Chapter 37: One More School

This day we had no schedule so we took our time. With everyone up fed and changed we left the campground and headed north. We entered New Mexico and were driving up through the middle of the White Sands Missile Test Range. The signs along the way were kind of scary warning us to stay on the road due to un-exploded ordinance in the desert on each side of the road.

We drove for several miles through some of the most desolate country I had ever seen. I was reminded of Marty Robins' song El Paso where he mentions the bad lands of New Mexico. We drove through miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles of nothing. We finally made it to White Sands National Monument about mid morning. That was an impressive sight to see. We drove around among the dunes of white sand and came to a stop near one of the bigger dunes.

The babies were asleep strapped into their car seats so we decided to get out and get a closer look at the dunes. I read somewhere that the sand is really gypsum. If you grind it down to a powder, bake it really hot, add water and cover it with paper you end up with wall board or sheetrock. It's not really that easy but that's a simplified version.

We climbed up to the top of the dune and we had the illusion that we were on a giant snow pile. Kim was the first one to get a silly idea and plopped down on her rear end and slid to the bottom of the dune. Grace and I were older and wiser but, what the heck; we did the same thing anyways. Laughing up a storm we had a blast. You can have your amusement park rides; this was just as much fun and best of all, it was free. Kim dashed back to the Winnie and retrieved her camera. She got some priceless shots of us making fools of ourselves. One shot in particular had Grace on my lap as we slid down the slope.

We spent a couple of hours frolicking in the sand and, exhausted, we made our way back to the Winnie. Grace was so pooped out that she tossed the bread and fixings on the table and announced, "Every man for him-self." So we sat down and dug in making sandwiches. Add a bag of chips and a glass of milk and you have a pretty good lunch. Of course no lunch is complete without a cookie or two.

We got everything put away and headed out to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the caverns. While on the way Kim got on the internet and checked out campgrounds nearby. She found one near Cloudcroft so that was taken care of. It took us a couple of hours to get to Carlsbad Caverns. The three of us put on papoose harnesses so we could take the little ones with us. The paths we wanted to travel were not recommended for strollers and we did not want to leave anyone behind to baby-sit. I was strongest so I got elected to also put on a back-pack with bottles and diapers. With all that stuff we were in for a very strenuous day. All Kim had to carry extra was her camera.

Entering the mouth of the cavern was quite impressive in itself. The ceiling of the entrance was covered with what looked like millions of daddy-long-leg spiders. They are not any bother to humans but they are still kind of creepy. As our eyes adjusted to the lower light level, the beauty and splendor of the cavern was slowly revealed to us. We went down the pathway which did several switch-backs until we were down dozens of feet into the earth.

We entered the great room and it took my breath away. The magnificence of the place was beyond description in words alone. There were stalactites (they're the ones on the ceiling) and stalagmites (the ones on the floor) of all shapes and sizes. If you looked at them long enough you could envision them as a beautiful sculptures created by a very talented sculptor. The variations in color alone were a sight to behold. I had instructed Kim in the proper use of filters to be able to capture a true color image of what the naked eye could see. The park had installed lighting so flash was not needed to get just the right images. I did sneak over and check what kind of lights they had installed so we could get just the right filter and camera settings.

All along the way we saw clear pools of water, some of which had very small creatures swimming around. I noticed several stalactites from which lime rich water was dripping building on the size of the formation. As the water landed below it built up a stalagmite with the two ever slowly growing together to form a tall column. Of course that process takes thousands of years and we didn't have the time to wait around to see it. (Duh!)

Kim picked out just the right spot and set up the tripod so she could get a picture of the six of us together. That was one of the very few pictures that included Kim. Just for experimentation she shot one with flash and one in natural light (if you can call it that). We looked at the viewer and found that the flash picture got us in minute detail and nothing else. The natural light shot showed us and the cavern features as well.

All along the way I was impressed with the good job the park service had done hiding the lights and wires so we weren't distracted from the important views. There was a lingering feeling in the back of my mind that made me feel like we were the first human beings to explore these wonders.

