The Roving Ruges

Happy Solstice Storm!

2010-12-17T08:27:00.012-06:00

December 17th, 2010

We have almost 2 feet of winter wonderland here!! One cat was brave enough to go out and disappeared to his ears.....seemed like he kind of liked it. His brother looked on from inside with horror. For Zia, it's about as close as he'll come out here to water. The horses are up to their knees and were very happy to get their hay this morning.

This storm welcomes in our 3rd winter here....the kids are in the local school system and thriving. Chris and I work together at the local Community Health Center, are both loving the work and being able to contribute to our community. Life is good with it's usual bumps and hiccups---We got broken into last week which didn't feel good--Mom had a serious stroke in October and is now slowly working to get back some of what she lost at a Rehab on the Cape--Dad is dealing with worsening symptoms of Alzheimer's--Chris's folks are going strong in Iowa--and we're getting all of our meds really cheap from Canada!!!!!

Our Haflinger mare, Morgan (the blondie pictured above) is 8 months pregnant and you can see the foal kick away inside of her. She is due in April and we can't wait for the little bundle to come. We think Sarmin, our 19 year old Arabian, will be a great Uncle. The two are inseparable. We're ready to start our next chapter as horse midwives and raisers- we're avidly reading and talking to everyone on what to expect. Teslin is especially excited about what is to come!

We give great thanks for our numerous friends and neighbors out here in the hills....we have become very close and share horse rides, sweat lodges, and great meals often with our friends across the creek. It is amazing to have moved so far out from things and to have landed near such like-minded friends. There is a great little community out here, all very committed to helping our kids navigate through high school...perhaps home schooling. There are a number of retired teachers who have expressed interest in teaching again....so far we have a geologist, a philosopher, a math, and a science teacher. We'll see how it all comes together. Poca a Poca...

Life has been good to us. Christmas/Solstice is often a time of reflection- looking back at the last year, the past decades, wondering how life all came together to make this "whole" that we are living now. "What a long, strange trip it's been" comes to mind. We still have the "vagabundo" bug and hope to hit the road once more as a family and have more adventures from Alaska to the Yucatan before the kids venture off on their own life journeys. We all share this desire- yes, even the teens! We'll see how this comes together- life has been kind to us so far. I'm sure she'll point us in the right direction one more time!!! Time will tell.

May this coming year bring Peace to all of you and our little family,

The Rugees

2009-10-26T12:23:00.005-06:00

TODAY WE GET OUR HORSES!!!!

2009-10-25T07:22:00.005-06:00

Sitting calmly drinking tea. It's 6am and the sun is just showing itself. Magpies and Stellar Jays are at the feeder and the humming bird food is frozen. Just another sweet fall morning, but NOOOOOO! OUR HORSES ARE COMING IN JUST A FEW HOURS! I feel like a kid waiting for the grown ups to wake up on Christmas morning.

Teslin is up in Colorado with our new dear friend and neighbor Valerie and her 2 girls. They will be picking up Sweet Chance (AKA Fat Chance, Fatty, or Sweetie, known to her owner Teslin as Chance), and Halfie, Valerie's newest short fat sweet thing in 2 hours. They are Halflingers...... sweet tempered mountain ponies, known in Europe as horses since they can carry big adults as well as safely trundling around little kids.

THEN.....on their way in, Valerie will stop by her house, drop Halfie off, and put Thunderchief in (AKA Chiefie). Chiefie is a 16 plus high paint who is like a 1200 pound Zia (our golden). Valerie needs to find another home for him since he is sparring with her older gelding, Apu. He needs to have his own mare (and foal to come!). He also has just recovered from a 2-year long healing of a hoof he ripped open on barbed wire. He's fat and out of shape and sweet as can be. So....after Valerie puts Chiefie in the trailer, she's bringing him and Sweetie over to US. Can you believe it?

We've been working on our barn all fall, and it sits outside our window in all it's rough cut splendor. It's a 36 X 12 fo0t run-in shelter, with a cozy tack room. We had the help of our friends Lloyd and Stephen who patiently taught us the ins and outs of squaring and angles and other such things, and we all, every one of us, helped to build it. I actually got comfortable with the skill saw and have to say, there is something wonderfully repetitive and simple about construction. Much more meditative than medicine. (What was I thinking?). We're hooked. Next thing, a chicken coop.

It's been a huge fall....after a year here in Northern New Mexico, we are all very happy and involved in school and the community. My dear friend from childhood and beyond, Katie, and her 8 year old daughter Anna moved in with us in August. Anna is going to Cassidy and Teslin's school, Rio Gallinas, and Katie is having a much needed sabbatical from delivering babies in Oakland. We can't forget their dog Meadow, who is having a gas with Zia and country living. I've started back to work, and joined Chris at El Centro Family Health, the local community health care clinic. I'm doing women's health and loving it (even if it isn't quite as meditative as putting up battens). Cassidy is in his final year at Rio Gallinas, and we are trying to figure out high school for him. Teslin is in 7th and having a great time. (Did I mention that she is up getting her FIRST HORSE AS I SPEAK?).

Katie has rediscovered cooking, and has been making unbelievable dinners for us. Last night it was Chana Masala, Palaak Paneer, and Tandoori Chicken and Naan. The other night it was Ginger Elk with cornbread topping. Then there was the Spaghetti and Elk meatballs, Spanish Tortillas, and can't forget the simple meals like succluent roasted chicken, or the Chile Rellenos, Felafels, and all her desserts (apple cakes and cookies Oh My!). We're all quite fond of having 2 mothers in the house. I think it is the right ratio....especially if one is working and the other is not. It should be a bare minimum.

There is a squirrel at the feeder now. He sits and eats all the sunny seeds and is SO FAT we think he may die of a heart attack. Katie and I think he has no mechanism to stop, and must have a store of seeds that would last 3 winters already. His cheeks and stomach sag over the edge of the feeder. Life is tough at the edge of the mountains.

Life is full and good and winter is approaching. It is very healing to be getting 2 fat horses after our saga with Blazee last spring. All they need is love and riding and some good green hay. Peace to you all out there!

Anny

En Casa

2008-08-17T09:27:00.005-05:00

Poppi is set up out front in a sad kind of way. We are slowly transferring our life inside to our new home. For two weeks now we have been living INSIDE . It's kind of strange....... a real house with windows that don't zipper shut, a full size refrigerator with a freezer (!), our own bedrooms, closets, and flushing toilets. Our square footage has increased dramatically, and with it, the complexity or our lives. Chris starts work in a week, and the kids are off to a new school Friday.

A new life is out there to become part of, but for now we are in a surreal space of Olympics and boxes. Perched on this new life, there is a deep longing to continue on our journey (for some of us!). I understand now the families that took off for a few months, and never went back. Money is the most obvious barrier, but there is also a promise of stability that we have made to our children. Not everyone can stay with the life on the road....Teslin for one, is SOOOO happy to have a home. She was the first to set up her room and now has two new gerbil friends to keep her company. The fact that she knows nothing of Northern New Mexico does not phase her. In a way, settling in an entirely new community in a new part of the country feels like a continuation of our travels.....it is a huge adventure. Perhaps such a large move was made easier having traveled for a year.

So here we are, nestled in the bosom of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. It is beautiful here....we are very remote, perhaps too remote, but it is very peaceful. The most action we get is from the female hummingbirds bombing each other at the feeders. We have rufous-sided and broad tailed hummers, barn swallows nesting in the eaves over the large window in the living room, and countless siskins, lesser goldfinches and grosbeaks. There are spotted towhees and Lewis's woodpeckers, red-shafted flickers and an occasional chickadee. It seems that the migrations are starting since huge numbers of swallows are gathering. On a walk last night we saw 8 Lewis woodpeckers in one tree. We finally got Cassidy's room painted yesterday and he is all set up in the bird room facing the feeders that are in the cottonwood grove. All is strangely well!

Anny

Our family is as tight as ever. Teslin has 2 new gerbil friends (see her blog for details: sillyfillysblog.blogspot.com ), Cassidy is getting a breeding pair of parakeets this week, and we are looking for a puppy.

Viva Las Vegas--New Mexico that is!

2008-07-12T15:51:00.003-05:00

Well, we finally decided after much thought and effort and family pow wows to live in northern New Mexico. We had great options in Tucson with a great job offer for Chris, a great school for the kids and great friends but the spirit of northern New Mexico set in and wouldn't let us go. This land has always been special to Chris and seemed to be shouting "home" with each visit back over the years. We almost moved here in 1997 upon Chris' graduation from UMass as Chris accepted a position in Tierra Amarilla north of Santa Fe and we had started looking at homes but fate kept us on the East Coast for 10 more years. The amazing land, the acequias, the mixed cultures of northern New Mexico and the living history that surrounds one here combine to make it a special place. It's fighting the creeping "sameness" that infects much of the USA and other countries and seems to have survived the sickness so far though not entirely as Santa Fe and other big towns will show. The spirit of the land is still very strong-I don't know how else to say this. We've bought a home and 14 acres of mixed pastureland some 15 miles outside of Las Vegas in a valley nestled against the Santa Fe National Forest which leads up to Hermit's Peak on its north end. It will be a 25 minute drive to work and school but what a drive it is! The trees around the house had Red-tailed Hawks, Grosbeaks, Woodpeckers and other raptors in them during our visits and we found a dead Rattlesnake in the grass that had tussled with something and eventually died from its wounds. Teslin has already drawn up plans for the horse corral and new fences, Anny has spotted the location for the hot tub, Cassidy has claimed the bedroom by all of the bird feeders and Chris has estimated the mowing time for the pasture when necessary. Chris and Cassidy will be doing a "road trip" driving a UHaul truck from Belchertown to Las Vegas arriving around August 2 while Anny and Teslin fly to Tucson and drive the car up, arriving the same day. We hope to be open for business and visitors soon-we'll set the pop-up up right away for extra beds. Just call and tell us when you are coming! School starts August 21 and work for Chris on August 25th so our current dilemna is how and where to play during August. (It's hard to get out of the travel and adventure mode!) Remember, Nuestra casa es su casa and the New Mexican favorite, Una comida sin chile no es comida!
Un fuerte abrazo to all.
Chris

Crunchtime

2008-06-17T10:16:00.003-05:00

We have been camped out in the KOA on the South side of Las Vegas for a week now as we look at our other opportunity for resettlement. Las Vegas is perched between high plateau grasslands to the east and the scrub valleys and mesas of pinon and ponderosa that lead up to the Pecos Wilderness to the west. In fact, it is just on the other side of the Pecos from Santa Fe (60 miles away), and 70 miles fromTaos. It is at 6400 feet elevation has spectacular clear skies. The first night here, Chris went out in the middle of the night and thought it was cloudy when he first looked up, but alas, it was the milky way, clearer than we’ve seen it since the Yukon.

The town itself is small, around 15,000 but has 3 colleges…a 4 year university (NM Highlands), a community college (Luna community college), and an unusual school called the United World College of the American West, a liberal enclave that teaches gifted kids ages 16-19 from around the world (only 25% come from USA) and offers a 2 year baccalaureate program.

Chris has been interviewing with El Centro Health Center and we have found a tremendous school for the kids called the Rio Gallinas Charter school. It is an Expeditionary Learning school, a program adapted from Outward Bound that teaches through “adventure and service”. The classes are small….15 to 16 kids, and the school has expanded slowly and is now up to K-8 grade. Very interesting possibilities…..

So here we are, looking at real estate and jobs again and scratching our heads. The contrast with Tucson is huge…..you couldn’t get much different:
semiurban cohousing vs rural life,
heat of the desert southwest vs the coolness of the Sangre de Cristo mountains,
winter snows and drives to town after mountain blizzards vs January in the 70’s,
searching out neighbors and like minds vs a ready made community in Tucson,
working with the rural poor vs more of a geriatric population...

It is not obvious yet….we are talking to all levels of life and consciousness, we have searched out homes in both areas, talked to residents, interviewed at both jobs and now interviewing again, walked in the woods and the desert, talked to the grandparents and have begged the universe for a clear answer. The calendar has now demanded we decide as the family plans for the trip back east to Cape Cod on July 1 and we have agreed to figure it out by Friday, June 27. IT’S CRUNCH TIME!!!! We’re open to all advice and suggestions from our friends. This is a tough one. So fill the universe with hopeful thoughts and help us out with this last task of “The Big Year” on the road.

OOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Mexico a Milagro

2008-05-27T21:44:00.002-05:00

We are just finishing our first week at Milagro Cohousing in Tucson.....we are in love with the place, the peace, the possibilities. It is making the transition from the life of the free to one of home somewhat easier. We've rented a 3 bedroom house here for two weeks, perched on 35 acres of open space. We look west back to the Tucson mountains, north towards Phoenix, and NE towards the Catalina mountains. The cohousing is on the west side of town and is slightly higher in elevation, so we have a great view of things and are not affected by the chaos of the city. The heat has been very forgiving....only today did it climb into the 80's....it is supposed to climb back into the low 100's any day now, which I guess is good since we are looking forward to seeing what this place feels like HOT!

We have been spending a lot of time doing puzzles and reading the Lord of the Rings out loud. We are half way through the 2nd book and find it is a great distraction to life in the United States. We are getting Popi mended, and our trusty Toyota just came back from a tune up. The kids attended a class at the Paolo Freire Charter school they got into last Thursday, and it was a big success. Right now we are having the luxury of actually living in a place we may be buying (not this house exactly, but one in the community). We will be here one more week checking things out, then up to New Mexico for a few weeks. By the end of June we will have decided where we will be landing, and will head back to Massachusetts to get our things.

We still have June and July to play with and frolic in our pop-up, but something felt very conclusive when we left Mexico.....our time on the road IS winding to a close and the void in our bank account is making whispers of work and home a necessity. However, we still have some wandering to do.

BACK IN THE US OF A

2008-05-18T18:26:00.000-05:00

Fort Davis, Texas

We are on Day 3 or 4 at the Prude Ranch, 5 miles north of Fort Davis, Texas. Our friends in Paa Mul told us of this place…..it is a huge ranch nestled in the mountains up at 6000 feet. I’m sitting in the lobby between Chris and Cassidy who are watching the final moments of the Celtics/Calves game 7 and the energy is, well….very tense.

Oooooeeeeee, I guess we are back in the thick of it! Actually, Fort Davis is far from the thick of it. The population is around 500, according to the receptionist here. Maybe 800 if you include all the wranglers and ranchers. There are beautiful rock outcroppings, rolling hills, river beds with huge cottonwoods, and otherwise low brush of the high desert. (There are now 7.9 seconds left in the game and it is even MORE tense…2 point, no…3 point game).

San Miguel de Allende

San Miguel de Allende was our last stop as tourists in Mexico. It is an old silver mining town which has maintained much of its old flavor and beauty from its glory years as a silver center. It is high in the sierras of east central Mexico and is much cooler than the valleys around it. It is for this reason that money has flowed to this city even after the silver ran out as people from other parts of Mexico and now from around the world have bought property and houses there. The “Centro” is wonderful with narrow and steep streets winding around an area full of shops and restaurants. There seem to be a fair number of expats from the USA and it is easy to see why they come here with its beauty and the sense of safety walking the down its streets. It was a good visit and we’ll have to visit again-when we have more money!

We left San Miguel de Allende after 3 nights and got on route 57 that goes due north to the border. Some kind of wind was sweeping us out of the country and we made it to Eagle Pass, TX, in 2 days. We spent a night in Saltillo and amused ourselves in the car by reading the Fellowship of the Rings out loud. We made it to the “frontera” in record time and then only spent 10 minutes on each side of the border checking out of Mexico and in to the USA- a record of sorts. It must have been the kids. They usually are looking in my spare tires and toothpaste containers-this time they just asked if we had anything to declare and waved us through when we said no (they did claim our salami sausage as contraband). We then drove up to Del Rio through a driving rain and hail storm which cleaned off all of the Mexican dust from the car and trailer and camped at an RV park along the highway before moving on to Ft. Davis.

The Prude Ranch

We are spending 3 nights here at the Prude Ranch which is a combination RV park, cabin and bunkbed destination site and riding stables. We’re one of only 2 RVs here and have taken the time here to catch up on baseball (watched 2 BoSox games), basketball (watched 2 Celtics games) and Internet (contacting Tucson people about places to rent and setting up job interviews in NM and Colorado before we make our final decision). Anny and Teslin did a short 30 minute ride here with the stables which wasn’t much so we all saddled up down at Ft Davis at Lajita’s Stables where we went on a 5+hour ride up into the hills with a wrangler (we brought along our Frequently Used Wrangler Phrasebook to help with language hurdles) and had a great time. Now we are all a little sore but happy and we all spoke the same language in many ways so the day was a success! Now we are off tomorrow to Tucson to start the last difficult process of deciding on a job and home. This is going to be tough!!!!!!!! Travelling was much easier than making these necessary decisions. Anyway, adios for now.

Anny and Chris

Back on the road!

2008-05-12T11:12:00.005-05:00

I am sitting in Popi having a nice cup of tea and listening to the traffic and bird sounds of Monday morning in San Miguel de Allende. We are in La Siesta Hotel and RV Park on the edge of town. It’s the closest you can get to Centro with anything larger than a van. There are 2 other rigs here, but so far we haven’t seen any people. Most campers have made their way north by now. Perhaps to avoid the intensely hot weather we’ve experienced over the last few weeks. Coming up through the state of VeraCruz, it was in the high 90’s and very humid. Someone told us the town of Vera Cruz had set a new record 3 days ago…49 degrees C. I remember sitting in our Posada in Oaxaca having Celsius lessons from our friend Dan. He said the low 20’s were cool and comfortable, and approaching 30 is a hot afternoon. 49 must be cauldron weather.

Driving somewhere near the port of Vera Cruz we stopped at a Pemex station and the car’s thermometer was at 100. It was so humid out it looked foggy. I came back from the bathroom and asked Chris…..”Surely Tucson can’t feel hotter than THIS at it’s worse!....?” The unfortunate answer was: “Well…….actually, it can”. The nights here in San Miguel are forgiving….the climate is dry and the temps go down into the 60’s late in the evening. We had 3 nights on our way here that were in the 80’s and humid. The big Kahuna just blew mist on us. There is something to be said about a dry climate that cools off nicely at night.

VOYAGE UPDATE

We left Paa Mul on May 1^st and headed to Valladolid via Tulum, about 2 hours away. We spent 2 nights there, camped at a great restaurant, Restaurante Hacienda Ticuch, just outside of town. It was an old Hacienda with a huge grounds complete with a chapel, peacocks, a tiny pool, and extremely friendly people. It’s only drawback (besides the near 100 degree weather) was that it had “Topes” right out front. This meant that during the night all the trucks approached the “topes” going fast and put their jake breaks on (that loud sound semis make slowing down). Then, once across it, they’d slam their foot on the accelerator and take off again. The peacocks also had their stories to tell all night.

Vallodolid was a great jump off point for Rio Lagartos. Cassidy wrote a great blog entry on Rio Lagartos, and you can see his post for specifics on bird species (www.birdnutsblog.blogspot.com) . We hired a boat and guide up at the port in Rio Lagartos, and went out for about 4 hours. Our guide was Erik Ramos Celis, and he was very knowledgeable about birds (www.negroerik@hotmail.com). We passed on the offer to visit the salt ponds where you could smear salt paste all over your body (a favorite with the Mexican tourists), and concentrated on the channels that led through the mangroves as well as the more open estuaries where the flamingos were. We saw 49 species of birds, and got fairly close to a group of several hundred flamingos. They were quite skittish but we were able to get out of the boat and approach them from behind some dunes. We observed them for several minutes from 30-40 yards away before they saw us and took off en masse. They then continued to circle around for awhile before settling down a bit further away. There was a huge pile of salt in the distance, and evidently they manufacture it in the area. All the places I’ve seen flamingos in the wild have been in areas where salt was harvested (Celustun, Rio Lagartos, and Bonaire). The critters that are the basis of the flamingos’ diet must thrive in the shallow, high salinity waters of these areas.

From Vallodolid, we spent one rather luxurious hot night at the Mayaland Hotel and Bungalows right at the archeological site of Chichen Itza. Chris and I had been there on our 10^th anniversary trip, and the kids wanted to see it for themselves. It is a 100 acre spot, with amazing grounds, trees, peacocks wandering around, and lots of birding. We had fun being in a bungalow for the night. Chris and I slept in the loft under the thatch. At dawn, we awoke to a symphony of bird song, a lot of which was coming from the top of the thatch a few feet away. It was like waking up in the boughs of a tree. We found the Chichen Itza ruins HOT, busy, and disappointing after our amazing tours in Chiapas.

From Chichen Itza, we went down to Isla Aguada, a tiny fishing village on the gulf coast of Campeche (a bit north of Ciudad del Carmen). We had our first tire blowout of the trip on the trailer which luckily happened on probably the only stretch of Mexican highway with a level median which we slowly drove on to and changed the tire. Chris had the joyful experience of watching the sun set across the gulf while he did his duty and got us back on the road. We had heard that there was a great RV place right on the water in Isla Aguada that was peaceful and fun. It was peaceful alright….mostly because it was WAY TOO HOT to be camping on the gulf. Anyway…..I’m sure it would be a lovely spot at the right season. However, Chris and I decided sometime during the night to keep on trucking off the Yucatan Peninsula. We left right after breakfast the next day, and made it to Catemaco in the state of Vera Cruz.

CATEMACO

Ahhh…..CATEMACO!!!!! We stayed at the Tepetepan Hotel and RV park. Perched high above a river, up at 370 meters above sea level, it was heaven! We were again the only folks there (except for one night when a couple came through on their way north). We parked on the grass under an enormous mango tree that was heavy with almost ripe fruit. Our site was the last one before the river, and overlooked the opposite bank where towering trees and vines were a favorite perch for a flock of black vultures The river gorge was a flyway for all sorts of birds. The first morning I woke up to see flocks of snowy egrets, green herons, black vultures, double crested cormorants, various hawks (Cassidy saw a laughing falcon), and an assortment of wonderful song birds going by. This was easily one of the most beautiful RV parks we had stayed at in Mexico.

Catemaco is an amazing area. It is in an area known as Los Tuxtlas, in Southern Vera Cruz state. It is a mountainous, jungle area with lakes, waterfalls, great swimming places, and lots of rivers. Catemaco is on the edge of a beautiful lake, Laguna Catemaco, and is very popular with Mexican tourists (during holidays and the summer). There is a road going down along the lakefront in town, the Malecon, that is lined with huge trees, currently filled with thousands of nesting cattle egrets. They were making quite a racket, and it seemed that many of the chicks were fledging, dropping out of their nests to wander awkwardly around the lake front, their parents squawking after them.

