Clusters horse cleared it in a
leap
Washita river. Clusters horse cleared it in a
leap
Palo Duro! South of
Amarillo, TX May 17-21
our “limited cabin”…electricity,
fridge, microwave, wqter spigot outside, comes complete with kangaroo rats.
Palo duro.
our “limited cabin”…electricity,
fridge, microwave, wqter spigot outside, comes complete with kangaroo rats.Palo duro.
Tree pose by a
brave young girl
GEORGE at the
Big Hole
Spanish skirts, but the light wasn't good
to bring out their color
Goodbye Palo Dura
Spanish skirts, but the light wasn't good
to bring out their colorGoodbye Palo DuraI'm sitting on a border rock outside a little stone hut in Palo Duro Canyon, south of Amarillo, Texas. It's 5:00 and the sun has set enough to give shade to the patio, but not quite enough to shade the picnic table, so I sit on this little wall to enjoy the shade and the canyon breeze. I could be inside the hut. Its thick walls have kept us cool every day, but I want to be outside. I want to experience the quiet and beauty of this place. Every breath is sweet desert air. I'm surrounded on three sides by canyon walls. Various shades of orange and brown rocks, interspersed with the dry gray green of the desert, and on the floor, framing my view, the yellow green of young spring. I read that the erosion piles of the rocks, layered in orange, red, white and brown, are called Spanish skirts, because they resemble the swirling skirts of Mexican women. I actually think I have a contra skirt in these colors.
The wind is ever present, but not
at all constant. It gusts noisily, backs off to a gentle touch, then builds up
again, a soft roar in my ears. If I knew birds, I would be hearing many
species, but I'm ignorant, so I just know there are different sounds. As the
evening progresses, vultures will entertain us, soaring in great circles. We
have two desert rats living here. We tried to tell ourselves they were mice,
but on reflection they are big for mice, but smaller than TN rats. They are
actually kinda cute, if it weren't for the fact that they thought the cabin was
theirs, and we had to hide all ours potential edibles in the microwave and
refrigerator. I wish the vultures would eat them for dinner.
9pm addendum.....this evening,
the entertainment, besides the vulture air show, was a mountaineering exhibit
by three young humans who seemed part mountain goat. I sat at the picnic table
and watched them scamper around the mountain. They eventually reached a
sandstone ridge, and then shoe skied back down.
Sometimes we add our music to
that of the wind and birds.I'm not sure how far it carries. There are other
humans down here, but we are spaced apart. If they do hear us, I hope it's the
sweet notes that reach them.
George is reading about the
Comanches who stayed here before us. They, like us, were itinerant, enjoying
the canyon's protecting walls while the storms howled on the plains. As we
lazily lie on the bed in the cool cabin and read our books, we think and talk
about what life may have been like for them. Our big effort each day has been
to ride the bicycle four miles each way to the Trading Post to buy lunch.
Otherwise, we are pretty indolent.
Yesterday evening we bicycled
over to the Big Hole, a tall cave in a wall. We were content to walk over the
uneven ground to the base of the wall, but young people climbed the wall to
stand on top of the cave. I have a lovely photo of a young girl doing tree pose
on the edge. She hollered down her phone number so I can send it to her when I
have cell service again.
Ps.
Has anyone had success offing a desert rat with a fly swatter?
TAOS
Pueblo of the Red Willow People
We were headed for Big Bend but somehow ended up in Taos.
Good wrong turn
The Rio Grand in its 640 ft
narrow canyon west of Taos
Ghost Ranch
, NM
Land of Georgia O’Keefe
, NMLand of Georgia O’Keefe
Halfway expected
to see John Wayne chasing Nicholas Gage on horseback here in Monument Valley. Almost too awesome to absorb …George 
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
Navaho Prayer
I'm so happy to be in the area of the Grand Canyon again
April 24 ·
Home for a couple days. It is windy.
So the internet,
which comes and goes, might be on again, thus I am obliged to send a Photo or
two of this lovely hole in the ground. It is likely my last time here, so I
celebrated by walking a little ways down the bright Angel trail, and took the
bus to various viewpoints along the west rim, as well as walking from Pima Pt
to Hermits Rest
Mather Point at
sunset
A few minutes later
Botonizing from the car in the Mohave. My guess (from
Wikipedia) is foxtail or cottontop cactus. Any opinions
Joshua Tree==Stephanie Hanberry Bean
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