We made it to the campground by supper time. We backed in and got hooked up. We three big ones had our tails dragging so I decided that Grace didn't have to make it worse on herself by cooking supper. There was a nice restaurant right across the road from the campground so we went there to eat. The place was owned by a nice older couple who really knew how to put on a feed. Everything tasted fabulous and we ate our fill almost to the bursting point. When they noticed our little ones the lady offered to heat up some milk for their bottles. Grace, Kim and I have perfected the art of eating single handed while holding a baby bottle.

That evening we watched a little TV and went to bed early. Actually it was more like we crashed into bed. All the walking and frolicking literally wiped us out. We slept very soundly and didn't wake up until after eight in the morning. We slowly got organized with showers, changing and feeding little ones, and getting dressed and fed and on our way hoping to make it to Phoenix, Arizona. That would be a bit over six hours of driving so we would be doing our usual switching drivers along the way. Being in the plains states, Mother Nature decided we were a good target for some surprises.

We had made it through Tucson when the weather took a turn for the worse. Rain started pelting our windshield making progress take a back seat to safety. We were on I-10 headed northwest when my weather radio came out with a bulletin informing us of a severe thunderstorm warning and tornado watch for the area we were going through. We pulled into a rest stop on the highway and decided to see what the weather was going to do.

I got on the internet and pulled up some weather maps to see what we were facing. It didn't look very good. The weather system we were near was just arriving and should last a couple of hours. The tornado watch area included right where we were stopped. The Winnie was a big heavy vehicle but, like a house trailer, it was no match for a tornado. The wind had picked up and we were rocking back and forth making all of us very nervous. The rest area had a information center and rest rooms in a substantial structure so we gathered up the little ones and strollers and made a mad dash for the building.

Just as we made it to the door Mother Nature gave us another surprise as she pelted us with golf-ball sized hail. It was with pure luck that none of us got hit by the hail since it could be quite painful if not fatal. Our poor Winnie was out there bearing the full brunt of the onslaught as hail was bouncing off the walls and roof of our home away from home. I could see that the gusty wind was rocking it back and forth and I was glad that we were not out there.

The information center had a TV tuned to the local station and they were covering the storm. They reported that there was a tornado on the ground west of us about ten miles and was moving in our direction. The sky looked quite ominous and started to get a green tint. We were in the safest location available so we just hunkered down to ride out the storm. The tornado was making a track of destruction along its path and headed straight for us. If we took a direct hit even the brick building we were in would barely survive if at all. There were kids running around and babies (not ours thankfully) crying up a storm. Our three little ones were still sleeping off the effects of all the activity the day before. Looking out one of the windows I noticed some debris being kicked up and I could see the tornado in the distance as well as some bright flashes as power lines submitted their resignations. I don't have to tell you how nervous we were. When the power went out in the building there was pandemonium erupting. Then the babies were not the only ones crying as all the little kids panicked in the almost black darkness that surrounded us. I looked over and saw Grace and Kim huddled together fearing the worst. I joined them so the six of us were cuddled up in a bunch. I thought I detected Grace and Kim starting to cry. I wasn't in much better shape myself but had to shake myself back to calmness since I was the anchor for our little family.

Well, I guess luck was with us because the tornado petered out just as it looked like we were done for. It receded back into the clouds and passed right over us reforming about five miles east of us. The winds died down and the sun actually came out giving us a nice spring day. After checking the weather maps on my computer and seeing that everything had moved to the east we headed back out to the Winnie. I checked the Winnie and the only damage was a crack in one of the side windows. I put some tape over the crack so it would not get worse and resumed our trip to Phoenix. We pulled into a campground about late afternoon and settled in for a night of rest to allow the adrenalin to work its way out of our bodies.

I was suffering withdrawals from Graces exquisite cooking so we had a meal almost to die for. (Don't tell Grace that I said almost.) After supper we bedded down the babies and watched the news on TV. I was shocked to see the path of destruction left in the wake of the tornado. Buildings, better built than the one we took shelter in, were reduced to rubble. The death toll was up to forty eight people. There were two elementary schools hit and destroyed with loss of life beyond my fiercest fears. The announcer made a point to mention that the destruction was continuous all except for a seven mile stretch as it crossed Interstate 10. That was exactly where we were.