Our favorite haunt was Poza Reyna (Reina), a waterfall and swimming hole about an hours drive from Catemaco. The drive was an adventure itself winding through the countryside on a dirt road over several cattle guards and going through areas that until recently had been tropical jungle. There were few signs along the way which led to us going 2 miles up a steep 4 wheel drive road into the mountains before a campesino came out to see who in the world had made it up this far to his shack in the mountains. He helped us find a place to turn around and directed us back to where we needed to go. We finally found the water hole which was accessed by parking next to a cattle pen and walking down a path some 5 minutes to the river. The Pozo or waterhole is fed by very cool springs, and was the most refreshing water we’ve found. There is a very large swimming hole under it with several more downriver which we also explored over several hours, and I’m sure Chris will put in some great pics.

We spent 4 nights in Catemaco….it was hot during the day, but had great places to cool off. We didn’t see many travelers, and it was a peaceful, beautiful area. Chris and Cassidy did a birding trip the last day with Feliz Aguilar and saw some Toucans and large flocks of Moctezuma Oropendula among other birds, and we returned twice to Poza Reyna. We’ve marked Catemaco down as a great place to return to and explore for an extended period. There was just too much to do to pack in to this trip.

JIM & MINDY’S

We drove from Catemaco up the coast to just outside the port of Veracruz and then headed NW up the road towards Xalapa. We had been communicating with a great couple on the internet who had settled up in the countryside outside of Xalapa close to Los Baños Carrizal after moving there from Tucson and decided to stop and visit. Here is their blog: http://blog.solarhaven.org/. Jim and Mindy had built a great house outside of Tucson “off the grid” which incorporated many solar and other energy conserving principles before moving to Mexico. Their place in Chahuapan was a small block house with mango trees in the yard with their Airstream parked next to it with an additional place where we could park Poppi. We had a great visit with them, sharing supper and breakfast together while we all talked about our experiences and reasons for being vagabundos. We finally left late the next morning continuing our migration northward.

We finally got a break from the heat as we climbed the mountain range around Xalapa, leaving a hot and dry zone in to a lush, green and much cooler area just west of Xalapa. The temperature dropped from 95 degrees to 75 degrees after 2 hours of gaining elevation and we even opened the windows for while. We stayed north of Mexico City to avoid traffic and the “no drive day rules” of the Districto Federal and traveled via Pachuca to the smaller town of Ixmiquilpan. We had some great meals there at local “Barbacao” restaurants where we ingested large quantities of red meat of all varieties. We even had an amazing bowl of “menudo” for breakfast to go along with our “Borrego” tacos which made Anny long even more for the land of salads and stir fry’s up north. Another half day’s drive brought us here to San Miguel de Allende were we have settled in for a couple of nights so that we can do some nice walks through the city and regroup before the final push north.

Anny and Chris

Head ‘em up, move ‘em out!

2008-04-29T18:19:00.003-05:00

Things have gotten a little slow over the past 3 weeks and the natives are restless here on the beach. We’ve had a few adventures, eaten some fresh fish, done some snorkeling, swam in cenotes, been baked in the sun (from Tucson to Tucamcari….) and we’re preparing to head north. We’ve gone some 3+ weeks with highs in the 85-90 range and the nights around 75 and sticky and we’re ready to look for someplace with cooler nights. Things have been heating up since Bonampak and we’re pretty sure our only relief will be when we pass through the mountains of central Mexico around San Miguel de Allende. We think that we will most likely arrive back in the USA the 3rd week of May somewhere in Texas.

First, a little update on our travels. After leaving Bonampak, we stayed several nights in Palenque to visit the ruins, do some more birding and say aloha to our friends Steve and Susan. We hooked up at the campgrounds in Palenque with 2 young Americans, Nate and Nicole, who were looking for a ride to the coast at Tulum and they joined us for several days of travel. We first stopped outside the ruins of Calakmul and stayed outside a small restaurant on the highway so that we could drive in to the ruins first thing in the morning. The ruins were very isolated and few tourists were there which made for an interesting visit. We decided to drive on towards the coast after the ruins and proceeded on towards Laguna Bacalar just north of Chetumal. Anny talked about our visit there which I most remember for the open air toilets with no roofs where one could heat up in the midday sun while contemplating life on the bowl, birds singing above you in the palm trees overhanging the WC. After several days there swimming and relaxing with some side visits to Chetumal to visit the Maya Culture Museum we continued on to Felipe Carrillo Puerto a few hours north. On the way there, we stopped to see Mahahual on the coast which we had heard good things about. We had heard that this area had been hit by a hurricane the previous August which had damaged the cruiseship dock and that things were slow so we thought it might be quiet there. It definitely turned out to be quiet as we found the area almost totally destroyed with most structures and businesses completely destroyed and electricity only in town. The trees were all either blown down by the wind or poisoned by the salt water surge that came several kilometers inland. We had some ceviche north of town under a tarp where a restaurant had been then continued on north towards FCP. Felipe C.P. turned out to be quite a nice little town with little restaurants and hotels and few foreigners. Cassidy and I birded a great road leading in to the Sian Ka’an Biosphere out of town the next morning while the ladies slept and upon returning, we continued north towards Tulum.

Tulum was another shock as the beach south of the ruins is now wall to wall Hotels and Cabañas all the way to where the Biosphere Reserva starts. It was heavy traffic, wall to wall gringos and we fled north without stopping for more than a bathroom break. Probably 90% of the businesses had come in to being since our last visit so it was almost unrecognizable to us and it was way too busy to think of staying there. We continued north to Paa Mul which is one of the last pockets along this coast which has not been ultra-commercialized.

The Yucatan seems to me what pre-Castro Cuba may have been like with unrestricted investment and building by all comers, foreigners and rich Mexicans alike, little protection of the environment, no sewage treatment plants from Cancun to Chetumal that we could see-an entrepeneur’s dreamland. American business people talked of the benefits of lack of restrictions, poor Mexicans flock here from other parts of Mexico to work in the service industry keeping wages low, local villages and landowners have been swept aside to make room for the mega all-inclusives and unplanned and uncontrolled captitalism has shown how much damage it can do in 20 years. Scuba divers are still able to go far enough offshore and to deep enough waters to find some live coral and some fish but the reefs closest to shore and the surface are now almost completely destroyed. The bays all seem filled with a fine silt which is worked up into the water with any wave action, an oily film often is seen in the top foot or so of water and the beaches between the resort groomed beaches are filled with garbage washing up on shore. The only hope that the Riviera Maya may have is if the Mexican Government realizes that it is allowing a national heritage to be destroyed by its lack of planning, regulation and infrastructure and steps in, but no one expects this to happen. They are dependent on the tourist dollars now and like any addict, have little ability to put off current benefits and pleasure in order to save this land for future generations. The lagoons of Xel-ha and Akumal are now cloudy bathtubs filled with bathers trying to see through the silt and oil as they feed the fish dogfood to keep them coming close enough to see. It probably would not bother me as much if I hadn’t been here in the early 1980’s, swimming in the clear waters, enjoying the reefs which were still quite alive and colorful. Time to move on.

We’ll try to visit some of the inland Mayan villages that still fill the countryside on the way out, maybe see the birds at Rio Lagartos, some ruins, then on to Campeche and beyond. Maybe we’re just a little homesick for something we know better, can understand. We’ll shed a tear for the Yucatan, hope for the best for its people and environment and keep on keeping on.

Con esperanza,

Chris

Attack of the Jellyfish!!!!

2008-04-29T16:55:00.005-05:00

The latest “big event” here at Paa Mul was Teslin swimming head on into a Portugese Man of War some 10 minutes out from the beach during a group swim. We all had been snorkeling along the outer reef for 45 minutes or so and had decided to head for shore when Teslin started screaming. She had been bringing up the rear and was swimming hard to catch up when she must have swum head first into the jellyfish. Its tentacles wrapped around her neck and draped over her back to her waist before breaking off. The pain from this particular jellyfish is known as one of the worst and is described by divers as if a bucket of fire had been poured on you. Anny was the closest to Teslin when she started to scream so turned back to see if she could help but upon reaching her found she could not keep both of them above water. She called for me and I swam the 70-80 yards between us and we all started toward the beach some 10-15 minutes swim away. Teslin was beside herself and was screaming quite forcefully that it hurt and that it was burning her. She was able to hang onto my neck and be kept afloat on my back as I swam in as fast as I could. The swimming and waves pulled off all of the tentacles as we swam which was lucky as they continue to inject their poison as long as they are attached to their victims even after they are pulled off of the jellyfish. We finally made it to shore where we asked for some advice on what to do before heading back to our trailer. Teslin was having difficulty not screaming which made for some excitement for the pool crowd that day. We did some quick Internet searches for treatment options and gave Teslin some Benadryl and Ibuprofen while cleaning the area with vinager and finally after about an hour she was able to stop her screams and just sob when the pain increased periodically. She had large welts across her back and front of her neck and redness to many other areas of her back and fingers where the tentacles had either latched on or brushed against her skin.

We did not see the actual body of the jellyfish which Teslin ran in to so walked the beach that afternoon and the next morning to see if any were washing up on shore. To our amazement, we found many Portugese Man of War who were just washing up on shore north and south of our swimming area. The dive shop said that they had not seen these in our bay for 5+ years and were surprised by their presence. These jellyfish are quite beautiful as well as deadly and we did a lot of reading about them over the next 24 hours. I’ve included pictures of both the Portugese M of W that we found and Teslin after her experience.

We were all reminded of the importance of keeping your eyes open while swimming and also how aware one should be out there in the ocean. We all learned from the experience though Teslin had to pay the biggest price.

Chris

LA PLAYA

2008-04-29T07:56:00.005-05:00

Estamos en Paa Múl, un campamiento entre Playa Del Carmen y Akumal. Es un lugar que tiene menos desarrollo que otras partes de la costa este del Península del Yucatán. Paa Múl tiene un hotel y siete cabañas, una piscina enfrente del mar, y un restaurante. La mayor parte de este lugar es para RVs, los coches muy grandes, como casas con ruedas. Personas han construido palapas encima de los RVs, y se parecen como cabañas. Hay más de 100 como eso. La mayoría de las personas son de los Estados Unidos y Canadá y regresan a sus países en la primavera. Es muy extraña, pero podemos vivir muy económicas en nuestro tráiler de camping. Lo que no me gusta es que hay pocos de los extranjeros que hablen español. Es como cualquier playa en los Estados Unidos. ¡PERO….es una playa! La excepción es los domingos, cuando muchas familias Mexicanas vienen por el día.

Hemos estados aquí hace tres semanas y vamos a salir en unos días. El mar es fantástico para nadar pero el arrecife y los corales no están en buena salud. Demasiados hoteles, casas, y resortes, al lado del mar han tenido un gran impacta. También han tenido unos huracanes fuertes en los años pasados. Paa Múl es un lugar a que muchas personas vienen para nadar con esnorkel. En el pasado, el arrecife aquí debe haber estado increíble. Ahora, los corales que están en buen salud son más profundo, como 4 o 5 metres, y tiene que hacer scuba para verlos. Lo que se veen el mar enfrente del restaurante son peces interesantes, y pequeños lugares de los corales.

Ayer, fuimos a una laguna unos kilometres al norte de Akumal. Fue muy divertido….muchos peces y lugares interesantes para explorar nadando con esnorkel. El agua estaba muy protegida y calma. Estaba bueno, porque los niños, hace tres días, tenían un poco miedo del mar. Teslin chocó contra un Portuguesa Man of War (una medusa muy malo). Nuestra familia estaba nadando con esnorkeles afrente de Paa Múl, cuando Teslin empezó a gritar. No lo veíamos, pero ella recibió muchos aguijones. Mas tarde, Teslin nos dijo que siento como un garrafón del fuego en la espalda. Ella tomo medicina para dolor y hinchazón, y todavía, hace tres días, tiene los marcos del medusa en la garganta y la espalda.

Pues…es la hora ir a la playa. ¡Adiós Amigos! Anny

Resplendent Quetzal

2008-04-19T14:19:00.003-05:00

Cassidy Ruge, age 13

Description
Resplendent Quetzals are one of the world’s most gorgeous birds. I have never seen one myself, but I’ve heard of how beautiful they are. Males have a red breast, green body, bluish back and very long, green tail streamers. They also have a yellow beak, which is fairly small (the females have black beaks). Males are 39 inches in length, including their plumes or streamers. Females have much shorter plumes (just extending right below the tail) and are drabber in color. The “song” is like “a whimpering pup” or as kyow or vi-viu, which is sometimes repeated monotonously. They have other unmusical calls too.

Range and Habitat
“Resplendents”, as I call them, are found from southern Mexico to western Panama. There is also a subspecies found in Costa Rica, P.m. costaricensis. The population in southern Mexico (Pharomachrus mocinno) is found only in Chiapas in remote montane cloud forests called “bosques de niebla”. The “bosques de niebla” are dense and wet and have mixed trees including pines. One of the quetzal’s favorite trees is the tepeaguacate tree, which has small avocados that the quetzals like to eat (see diet).

Diet
Resplendent Quetzals eat mainly fruit; their favorites are the wild avocados from the tepeaguacate trees. They also like fruit from the trees of the Laurel family. The birds swallow the fruit whole and then regurgitate the pits, which helps to increase the population of these trees.
Resplendent Quetzals are weak fliers and they have some predators. These include the Ornate Hawk-Eagle, owls, and Kinkajou, which hunt the birds themselves. Emerald Toucanets, (yes, little toucans) and squirrels, eat the eggs of the quetzals when the nest is left unguarded.

Breeding
Resplendents usually start calling and looking for mates in February. They start nesting a little bit after they call and mate. The female chooses a suitable tree for nesting (mostly rotting tree stumps) and then the pair pecks out a good-sized hole for the nest. Then the female lays 2 pale blue eggs and starts incubating them. The male and female share incubating: the male sits on them in the daytime while the female incubates at night. The incubation period lasts 18 days while the pair keep switching off incubating. When the male is sitting on the eggs, his long tail hangs out of the nest-hole so that from a distance it looks like a green fern is growing out of the hole! When 18 days are up, two little quetzal babies pop their heads out of their shells and say “give me some grub, mom”! Both parents take care of the little youngsters and feed them their grub, which includes fruit, berries, insects, and some frogs and lizards (big grub). Here is when it gets interesting. Near the end of the rearing period the female gets sooooo fed up with her little furballs that she says “vaya con dios you little scraps”, and leaves the dad to finish rearing the young until they are ready to fend for themselves!

Myth and Legend
Resplendent Quetzals play a big role in Mayan and Aztec legend and myth. The Mayans and Aztecs viewed the quetzal as the “god of the air” and as a symbol of goodness and light. Mesoamerican rulers wore headdresses made from quetzal feathers that symbolically connected them to Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was the god of wind and the creator god. It was a crime to kill a quetzal so people simply captured and plucked its tail streamers and then released the bird. The tail feathers supposedly grew back in time. Ohh, I forgot. Mesoamerica was a region of Central America and South America that was inhabited by the Mayans and several other pre-Columbian civilizations.
The Resplendent Quetzal is Guatemala’s national bird and the quetzal is on their flag and coat of arms. The bird is also on the paper money and of great relevance in the country. It is mentioned in the widely popular legend of Tecún Umán, a prince/warrior of the Quiche Maya. The legend is that when the conquistador, Pedro de Alvarado, fought against Tecún Umán, there was a quetzal flying above the fight. Pedro de Alvarado managed to disable Tecún Umán’s horse and then killed him. Then, the quetzal flew down to Tecún’s chest and dipped its chest in the warrior’s blood. It was there that the quetzal acquired its gorgeous red chest feathers.

Conservation
Resplendent Quetzals are as Wikipedia states “near threatened”. They are not on the Endangered Species List but they might be on it in the near future. The population in Guatemala and southern Mexico is most threatened due to loss of habitat and hunting for their feathers. Costa Rica’s population of quetzals is in better shape because Costa Rica is setting aside some forest for quetzals and other wildlife.
I wrote this article so I could learn more about quetzals and help the species. I traveled through the quetzal’s forest in southern Chiapas and never saw one but I’m glad I at least know a little bit about them.

References:

1. Resplendent Quetzal, by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. El Quetzal, by Miguel Limón Rojas, Edmundo Salas Garza
3 A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, by Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb
4. The Resplendent Quetzal, by TED Case Studies

living small

2008-04-12T11:13:00.006-05:00

Chris estimates we have 24 square feet in Popi. Maybe 26 he says. That doesn’t include the 2 enormous beds on either end of the pop-up, or our table area. Our one couch is usually covered in bags and books, but we are able to leave the middle part empty with some effort. Our 2 counters are covered by milk crates filled with food, a stack of 4 plastic storage drawers of dry goods, and Chris’s towering metal shelf that houses our ghetto blaster, towels, books, Baby (our sourdough starter that lives in a 2 quart casserole dish), and the mother load of all STUFF.

Our square footage shrinks as we unpack more. The first few days are always fine. Then STUFF happens. Books come out of bags, and the storage containers in the car become volcanoes of art, shells, journals, and knick knacks, all slowly migrating into our square footage.

Then there are the fans. So far we have made it with 2 small Vornado fans, one facing each bed. For a surprise, Cassidy, Teslin, and Chris bought an enormous rotating fan. Its base takes up the entire walking area in front of the sink (that’s 4 of the 24) and it stands 5 feet high. It’s Iowa size. Only Chris would think that we could actually fit it into this place. But oooooo does it move air! Now at night, the kids each have a fan and we have the big Kahuna blowing on us. We’ve all slept better and it’s great for hot flashes. In the daytime, we move things off one end of a counter and put it up there so no one catches their privates in it.

We have a morning and evening rotation ritual. Evenings, we uncover our beds from the myriad of things that have accumulated there. The guitar, computers, and our ocean size wooden fruit bowl all make this voyage. In the morning, everything that spent the night on the table and the benches is moved back onto the beds so we can sit down.

Another rotation ritual is to open and close the inside stove. We do most of our cooking on the outside stove, but morning tea is produced inside---very important. When the stove is closed, it offers almost 2 whole square feet of counter space, so it’s well worth the effort. Each morning it’s filled with various water jugs, dirty dishes, and the usual left behind things from the night before.

There is a bright side to this life of rotation…..it keeps the inch long cock roaches on the move. This morning when we moved a milk crate off the bench, a big honking cock roach fell out onto the table. Chris pounced on it like a cat, but was forced to have mercy on it by Cassidy and Teslin, who insisted he let it go by the dumpster where it can lead a happy life. Ahh yes. Live and let live.

Anny

WOW!!!

2008-04-05T19:24:00.004-06:00

It is 7:30 pm and Chris and I have been instructed to sit down and RELAX by Cassidy and Teslin who are making us dinner. Not just any dinner, Cassidy is out at the grill by himself doing his first rite of passage at the barbeque and Teslin is making a salad and setting the table in a flurry of action. We're doing our best to drink beer and relax, but frankly, Chris is just plain uncomfortable with the solo action outside. He feels that barbequeing is a male bonding experience and feels left out stuck here inside of poppy. Ahhh....there are some wonderful surprises to watching your children grow up!

La Playa is Windy!

2008-04-05T06:45:00.005-06:00

Paa Mul

April 5th or so

It's another one of those early mornings when everyone is still asleep and I've managed to creep out and make tea and get to the only computer that has internet. Hee hee. We are tucked into Paa Mul, just south of Playa del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is a former coconut plantation that was turned into a RV resting home of all things. There is a hotel with some rooms and some cabanas further down the beach, but most of the property is sites for RV's. It actually is very nice....most of the spots are semi-permanent and palapas have been built around the RV's. Many people buy or rent a space year round and return north in the summer. There is a fairly large group of people that live here year round and call it home. We know of two families so far, one from California and one from Canada, who are here with their families and home schooling. One family set off for 2 months 4 years ago.....I see how it happens, believe me!

The entire Yucatan coast has turned into a swarm of resorts, back to back. We stopped in to Tulum on our way North and were shocked by what they've done to the place. For Chris it had been 30 years since he first visited, and at that time there were only two places just south of the ruins. I was last there in 91 and even then, it was quieter. Now the area stretches south all the way to the preserve where building is not allowed. We spoke to a worker at Cabanas Tulum who said the area lost their electricity during Hurricane Katrina 7 years ago and it still hasn't been restored. With so many resorts dependent on it, you have to wonder why the government hasn't replaced it. The motels must use generators and solar.

What is amazing about this place is that there is no sign of development nearby. Paa Mul itself was built in the 70's (I think), and the entire bay here is owned by them. There is a sandy road that leads north along the coast from the campground to another bay, which is even larger than this one, and is completely undeveloped. One of the security guards told us it is owned by the same guy who owns 2 of the largest resorts down the way and has "plenty of money". One side of the road is lined with mangroves and scrub, and the other a pristine sandy beach. There was little more than some pelicans and alot of trash that had washed in. It is impossible not to wonder what will become of this beautiful stretch. The security guard said for now it was protected as a turtle breeding area....for now. He said if it was ever to be developed it would only be cabanas (versus a mega hotel). Time will tell.

It is hot here but there is a stiff wind.....24 hours a day. The surf is quite worked up and Cassidy and Teslin have been boogie boarding. We are paying by the week, but thinking about a month. Once you get in here, it is hard to leave! There is a pool right in front of the ocean, a nice restaurant, and all the facilities we need. 10 minutes up the road is more than we need....all the giant stores and strips of motels.

Well... everyone is up and asking for a turn, so off I go....TATA for now, Anny

¡AGUA DULCE!

2008-04-01T18:50:00.003-06:00

Estamos en un lugar muy tranquilo, al lado de la Laguna Bacalar. Las personas de aquí nos dijeron que al agua no es de sal, es dulce. Podemos ver una península pequeña al otro lado de esta laguna, y es el lugar del mar. Cassidy y Teslin están tratando abrir unos cocos. Cassidy se cayó dos veces….es trabajo difícil. Chris está nadando, y nuestros nuevos amigos están tocando música y suben un árbol de coco. ¡La Vida estupendo!

End of March

We are working on day 4 at Laguna Bacalar just North of Chetumal. We’ve just completed bucket baths on the grass under the palms and are feeling fresh and frisky. The water is crystalline turquoise, although it is fresh water (I’m not sure why it is called a laguna….it does not seem to be connected to another body of water). All of the Yucatan is a limestone shelf, so any body of water that is clean looks turquoise because of the white bottom. The laguna is a long slender body of water that lies about 6 miles inland from an enormus brackish bay which leads out to the ocean. Cassidy and Teslin have written about the wonders of the place, so check out their blogs too (see under links).

The place where we are set up, Balneario Cocolitos, is not a formal campground, although the family that lives in the palapa here let folks stay for a fee. We snaked our electrical cords over to their spot, and are set up beneath the palm trees on the grassy shores of the laguna. It is quite idyllic, especially since we are the only folks here, along with the couple that we gave a ride to. There are no showers or water other than the laguna, although little is needed. The toilets are the best….they are nice roomy open-air stalls so you can bird while you relieve yourself. This morning there was a pair of orioles in the palm tree above the toilet. It does get a little hot at mid-day, but who’s complaining.

Ceynote Azul is just up the road. It is a deep, fresh water sink hole surrounded by mangrove and palm trees. A large restaurant dominates the scene and it has become a major destination place. We originally came to this area to go to the ceynote, but it is only accessible through the restaurant and is a much used place. A large assortment of fish hang out by the restaurant since they feed them tortillas regularly, and there is a boat/raft you can swim out to and jump off of. My favorite thing about ceynotes is to explore the mangrove roots for all walks of fish. We haven’t done that with Ceynote Azul yet…we will see. From what I remember, the keynotes are an important rookery for fish who spend their early months sheltered in the roots of the mangrove trees. I’m not sure what the heavy use of the area has done, but I imagine it is not good.
The couple that has been traveling with us, Nicole and Nate, are taking off this morning for Tulum. The peace of this place might be a little slow for the jovenes…..it also has no facilities at all. We are all set up here with electricity, fans, and a kitchenette (emphasis on “ette). But you know, as we spend more and more time leading this simple life, it becomes more evident how little you need to live off of. Nicole and Nate are back-packing and living much more simply than us. Ahh to be 20-something again!
Life on the road has become second nature. We’ve figured out the basics of how to always have delicious, clean water to drink, how to disinfect fruit and veggies, and how to live without toilet seats. Chris has the driving down, we see most of the topes, most of the time, and so far we've only gotten one policia bribe request (for a flashlight). Poppi continues to show the strain, the fridge liner is busted, the awning is held together with duct tape and other tarps, and the couch is held up by a cutting board. Our beds are still heaven, and we’ve figured out how to move deftly out of each other’s way in this tiny space. Our only summit yet to climb is to teach the Sequoia to drink something other than gas.

So much for now! Anny

Misol Há

2008-04-01T18:48:00.001-06:00

March 26th
Oh my. Misol Há is a beautiful area. There are two 100-foot waterfalls cascading through rainbows into a large swim hole in deep jungle. The cliffs behind the falls cut in sharply and they have built a walk way behind them. If you follow the ropes completely behind the falls, they lead up to a cave. There are solid nylon ropes to hang on to, and smaller cascades coming down around you as you ascend the rocks to the cave opening. Chris, Cassidy, and Teslin took the 10 peso tour back into the cave……they will have to describe it, since I sat happily on a high overlook and watched life go by (I heard something about a large dark cavern with tons of bats and fish with giant eyes). While I sat, 2 toucans soared over the falls, followed a bit later by a pair of bat falcons. The sun was darting behind clouds and every time it reappeared, created a massive rainbow at the base of the falls.
THEN a skink led us downstream into a fairy land of small waterfalls and swim holes, around boulders, through water deep and cool and clear to other boulders, falls and deep pools. The skink was chasing bugs near the end of the top pool and then got up on his 2 back feet and ran across the water to another boulder. Jesus the Skink. Quite something, really. We played and explored for quite some time until Chris took a jump off a boulder into what we thought was deep water and hit a rock 4 feet under. Luckily he landed flat and didn’t break anything. He was quite sore though, and we had to give old gramps a rest (I’m happy to report there was no lasting damage and Chris is as limber as ever).
It was quite incongruous to find 6 tour buses in the parking lot when we came up. 95 percent of the visitors just go down to look at the falls, take a picture, and never set foot in the water. A man who works in the campground in Palenque told us that it is just in the last year that Misol Há got on the map as a major tour destination. Chris had been there many years before and found it quite empty. Now there are cabanas and a nice restaurant. They’ve made a huge parking lot, so must get quite a few people though. We hope that like all of the popularized beauty spots, that they are good stewards this amazing place.

BONAMPAK

2008-03-26T17:08:00.002-06:00

March 23rd, 2008

We are camped by a beautiful green rolling river in the Lacandón jungle in Southern Chiapas. The name of the place is Campamento Lacandones . The river spreads out just upstream and has created a wide waterfall that you can climb up and jump off of. The falls come in from many different angles. It is truly beautiful. There are also some great trees that the young (and Chris) can climb up and leap from. A three meter crocodile has been seen up just river several months ago but hasn’t shown his chops here yet. As for the birds…..see Cassidy’s blog entry entitled: “ Euphonias, Tanagers, and Honey Creepers, Oh MY! “ (Cassidy’s and Teslin’s blogs are hyperlinked near the top of our blog).
Our fellow Vagabundos, Susan and Esteban, are here as well. Susan is an avid birder, and she, Cassidy and Chris have been getting up daily at daybreak to go birding. The rest of us have enjoyed the babble of the waterfall and the beautiful sound of bird song through our pillows.
Bonampak is near the Guatemalan border south of Palenque and is in a large preserve or protected area. The area around Bonampak is managed collectively by three distinct indigenous groups’ the Lacandones who previously inhabited the Lacandón Jungle, the Choles and the Tzeltales. There are places like this one popping up all around the area, offering cabañas, places for hammock dwellers and camping. This area is relatively new to tourism. Bonampak was accessible only by airstrip until 1997 when the Mexican government built a road in from Palenque. With the road came modernization and well…you know the rest. It is a very precious place still.
There is an internet hut a twenty minute walk from here. It is owned by a Lacandón family who also has a campamento. The place is a simple room with 5 computers, shelves of wood carvings, baskets, some clay figures, and seed necklaces. The family that runs it spans 3 generations and most still dress in the traditional Lacandón tunics which are long white cotton shifts worn by the men, women and children (the young girls were dressed in colored tunics). The older man explained how they get the fiber from the inner bark of a tree, while his daughter showed us how they make cordage by rubbing the fibers firmly between their palm and leg. Behind their shoulders I could see Internet Explorer home pages.
The Lacandón people seem very aware of the pressures on their jungle habitat. Although we ourselves pose a threat to this, the tourist trade is not the greatest of their challenges. The destruction of the rain forest is happening here just as it is in more well known areas such as the Amazon. The entire drive south from Palenque, there were large herds of cattle grazing on land that was once jungle. The trees are cut down for firewood, for grazing, for fields and to provide habitat for an ever expanding population. Many people have already migrated to the area from other parts in Mexico, and the pressure it places on the land will only continue. The Lacandón seem wise stewards of the earth and I only hope that this special culture has the strength to survive the political and social pressures that come with growth.

Campeando Estilo Méxicano

It is Easter holidays here in Mexico and many are out and about. Two different times, both here and in Palenque, we were nestled down for the night when 2 tour buses arrived (around 9:30 pm) from Mexico City. They were packed to capacity with Mexicans with the best attitudes I have ever seen exhibited while setting up camp under less than optimal conditions. They piled out of the buses, searched for dry and level areas of ground, pitched small tents in the dark-all within a few feet of each other (and us)- waited without complaint at the 4 bathrooms sans TP that were too small for their numbers and not functioning well and then slept a short hot night after grabbing whatever they could eat from the kitchen. The next morning they hurriedly rolled up their wet tents and bags, lined up again at the bathrooms and then were all packed into the buses again, taken to the ruins for a visit and another long drive to their next destination. It was quite an odyssey….a little appalling at first sight, but you can appreciate it much more once you see that there were grandparents, grandchildren, city dwellers, small pueblo citizens…..all walks of life, happily going “camping” together. I would hate to hear the complaints from a bus of US tourists! These folks were all very good natured and seemed to be having a great time. Obviously, this is an affordable and accessible way for them to get out and about.

Anny

¡ADELANTE!

2008-03-14T15:59:00.002-06:00

We finally said goodbye to Oaxaca after 6 weeks of school and sedentary living. We had settled in to a great schedule of 4-6 brisk 15 minute walks a day and city living. We left Saturday, March 8th, at noon alter a morning of goodbyes to our housemates and set off South on the Pan American Highway. Things were going great until the road was blockaded by “las maestras” 10 miles north of Tehuantepec. It is a very complicated story and I don’t want to minimize the importance of the schoolteachers’ dilemma or demands but road blockades have been adopted as a bargaining tactic by the teachers’ union and everyone is thus included in their struggle. Anyway, we were directed on to a dirt road at the military checkpoint if we wanted to avoid being stuck on the highway for 24+ hours and we decided to just follow other vehicles they had already diverted that way so off we went. It was a very interesting detour down an ever-narrowing dirt road with many interesting turns and ruts, which got even more interesting as night fell. We finally came to what looked like a dead end at a river some 50 feet wide but watched the lights of a pickup truck as it crossed it and they didn’t go underwater so lumbered after him with the trailer in tow. We felt like we were part of an old wagon train- just needed a cow tied to the back bumper to make it authentic. Anyway- finally made it to Tehuantepec at 9pm and crashed at the Calli Hotel. Birded in the grounds and around the pool the next day and then headed out at noon for Ocozocoautla (outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez) and the Hogar Infantil.

Day one at the orphanage was spent looking closely at the popup and getting organized again for living in the trailer. We were surprised to find that the back section of the trailer had separated from the body and there was a 2-inch gap of air leading in to the inside- not good for tropical climates! After much thought, we decided that Duct Tape was definitely the treatment of choice and proceeded to wrap it tightly alter removing the spare tire. It looks like it may work for a short-term solution and will see how it does on the highway. Anny was so impressed it got her to write a poem-she really applied herself!

Sima de los Cotorras

We heard through some friends who had preceded us that there was a great birding place close to the Hogar that we should check out. We drove out some 12-14 miles on a dirt road following signs for the selva and the sima and finally arrived at a huge limestone sinkhole some hundred yards across and several hundred feet deep surrounded by scrub trees and filled with huge trees on the bottom. Several thousand birds-mostly green parrots or “Cotorras”- roosted in the Sima (sinkhole) at night so we waited there until nightfall far the nightly return. We were not disappointed as groups of parrots started returning at 5pm as wave after wave came in for the next 2 hours. They made quite a racket as they flew in and settled in along the cliff edges and tops of trees. Cassidy and I were so impressed that we got up at 5:30 the next morning to be there at sunrise as they came out. We left with it still quite dark and arrived at the sinkhole before grey light. We heard some great bird calls in the dark so turned the car off and waited. We were surrounded by Buff-colored and Paraque Nightjars who have a wonderfully eerie call and they came quite close to us as they hunted insects in the night. We just sat there in front of the car for 10-15 minutes until it began to get lighter then proceeded to the sinkhole. It was very quiet in the Sima when we arrived with an occasional parrot call echoing around the hole. Then, as light came, wave after wave of parrots, 20-30 in a group began spiraling their way out of the sinkhole. They called continuously as they rose, seemingly calling others to join them, and then flying off in different directions for the day’s activities. This went on for close to 2 hours as we watched and listened and was quite a treat. After most of the parrots had left the sima, we walked the scrub area around the sinkhole and came across groups of noisy Chacalaca, Black-headed Saltators, Altamira Orioles, and a Squirrel Cuckoo, which is one of my favorites. We finally left at 10am and returned home.

Tuxtla Gutiérrez Zoológica

We went to Tuxtla that night to get groceries and visit the Zoo, which we had read great things about. Cassidy has a great description on his Blog-see under Links. The zoo was amazing- one of the best I’ve ever experienced- as it is a large reserve filled with large trees and scrub on the side of a mountain with several streams running through it. Almost all of the animals and birds were residents of Chiapas and there was actually more wildlife outside of the cages than within them as hundreds of birds-Chacalaca, MotMots, Guan and Curassows flew in to the park for feeding and some seemed to have taken up residency. Large rodent-like creatures the size of large cats-Agoutis-wandered the zoo’s grounds by the hundreds and the air was filled with the cries of many parrots and other birds. Spider monkeys could be seen in the tops of trees as one walked through the park- we did not know if they had escaped their own enclosure or had come to the park on their own. We walked on a great 4-5 km path that wound its way through the park over 2+ hours and as we were leaving, we were treated to a loud penetrating growl of a black panther that reverberated through the park several times. It made one think of dinner-in many different ways.

San Cristóbal de las Casas

We left on the 12th de Marzo for San Cristóbal and moved in to the Bonampak Hotel trailer park, which is quite comfortable for 4 nights before continuing on towards Palenque. San Cristóbal is a wonderful city in the midst of the highland Maya region that is unique for many reasons. The Zapatista uprising happened here in the 1990s and the area is still in flux with many communities close to here that actively support and align themselves with the Zapatista movement and others who side with PRI or other government groups. There continues to be a large military presence and harassment of Zapatista followers and sympathizers and history continues to be made as this struggle continues. The overall feel of the town is also very different with its architecture reminding one more of Guatemala and Central America than Mexico and the narrow rough cobblestone streets making even Oaxaca seem very “modern”. The tourists are mostly European---Americans are definitely outnumbered--with an interesting smattering of more “earthy” types sporting native dress and the less showered look-our kind of people! We hope to get out of the town to surrounding communities before we head out but also plan on returning for a longer visit on the return trip if money allows. Anny and I both love this place and want to explore its riches. Unfortunately, other foreigners also share this feeling as Century 21 is in business advertising new homes in gated communities, which is a little distressing. Anyway- more to come.

Chris

Las Hadas Tardes

2008-03-14T13:04:00.001-06:00

En nuestra casa, las Hadas habían venido cada año en la noche ante de los cumpleaños de nuestros niños. Habían traído regalitos y flores, y los pusieron en la mesa. Casi siempre, las hadas traían animales de vidrio o de madera. Siempre dejaban una vela especial con flores.

Este año, mi hijo cumplió trece años aquí en Oaxaca. Tenía mucha curiosidad: ¿qué van a dejar las Hadas en México? ¡Pues….Los hadas no vinieron! Fue la primera vez qué no habían venido. El niño no lo comprendo y estaba muy triste. Le dijimos que quizás le olvidaron, o quizás, no se encontraban las Hadas de cumpleaños en México.

¡Que sorpresa! ¡El sábado, 11 días después su cumpleaños, las Hadas llegaron! Nuestro hijo nos despertó temprano y dijo: ‘¡Las hadas acaban de venir!! ‘ Pensamos que las Hadas se duerman durante una siesta larga, y por eso llegaron tarde.

OWED TO DUCT TAPE

2008-03-11T11:09:00.001-06:00

It’s silver, it’s grey
It lays coiled away
We bought it in case
and now need it each day.

Old Poppi is sagging
From the trip we are having
He’s torn in the stern
and for a rest he does yearn.

He leaks when it rains,
The couch sags and it strains
The rear’s gone and popped out,
screws are lying about.

The caulking is baked
Like the sun on a cake
While the topes have shaked
all the screws from their plates.

But all we must do
to make Poppi anew
Is apply our duct tape
to the holes where they gape.

Now the backside is tight
from the tape with it’s might
And the rain is kept out
as if in a drought.

Ahh, yes….Poppi is dapper,
with silver and white strappers
and strong as a horse,
he will carry us forth.

We continue our travels
as our trailer unravels
But we haven’t a fear
Because duct tape is near.

By Anny

10 Marzo, 2008

2008-03-10T09:55:00.000-06:00

Hogar Infantil, Ocozocoautla

We are camped at a beautiful place outside of Tuxtla Gutierrez. It is home to about 90 children who are orphans. We were met by an amazingly helpful and cheerful group of boys who had us set up in no time. They are obviously used to visitors pulling in for the night, and were very curious about our pop-up. There are 4 spaces here for camping, and if they are full you can set up on the soccer field. They will not let you pay for your stay, but there is an organization affiliated with them in the U.S. that you can make financial contributions to on your return. It’s an ingenious setup, and benefits both sides greatly. They have a small bathroom near the camping spaces, but it is not working and has no water. Instead, Teslin and I use the bathroom in the girl’s dormitory, and Chris and Cassidy are using the one in the boy’s dormitory. The girls always greet us in English and are eager to talk (in Spanish). It is great fun.

We arrived on a Sunday and Teslin and Cassidy were quickly playing all sorts of games and surrounded by new friends. The grounds are large and clean and grassy. There is a huge playground area, basketball court, and soccer field right outside the pop-up. There are large shade trees for climbing, goats with kids, a family of pigs, and a puppy. It is quiet this morning since all the kids went to school. Cassidy and Chris were out birding early, but Teslin and I slept like babies through all the pig snorts and rooster calls. The great tailed grackles and white-winged doves, Great Kiskaddes and Clay-coloured Robins are keeing up a constant chorus. It is all very peaceful!

Anny

8 Marzo, 2008

2008-03-10T09:53:00.002-06:00

We are once again Los Ruges Vagabundos. We’re heading down 190 south from Oaxaca having said our goodbyes to our Posada friends. Teslin is sporting corn rows that Patricia gave her this morning. We are listening to the Weavers, eating Mexican oreo cookies and feeling very, very fine. The landscape have changed from the dry mountains of Oaxaca to a thriving cactus zone starting to bloom, and now down into the lowlands where there is a huge amount of mague cultivation….you can just smell the tequila potential. The river beds now have water in them and are lush tropical lines in an ever greener lanscape.

Pues, es tiempo para escribir en español. Chris está cantando Quantanamera con fuerza en voz alta. Estamos escuchando a un grupo del los 60’s, Los Weavers, quien cantaban muchos de los políticos. Nos salimos de Oaxaca este mañana y estamos en ruta a Tehuantepec. La carretera tiene muchas curvas, y Teslin tiene un poco de mareo de movimiento. Este lugar tiene muchas milpas de maguey, y poca a poca está cambiando mas verde. Los valles que tienen agua son muy verde y vemos árboles de plátanos y papayas. Uh ho….estamos detrás una camión grande y tenemos pasar en una curva. ¡Ojalá que Chris no haga eso! Cassidy está felíz ver cambios en la tierra, porque buscando pájaros nuevas.

Todos estuvieron tristes en salir de Oaxaca. Nos despertaban por tres horas. Estábamos en Oaxaca por 7 semanas. Cassidy, Teslin, y yo hemos aprendido mucho español, y ellos tienen la confidencia para hablar con personas en restaurantes y cualquier lugar. Muchísimas gracias a todos—nuestros maestros: Luz, Pati, Monse, y Omar, y todos de las personas del Instituto Cultural. Unas gracias especiales a Patricia de la Posada del Fortín, quien era una buena amiga a los niños y nosotros, y con sus niños, Africa y Amir, nos introdujo a la cultura de familia en Mexíco. ¡Seguro que regresamos a Oaxaca!

Paz.
Anny

Oaxaca, February 18, 2008

2008-02-18T16:30:00.001-06:00

We are getting quite accustomed to this new pace of existence in Oaxaca. We start to stir between 7-8:00am and wander outside to the open veranda to start the water for coffee and tea. Cassidy usually sets up shop with the binos and scope, watching the morning antics of the Yellow- rumped and Wilson’s warblers that are plentiful here and the different hummingbirds that are very into the purple flowered tree above us. We make our breakfast in the open kitchen and then it’s off to school for Anny and the kids around 8:45. They have a 15 minute walk to school (about a mile in distance)via a combination of small streets and cobblestone alleyways, passing under the centuries old aqueduct that supplied water to the town in colonial days. Daddy cleans up the place and writes emails to send later at the school when we have internet access and then walks to the school around 11am for internet surfing, emails, and future trip planning online. We all visit during the 15 minute breaks every hour and a half and then the kids check their own email sites at 1pm before walking home.

We normally stop at a small café for a “Comida Corrida” which is still found in much of Mexico though not often in resort towns. It is a lunch special of sorts with a choice of hand-made drink, a soup or boullion, a salad course, a main course chosen between 3-4 options ( chile relleno, pollo, enchiladas, mole, cecina o bistek) and a small postre or desert-usually rice pudding or cookie. The price varies café to café but we usually pay 35-50 pesos or $3-5.00 per person and get 3 meals. Then it is home to the Posada for a siesta which is spent reading, sleeping or doing homework. We all walk back to the school at 3:45pm for the Backstrap weaving class that Anny and the Kids are doing and daddy does more internet downloads of places to go see, birding advice for Chiapas and the Yucatan, and updates on news and sports. The afternoon session is over at 6pm and we all walk home for daddy to make supper and then usually spend 2 hours doing homework. Some week nights we will walk down the mile to the Zocolo for a meal and to enjoy sitting and people watching but we usually reserve this for Fri, Sat and Sunday nights. We end the day with some book reading, star gazing or Harry Potter video game challenges if the kids are in the computer mood.

Weekends bring time for choices. We always go to the “Centro” to sit on the Zocolo at one of the open air cafes, drinking “Limonadas con Agua Mineral” and eating the free “botana” that comes with all drinks and meals-usually nuts soaked in chile and salt with limon to flavor it with. We will wander to one of the close markets to look at handicrafts and fresh fruit and vegetables. The kids like to take the scooter everywhere here so will take turns scooting around the plaza, taking in the street scene with musicians, street theater and strolling vendors aged 5-80 sharing the space with them. We try to do an adventure as well- going on birding trips, visiting ruins and may even visit some smaller villages in the mountains around this large city.

We have decided to stay in Oaxaca until around March 10th when we will head out for Tuxtla Guttierez and Chiapas though we haven’t decided on the route yet. We may take a 2-4 day detour through tropical jungle north of Oaxaca closer to the Gulf coast to make it a more interesting trip and are talking to a great local guide about accompanying us for this stretch of the trip. We hope to take in a lot of nature experiences in Chiapas over 2-3 weeks with stops in San Cristobal, Palenque, Bonampak and other jungle sites before continuing on towards the Yucatan. We’ll see how we feel upon arriving on the beach before deciding how long to stay on the peninsula. We are open to any ideas for rendezvous in the jungle or on the beaches of the Yucatan so write us anyone if you want to come for a visit and adventure!! Some friends of ours from Massachusetts (Amy, Pat and Bailey) are seeing whether they can come to see us in the Yucatan south of Cancun in mid-April which would be great.

The family talks continue as to where to land eventually-it helps to talk about it as we are encountering less absolutes such as “I will not live in __________ unless we have_______ and _________ and I can do this type of school or homeschool”. We finally arrived at a point recently where we have no ties to any particular place or absolute rejection of any particular place-including back east in Mass.—which actually has made it easier to discuss. We have had great offers of work in Tucson and northern NM and we know we could go back to western Massachusetts and return to some version of our old jobs there. It’s good to have options though the array of choices is a little mind-boggling. We believe that it will become more clear to us over the next 2 months- it has to as our bank account dwindles down lower and lower. We do love this little adventure we have been blessed with and would love to keep it going as long as we can (Cassidy would love just one more year and Teslin said she would continue if we have a house to go back to!). We’ll see what the new day brings.

Peace to all.
Chris

Mid February already???

2008-02-16T12:19:00.002-06:00

February 13, 2008

Ooo it’s hard to keep up with this blog stuff while we are in SCHOOL!!!! Cassidy, Teslin, and I are in our third week of Spanish classes. Class is 4 hours a day with a 2 hour workshop in the afternoon (4-6:00). Chris meets us at school at 1:00 and we go out to a nice big mid-day meal, and then return to our Posada for a serious siesta. Spanish is going great, but by 8:00 I’m toast (the kids still have zip at this hour however). We all feel that the afternoon class is a bit too much, but now we are learning back strap weaving and can’t resist.

Cassidy and Teslin are doing great with their Spanish. They are speaking in sentences and asking for things at restaurants and markets. Over the weekend we all went to the market at Tlacolula, a small town 20 minutes from Oaxaca. Cassidy bought his first treasures and did a great job bargaining for them. I’m quite impressed. I find myself sitting in class feeling a lot like I am a first grader in an 8^th grade honors course. (Actually….I’ve gotten better…I may just be 2 years behind now). We just found out it is actually a 5 week class this time, so we will be here longer than we thought.

One of our Posada buddies, Ron, returned today to Tucson, and we are all sad to see him go. We look forward to seeing Ron and meeting his wife when we get up there ourselves again. The Posada can take 3 more people, but I don’t think anyone is scheduled to come this month. Another woman, Jennifer is out traveling around rural markets in Oaxaca for the week. She’ll be back for a bit, and then she too leaves. That leaves us and Dan, the long term renter from Canada. This is Dan’s 3^rd year here and he considers it his second home. We’ve gotten to know the sweet family that runs the Posada and the kids are getting quite friendly with the 7 year old, Africa. In fact on Saturday, Chris, Cassidy and I went out to a nearby village (San Felipe) to bird, and Teslin stayed with Africa’s family. The 3 year old, Amir, likes to scare Chris with his dinosaurs. The two are quite a pair. Efrin, Africa's dad, works 2 jobs to make ends meet. He works at the school during the job, and then on Friday and Saturday nights works at a bar until 5am

The weather has been amazing….in the high 80’s each day and 50-60 at night. We have our fans and soft sheets and just about everything else from the Pop-up with us at the Posada. It’s only sprinkled once since we arrived which is a bit dry for this time of year. There was a 6-4 magnitude earthquake the other day that woke everyone else in the city but the Ruges. We all slept like babies through it. Evidently Oaxaca is very near a fault and they have tremors every day. This was the biggest they’ve had in a few years, but did not damage anything.

Here’s Cassidy for a two sentence bird update:

I’ve seen lots of interesting birds around our posada including Gray Silky-flycatcher and Bridled Sparrow. We are going to a place in Oaxaca called Teotitlan this Saturday and I bet it will be great birding! So….this is what I’ve seen: Vermillion and Tufted Flycatchers, Rufous Capped Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Yellow Rump warbler, Berylline and Dusky Hummingbirds, Orchard and Bullock’s Orioles, House Sparrows!, Nashville Warblers, House Finches, and Great-tailed Grackles, Inca Doves, orange-crowned Warbler, Turkey Vultures, Robins, and 1 black and white warbler that mom saw. That’s all! Cassidy.

Feb 16th, 2008

It's Saturday and the boys are on an all day birding trip with Roque and us girls are having one big long siesta. Another home schooling family arrived yesterday with a 13 year old girl and will be here for three weeks. That should be a lot of fun for everyone. Yesterday morning there was a huge demonstration of the teacher's union. I was told that there were 20,000 people demonstrating, from the city of Oaxaca and outlying villages. They started at the ministry of education on the edge of the city and walked down the main street to the Zocalo. They were going past the school for almost 2 hours. Demonstrations are very common here and an accepted way to express sentiments. We talked quite a bit about it in class and my teacher (who is quite liberal) feels that it is an outdated and ineffective form of protest. There are not a lot of options it seems, and it is a welcome change to what seems like collective passivity in the States. There is much frustration with the government here, but very few way to express it and even fewer ways to affect change.

Teslin and I are on the veranda at school. It is a huge garden area with palm trees and flowering plants and trees I am not familiar with. One side is on one of the busiest roads in Oaxaca, but you rarely notice once you enter the school. It is surrounded by a high wall with ivy and plants on it. However, when the traffic gets stopped for some reason folks just lay on their horns. It's even worse than NE cities! Even when they can see the reason for the stop, people honk and honk. That coupled with the lack of pollution devices on any cars makes walking on busy streets very nasty. for the most part you can avoid them and there are many pleasant parks and small streets to wander through. The school is the only place we know of that has any stretch of grass to it, and we always bring a frisbee with us for breaks. Oaxaca's main plaza or zocolo is beautiful, with gorgeous large trees and seasonal flower beds (now they are all poinsettas). It is a large pedestrian only space, but all cobblestone and pavement with lots of places to sit and enjoy things. An enormous cathedral borders one side of the zocolo and has its own beautiful open area. The rest of the zocalo is edged with cafe's and shops.

Well...the school is shutting so we have to go! more to come! Anny

EL SUPER BOL

2008-02-03T17:36:00.000-06:00

Aha! We are sitting in a fancy bar in Oaxaca on the plaza sipping cerveza y limonada and watching the Super Bol in Spanish. It's actually much more enjoyable. Teslin is playing solitare on a computer and I am well....watching tight ends. Silly men, hitting heads like that. The crowd in here is sparse.... most are very American with one Mexican table that seems to be Patriots fans.

We are having a great time here. Walking everywhere is making more room for all the great food and makes for a good nights sleep. We have slowed down, but the school schedule keeps us hopping. Chris and I continue with 2 left feet in Salsa class, but Roberto is trying his best. Talk about a tight end! He's great....he arrives on his motorcycle in his sweats totally LISTO. Cassidy and teslin are the only kids in the class and catch on quickly. Since there are many more women than men, the men have to dance with a

Oaxaca, Mexico

2008-01-28T10:45:00.002-06:00

January 27th, 2008

My new watch explains a lot. It has a pink faux leather strap and a sparkly mauve face. It only has numbers at 12, 3, 6, and 9, so you don’t need to get too up tight about specifics. The entire watch face swivels and turns around with the back out: Santa Maria surrounded with faux diamonds. It makes me want to weep. I figured we better get a Santa Maria in our midst down here. I can swivel my watch around at crucial times like looking for a place to live or being inspected at a military check point.

Perhaps the fact that Cassidy turns into a teenager in just a few hours (4:07am ) explains the rest. WOW! How do kids get to be so old when you’re living right next to them? I don’t know what happened, but now he’s faster, stronger, has size 9 feet, and wants to talk about politics. At least he’s not taller than me…..yet.

We’ve landed in Oaxaca and are staying at a Pasada near the main Plaza…..it is great. We have our own little 2 room space and then share a common courtyard and covered, tiled outdoor kitchen area with the other tenants. At this point that is a man from Tucson who spent the last 40 years in Alaska, another man who lives here half the year from Peace River, Alberta, and a woman who we never see. The place is owned by the language school we are going to and everyone here is taking some semblance of classes there.
Anny

Oaxaca is one of my favorite places in Mexico with a wonderful Zocolo which is filled at this time of year with thousands of poinsettas in all of the plots around the tall shade trees. There are outdoor concerts many nights each week- classical, marimba, mariachi- as well as wandering troubadors throughout the main plaza. There is a huge Indian Market with all manner of things-foods, handicrafts, clothing and many smaller markets with different emphasis on specialty items. The town is full of ancient churches, some being built as early as the 1500s, before the pilgrims landed to the north, and many beautiful plazas/parks where one can sit and take in the sites. We have already walked more in 3 days here than we walked the previous month and are taking buses when we get a little tired (or cranky). We worked out a deal with the trailer park where we spent the first night and can park our car and trailer there for the month for $60. It’s not too far from us if we need something though we packed the car full once already with all of our books food, clothing, bedding and other assorted stuff. Our rooms are very homey!! Birding in the veranda is great with hummingbirds, Vermillion flycatchers, tropical kingbirds, yellow grosbeaks, many types of warblers, doves, orchard orioles and some unidentified birds filling the trees and bushes. We are contemplating putting out a feeder and watering dish for them to see what we can attract to the yard. We have Wifi at the school so will try and get some pictures in soon of our new home.

Hasta luego,
Chris

SMERGERS UNITE! SI PASARAN!

2008-01-28T10:14:00.000-06:00

We left Ciudad Victoria after 2 nights there in the Victoria RV Park. It was good to have the down time and the kids had the run of the enclosed RV park for exploring the grounds, playing with a local stray cat, and bird watching. We wandered downtown for Internet and found a fine Hotel with a busload of an American Tour group there enjoying dinner with a hired Mariachi band so we sat down and surfed while sipping on limonadas and cold beers while the band played and then wandered out to a restaurante we could afford.

We got an early start for us, 9:45 am, and left for the coast. Daddio thought we could make it to north of Nautla in 7 hours though the map told us that it was 10 hours away but we decided to see where we were at 5pm and go from there. We made great time for 2 hours before coming to a stop at the back of a 2 mile long traffic jam waiting for a road crew to scrape off the remains of 2 semis who had collided and then disintegrated in the road. It was quite a mess but we finally moved on after an hour delay- much better than the fate of the truck drivers we were sure- and continued on toward Tampico. Chris thought we were still “ahead of schedule” until we crawled around Tampico on the “bypass route” which seemed mainly to have been bypassed by any highway crew for several years with truly outstanding potholes which needed to be skirted- going slow into them was not an option- and equally impressive “topes” and ever present “reductores de velocidad”. Some of the deeper potholes had their own “pothole attendants” who stood with a shovel in one hand and a tip can in the other though it didn’t appear that they had actually filled any of these obstacles up- maybe it was an assumption that if you paid them today, the trip home may be easier as they fill up the holes in the road. As we had no intention of returning on this road, we declined. The Tampico bypass added another hour to the trip and then we hit the military checkpoint south of Tampico where the tent trailer raised suspicions and Chris and Teslin cranked it up for the soldiers to go through while others questioned Anny about where we were going, ect. When we finally pulled out of there 30 minutes later, we started down the slippery slope of trying to reach one’s predetermined destination in Mexico in spite of unexpected delays- never a good idea!

We hit Tuxpan as the sun was setting and decided the smart thing to do was stop at a hotel in Poza Rica for the night. Chris called ahead and talked to a hotel guy who told us to just take the road in to town and look for them on the left. Unfortunately, the “road to town” exit hid itself from our view and we found ourselves hurtling down the road with what seemed like 1000 overtired truckers who needed to pass at least 40 vehicles that night in order to consider themselves worthy. We joined in the fray- Chris’ machismo still had a pulse and, ay caramba, we were passing double long semis up hills and around corners on 2 lane roads with the best of them. We alternated between going 15mph and 70mph for the next 2 hours, finally arriving at our RV Campamiento on the beach north of Nautla at 8:30pm- only 11 hours on the road!!! We went to the closest restaurant to the RV site and though it appeared empty and dark, Anny found a couple “snogging” in the kitchen with the lights out and they said they would call the cook and owner in and make us dinner. Several beers and tequilas later and a good meal, we called it a day. We spent the next day and a half being the only occupants at the hotel/RV site which had a 3 acre compound with palapas, swimming pools, and beach. We finally left on Thursday, 1/24, and drove to Tehuacan for a night before continuing on towards Oaxaca where we arrived on Friday afternoon.

Smerging

Our driving in Mexico has been a learning experience for all. Mexicans have adapted to limited 4 lane expressways by converting any 2 lane road with a paved shoulder to an autopista. How this is done is that the entire paved surface becomes free game for driving and one must pay attention to all oncoming or passing traffic for those who are about to “smerge”, a term which Carl Franz discusses in “The People’s Guide to Mexico”. How this happens is that when a car comes up behind you, you are to move over to the shoulder (usually half a car in width) as much as possible so that they can pass you straddling the centerline. Oncoming traffic also needs to move over to their shoulder for this to work without a head-on collision so headlights are used to notify them to move. If 2 vehicles decide to pass simultaneously from different directions, the one who flashes their headlights first has the theoretical right of way. A game of “pollo” ensues if neither gives in, the braver driver taking the middle lane. With these rules of the road firmly in place, there exist no stretches of road with paved shoulders where one cannot pass. We passed and were passed by double long semis on corners, by buses going up hills and everywhere else the opportunity presented itself. Conflicts rarely arose and we found this a great way to keep traffic from backing up in curvy, hilly areas. A wonderful adaptation in short and one of which we approve wholeheartedly! The driver just can’t be distracted as one must pay equal attention to those in front and behind for the signal to smerge. Pulling the trailer made this maneuver a little trickier as not all shoulders were in great shape but all in all, it worked.

Chris

VIVA MEXICO!!!!

2008-01-21T18:17:00.001-06:00

Por fin! We are finally here! We are in Victoria Trailer Park in Ciudad Victoria. It’s really a lovely haven in the midst of a smallish city, complete with grass, trees, interesting occupants who speak a mixture of German, French, and English, and a very nice little kitty for the kids to play with. The best treasure, by far, has been the woman who runs (and owns) the place, Rosie. Nuestra maestra. Rosie is a Mexican woman who is very social and walks from site to site talking with everyone and collecting the day’s rent as there is no office. She and her husband have RV’d around the US quite a bit and both speak English fluently. She has been a teacher and a lawyer and now seems to have settled on the work of renting her lovely property to vagabonds of the Northlands. When she got to us, we were just starting to set Poppi up (we have affectionately named our pop-up Big Poppi). She had a timeless air about her and shared how they used to have a similar rig in their early days (we get this quite often, mostly from older guffers who are now pulling tyrantasauruses). Then she was quietly watching the kids hustle around with their work with a big smile on her face. I figured she must want some money, so changed the subject and asked her how much it was to stay here. She shrugged off my question and said “Let me watch the children, we can talk about that later”. I took a deep breath and realized I was still going light years faster than the culture I was now in and settled down to helping. Rosie stayed and watched the whole process, saying “Andale! Andale!” to the kids whenever they didn’t respond to a request from us for more help. Rosie did eventually get her money. It was much later and after many conversations.

We discovered upon setting up that we had no electricity, heat, or power in Poppi. This being our very first night in Mexico, we were a bit discouraged. Enter Rosie……she was by now at another site laughing and carrying on with them. I told her we had a problem with our rig and she was very worried. She hustled over and Chris explained our dilemma in Spanish. Half way through Rosie said, “Aye! God Bless, that is all! You have your health! God Bless! I thought something was wrong with you! Just lights and heat! You can run cords in and turn them on, but your health! God Bless!” She told us how a man had had a heart attack one night and how his wife had begged Rosie to get him an airplane to a hospital in the US. Rosie that in Mexico, no matter how much money you have, this doesn’t happen. The traveler continued to insist and told Rosie she could buy her whole campground and house with all the money she had. In the end, an ambulance was called; the man lived, and was flown to the US the following day. Rosie told us she would get an electrician in the morning and not to worry. This was a relief to Chris who was reminded of how everything seems to find a way to get fixed while in Mexico, whether it is cars, air conditioners, or pop-ups. He calls this the art of Mexican improvisational repair, since people don’t buy new things, they repair what they have.

There are differences in the camping scene we noticed right away. Of the 15 some odd rigs here, all are smaller. Many people are driving vans, and others pulling smaller sized trailers (I haven’t seen any 5^th wheels here). No tents or other pop-ups, but I’m sure they are out there. The campers seem a bit younger than the snow birds we have shared RV sites with in the Southern US. They include many Canadians and Europeans who don’t seem to share the opinion of Americans that Mexico is unsafe for camping.

Anny

We are realizing that we have grown quite accustomed to a very high level of “security and protection” living in the USA- law enforcement and licensing agencies protecting us from bandits, bad drivers, contaminated water, tainted food, people of loose morals, deviants, corrupt businesses, and all of the other “boogie men” who might complicate our lives. All of this comes at a price of course- one is the trepidation of living/travelling outside of the “security sphere” in foreign places such as –you got it---South of the Border in Mexico. Who is going to protect us from the “boogie men” down here???? The challenge in front of us is to get over the fear of the unknown, to adapt to a place that has a very different sense of what “security” means, and arrive at the place where we can enjoy and live in the moment- as Carl Franz says, “wherever you go, there you are”. We’ve made our pleas to all of the gods and Saints of travelers to cover our bases and will now depend on blind luck, the hospitality of the Mexican people and our own ability to adapt to changing surroundings to keep us safe in our journey. !Vayamonos con Dios!!!

The Preparation Blues

We arrived in Southeast Texas after 3 days of driving from Tucson, taking secondary roads south out of Van Horn, Texas and taking our time driving via Marfa, Alpine, Del Rio, Eagle Pass and Carrizo Springs enjoying the sites at a slower pace than I-10 would allow us. We saw Javelina, bountiful numbers of birds of prey, Antelope, Deer, Armadillo, and smaller birds along the way and great countryside. We then found ourselves stuck in a Super 8 motel room for 3 nights while a cold front came through complete with winds and showers before finally camping out our last night at the Americana Birding RV site. We used this down time to make our final arrangements- Mexican car insurance, changing money, porta-potty, and books for the kids, and stuff we just knew we needed! The final morning, Jan. 20^th, the RV site had a power surge which blew out the entire park’s electrical system and seemed to have fried something in our wiring system. OOPS! Anyway, after taking everything apart here in Ciudad Victoria and reconnecting it, it seems we have everything back except for lights and furnace. We’ll tinker a little more with the batteries and cables and then move on down the road seeing if it cures itself. Anny thought a little Echinacea in the battery couldn’t hurt and I’ve lit some candles at the trailer altar- we’ll also keep our fingers crossed. We’ve got it covered!

The Crossing

We closed down the pop-up the last morning not knowing we had suffered any damage during the power outage in the morning (the power was still out when we left). We did a final walk through a small Bosque of trees to see some birds and get a little exercise, then stopped at a Casa de Cambio before the border crossing to change some money. Then over the bridge above what is left of the Rio Grande after thousands of miles of USA siphoning and despoiling efforts to the Aduana of Mexico. Here we were assisted in our efforts to adjust to our new time and life paradigm by the helpful employees of Mexican Immigration. Gracias a Dios, we were the only people there so things went smoothly! First we got our pasaportes stamped- only 15 minutes. Then we needed copies made of our car Title and licenses by the official copier at the Aduana- this took a little longer due to mechanical difficulties. It appears the copier was low on ink and then lunch happened so this took about 30 minutes to complete. Then on to the Banco/Paperwork oficina where we made a deposito to ensure we would not sell our car or trailer in Mexico and get our official paperwork. We had almost completed this part when the person realized that Anny was the owner of the Toyota and thus we could not pass go, could not move on but must go directly to the copier position again to make more copies. We trundled over to that window only to find that that person had left- “no se, regresa pronto” was all anyone could tell us. After another 15 minutes I went outside to find him and noticed him chatting with folks at another building. Watching him, I realized that Buddha had placed him in our path early in our journey through this land to help us reset our sense of time. It was not a painless transition but at least we understood that there was a grand purpose for this seemingly endless waiting that would help us much in the months to follow. He finally returned and within 5 minutes had completed the necessary copying. Now back to station #3 where the Senorita put the final touches to our document before giving it to us. We were only there for 3 hours but we learned enough about ourselves and our need to slow down to last a lifetime.

Chris

Playing House in Tucson, Arizona

2007-12-18T09:49:00.000-06:00

December 18th, 2007

We are settled into Lee and Joyces' house in West Tucson out in the Saguaros. We are house sitting for almost a month and taking care of their 12 week old yellow lab Tess (AKA Leaky Cauldron) and her Uncle Tack (who holds his water just fine). We spread out like wild fire once we parked the pop-up, and could actually each have our own bed if we wanted. Chris and Teslin just went back to the Amherst area for a week for Teslin's birthday, while Cassidy and Anny went into SE Arizona to go birding. Alas, the birders were victims of a rare southern Arizona "winter" storm with much rain, wind and some snow, but still saw an amazing array of birds (13 life birds for Cassidy), and met some wonderful folks. More on that to come.....

The holiday season is as surreal when traveling as it is when you have a permanent home, but it is somewhat easier to ignore the ugliness. We are trying to focus on some of the amazing inequities in our society, the casualties of our capitalist way of life, and the need to give back something to those who have less. The kids and us are all talking on how to make that happen here in Tucson. This whole trip has been a gift to our family- seeing the country, being outside, being together, and NO WORK! Mexico is just around the corner as we contact language schools and potential volunteer sites in Oaxaca. We're getting the car and trailer fine tuned for the southern journey. If anyone has ideas of agencies or NGO's that are active in Oaxaca, Chiapas or the Yucutan, please let us know.

Much love to you all over these days. We realize how many great people we have moved on from and this season of gatherings makes the distance seem greater. Wishing you all peace and serenity and JOY!
The Roving Ruges

Whooping Cranes by Teslin

2007-12-04T18:00:00.000-06:00

WHOOPING CRANES

THE WHOOPING CRANE is a very special bird. The whooping Crane is endangered and there are only about 200 -300 of these birds and about half of them are bred in captivity. These birds are named for their whooping call. The Whooping Cranes average lifespan is 24 years in the wild.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS The adult Whooping Crane has a red crown, a white body with long dark legs and a long dark pointed bill. Black wing tips can be seen in flight on the adults. The immature, meanwhile, has a pale brown body without a crown. The immature whooping crane also has long dark legs which trail behind in flight. The adult whooping crane stands nearly 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall. Their wing span is 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) long. The adult male weighs an average of 7.5 kg (16.5 lbs). The adult female weighs about 6.5 kg (14.3 lbs).

HABITAT The Whooping cranes only known nesting habitat is Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada, and the surrounding area. They nest on the ground, usually on a raised area of a marsh. The female lays 1 to 3 eggs at a time. She usually lays her eggs late April to May. The incubation period is 29 to 35 days.

DIET Whooping Cranes are omnivores which mean they eat plants and animals and other things. In other words it means that they eat everything. They forage for food while walking silently in shallow water or fields, while poking around with there long bill. They eat food ranging from snakes to berries in the winter and smaller birds to seeds in the summer!!!!

CONSERVATION EFFORTS Many of you have probably seen the movie Fly Away Home in which they trained the Canada Geese to follow an ultra light. They managed to do the same thing with the Whoopers and it was successful.

Birding in Bosque del Apache, New Mexico

2007-12-01T12:32:00.000-06:00

Hello all you nice bird people! We are in Tucson at a big trailer park . We just left New Mexico yesterday and are going to stay in this RV park for a couple days. In Bosque del Apache I saw a lot of interesting birds there including a Prairie Falcon and a rare Aplomado Falcon! The Aplomado was introduced near Bosque in 2006 ( a falcon project had bred them and released them in 2006 and 2007). It is an endangered species and has not been seen much at all since the 1940's. Birders are really excited whenever they see one and I have to admit I was pretty excited when I saw one sitting on a branch in a dead sycamore. I was also excited when I saw the Prairie Falcon in a distant tree. In addition to those rarities, I saw a ton of Snow Geese, Northern Pintail, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeon, American Coots, Ring-necked Pheasants, White-crowned sparrows, as well as flock of Long-billed Dowitchers. There were also Bald Eagles, a ton of Northern Harriers, Gamble's Quail, Lesser Goldfinch, Say's Phoebe, Western Meadowlark, Kestrels and Red-tailed hawks.
I went to Bosque with my dad at about 5:50AM to watch the Flyoff (the Flyoff is when the Snow Geese and Cranes fly out of their roosting spot to go and find food in other fields). We (my dad and I) stood on "The Flight Deck" where the Flyoff can be watched for about 30 minutes before all the birds took off. When you see it, it looks truly spectacular as thousands of birds take off at the same time!
Well, I hope you are all having a good time back east and keeping healthy. I'll remember to write a Bird Report soon enough. Good-bye for now all you bird people!
Cassidy

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO- November 24, 2007

2007-11-28T12:33:00.000-06:00

We are at our good friend David Benavides’ cabin off the road to the Santa Fe ski basin. We arrived here from Moab November 20th and have been nestled in the Ponderosa pines at about 8000 feet. Dave has a great cabin he has rented for 7 years from “an old hippie” as he calls himself who moved here with a group of friends in the 60’s and homesteaded this canyon. It’s cozy with a small bedroom and loft, wood stove for heat and an outhouse (thank god for the carpeted seat). We’ve been sleeping in the pop-up and have broken new records….last night got down to 12 degrees and we were actually toasty under our down bags and comforters! The second night here we got 4 inches of snow and the canvas above the bed was sagging from the weight of it when we awoke. It was great---it felt like we were in a giant cocoon.

The 5 of us made Thanksgiving dinner at Dave’s cabin and his folks came up from Santa Fe to join us. It was a great group effort, especially since none of us have done our own before. One of those times when you realize how much goes into this rather excessive tradition. It’s amazing that Chris, Dave and I have made it this far into our 40’s and 50’s and haven’t done this yet! But we did great and had a tasty dinner. We followed this up with another traditional dinner on Friday at Dave’s parents which almost made a trip to the mall for bigger clothes mandatory.
Dave is considering being a homeowner after many years of renting and we have been discussing the possibility of going in together on a house if we settle here. We’ve looked at some interesting houses/compounds and we’ll see what the future brings. Many areas are actually affordable which surprised us for this part of NM. The house searches which we have done in Boulder, Grand Junction, and Manitou Springs have been a little time-consuming but have given us a good idea of what it would cost to live in the different areas. It has been stressful to the kids to talk about resettling in these different areas as it takes longer for them to let go after we move on to the next possibility. How we do this as we move forward will be a work in progress.

Our next leg of travel will take us to Albuquerque, Bosque del Apache Refuge, Portal and finally Tucson. We’ll set up the trailer there for a base until we move over to Uncle Lee’s on about December 13th. Teslin and Dad will be returning to New England December 6th to 12th for 6 days of visiting, storage locker searching, Teslin’s birthday celebration, and a break from driving. Cassidy and Mom have their own 6 day itinerary which involves tent camping while birding in SE Arizona in search of the Elegant Trogan, Sandhill Cranes, Hummingbirds and other exotics. They’ll be hiking in the San Pedro River Riparian Corridor and in the areas around Portal, Fort Huachuca, and Patagonia having their own adventure. We’ll see how we all deal with the separation!!!!

We’ve been in our car and trailer now since July 2 and we are getting quite attached to being together in our little pop-up, doing our home school, planning our stays, taking in the world. It is not without its own stressors but getting on the Road is a great salve for most problems. We have spent more time together as a family these 5 months than we had done in the prior 10 years combined and are getting to know each other. Teslin and Cassidy think that perhaps Daddy has forgotten that he is no longer “the boss” at a job-- the dragon of the democratic principles of consensus and taking turns keeps on rearing its troublesome head!!!! The Road has proven to be the great equalizer-for better or worse. One thing we all agree on is that we wouldn’t take these experiences back for anything. Let the quest continue!

Chris

MOAB, Utah

2007-11-28T09:14:00.000-06:00

11/20/07

Leaving Moab, driving South on Rt 191 towards Monticello …..The kids are working on spelling and the IPOD is on shuffle….song # 11 of 3,838. Ouch.…it just went from Billie Holliday to Disney Food Songs. We stayed at the OK RV Park and Stables south of Moab for 3 nights. It didn’t win any awards for scenery, but had 50 amps of electricity for us and a donkey who brayed like a freight train in the early morning hours. Well…the heated bathrooms were pretty nice too. Cassidy and Teslin found a motor cross track nearby and took their mountain bikes on it. Teslin came back with her fourth flat tire of the trip and we excitedly poured half a bottle of slime into each of their bike tires. That stuff is amazing! I’m not sure how it will do when we get into the frozen mountains of New Mexico, but we’ll see! The weather is still amazing….. in the 40’s at night and up into the high 60’s during the day. They say that winter is moving in tonight so we’re on our way to Santa Fe….surely THEY won’t have winter.

Like so many places we’ve visited, Moab has burst in size since we were here last. The business section snakes along Rt 191 much longer and wider than I remember. But…the land around Moab is still exquisite. We were unable to do any mountain biking because we don’t have a bike rack except for on top of our trailer, so we are stuck to riding around wherever we are staying. We spent the first day in Arches National Park hiking and looking around. We took a great side canyon off Devil’s Garden trail and watched the sunset from high on a rock outcropping.

It was also our first day of Geo Caching. WOW IS THAT FUN! For those who don’t know, geo-caching is like a high tech treasure hunt. You research “caches” in your area (there were 80 around Moab and vicinity), enter the coordinates into your GPS, then off you go. Our first one took us into the heart of Arches National Park in the Windows area. We searched and searched for a cache but found out that it was a virtual one…..it just involved a good view.

The next day we set off for some real geo-caching and did 3 amazing goose chases. One took us up a 4WD road we never would have discovered on our own. It left us breathless at a few places while it climbed 1500 feet above the canyon on narrow switchbacks. That was a great one….we found the cache nestled in some rocks on a steep slope near the top of the mesa. The cache itself was an old ammo box and was filled with cheap toys and various junk. Each cache has a log book in it to write in. Everyone is expected to do an entry in the book, but whether you swap something is up to you. The kids were really excited to swap, but alas, didn’t find anything worth swapping, so we just filled in the log and buried it as sneakily as we could. We decided to continue on the road instead of turning around. The first thing we found was a HUGE boulder which had recently fallen across the road and created a tunnel of sorts to drive under. That was very cool. Then there was a series of steep, smooth rock inclines which the old Sequoia couldn’t master without slipping sidewise. This did not impress the kids, as the ditch 2 feet away from the tires fell off some 2-300 feet. We all agreed to live another day and managed to turn around and head down back the way we came. We decided that this close encounter with death mandated at the very least that we devour all what remained of our Halloween candy before returning to Geocaching which we did-OUCH!!

The next two caches were placed by one person and were near each other (or so we thought). The first one was relatively easy to find, so we decided to try for the second one. By now, the sun was sinking in the sky, and as we continued to bushwack our way NE among the cactus and slickrock, there was some disagreement about how wise this was. When it was obvious we wouldn’t find it before nightfall, I turned back and hiked about 30 minutes back to the car. I had noticed some mountain bike/ATV trails snaking their way in the direction we were headed, so I decided to take the Great White Beluga and try to pick up the rest of my family. That was exciting. It took me back to my days of driving over Elephant Hill in Canyonlands when I was 20-something. (I’m not sure if age makes one wiser or more paranoid, but this wasn’t nearly as much fun!) I had to get out twice and let myself through cattle gates, then continued to wind my way up and down these rather narrow trails. We had cell phones, so I was able to find out when Chris could see my headlights. After about 20 minutes, he said I was pretty close and sure enough, up they ran a few minutes later. Although the GPS had died, the 3 of them had succeeded in finding the last cache and were feeling very smug. Except for some minor ankle scratches, everyone was in great shape. I thought they were nuts and had narrowly missed a very thorny night-time walk out to the highway. Alas, little do Cassidy and Teslin know that this was just the first of many “Ruge’s Ridges” they would go on!

Anny

Teslin's Poem

2007-11-15T10:43:00.000-06:00

SPRING

I smell the snow on the ground and trees.

I smell melting snow combined with Little Bears hair.

I smell the river and spring approaching.

I smell the rabbits that loon has killed.

I smell the cat hair from Sabai, coming out of the open doors.

I smell the rain that has so often come down.

I smell spring, and warmth approaching.

I see the snow melting off the trees in the warm spring air.

I see the chickadees at the feeder, eating the seeds and singing their spring song. I hear the frogs croaking in the spring.

I see the birds fleeing around. I see little Bear and Sabai, Having a tussle through the open window.

I see mom making Mac and Cheese in the kitchen. I see spring and all the wanders of Belchertown.

I hear the river ice cracking in the warm spring air. I hear all the birds welcoming spring with their spring songs. I hear loon purring in the house.

Little Bear barks and comes tearing after me through the snow. He slips and falls into the snow.

I hear the springs rushing in the woods around our house. I hear a lot of wonders of spring and what it brings. I hear some music coming from the house. I hear dad taking the tarp off of the pool.

I hear humming birds buzzing and humming at the newly put out feeder.

I hear Cassidy saying “Touch down, he passes to John Levy who goes tearing down towards the End zone.” Playing football with imaginary players.

I hear spring and the end of the school year approaching.

I touch the slush under my boots. I feel the runners if the sleds I loved to ride in.

I feel Little Bears warm fur as I hug Him In praise of doing an agility jump.

I feel the swings of the swing set, wet and drippy. I feel the warming air in my lungs, making my heart beat steady

I feel spring and the end of winter.

I taste the rain that is evaporated in the air. It is cold, wet, but will soon be gone.

I taste my hair in my mouth; moms wet lips, and dad’s scratchy chin.

I taste a little blood as the baseball Cassidy was playing with hits me in the face.

I feel my pillow move a little as the tooth fairy takes my tooth I lost and replaces it with a coin. I taste the soft comforting sheets of my bed as I press my face into my pillow.

I taste the yummy Mac and Cheese and other cooking mom and dad make.

I taste dad’s hair and shirt as he carries me out of the car. I can feel his arms comforting and supporting my back. I feel his knuckles as he does the buffalo massage on my back.

I can feel a lot of things.

I feel, taste, hear, smell, see, and touch all the wonders of spring.

By Teslin Marie Ruge

Age 10

Sled Dog Report

2007-11-15T10:40:00.000-06:00

By Teslin Marie Ruge Age 10

Intro: Dog sledding is a very fun sport. There are 2 different breeds of Huskies. Huskies are the breeds that pull sleds in the winter and whenever there is snow. They also run races pulling their masters…. also called musher’s over the snow on the trail. They also do long trips over the snow and even the ice. There is also a sport called skijoring which is when you get pulled on your skies by a dog.

The Siberian husky: The Siberian husky is the breed that the mushers usually use for long or short trips. They love to run, but they are not usually used for races, because they are not as fast as the Alaskan Husky, the other breed of Huskies. This breed of husky also makes good outdoor pets. They are also known to be great and gentle with children and adults. They have a lot of layers of fur, so they can get really hot being inside. When they are sleeping outside in the snow or cold, they wrap their bushy and warm tails around their nose and face to stay warm. In Denali National Park, they use Siberian huskies to patrol the park in the winter when all the roads are closed. Their job is to make sure that no one is hunting in the park or doing damage to the park. When there is no snow, the rangers use trucks and ATV’s to patrol. They will also hike the back country. In the fall, when there is not any snow, they start to condition the dogs by letting the dogs pull ATV’s to train them for winter. At this point, the puppies that were born the previous spring start to go along with the sled and begin their training. A lot of the training is taught by the adult dogs as well as the rangers. In the winter, they will go out for up to three weeks and will stop at little cabins to rest where there is food and a fireplace where the Rangers can warm up. Meanwhile, the dogs stay outside and curl up in the snow for warmth. They usually stay at these cabins for 1 to 2 days.

The Alaskan Husky: The Alaskan Husky has a lot of things that are different from the Siberian husky. First of all, the Alaskan Husky’s are fast and skinny and are always used for races. They are like this because the musher almost always asks the breeders to breed them with fast and long legged dogs, including hounds and hunting dogs. The mushers want this because they want their dogs to be fast.

Mushers: Musher’s are the owners of the dogs. They run the dogs on trails, do races with the dogs, and take care of them. The mushers use the commands “Gee”, “Haw”, “Hike”, and “Easy” to control the dogs. The command “Gee” is to turn left, ‘Haw” is to turn right, “Easy” is to make the dogs slow down or stop, and “Hike” is to make them go faster. Since it is very cold weather, the mushers have to wear a lot of warmth. They have to also wear a protective coat. A protective coat is to protect you if you fall off the sled while being pulled. When racing, the mushers often put coats on their dog team so they will not get too cold to race. They will also put booties on the Alaskan Huskies because without them they will get chunks of ice in their pads which can cut them. They don’t put booties on the Siberian Huskies because their foot pads and feet are especially adapted to the cold and snow and they can even go through slushy ice and water without booties.

The Works: The sleds are usually really strong and light. Today, the sleds are usually made of Kevlar and carbon fibers so that they are light. In the past, they used to use wooden sleds but they got too heavy for racing. The runners are the part of the sled that slides along the snow and support the rest of the sled. They are usually made of aluminum and are covered with plastic on the bottom. This provides a slick surface and also reduces drag. The footboards stand on top of the runners and are what the Mushers stand on. They are usually made of rubber or some non-skid material. They are usually narrow and stand at the end of the runners. The bush brow is the bumper of the sled and is right out in front. It is there is to deflect tree and bush branches and to take collisions and hits. The cargo bed is where all the food and supplies are stored during a trip or a race. The sleds always have a handlebar so the Mushers can hold on. Sleds also have a brake. The brake is an aluminum or steel bar that is in a U shape. Two metal claws hang down fro m the bar. When stepped on, the claws dig into the snow and stop or slow the team. If this doesn’t work, the Musher will usually turn over the sled on purpose to make drag.

THE IDITAROD This race is more than 1,150 miles from Anchorage, in south Central Alaska, to Nome, or the Western coast of the Bering Sea. Each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their Musher cover the entire course in times that range from under d10 days to three weeks. The race begins in Anchorage on the first Saturday in March with a run in the downtown area. Then the dogs are trucked in cars 40 miles north to Wasilla where the official race begins.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I chose to study sled dogs because I, Mom, Dad, and Cassidy went to two different kennels in Alaska and I was really interested in the dogs so I decided to do them for a report and put them on the blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please comment if any of you know anything about sled dogs and if I got anything wrong. My e-mail is fairyvet96@gmail.com.

Food Chain in Yellowstone National Park

2007-11-15T10:30:00.001-06:00

By Cassidy Ruge
Age: 13
11/8/07

There are many food chains in the world. One of them is in Yellowstone National Park. A food chain is a series of organisms that rely on each other for food. The one in Yellowstone is very unique in that it has one of the most intact and diverse ecosystems in the temperate world. But Yellowstone did not always have a stable and intact food chain.
In 1872 the Park first became a National Park. Unfortunately, hunting was allowed and even encouraged. The number of elk, wolves, coyotes, cut throat trout, and beavers went way down. Between 1904 and 1935, wolves and mountain lions were greatly hunted in the Park. When the hunting stopped in 1938, the population of wolves was completely wiped out and only a few mountain lions survived. Even foxes, lynx, and bobcats were targeted.
In 1886, soldiers were called into the Park to stop poaching and other things that threatened the Park’s wildlife. They did a very good job of protecting the elk and the deer, but the shooting of predators continued, and predators were pretty much extinct from the Park. Part of that was that farmers near the Park feared that wolves would kill their livestock and shot wolves that got near their livestock.
Before Yellowstone opened, the ecosystem was stable and there were predators. Elk foraged warily and moved often because wolves and mountain lions had strong populations. Because the elk were controlled, the beaver population had enough trees and greens and their population was healthy.
Once Yellowstone Park was discovered, the people hunted out the predators, and there wasn’t a stable food chain. The food chain suffered because the elk did not have any predators so their numbers were too big. The elk destroyed young trees and stayed in places that they would not have if they had predators. The beaver population in the Park plummeted because the elk were eating all the trees around the ponds so the beavers didn’t have any trees to eat and make dams. The absence of beavers also affected fish and insects because they relied on beaver ponds for food and other stuff. The whole process of the lack of predators and how it affects the rest of the food chain is called a Trophic Cascade.
Thirty-one wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone Park in 1995, the year I was born. When the wolves got back into their environment, the food chain gradually became intact again. Elk fed warily and moved more often and stayed away from the beaver ponds and the trees made a come back. Beavers returned to the Park and thrived in ponds, although not nearly as many as before. Also, Rangers sometimes killed elk when the population got too big.
I do hope that Yellowstone’s ecosystem stays intact from now on, and the reintroduction of wolves and the comeback of other predators will have a lasting impact on the food chain.

Resources:

1. “TheTrophic Cascade”, by Todd Henry, Yellowstone Discovery Newspaper (Volume 21, Number 2, Summer 2006)
2. Yellowstone Resources and Issues, 2007, An Annual Compendium of Information about Yellowstone National Park.

Manitou Springs, CO

2007-11-08T15:39:00.000-06:00

November 8, 2007

We left Boulder on Monday and headed south to get west. It’s a familiar theme. The truth was, we were torn between heading directly West to Utah and Canyon lands, or South to visit Mission Wolf in Westcliffe, CO which would lead us through Pagosa and into Northern New Mexico. As it turned out, Chris needed a new mountain bike and there was a store in Colorado Springs that had his size. So we trundled South and arrived at the bike store in the dark (thanks to that cheery invention of day light savings time---yes yes, I know, this is how it is supposed to be, but still…..it is a dreary change). It was also quite nippy, being Colorado in November and all. Chris gave his old pal Greg Jameson a call from the bike store and not only was he around, but happily married to a great woman named Linda, and in possession of a vacant house 3 blocks from Garden of the Gods.

The rest is history. Greg sells his vacant house to someone else in a week, so we can only play house for a few days. But oh my is it nice! After 10 days in Maria and Tim’s house in Boulder, we are truly spending more time in houses than our pop-up. The kids are in heaven, and each house we end up in they want to move in to. It has allowed us to stay North longer than we thought we would be able to and given us a chance to regroup. Here in Manitou Springs, we have the pop-up set up in the driveway, and can access all our things. Ahhhh…

We have also spent a lot of time recreating home school. We bought a dry erase board and have actually become quite organized with schooling. It is working better. Cassidy and Teslin both asked for more structure, and it seems to be more satisfying for all of us. We had a long family council and came up with a schedule that is similar to what they had in school last year (but much shorter!). Teslin typed the schedule onto the computer and we printed it up at Greg’s. It is something that we can use as a guide at the very least. There are countless opportunities to learn as you travel, but it is has been challenging to make anything consistent happen. National Parks are amazing teaching resources, as well as many places we visit. We also have quite a few resources with us….Mavis Beacon for typing, a great Spanish program, Math’s Mate, McGraw Hill’s Spelling books, as well as some things for reading comprehension that we picked up from bookstores along the way. There are also tons of “educational” games that we play since we are hanging out all the time….some of our favorite are Apples to Apples (the adult version has tons of current affair and historical things in it), Cribbage, Scrabble, Cogno (great for basic science and astronomy), Into the Forest Food Chain game, and some games we bought up in Alaska on birds and mammals. And then there is birding……Cassidy and Chris left this morning and are exploring various niches up in the Garden of the Gods. (Teslin is still asleep….it is only 9:45).

Last night we started the Power-Glide Spanish program and we are all having fun with that. We hope that they can make it through all 3 levels before we reach Mexico in January. From there, we will find a language school and spend 2 to 3 weeks studying Spanish before heading out for the rest of our adventures in Mexico. We are looking at a program in San Miguel De Allende . They have a Spanish camp for children and teach the language through games, music, cooking, field trips as well as formal classes. Chris is already fluent, so I will take my own immersion classes while the kids are in camp. Can’t wait!

Yesterday, we went to a bead store in Monument (Bead Corner), about 20 miles North of Colorado Springs. We spent 3 hours there learning to string a bead loom with tiny beads (11/0). Cassidy and Teslin both loved the bead loom projects they did at Hilltown last year and wanted to get back into it. We bought a rather ingenious loom that was designed by a local man. A wonderfully patient woman named Elaine helped the kids start projects they had designed the night before and they were able to string them both on the same loom. The loom is large enough to do larger projects like beaded bags, so who knows what will happen. Thanks to Laurel at Hilltown for starting this!

The grand finale yesterday was an in-house rock concert by Chris and Cassidy. Cassidy was playing Smoke on the Water and Chris figured out how to get the drums going on the keyboard. Oh man were they jamming. You know what…….they sounded GOOOD! I’m sure it is just the beginning of many debaucherous jams. Thanks again Elliot for the keyboard…..it is beyond beyond.

Pike’s Peak is right out the window to the West and just has a dusting of snow on it. It is sunny and heading up into the 60’s already. A few moments ago there were 4 deer in the yard…..it is no wonder the mountain lions are happy around here! They seem to be doing quite well…. Nothing like a predator to make the food chain healthy!

Ta ta for now, Anny

Boulder Colorado

2007-10-30T10:06:00.000-06:00

October 31st, 2007

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! We have settled merrily into Boulder Colorado and are staying with our friends Maria, Tim, and little Celia. Boulder was an odd place to end up at for the World Series, and we quietly changed to our new Iowa license plates the day we got here. Cassidy is sporting a new Colorado Rockies hat and is very proud of it. He was actually so depressed the Red Sox swept the Rockies that he launched himself off his skateboard at top speed and sprained his wrist. Poor guy. How bout those Red Sox?

We are enjoying living inside and are staying in Maria's downstairs abode. We realized that our 60 pounds of Halibut and Chinook salmon was actually NOT frozen when we arrived, and Tim's amazing culinary skills produced all sorts of yummy meals we couldn't pronounce (or spell). Chris smoked the rest of the salmon today and it is soooooooo yummy. We are wondering if we will burst the tires when we start traveling again with all our eating. We'll see!

Cassidy is a cowboy for halloween with a hankerin' to be moseying, and Teslin is a witch with a fabulous purple shiny robe and black witches hat. We just went to the Munchkin Masquerade on the Boulder Mall......oooooeeeeee....bit crowded! We were glad to mosey out of there. Alot of cute little tots though.

Well have a great Halloween everyone! Tata, Anny

Yellowstone Chronicles- October 22, 2007

2007-10-22T09:21:00.000-05:00

Yellowstone Park is proving to be to wildlife what Alaska was to vistas. The park is nearly empty of people and tourists and the fall/winter migration of large animals is in full swing. We have set up our base at the Northwest entrance to the park at around 6000 feet elevation and drive in daily for excursions. There is never more than 10 minutes without coming across solitary animals or groups of Bison, Elk, Bighorn Sheep, or Muledeer. We have stopped to watch a coyote feeding on carrion some 20 feet away before he thought better of it and moved on. We stopped several times and talked to “Wolf spotters” who spend a lot of time in the Northern reaches of the park, documenting location and activities of the wolves which were successfully reintroduced back in to the park many years ago. We hadn’t seen any ourselves and it sounded as if most sightings were late or very early in the morning so we have been hoping to get out there at these times. Yesterday afternoon, that all changed.

We stopped at the Mammouth Hot Springs Ranger Station at the start of our drive to check on recent sightings of large predators and heard that there had been both wolf and Grizzly sightings in both the Hayden and Lamar Valleys close to us. We slowly drove the entire route across the upper park to the Northeast Entrance which was beautiful with several hundred bison-probably totaling over 1000 along a 20 mile stretch- grazing and moving very close to the road. We had to stop numerous times whenever a group of them decided that the highway was where they wanted to walk. They would just walk on both sides of the car, looking in our open windows as they passed, snorting, keeping the youngsters in line as they moved to other meadows for grazing. We finally turned back and headed toward home at 4:30 in order to catch the last Red Sox game-priorities you know!! Soon after this, we saw a large herd of Elk moving single file down toward the river close to us, some 60 total with a bugling large male in the rear of the group. They must have stretched over300 yards as they moved along in the late day sunlight. We had to stop and watch and listen of course before we continued west through the Lamar Valley. Five miles down the road, we came across a large grizzly some 100 yards off the road walking through a meadow. We stopped and set up our scope and just watched him amble slowly in front of us for some 8-10 minutes. He was quite majestic with a huge hump. He was within a mile of where we had been debating hiking several hours earlier but both Anny and I both felt too much like prey as we checked out the trailhead through some wooded areas and opted to do car vistas instead. We were quite happy and excited after this and continued on homeward across the Hayden Valley. We decided on one final stop at an overlook where we had heard what sounded like wolves 2 nights earlier and where 6-8 wolf spotters had set up their scopes. When we got out of the car, we knew that something was up as everyone was very excited and pointing out several objects down in the valley below us. We grabbed our scope and binoculars and joined the group to see what they were watching. Sitting right across the valley was a pack of 12-15 wolves, warming in the late afternoon sun on a large grass covered hillside, some 800+ yards in front of us. Also in view were 3 grizzlies, one some 300 yards up the hill from the wolves, 2 others in a creek bed some 3-400 yards to their west. We watched as the grizzly above the wolves came slowly down the hill-it appeared that neither he nor the wolves knew the other were there- until he came within 10-20 yards of where they were laying. Suddenly, all of the wolves were up and surrounded the grizzly as he veered west from the path he had been on. They didn’t appear to want to attack him but many came close enough to him to nudge him with their noses. He would start and stop every few minutes, one time standing up on 2 legs to either look around or make a statement-we didn’t know which. At this time, we noticed that the other 2 grizzlies seemed to know something was up and started to cover the ground between them, moving toward the lone grizzly and the wolves. The light was starting to fade fast now and it was harder to see them in the scope. Our last view of them was the lone grizzly moving toward us on a game trail with wolves behind and flanking him with the other 2 grizzlies gaining ground some 100 yards away from this group moving toward them. We finally decided to go home and will go back today to the Ranger Station to see what may have happened after we departed. It was an unforgettable experience-WOW!!

Chris

Wimpy, Wimpy, Wimpy

2007-10-20T12:24:00.000-05:00

October 20th, 2007
Gardiner, Montana

We have temporarily fallen from the ranks of die-hard campers. This is night #6 in a motel. It is 38 degrees and rainy and our pop-up is parked outside the door. It is time to go South, but we love the mountains so much, it is hard to leave. This is an ideal time to see Yellowstone. The elk are still bugling and moving down from higher elevations to lower meadows. The mule deer and Big Horn Sheep are also on the move, and wolves have been sighted fairly frequently in the Lamar Valley in the North. The snow and sleet help with having the park to yourself ( kind of!).

When we were at Mammoth Hot Springs visitor center, Cassidy ran inside and told us that there were elk bugling in the parking lot. We went outside, and sure enough, there they were, bugling. An enormus bull had a herd of about 30 females and calves, and there was another male who was nearby with only 6 females and no calves. There was also a single male that stood on the edge of the area. The largest herd was spread over the grass and in the road around the buildings of Mammoth Hot springs. The bull was quite agitated by the presence of these other males. (I'm sure the cars going by didn't help much). It was quite a scene. The other 2 bulls would bugle and try to attract females away from the larger herd. When any of females strayed from the group, the bull would run over and nudge them back. The two outside bulls did not challenge the big guy more than the occasional bugle. There were no head on confrontations. We had always wanted to see an elk bugle, but Wow! Quite in the middle of things!

We spent the whole day driving and hiking in Yellowstone. The biggest concentration of animals we saw was right near the visitor center. We saw alot of Bison.....they are so huge! We read that the Bison in Yellowstone are descendants of the original critters that were here before the white man slaughtered the population in the late 1800's. I thought they had been reintroduced as all the other bison have been that we saw in Canada. It is exciting to know that some have survived.

The weather was windy, wet and cold, and a mixture of rain and snow. Some places we drove through had 2 inches of snow already (4-9 inches of snow are expected by the end of today). We walked to a number of geysers, but got so wet and cold, we had to cut it short. We saw Old Faithful blow her steam, and hoped to see Steamboat Geyser erupt (the last eruption was in 2004, but we were feeling very lucky). Steamboat Geyser is the tallest one in the world and blasts over 300 feet when it goes. Alas, it only spurted 10 to 15 feet every few minutes. The coldness created a surreal look to the entire geyser basin......very beautiful. At the visitor center, we watched a film on Yellowstone and Dana Eldridge senior was in the introduction in his National Park uniform speaking for the Cape Cod National Seashore. It lasted about 5 seconds and was over before I realized it was him. Yay Dana!!!!

Today is a repeat of yesterday's weather and we are enjoying hanging out in a warm room. Cassidy and Teslin are doing Math's Mate, Chris is watching the Iowa Hawkeye's get slaughtered by Purdue, and the park entrance is a mile away. We are eagerly awaiting tonight's Red Sox game.....it will be interesting to see who goes on to play the Rockies, since we will be in Colorado for the World Series. Oh Boy!!!

Cassidy and Teslin had a great time the last two evenings with a group of kids from Helena, Montana. They had two different 2 hour games....capture the flag and tag. The kids left today, the Hawkeyes are losing, the sleet is howling sideways outside, and Cassidy fears if the Red Sox lose tonight, he will feel "a little depressed". Teslin says capture the flag was the most fun.
Welll......that's all from the Roving Ruges for today......tata! Anny

Cassidy’s Bird Report –October 17, 2007

2007-10-18T12:46:00.000-05:00

by Cassidy Ruge

Hello all birders! I’m sorry that I haven’t written lately, but I haven’t gotten to it because there is so much to do. I have seen a lot of birds lately on the Northwest coast and am a little sad to leave the northwest both because of the birding and because I had a very good time with family (Diane, Ray and Sarah Hazen). But I am excited to move onward on our adventure and go south to Mexico.
There were a lot of birds I saw in northwestern Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. Among them was the Varied Thrush, which I saw in the Hoh Rainforest on the other side of the peninsula. I also saw a lot of Life Birds at Diane and Ray’s including Chestnut-backed Chickadees and Steller’s Jays. I am very excited to get to Helena and go birding there. I have seen many life birds on our adventure, 41 in all. My dad bought a Thayer software CD for about 40 bucks which is a pretty good price for birding software. The CD has quizzes, custom lists and a lot more. Well, I’ll try to remember to write another “bird report” if I aren’t birding or doing something else.

Bye for now!
Cassidy

Why is the Pacific Northwest so green??

2007-10-18T11:44:00.001-05:00

October 15, 2007

You know what? It rains ALOT! The Hoh rain forest in the Olympic National Park receives 115 inches of rain a year, Olympia, WA receives 56 inches, Massachusetts 40 inches and Tucson 12 inches a year. This is according to a national weather site on the Internet. I think I vaguely remember Diane telling me Shelton, WA receives 86 inches of rain a year. Needless to say, our noses are moist, and we are not troubled with dry buggers. As it was, when we arrived from B.C. and set up our pop-up, it was so moldy that the canvas above our beds was a grey-black. Yech!!!! Chris scrubbed like a pro with chemicals we can’t name and it smells much better now. Since then, it has been set up in Shelton and rained upon fairly frequently. The day we left was raining and so it lies behind us, folded and damp. Does this road lead to Tucson?

We have spent the last 10 days based out of Diane and Rays' 5 star camping facility in Shelton, WA. Shelton is about 30 minutes North of Olympia. (I have to say Muchas Gracias to all friends and relatives who have settled in awesome spots and who put up with the likes of us!) We had a great visit with them and my cousin Sarah.... explored Olympia a bit---awesome Farmer's Market, complete with Habanero chocolates, venison jerky, and live music (my favorite was the German Polka band we heard the first time we went....they were a real crowd pleaser. All sorts of flavorful folks were up dancing with their rain coats on). But mostly we ate. Wonderful food......Diane is a great and generous cook and we all were pampered and padded (especially when Ray did the dishes after!) Sarah proved to be a great inspiration for Cassidy’s and Teslin's home school, and previously groaned about workbooks were happily completed in her presence. We decided it was the ABP problem (Anyone But Parents) but to Sarah's credit, she really has a knack for helping kids.

We took a 3 day trip up the Olympic Peninsula to see Olympic National Park . We left our pop-up at Diane and Ray’s and actually stayed in motels. We felt like wimps. But you know…..50 degrees and rainy is not inspiring tent weather. We did a 2 1/2 mile hike through Old Growth forest out to Olympia Hot Springs, an undeveloped set of pools in the Park. That was great....the pools were a bit shallow, the bottom got stirred up easily, but nonetheless, they were exotic and lovely. We didn't get quite enough hot springs so we spent the night at the Sol Duc Hot Springs further west. They were developed and had the feeling of a fancy past, now a bit run down. The Springs are nestled in between 2 ridges and there is a great Native legend about dragons that accounts for not only the springs, but the moss that carpets the rain forest. I copied this from a Sol Duc website…

“The Quileute Indians called it 'Sol Duc' - a land of ‘Sparkling Water'. According to Indian Legend, long ago a dragon lived in the Soleduck Valley. One day, he met another dragon from nearby Elwha Valley and the two proceeded to fight over their land. During their fight, they cleared the timber above the treeline and left bare areas that can still be seen today.

The dragons also lost some of their skin, which is hanging in the trees and clinging to the rocks of moss lichen. The two fought for years and were an equal match. When neither dragon could win the fight, they crawled back to their caves and cried. According to legend, the dragons' hot tears are the source of the Sol Duc's Hot Springs.”

October 16, 2007

Now we are winding through Idaho on I-90. It is lovely and actually sunny. It’s in the 50’s and we hope to set up in Missoula tonite, then check out Helena tomorrow. We just came through a pass with Larch trees bright yellow amongst other dark green conifers. Larch are an unusual pine tree and are actually deciduos and loose their needles each year. It is especially beautiful since they are the same shape as the pines around them….I’ll see if Chris can post a picture. We will stay up in Montana/Wyoming until we get to the point where we can’t warm up during the daytime. That’s always a sure sign you are too far North (or need a house!). The next few days have a pretty nippy forecast, but it is below normal for now, so we are optimistic.

We have decided not to come East and get Little Bear as Chris wrote in the last blog entry. It has been a long hard road trying to find him a good home and a family from CT came forward and really wants to adopt him permanently. We are working out the details, but they have a similar family make up as ours, with 2 older kids (12 and 14), a nice big fenced in yard and wanting a home- body dog. Little Bear's dilemna has been the hardest part of this trip…

Well…tata for now, Anny

STAND UP AND PROTECT WOLVES!!!!

2007-10-14T18:44:00.000-05:00

A lot of the species of wolves are endangered, going on to being extinct. People are just killing them because they are a possible threat to livestock…..especially cattle. Stand up to Wolves and protect them. At the bottom of the page you can email me (Teslin) and join my group. The group is called “Stand Up To The Howls Of The Midnight Air”. I am doing this group to get people to understand that it is wrong to hunt wolves. The only reason is because the wolves are hunting livestock, but they can’t help it. I am also doing this group so that people can be more aware of what they are actually doing. No one is in my group yet, but I will send you weekly or monthly e-mails that might include games puzzles, updates on the wolves and some websites for wolves.

This is a Table that shows all the different Canis lupus family members.
These are all subspecies of the Gray Wolf, Canis lupus.

SPECIES ------------------------------STATUS -------------------CLASSIFICATION
Arabian Wolf -------------------Critically endangered ---------Canis lupus arabs
Artic Wolf --------------------------------Stable --------------------Canis lupus arcos
Caspian Sea Wolf ----------Endangered, Declining ------------Canis lupus cubanensis
Dingo ---------------------Vulnerable, (pure breed) ---------Canis lupus dingo-
Domestic Dog ----------------------------Stable -------------------Canis lupus familiaris
Egyptian Wolf --------Critically Endangered, Unknown --Canis lupus lupaster
Eurasian Wolf ---------------------------Stable ----------------------Canis lupus lupus
Great Plains Wolf---------------------- Stable------------------- Canis lupus nubilus
Italian Wolf----------------------- Endangered --------------Canis lupus italicus
Mackenzie Valley Wolf -----------------Stable ---------------Canis lupus occidentalis
Mexican Wolf -----------Critically Endangered -----------Canis lupus baileyi
Russian Wolf ---------------------Stable, Declining ---------Canis lupus commonis
South-East Aisan Wolf ----------------Stable -------------------Canis lupus pallipes
Tundra Wolf -----------------------Stable -----------------Canis lupus albus
Eastern Timber Wolf -----------------At risk ------------------Canis lupus lycaon
Iberian Wolf ---------------------------Stable ----------------Canis lupus signatus
Himalayan Wolf -----------Critically endangered -----------Canis himalayensis
Indian Wolf -------------------------Endangered ------------------Canis indico
Hokkaido Wolf ------------------------Extinct -----------------Canis lupus hattai
Honshu Wolf ----------------------Extinct ---------------Canis lupus hodophilax

My e-mail is fairyvet96@gmail.com

Teslin Marie Ruge, Age 10

Little Bear returns to family

2007-10-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

We have decided as a family that we need to have our dog, Little Bear, come back and be with us. We have been thinking of him alot and feel that he is our missing link here on the Road. We had hoped to place Little Bear with a foster family until the spring but it didn't work out and he has lived the past 2 months at a local kennel/boarding place in Granby. We finally decided that enough was enough and Teslin and I are taking a flight back this week to pick him up and fly him back to Seattle with us. We know that this will create its own set of issues for us as we hope to travel to Mexico in December for 2 months and will not take Bear for that stretch so will need to find a home for him during that period of time or have another long stay for him at a boarders-probably in the Southwest. Anybody with ideas for a foster home for him for this time in the Southwest, please send us an email. Thanks for any help/ideas with Bear.

Cool things!

2007-10-05T15:46:00.000-05:00

October 4th or 5th

Bore Tides: SURF'S UP!

Bore tides are my number one favorite discovery so far on this trip. A bore tide is a long lasting wave that is caused by an extremely large tide coming into a very narrow channel. There are over 60 bore tides in the world, but the one in Alaska south of Anchorage is the most dramatic (so they say). (There is one in China that can get up to 30 feet tall and travels almost 20 miles per hour--that sounds pretty dramatic too!). What is so amazing about the one in Alaska is that this wave travels for 40 to 50 miles down the coast and takes 5 hours to go from the mouth of the channel to it's end. Although there is a bore tide every day, the ones that are really impressive and surfable are the ones surrounding the full and new moons when the tide fluctuations are at their biggeest.

In Alaska this happens at Turnagain Arm, about a 20 minute drive South of Anchorage. The Turnagain bore tide is the only one in the far North, and is the most dramatic. It is surrounded by mountains and very accessible since the road down to Portage glacier parallels Turnagain Arm. With the right moon, the bore tide can be up to 10 feet tall and goes forever. The best chance to catch one of these waves is the 5 days around the full and the new moon. The wave itself is described as a "breaking wave", so you might not get tubed, but still....pretty cool, ehh?

DRUNKEN FORESTS:

Another cool, but potentially depressing subject is drunken forests. Up in the northern part of Alaska, much of the land is covered in permafrost. Permafrost is soil that remains below 32 degrees farenheit year round. Some permafrost has an active layer on it which melts and supports plant growth in the summer months. The permafrost below remains frozen. However, sometimes the layer below gets too warm and will melt as well, causing a depression to form in the permafrost. (This is caused by, say, a gradual warming process that leaves the ground above 32 degrees). The treees that are most often affected are black spruce (thin, spiky trees with very shallow roots). Their roots will gradually reach into the depressions in the permafrost and skew them to one side. This leaves some areas looking like the trees are all willy nilly and might have a drinking problem. It actually takes many years for the effect to take place.

One down side of this whole process is that other structures besides trees reside on permafrost. Around the globe, as tempertures climb higher, areas in the far north are experiencing sagging of house foundations and roads....basically, anything built on the permafrost. The melting permafrost also releases carbon and methane into the air. Considering the mass of Northern Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Iceland, a huge amount a permafrost will be affected. One big gassy, sagging area.

So that is the depressing part of it all. Drunken forests are a natural cycle. However, global warming is causing huge changes that are above and beyond natural.
And that's the truth Mr. President!

Well....that's it for today's fascinating facts. More later! Anny

Saturna Island-October 3, 2007

2007-10-03T23:23:00.000-05:00

October 3, 2007

It’s early morning…. five to nine, and once again, I am sneaking some peace before the others wake up. Mostly I am sneaking the computer before Cassidy and Teslin come in and want to watch the special features on the Harry Potter movie we rented last night (yes…you can watch movies on a lap top…it might be the opposite of the movie theater experience, but suits us fine!).

We have now been in the islands off of Vancouver, B.C. for 2 weeks. The first night down here we met my folks, (AKA Grandma and Grandpa, Gramps, Grams, and Mary and Paul Bosley). We had a great reunion in the hotel’s eatery in the morning and despite everyone’s exhaustion from the previous days follies, we went off to the Vancouver Aquarium for the afternoon and then caught a ferry to Saturna Island in the evening. Some dear folks, Nell and Owen Dykstra have a cabin there and said we could pop-up for free as long as we like. Since there is no camping permitted on Saturna this is a great thing (it’s fine to camp on your own property—many folks do). Grandma and Grandpa stayed in the cabin and we snored away in the comfort of our Big Poppi. Cassidy and Teslin took turns sleeping in the cabin…. big stuff.

We spent 4 days wandering around. The sun blessed us with unbelievable weather, and we went to East Point (Cassidy called the little islet offshore Life Bird Island). Black Oystercatchers, Surfbirds, Heermann’s gulls, Brant’s cormorants, Harlequin Ducks, Black Turnstones, Common Loons, to name a few! It was also tide pool heaven and naptime for many seals. No orcas yet…except for the distant fins we saw on the glacier tour in Seward.

We also took a trip to the highest point in Saturna (which is actually the highest peak in all the gulf islands) to Warburton Pike. Amazing views from there. It is a very steep slope down to the water, so it allows for great views of the water, inlets, boat activity and birds. The best part were the ravens that were playing on the thermals. Incredible, really! One would land in a pine tree and get a cone and then take off high. Another would follow and once they were high above, the first would drop the cone by swinging it’s feet up in front of it’s head and launching the cone into the air. The second would catch it, complete with dives and flips and incredible maneuvering. The pair would do this until they were almost back down to the ground and then it would all start over. It looked like a courtship dance…. but in September? We think they were just playing, since many of them seemed to be doing it. We watched them for a couple hours. Wow!

From Warburton Pike Chris, Grandma, Teslin and I walked down towards the winery on the coast. Well…we followed a very old road through the woods that we thought was a trail. Judging by the amount of trees we had to skirt, we might have missed it! We eventually met up with Gramps and Cassidy and settled down to some wine tasting. That was fun, a bit hurried, but fun. (A great Pinot Gris).

After a few days in Saturna we headed over to Vancouver Island. It is such fun to go places by ferry. The lifestyle out here seems much more peaceful, especially on Saturna. Vancouver Island is quite built up and touristy where we went. Beautiful, but well trodden upon. We spent a night in Nanaimo en route to Tofino which is on the West coast of Vancouver Island. We rented a spectacular place for 3 nights, the Tofino Chalet. It is a very modern, glass-rich place perfectly placed in some ancient red cedars on a bay with mountains with the Tofino harbor way out in the distance. Huge tides, so that at low tide, there was a giant mud flat with some saltwater creeks running through it. Great birding. Cassidy and Teslin put on their knee high boots and tried to explore the mud flat, but it was a miracle they got back out. It was boot sucking, children eating mud. They looked like creatures from the deep when they got back and smelled like it too. Grandma hosed them off and they seemed to loose their appetite for further mud flat exploration. It was such a gorgeous spot…. I could feel myself get softer with each night.

On their last day, Grampa, Cassidy, and Chris went out fishing for 5 hours and caught nearly half the sea. I’ll have to let one of them explain since I was busy having a girl’s day out. THAT was great…3 generations of women. We dawdled, and drank tea, and had an Empress moment on the huge cedar stump facing the water. An empress moment is a tea ceremony involving a very special tea bag donated by Jane Klimshuck which was “given to them” when they went to the Empress house for high tea in Vancouver Island—the high tea cost them over $200 and they each received a parting gift of a tea bag when they left! It also involves nose rubbing, kissing, and putting foreheads together for a group breath. Delightful, needless to say. We also made it down to the beach where only 2 generations went flying naked into the waves. (The middle generation is a sissy when it comes to cold water). Ahh the Pacific. I have to say, it was NOT balmy weather! I was very impressed with their grit. I even donated one of my layers for them to dry off on. Grandma and Teslin were both giddy with delight and we had a great time on the trail to and from the sea through old growth rain forest.

We had a teary goodbye the next morning. It was very special to visit and reminds us how many dear connections we have left in the East. It also reminds us how much we want others to come play! We spent one additional night at the Chalet before returning to Saturna. The weather closed in with our return, and has been cool and drippy since. On the ferry back (we took the long one and arrived at 11:30pm) we listened to Harry Potter book #1 again…it opened up the cauldron of Hogwarts---unstoppable--and we rented the first 3 movies, one a day since our return. We make popcorn, have spritzers and beer, and all squish on a couch and peer into the laptop. Life was never so good.

Today we leave Saturna for the southlands. We are going to descend on Diane and Ray and Sarah Hazen near Tacoma and have more family and fun. We also hope to go to the Olympic Peninsula for more rainforest (and hot springs) if we can dry off the mold that is growing so far. We are also aware that the Red Sox made the play offs and hope to actually see a game some day before the season is over. Ta Ta for now! Anny

Drip Drip Drip

2007-10-01T20:46:00.001-05:00

October 1st, 2007

Slowly slowly, ever so delicately, we are losing our marbles. ..a spell of too many mice in box. Drip drip drip. The cabin is very small, perhaps a bit bigger than the pop-up and it has a real bathroom--- amazing. Drip Drip Drip. 40's and rainy, kids arguing. Saturna is lovely and quiet and wet. Today it is mostly quiet and wet. The slugs are having a fabulous time and we are trying to avoid smooshing them. Cabin fever makes for hot feet. Tapioca pudding and Yukon Red....another game of super scrabble must begin soon.

Pacific Salmon by Cassidy

2007-10-01T15:25:00.001-05:00

PACIFIC SALMON (Oncorhynchus)

Description: There are 5 different species of pacific salmon. The Dog (Chum) Salmon, the Pink (Humpy) Salmon, the Red (Sockeye) Salmon, the Silver (Coho) Salmon, and the King (Chinook) Salmon. The weight in pacific salmon varies from species to species. The smallest kind, the Pink only gets to be 7 pounds, occasionally reaching 11 pounds. On the other hand the Chinook weighs between 3-80 pounds. Pacific salmon also differ in color. The Chinook has a speckled back with a silvery belly and a side. Coho are very similar to Chinook in appearance but have a more silvery side and belly and less speckles on the back. Sockeye Salmon are dark in color overall and have black surrounding the eye and a dark head. While spawning, Sockeye are a brilliant red and have an all green head. Pink Salmon have a hump while they are spawning giving them the name Humpy. In appearance they look a lot like Sockeye but are generally lighter in color. Dog Salmon have a very white belly and a black stripe along the side and a green splotch near the head.

Feeding: Pacific salmon eat a variety of fish, crustaceans and plankton while in salt water. My dad and I went on a charter boat and caught 8 Chinooks and 6 Halibut. When we opened the bellies of the salmon, we found whole herring in most of their stomachs. I don’t know exactly what fish the other species of salmon eat, but I think they eat smaller fish such as Anchovies and Char. Pacific salmon eat a lot while they are living in the ocean. When they’re getting ready to spawn they don’t eat at all because of instinct. The only way to catch one while its spawning is to snag it, but in most places that is illegal. I once accidentally snagged one while I was fishing for Dolly Varden. Young Chinook Salmon are called feeders their first year in saltwater. I went fishing for them in Tofino, Vancouver Island with my dad. (The same trip I had caught all those halibut).

Range and Habitat: Pacific Salmon are spread out over a lot of places. All five species are found all over British Columbia from the Kootenay Rockies to the Caribou Chilcotin Coast. in freshwater and saltwater. Most of the salmon are found in different parts of Alaska too. I caught both Sockeye and Silver Salmon in Alaska. (Silver in Homer and Red in Chitina). They also live all the way down to Washington and California. Salmon live part of their life in freshwater and part in saltwater. They are born in freshwater in streams, rivers and lakes and they stay in freshwater for about 1-2 years and then go into the sea. They stay in the ocean for 1-8 years before going back up the streams they were born in (or released in if hatchery fish) to spawn and die.

Life cycle: Salmon travel great distances to their spawning grounds to lay their eggs and for males to fertilize them. They travel upstream from a mile up to 1,800 miles in rivers and streams. Chinooks and Reds travel the farthest, Chinooks traveling up to 1800 miles in the Yukon River and its tributaries! Chum, Coho and Pink spawn closer to the ocean because they aren’t as good travelers. When they reach their destination, the males will guard the female and fertilize the female’s eggs. The males are very protective of their females and will chase any other fish or salmon near the female. Other fish such as Dolly Varden will try to steal the salmon eggs and eat them. Naughty little buggers!!! Once the females have laid their eggs and the males have fertilized them, the salmon start to decompose, losing their color and eventually they will die. The eggs remain under gravel during the winter incubating and then going through the stages called “eyed eggs” and “hatched alevins”. The new “fry” emerges from the gravel in May and June and feed and grow here for up to a year. The next phase of their lives is called “fingerlings” where they go back to the ocean, eating a lot and growing rapidly. After spending 1-8 years in the ocean, the cycle is repeated.

Hatcheries: Although most fish fisherman catch are wild, some of the salmon come from hatcheries. There are a lot of hatcheries in most Western states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada. You can tell the different between hatchery and wild grown ones by looking at their adipose fin. Hatcheries cut off the adipose fin and also put a microscopic piece of metal on their precious snout in all their salmon before letting them into the wild. In oceans or streams, the salmon’s adipose fin is still on their little backs, (unless its been bitten off already) and they don’t have a lunk of metal on their snout! There is a program in Tofino that is, if you catch a hatchery- run salmon, you can send the head of the salmon to a Salmon Research group with a piece of paper. The fun thing about it is that the people in the Salmon Research groups will tell which hatchery the salmon came from and where the salmon had gone over the years. My dad and I went fishing in Tofino and happened to catch three of those hatchery raised salmon on a charter! We wrote down on a piece of paper the date, our name, when and where we had caught the fish, ect. Then we tied 3 strings to the heads of all the salmon with the pieces of paper. The paper said that they would send us the salmon’s life history in 2-3 months time.

Conclusion: Pacific Salmon are a very interesting subject to write about. I chose to research and write about pacific salmon because I wanted to learn more about them and write about salmon. I also wanted to research them so I could see which species are in trouble. I enjoy fishing for salmon and learning about them.

Fun Facts:
1. My mom is grossed out of the pictures of me holding a salmon because she said they were too bloody and that I should have cleaned up the fish!
2. The nests of pacific salmon are called Redds.
3. Dog Salmon get their name by the 2 canine teeth they develop while spawning.

By Cassidy Ruge
September 30, 2007

Ptarmigans by Cassidy

2007-09-30T15:02:00.000-05:00

PTARMAGIN (Logopus)
Cassidy Ruge
September 17, 2007

DESCRIPTION:
Ptarmigan are chunky birds and have very short rounded winds and short tails. They weigh between 350-800 gms, and range from 12-15 inches.. There are 3 species of Ptarmagin in North America; the Willow, Rock, and White-Tailed. Ptarmigan are unique in that they have 3 plumages while most other birds have only 2. When snow is on the ground in winter, Ptarmigan have an all white plumage to blend in with the snowy landscape. In fall, they are brown to catalogue in with the dry arid country. In spring, they are half white and half brown.

HABITAT:
The three Ptarmigan species live in different habitats. Willow lives in lush tall vegetation and coastal tundra. Rock Ptarmigan live in dry, sparse vegetation, and White-tailed is strictly alpine, living on high peaks up to 2000 meters with mountain goats and hairy marmots.

RANGE:
Ptarmigan range from the Southwest all the way to Russia. Willow ranges all over Canada from Nova Scotia to Northern Alaska. Rock live in the same places as Willow, except they go into Russia and Greenland. On the other hand, White-tailed is the only Ptarmigan to range down to the lower 48 states, going all the way down to Northern New Mexico.

DIET:
All Ptarmigan eat plants, but they also eat insects and spiders when they are available at Safeway. In summer, Ptarmigan eat leaves, buds, berries, catkins, flowers, seed capsules, bullets, and sometimes mosses. In winter, they forage for seeds, buds, and twigs of low willows, alders, and birches.

BREEDING:
When in courtship, the male’s red eye combs get swollen and they strut and make odd noises like other grouse. Willow Ptarmigan gargle, Rock Ptarmigan snore, and White-tailed scream. Willow Ptarmigan and White-tailed Ptarmigan only have one mate, while Rock ptarmigan court 2 or 3 or 4 females at once! (I think that is kind of selfish) The male Rock Ptarmigan even steals his neighbor’s females! When a bird has 2 or more mates it is called polygeny. The females of a male compete for a male’s attention. When the female is on the nest, the male will guard the nest with the female for a little bit, but gets bored pretty quickly and will go find another mate and will leave the female to incubate the eggs and raise the chicks on her own! (LITTLE GIT!) The Willow Ptarmigan is the only father in the grouse family who stays with the female to raise the chicks and guard them and doesn’t run away!
The nest of all Ptarmigan is lined with grasses, moss, and feathers. It takes three weeks for the eggs to incubate. Ptarmigan lay 5 to 14 eggs and hens raise one brood a year. In 3 weeks, 5 to 14 little brown striped chicks are waddling around with their mother in the tundra! The chicks grow very fast, and are able to scurry like mice in a few days and fly in 1 week.

THREATS:
Destruction of Ptarmigan habitat is their biggest threat. Ecotourism has affected them too, because it brings more people to the forest and tundra. Their predators are Northern Goshawk, Lynx, and humans.

CONCLUSION:
I chose to study and research and write about Ptarmigans because I love birds and I think Ptarmigan are pretty interesting. (Well, all birds are interesting!) I also wanted to learn more about them and write what I thought about Ptarmigan. I hope you enjoyed my writing.

FUN FACT:
The Willow Ptarmigan is the Alaska State bird.

Cassidy Ruge

Gray Wolves by Teslin

2007-09-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

GRAY WOLVES (Canis lupis)
Monday, September 17, 2007

HABITAT: Gray Wolves range in a variety of different habitats. You can find them in the arctic tundra to the forest, prairie, and dry arid landscape.

DIET: Gray wolves are carnivores. Their diet ranges from deer, elk, caribou, moose, sheep, reindeer, musk oxen, rodents and other meat and grass. When the meat is scarce, they will eat and find mice and grasses. Catching mice is also a good way to teach the pups to hunt.

TERRITORY: Their territory is 50 to 1000 square miles in diameter, depending on the season, and how much meat there is.

DESCRIPTION: Gray wolves are very interesting animals. They are the biggest members of the Canis family. The alpha male weighs 44-150 pounds, and averages around 90 pounds. The alpha female weighs 40-120 and averages around 80. It is usually about 4.5-6.5 feet from tip of tail to tip of snout.
Gray wolves vary in a variety of colors. Usually the upper parts of their bodies are white with shafts of gray, cinnamon and brown. The back is usually dark black, wh8le the muzzle, ears, and limbs have cinnamon coloration. The under parts tend to be a light whitish color and the tail is usually pale below the tip and the tip is ure black. Once in awhile, you might see a totally white wolf. This is not very common, but it does happen sometimes. All wolves have a dense undercoat for the winter climate and coldness of where they live.
The Gray wolf has a bigger snout, bigger ears, and a bigger body than it’s cousin, the Red wolf. It is also 50-100% bigger than it’s small relative, the coyote.
Gray wolves can run up to 40 miles per hour for short distances. Gray wolves hunt in packs. The packs usually have 8 to 35 members, most often 10 to 15. When hunting, they will sometimes run fast to corner an animal so it cannot get away. If their prey is a deer or a moose, the wolves are more cautious than around other animals. If a deer or a moose turns to fight, the pack of wolves will usually move on to easier prey. A deer or moose’s sharp hooves can kill a wolf very quickly if kicked in the head.

RANK: For people who don’t know, the rank in a wolf pack is where they are in the group (like who is more powerful over the other wolves). The dominant (alpha) male is always the head of the rank, followed by the dominant female. The rank is communicated by body language and facial expressions. Some of these include crouching, chin touching, and rolling over to show their stomach.

REPRODUCTION: The Alpha female and male are the only ones in the pack that every breed. The breeding season is January thru April. Wolves always mate for life. After they mate, the female digs a den in a hillside or a cave. Dens will usually slope down and then go up so that when it rains the main part of the den where the pups will be won’t get wet and will stay warm.
The Alpha female will be pregnant for 60 -63 days and then will give birth to the Pups. The Gray Wolves usually have 6 to 7 pups, but they could have 1-20.
The pups are born blind and deaf. They weigh 0.5 kgs, (how many ounces?). Their mother will be with them round the clock, except when getting food. The rest of the pack will feed the pup’s regurgitated food until they are 45 days old. They also depend on their mother for warmth and milk until they are around 3 weeks old. Pups eyes open when they are 10-15 days old. At 10-15 days old the pups can only use their front legs so they have to crawl around. The pups can stand 5 to 10 days after they open their eyes. They can also vocalize and run around at that age. They leave the den when they are 20 to 80 days old. When they are 10 months old, they will begin to hunt with the pack.

CONCLUSION: I chose to study Gray Wolves, Canis Lupis, because after I read about them they became my favorite animal. I also love dogs, and they remind me of wolves. I have never seen one before and I really hope to. I always think of them as Timber Wolves. I really think that hunting them should be illegal because they are almost endangered, and some species of them are even extinct. I hope you enjoyed my report as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I have my own email address for comments; it is fairyvet96@gmail.com. You can also post them on the Blog.
Teslin Marie Ruge
Age 10
FUN FACT: Their scat is hairy, brown, and huge. It is 1 ½ to 2 inches in diameter!

Alaska Marine Highway

2007-09-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

September 14th, 2007
On the Alaska Marine Highway

UNBELIEVABLE!!! Our weather has held and we continue to experience jaw-dropping scenery. Chris has been in need of a primal scream now since we left Sitka at 7:30 this morning. It’s just too much beauty to take. He wants to live on a stretch of island out here where every morning he could come out and do a primal scream on the banks. I think he’d attract some moose in rut…maybe swerve the caribou off their migration. The channel out of Sitka was very narrow…amazing they can navigate a boat this size through it. At one point, we passed through a rip with 2-foot standing waves in a passage that looked far too thin for this massive boat. Very exciting. Pristine wilderness…. occasional small streams running down from the hills with a lot of bird activity where the streams meet the river (probably salmon there as well). Bald eagles are beginning to amass out here---more than 3,500 of them will be up in the Haines area by late October for the late spawning of Coho and chum. It is the biggest gathering of bald eagles in the world and a good excuse for a festival in November in Haines.

We are on the Matanuska, the biggest of the ferries that we have seen. Our cabin is up in the bow, 1A, and is much bigger than we expected. Two bunk beds, nice size, a table, 4 chairs, a desk, and a tiny bathroom with shower sink and toilet. We feel like we are in the Marriot! It’s amazing. Right now Chris and I are sitting in the observation room in the bow. Comfy chairs that swivel around and face the 5-foot windows that wrap around the entire bow section (180 degree vista). Now the channel has opened up and is about a ¼ mile wide. We passed some glaciers yesterday, but today have just seen snow on mountaintops.

The boat has a large cafeteria in the stern, fairly good food, 2 movies a day upstairs in the lounge area, and lots of deck space. A few folks have pitched their tents on the top deck, a pretty cheap way to take this glorious route. I guess in season, this boat is packed…now it is quiet, except for an Elderhostel group of 30 who is getting off today in Petersberg. There are 2 other families with kids on board, so Cassidy and Teslin are in heaven. One family has just left Tanzania where they lived for 7 years and is taking 6 months off to travel before they pick up life in Uganda. The father is from Holland and works for an NGO sponsored by the Dutch government. Great family. The other family has one son and they are taking 2 weeks off to travel to Alaska. The kids are playing tag, various other games, and mostly spying on the rest of us. Cassidy doesn’t seem very interested in birds right now!

Well….I’m going to turn it over to Chris….ta ta for now.
Anny

What to add… blah, blah, blah, bald eagles, blah blah, blah, pristine mountains, blah, blah, drop dead gorgeous islands, coves, beaches. I’ve spent 90% of the time on the bow of the ferry, normally alone or with one person, quiet on all sides as we float through this unbelievable country. We’ve really come to appreciate the serenity, the wildness of this land and have started talking about what it would be like to live here. Suddenly, the mountain West seems crowded and overrun!!! It’s all about perspective I guess. The wildness comes at a price- it’s isolated, hard to get to, far from relatives and friends- this Southwest stretch of waterfront communities more than the Anchorage area. They are in need of nurses, jobs wouldn’t be an issue. Our brains are definitely churning- we are thinking of returning after our visit with Anny’s folks around Vancouver the next 2 weeks and spending more time from Sitka to Haines- any excuse to get back on this ferry perhaps. There is a Native peoples’ clinic system with clinics in Sitka, Juneau, Haines, and some other smaller communities and islands we would like to check out. This system was one of the first to break away from the IHS back in the 70’s I believe and sounds very interesting.

We’ve gotten a good taste of what living Alaska could be. Stocking up on Salmon and wild game, spending a lot of time out of doors, looking at the Weather and length of days as a much larger part of your life-how it affects your daily existence, more time turned inward-to family and self- as a natural consequence of the geographic isolation here. Our discussions now are really about whether this narrowing of focus on a personal level is a positive or negative. There really is no debate about the physical richness of this area- it is just so…ALIVE…in ways that fill your senses, replenish your soul, make you sit back and think.

We are looking forward to much more camping and fishing on return trips here or if living in Alaska. Most of the hiking here is without benefit or hindrance of trails. One must develop skills around planning of hikes, reading of topo maps, and understanding of being just another piece of the puzzle that the wilds of Alaska are made of—how to deal with encounters with Bear, Moose, and weather changes. River floats will have to happen, there are too many options to mention- Yukon, Forty-mile River, kayaking around the many Fjords that make up the Kenai Peninsula, visiting the spawning grounds of all the different Pacific Salmon that fight their way upstream to spawn and die-Silvers, Red, Coho, Pink. So much to explore- we may have to live here just to save the money we would need to spend on gas to return here as often as we would need to do all of these things!!!!

Route Facts for the Mappers of our Journey

2007-09-24T14:34:00.000-05:00

OUR ROUTE: Entry #2--Dawson Creek, Yukon, to Saturna Island, British Columbia:

Note: this is for those of you who are map-crazy and want to follow our whereabouts on your own….it was exhausting just reading it ourselves!

Leaving Jasper National Park, we headed East on Canada 16 to Hinton (1 night) and then went Northwest on HWY 40 the “Scenic Route to Alaska”. This was the start of most locals referring to the highways we were taking by their given name instead of their actual numbers. We will include the given names whenever possible. We took HWY 40 to HWY 43 in Grand Prairie, and we continued on HWY 43 up to Dawson Creek (1 night).
The Al-Can officially starts in Dawson Creek, British Columbia (BC)-Mile 0. We went N on HWY 97 to Liard Hot Springs, BC (2 nights), then continued on HWY 97 to Teslin, Yukon—Yay!!!! (2 nights). The Al-Can changes to Rt 1 at Watson Lake, BC. We continued on RT 1 to Whitehorse (3 nights). We left the Al-Can here and turned North on the Klondike Highway ( Rt 2) to Dawson City, Yukon (1 night). At Dawson City we crossed the Yukon River on a ferry and took the Top of the World Highway (Rt 9) to the US border at Poker Creek, Alaska. This leads you into the first real town in Alaska, Chicken (population 7). We then followed the Taylor Highway (Rt 5) South to Tok, Alaska where we turned South on Rt 1, the Tok Cut-off, to Glennallen. At Glennallen we turned Southeast on Rt 4 to Rt 10, the McCarthy Highway, to Chitina, (that was a long day).We stayed in Chitina 5 nights.
Then we had to voyage to Anchorage (for 2 nights) on Rt 1, the Glenn Highway, to get the big Beluga fixed –that’s our car--not Chris, and on to Cooper Landing and the Kenai Peninsula (1 South again) for 2 nights. Then to the end of HWY 1 at Homer (2 nights) before backtracking back to RT 9 South to Seward for 5 nights (ahhh). From Seward we drove North on RT 9 to RT 1 to Anchorage where we turned onto RT 3, the George Parks Highway, to Talkeetna (1 night) en route to Denali National Park.
By now we were feeling the crunch of time since our ferry from Haines South was only in one week. We were in Denali for 2 nights only, then continued North on the Parks HWY to Fairbanks for 1 night. We headed Southeast on RT 2, the Al-Can HWY, to Delta Junction (1 night) where we turned South on RT 4, the Richardson Highway, to Glennallen. We returned to Chitina via the McCarthy HWY for a few final nights. We took a one day trip to Valdez which is at the end of RT 4. Phew!
We left Chitina all geared up for the ferry down in Haines that would take us out of Alaska. It took us 2 days to get there (Rt 10 West—RT 4 North—RT 1 North—Rt 2 South (Al-Can) to the Canada border. Then Canada RT 1 to Haines Junction, Yukon where we turned due South on Canada Rt.3 to the US border. Here the Highway becomes RT 7 which ends at Haines, Alaska. We spent the first night of this trip out in a very remote provincial campground somewhere in the Yukon (Lake Creek Campground). We arrived in Haines on fumes and went the last 49 miles on the reserve tank with the Empty light very bright (mostly down hill luckily).
Then we took the Alaska Marine Highway south from Haines for 48 hours of ferry transport. It stopped at Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchican before we got off in Prince Rupert, Canada. From Prince Rupert we drove north on RT 16 to Terrace (2 nights) and then had three long days of driving to Vancouver…..the first to Burns Lake, the second to Lac La Hache, and the third day down the impossible Rt 99 via Whistler and 14% grades that went on for miles. Our wheels were smoking so badly at one point that we had to dump all the water in the car on them and then go to the streams and fill up again (8 gallons later it still stunk, but the brakes were luke warm). Finally we pulled into the huge metropolis of Vancouver around 11:30 pm. We met my folks and scooted to the ferry with them over to Saturna, one of the Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the coast (SE of Vancouver Island). And that is where we sit, quite contented and peaceful!
And now, without deadlines imposed by ferry schedules (the Alaska Marine Highway ferries fill up fast and you have to make your reservation weeks in advance), the Roving Ruges will be moving much slower!

Lac La Hache, BC

2007-09-24T14:29:00.000-05:00

September 19, 2007

This family sure can sleep! I awoke about an hour ago to a heavy frost and the camper was pretty nippy!! I plugged in the ol furnace, and it has been running constantly since. It’s warm but not cozy. We may actually find we have a temperature limit in this Poppy (maybe 15 degrees). It’s not a problem of comfort at night—we are all cozy in down bags and flannel sheets and polar fleece blankets. It’s just the getting up that is hard!!!

We are on a gorgeous lake with loons and a kennel full of Husky sled dogs. Our campsite is on a grassy bank a few feet above the lake. There are trails everywhere for mountain biking and it begs a week at least. But…..even better things will happen today…Mom and Dad are flying into Vancouver! Yay. We will return here I am sure…It’s called Fir Crest Resort. Just North of Lac la Hache on Highway 97. It’s about 4 to 5 hours from Vancouver.

We are all a bit sick….it never fails that the kids get colds right before a visit with their grandparents. I think it was that bus on Denali. We’ve been very healthy til then. Or maybe it was 3 days on the ferry. Anyway….time for sourdough pancakes. Did I mention that sourdough starter we keep in a ceramic urn in our sink? A woman in Whitehorse gave it to us and we’ve been feeding it and making outrageous sourdough pancakes every morning or so. Hmmm…could be our eating habits!

Anny

Traveling down to Haines

2007-09-15T20:58:00.000-05:00

September 12, 2007

We are traveling down a very bumpy road in the Yukon…crossing through enormous expanses of valley, across braided rivers. Right now there is evidence of a forest fire and black sticks of aspen and birch are poking up from the yellow underbrush. We are traveling through boreal forest, so the trees are mostly spruce mixed with bright yellow aspen and birch. We are on our way to Haines and will get on the ferry tomorrow and leave Alaska for the Southlands. To get to Haines, you have to travel through a corner of the Yukon …a part that is very sparsely populated!!!! Most of the camping facilities are closed for the season already…..we didn’t stop till 11:30 last night since all the places in the Milepost we were aiming for were boarded up. We lucked upon a Yukon Provincial campground and creaked into the first site at 11:30. The stars were brilliant—the new moon long set and the nearest human dwellings hundreds of miles away. Wow! The Milky Way looked like a horde of distant clouds….I don’t ever remember seeing it so, even in Chinle. There was a greenish glow on the northern horizon which was a murmur of the Aurora….not in full bloom, but very exciting.

Oooeee it was cold, though! The car thermometer said 40 degrees, but those sheets felt much frostier. We did a skeleton set-up, leaving the trailer attached to the car, the table down, milk crates full of stuff still in place. The kids climbed in their sleeping bags and I put a fleece over them. Chris and I climbed in our bed and we had a comforter and a sleeping bag, and a fleece….oooooeeee so snuggy. Chris ‘s CPap worked off the batteries (he wasn’t able to use the batteries in Denali but figured out a way in the wee hours last night). Chris has to take the fuses out when we are off the grid so the propane detector doesn’t drain all the battery juice. When he plugged them back in this morning, the furnace went on….we thought we could only use the furnace plugged into electricity. Yippie!!!! This is actually great news for us as we sail into fall weather camping….it frees us from the confines of the grid….we can actually be snuggy AND n the middle of nowhere!!! (There are countless places to set up, and provincial/state campgrounds are scenic and deserted this time of year).

Now we are listening to Bob Marley and jammin our way down this beautiful road. Cassidy and Teslin are busy with a box of K-nex in the back and periodically a small car comes launching into the front seat. It is great to be out of the audio book world since it consumes them so. We are happily tinkering our way through the wilderness.

Chris and I are thinking Helena Montana and getting a house right next to cousin Hailey. Teslin can baby sit Parker and well….Today it is Montana. The only hitch is neither of us has been to Helena yet (Hailey and Greg have decided to move there and we like their taste). We would like to get less expensive car insurance and hope to get an address somewhere soon. This morning a woman asked if we were on our way to or from Massachusetts….we don’t really know how to answer these questions. Where ARE we from? The idea of full time travel is fitting us quite well right now. Chris answers where are you from with, “most recently Massachusetts”. The kids always say Massachusetts. But Alaska has had a profound effect on Chris and me….it is so exquisite, and yet so few people. I have had all faith in beauty and wilderness restored, and even traveling in such close quarters, feel plenty of personal space. Tranquility, really. Could we live up here?

On this particular day, 1pm, we pass an oncoming vehicle every 5 min or so. We are driving alongside a very long lake. The far side of it has scrubby hills that look bare from here, but have aspen and spruce near the bottoms of the slope. The spruce is a deep dark green color—they are slender tall spindly trees.

Three little birds is playing and Teslin is singing along in the back. She has made some massive cross-country mobile that has a rotating gigantic snowflake on top of it. Cassidy is working on a space shuttle. Yesterday they did Mathmate and their spelling books en route. We’re trying to get in the groove of school on the fly…..we have Mavis Beacon to teach typing, 7 different curriculum from Alaska Fish and Wildlife (seabirds, wetlands, ecology, tundra, wildlife, and others I forget), a Spanish program, and their 5th and 6th grade math/spelling books from Hilltown. The trick is to use them. Teslin’s next project is on sled dogs, and Cassidy is working on Willow Ptarmigan. Cassidy is not so sure about having to do spelling and cursive…..the 6th grade spelling appears to be harder than 5th…did anyone else notice that? Chris wants to study Pacific Salmon, and I like want to write about bore tides and druken forests. So much to do. Much love, Anny

Sea Otter Report by Teslin

2007-09-15T20:54:00.000-05:00

Sea Otter report.
By Teslin M Ruge.
9/10/07

Sea Otter: Enhydra lutris

Habitat: Kelp beds

Diet: Sea Urchins, Crabs, Abalones and other shellfish, Fish, Small Octopuses, and a variety of other things.

Size: Up to five feet long, including a foot long tail. Weighs up to 100 Lbs.

Distribution: costal waters of California, Western Alaska, the Commander and Kurile Island, north of Japan.

Sea otters are very interesting marine mammals. The mustelidea family, including badgers, minks, weasels, martins, skunks, and sea otters are all warm blooded. They are mammals, just like you and me. Sea otter babies are born alive after 8 to 9 months of pregnancy. The mother feeds the baby her own milk every 3 hours. Sea otters only have one baby at a time because the pup needs so much attention. Very few mothers are as devoted and loving to their pups as sea otters. The pups are practically helpless at birth, so they need a good mother to take care of them. The pups can barely swim at birth. They can’t feed themselves either. For the first month of its life, the sea otter pup rests on its mother’s belly while she feeds, grooms, and cuddles it. Until the pup is about 6 months old, the mother never leaves the pup except to get food.
Sea otters are social animals. They feed themselves but they often gather in groups called rafts to rest in their favorite kelp bed to prevent drifting. Sea otters are the only otters that do this. Mothers and pups and other females usually float in separate rafts than the males. Most rafts are about 50 to 100 sea otters. The largest raft of sea otters ever seen was in Alaska. It had more than 2000 members!
Sea otters spend as much time feeding in the night as they do in the day. Sea otters sleep with their forepaws tucked under their chin, over their eyes. They usually take catnaps. If they are not sleeping, they are usually playing or diving for food.
When escaping from danger, the sea otter mother tucks the baby under her forelegs and dives under the water. If the pup is too large to tuck under her foreleg, the mother gently gets the pup’s loose skin in her mouth and pulls it under with her. This does not hurt the pup at all since it has so much fur. Pups are not strong enough to dive under water until they are 2 to 3 months old.
Sea otters have 3 enemies: bald eagles, sharks, and killer whales (orcas). To feed their young, bald eagles try to get young sea otter pups because they are easy prey when their mother is diving for food.
The sea otter fur is very thick. If you compared sea otter fur with dog fur, you would find a big difference. German Shepherds have about 40,000 hairs per square inch, but sea otters have about 1,000,000 hairs per square inch. That’s a lot of hair to groom, but they can trap air bubbles between their two layers of fur. Their two layers of hair help keep them warm. The first layer is the thick undercoat, the second layer is the long guard hairs. Sea otters have the thickest fur of all the ocean mammals.
Sea Otters have a small round head. They can close their nostrils and ears underwater so that the water does not get in to them. Sea Otters can see underwater as well as they can above the water.
Sea otters communicate in several different ways…. A baby might cry when left alone. The cry sounds like a shrill “wee”. Sea Otters will whistle or whine when they are upset or frustrated. The otters will hold up their front paws and hiss to say “back off”. If the thing comes closer they will dive under water to safety. The mothers will “coo” to the babies as she grooms her own baby. Babies will also cling to the closest otter if it is afraid. If you ever see an otter moving its head side to side, that means” hello”. When they are happy they will grunt, most often when enjoying a good snack.
Sea otters eat a lot each day. They have to eat 25% of their body weight each day to keep warm. They have to do this because they live in very cold water and they have to get a lot of fat on them to stay warm. Sea otters eat a variety of foods. Some of these foods include clams, snails, abalone, crabs, starfish, mussels, scallops, squid, chitins, small octopus, sea urchins, prawns, sea cucumbers, lipids, marine worms, several types of small fish, and a variety of other things. They use rocks from the bottom to crack open hard shells and eat the meat inside. They also use their stomachs as a table. They use loose flaps of their skin as bags to carry up food from the bottom. To eat starfish, sea otters bite off the end of their legs and suck out the soft parts.
Sea otters were once thought extinct, but they have had a healthy recovery since then. They now live in the Kurile Islands, Kamchataka Bay, the Commander Islands, the Elutian Islands, British Columbia, Vancouver Island, and Pt. Sur, California.

I chose to study sea otters, Enhydra lutris, because when I first saw one, I fell in love with them. They are so cute. I got some of this information about them from the Internet, and also a Zoobook about Sea otters. I had a lot of fun doing this report and hope people have fun reading it.

Teslin Marie Ruge
Age 10

Denali Diary

2007-09-08T12:49:00.000-05:00

September 5, 2007

Denali Diary entry, Cassidy

I woke up at 7 O’clock and got ready to go on a shuttle bus. When we were all ready to go, we all got in the car and went to the Wilderness Access Center (WAC). We, Teslin, and me got Junior Ranger programs for us to do and then we got on the bus at 8:30. The bus driver was very nice. The destination was Fish Creek, about 45 miles into the Park. We drove for about 2 hours and then someone spotted a Dall Sheep. We looked at it for a little bit and then continued. (On the whole ride we saw about 35 sheep!) We drove for a little bit and then we saw some more Dall sheep. They were just little dots on hills! From then on whenever we saw Dall Sheep we only took a glance at them before moving on. After a while we stopped at a ranger station and everyone said: “ Good morning Ranger Ellen!” That was kind of funny. “Ranger Ellen” talked to all of us for a bit about animals and other stuff and then we went on our way. In a little bit, we came across a big tent with different stuff in side of it. I stayed in the bus, and Teslin and Mom went inside so Teslin could get a Junior Ranger badge. Then we continued for Fish Creek. In about 15 miles, we were pretty near Fish Creek. We saw 6 Willow Ptarmigan in some shrubs on the way!

On the way back it was spectacular for animals and for scenery. We saw 4 Moose, 4 Caribou, 3 Grizzly bears (a sow and 2 cubs), 1 red fox, 3 Golden Eagle (!!!!!), 1 Northern Harrier, and a ton of Dall Sheep. Golden Eagle and Willow Ptarmigan were both life birds for me.

When we got back to the WAC, we got in our car and drove back to our camper. Then Teslin and I rode our bikes for a while and then ate dindin. After dinner we (me, Mom, and Teslin) went to a sled dog presentation at the campground amphitheater. It was very cool!!! After that, we met some people from Australia who had rented a camper and were traveling through Alaska, from Denali up to Fairbanks and down to Valdez and then flying to a wedding in New Jersey. Then we came back home and I wrote in my journal for a little while then ate some yummy cereal. After that, I brushed my teeth and hit the sack! It was so cold that I had to stick my down sleeping bag under the covers to keep warm (it was pretty cozy!). It got down to 30 degrees during the night.

The Kenai Penisula

2007-09-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

September 2nd, 2007

Hello!!!! Thanks to Whitney Mortimer's sleuthing and Chris's long effort today, we have pictures on the blog. Wow! We are in Seward, about 3 hours south of Anchorage on on the Kenai peninsula. Since the last post, we have wandered down from Chitina to Anchorage, Cooper Landing, Homer, and Seward. We finally got the car fixed (full access to the back--pretty sweet), and have gone on some fantastic adventures with cousin Whitney and Lee and Joyce (Aunt & Uncle extraordinaire). It is getting darker 8 minutes earlier each day, and now it is almost completely dark by 10:00. We're celebrating with a big bonfire and s'mores. It's also pretty frosty, although we have had glorious weather for the Kenai--a full week of warm sunny days. It is getting down to the 40's at night and into the 60's in the day. We are plenty snuggy in our flannel sheets, warm blankets, down bags and polar fleece. We're ready to hit some good solid cold weather and then we'll bail to Mexico!

Too many highlights for my energy right now....thinking of you all this big transition time.....sad to not be joining the ranks at Hilltown, but very happy to be settling into our adventure. Cassidy and Teslin are starting weekly reports on some fun thing---Teslin is starting with Sea Otters and Cassidy with Alcids...we'll have them up for you on the blog with any luck. (you'll just have to wait and see what an Alcid is). We have come across some great Wetlands, Sealife, and Sea bird curriculum through the Alaska Fish and Wildlife. We are hoping to do most of this years schooling around the places, people, and critters in the areas we are traveling. Glaciers, bears, sea lions, otters, and really cool birds are top of our list right now. Well....Cassidy is ready for another bird update, so I will make room for him. Tata for now, Anny

ALASKA AT LAST!!!!

2007-08-21T15:51:00.000-05:00

Wowweeeee! We are at Unky Lee's and Aunt Joyce's in Chitina, Alaska overlooking the Copper River. They have a trailer up on a bluff with an open view of the Wrangell St. Elias Mountains and National Park. 5 gorgeous snowy peaks are visible in clear weather, one of which is an active volcano just 30 miles away. Lee and Joyce keep their car parked facing out in case of tremors. Their place is right near the confluence of the Tonsina and Copper rivers. The riverbed is almost a 1/4 mile wide and lies about 400 feet down the cliff. Yesterday we saw a bull bison wandering about looking very old and out of place. Later a momma grizzly and 2 cubs ambled by, catching salmon and frisking about. There are a number of adult and immature bald eagles and you can sometimes see them swooping by (a breathtaking experience from the outhouse). Today has given rise to a rainy cold wind and Joyce says this is fall weather arriving (it is 52 degrees out, down to the 40's at night). Lee is plying us with salmon cake benedicts, Chris with Italian roast coffee, and Cassidy and Teslin have amused themselves with a Harry Potter game on the computer.

We have discovered fish wheels and King Salmon migrations and have eaten salmon daily since we got here. [We have awesome pictures and have realized our problem sharing them is that Macs and blogspot are not good friends. When we can get access to a PC we may be able to conquer our photo problems....we went to a Mac wizard in Whitehorse who coudln't help us].

Locals can catch up to 500 lbs of salmon per family per year. Traditionally this was used to feed the sled dogs, but Woof Woof, that's changed. According to Lee, the natives still dry (versus smoke) the salmon and use it throughout the winter for their dogs. Lee and Joyce have access to a fish wheel down on the Copper River (at the confluence with the Chitina river). There were 20 or so fish wheels in a row, all churning with the force of the current and scooping up salmon as they run up stream. At peak migration, each fish wheel can catch over a 100 per day. Owners will share their wheel with others, and cannot sell excees fish. When we checked the wheel, there were 5 salmon in 24 hours (all about 12 pounds). Joyce says there have been fewer and fewer salmon caught each year, perhaps because so many more people are catching them.

Much love to all--any Mac/blogspot experts, let us know! Love, Anny

Whitehorse,Yukon

2007-08-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

August 15, 2007

Wow! What a great town! We took a mountain bike ride to die for today…..followed the ALCAN about ½ a mile then winded down to the Yukon at Miles Canyon. It is a place where the river narrows and steep cliffs form a canyon with rushing water. We crossed a pedestrian suspension bridge and got on a single track trail back toward Whitehorse that followed the Yukon back to the town. It must have been a 4 hour trip (counting our ice cream break) and ended with a 2 mile climb back up to the ALCAN and our campsite. The kids were awesome. We all plowed off the trail at one time or another and Chris threatened to jump off the cliffs to the rushing river, but we all made it with various degrees of style.

Cassidy and Teslin are out doing the dishes….their own special way. I think it will be a rough transistion back into an enclosed kitchen after this. Water conservation might be a toughy as well. But they are perfecting the art of camper dishes.

Chris is poured over the milepost trying to figure out whether to go north over Top of the World Highway thru Dawson City, or stay in Whitehorse longer and go straight over to Uncle Lee's via Tok.

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory. It’s a great college town….a brewery, coffee shops, bookstores, theatre, story telling, and beautiful recreation. I must say, it is not getting dark til 11pm in mid-August, so I hate to think what it’s like here in 5 months. I have decided it is just the right size (population 23,000---the entire population of the Yukon is 31,000) great food, and easy to get around.

So we’re out spending our Loonies and Toonies and feeling like we really are quite far away. (Loonies are one dollar coins and Toonies are 2 dollar coins). Uuup---the kids found me, gotta go! Much love, Anny

Liard River Hot Springs, B.C.

2007-08-13T14:39:00.000-05:00

August 11, 2007

We’ve now been on the Alaskan Highway for 2 days and are across the road from a beautiful Hot Spring that Deanna first mentioned to us. She wrote in our trip book that there was a great Hot spring somewhere along the Alaskan Highway in Canada that you got to via a beautiful walk on a boardwalk thru moose country. We found it! It’s incredible…there are actually 2 pools, but the second one is closed now due to a “problem bear” (I guess he doesn’t want to share his raspberry bushes). To get to the springs, you follow a wooden board walk through a bog…because of the warm water, there are all sorts of exotic plants and little chubs that don’t live anywhere else up here. We haven’t seen any moose yet, but are going to brave the mosquitos later this evening and try again. Supposedly there are even some orchid species between the 2 pools but we couldn’t go that far. The pool we were at was huge---bordered with stones and a gravel bottom. There were sunken benches to rest on, and the temp ranged from too hot (probably 120 at least)at the source, to a lower pool that was fairly cool (and attracted all the kids). The far end of the lower pool got more and more narrow and turned into a channel about 4 feet wide with steep banks and crystal clear water that wound through the woods a ways. We felt like muskrats. Anyway…loads of fun. Teslin and Cassidy found some massive logs that had floated loose from their seating jobs and surfed around the pool on them. Chris and I meandered up to the source of the heatt on the far end….the hot and cold were not mixing too well, so a searing layer of hot water lay on the surface. You had to mix it up with your arms as you went or it was too hot. There were some nice folks there—one told us it was a tradition to place a stone on the cairns by the source –a scalding experience, but we all did it. He also mentioned that one year a moose had drowned in the upper pool. He said that was a bad year to go in.

Yesterdays drive, from Dawson Creek (mile 0 of the ALCAN), to here (477 miles) was UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! We passed through valley after mountain range after river valley---very little sign of any humans except the occasional tell tale swatch of a formerly clear cut lumbering job. There were incredible vistas with mist hanging over distant hills 100 plus miles away. It was a 2 lane road, in pretty good shape, with lots of hills and turns. We came down one sweeping mountainside with no guard rails and warnings for rock sheep. Sure enough, there was this little guy waiting in a pull out (yeah yeah….we’ll figure out the pictures one of these days). There are countless places to pull out by a river or a grove of trees and camp…also plenty of developed campsites. So far we’ve gone for the electricity most nights for the CPAP and heat. In Banff National Park we camped for 2 nights in Mosquito Creek Campground with just solar and did just fine.

We are still getting the hang of this trip…..looking forward to being able to slow down (after Alaska) and be more spontaneous as to where and when we go. But we’ve done pretty well. We’ve only been in motels 2 nights and those were the first 2 (in NY and Illinois). We’ve gotten the set up and break down of the pop-up to a science—Teslin likes to crank the braces up and down and snap the beds. Cassidy is determined to be able to put the bikes on top of the pop-up by himself (something only Chris can do because of his height). Mostly we realize we have TOO MUCH STUFF! We are ready to heave boxes out as we go. Problem is, we disagree as to what needs to get heaved. We left a lot in Fort Dodge, but alas , we need to lighten this wagon train again.

Cassidy and Teslin are over at the playground by the hot springs, Chris just woke up from a nap and is contemplating organization---a dangerous thought. For all of you at CHG, you will be happy to know that Chris is so far away since his nose hairs have reached never before achieved lengths. Especially scary when he swims. Generally, though, he is making good progress toward reestablishing himself among the feeling and the rested. He is resisting newspapers and has very little access to the internet. I caught him the other day idly playing with my PDA and had to take it from him. He looked like he just needed to use the stylist a bit. He’s adjusting. He is learning how to share ideas and be more democratic with the control of situations, although he is still quite challenged at set-up and break-down times with the pop-up. Overall, I think he is doing quite well. I have received a couple of spontaneous shows of affection, and his eye contact is improving. Teslin thinks he still is a little bossy. Hmmmm…. I won’t touch that one.

Tomorro……TESLIN!!!!! We are only 300 miles from Teslin and will be there for a few days. Since we missed the one restaurant that was the “cinnamon bun center of the galactic cluster”, we look forward to trying the “world famous cinnamon buns” in Teslin. This milepost book is great and tells you every the natural and human history of every interesting site, pullout, dumpster, and restaurant along the way. We are also aware of a blooming berry season and need to start a survey of various pies. Anyway….Much love to you all! Anny

Cassidy's bird report

2007-08-13T14:37:00.000-05:00

Cassidy’s Bird Report 8/13/07

The Ruges are having a great time on their trip. We’ve seen a lot of animals and birds on our trip and I’m being kept busy identifying birds and looking up birds in the bird book. We’ve seen 109 species of birds and I’ve seen 15 Life Birds so far. We’re going to Alaska in about 2 weeks and we’re going to go salmon fishing and go birding. This morning dad and I went to McQueen’s Slough and we saw a ton of ducks and American Coots. I saw 2 Life Birds, which were: Black Tern and Red-necked Phalarope. We’ve been taking a lot of pictures and we’ll put some up in a little bit. Until next time I put up a report, bye!

Cassidy

Pictures

2007-08-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

We are experiencing technical difficulties (yes....Chris has admitted defeat) at publishing pictures on our blog. Does anyone have any ideas? We can download the pics onto this computer (a mac ) but Chris can't get them onto the blog. No...he hasn't asked for help or read the instructions (since there aren't any). We may have to resort to shutterfly or something. Or.....god fordbid, tech help. So here I am, a humble person of the gender that allows asking for help....anyone know what the problem may be??? Anny

Roving Route

2007-08-10T09:17:00.000-05:00

OUR ROUTE:

I’ve decided to start writing our route down in case there are some map lovers out there who would like to see how we are roving about. I’ll catch you up from home to Canada, then try to keep up with it as we go. So here goes:

We took I-91 South from Northampton to I-90 WEST. We followed I-90 through MA, NY (Night #1 in Weedsport, NY). Then through the corner of PA, down lake Eerie to Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. In Chicago we got on I-80 West (Night #2 in Morris, IL) and took it into Iowa (night #3 in Hawkeye Central, known to most as Iowa City). At Iowa City we turned North on I-380 to Highway 20 West into Fort Dodge. A week later we were off and took Highway 169 North out of Fort Dodge to Rt. 3 W to Rt 71 North into Milford, IA where we got on 86 north to Spirit Lake, Iowa.

After 3 nights in Spirit Lake we took Rt 86 North to I-90 West. I-90 took us thru Southern Minnesota into S. Dakota and into the Badlands. We turned S. at Cactus Flats to the Badlands national Park and stayed 3 nights at a fabulous KOA bordering the park in Interior S.D.

Then we got back on I-90 with a trip through Sturgis to gawk at the bike scene (it was August 1st, and the bike rally started the 5th---lots of action). I-90 took us thru Wyoming, and into Billings Montana for a night. Then we took 3 North to 12 West to 89 North into Great Falls (2 nights). From there we went North on I-15 into Alberta, Canada. We had to avoid Glacier because of so many fires, so went straight up into the Canadian Rockies. Over the border, we continued North on Rt 4, West on Rt 3 in Lethbridge, cross the mountains into Fernie, Elko, then north on 93/95 to Fairmont Hot Springs (2 nights).

From Fairmont Hot Springs, we went North on 93 to Radium Hot Springs were we entered the Kootenay National Park. We then drove into Banff National Park and continued on into Jasper National Park where perched at Mosquito Creek Campground for 2 nights. Then up to Jasper, Hwy 16 West to Hinton (1 night) and then Route 40 North "the scenic route to Alaska" to Dawson Creek (1 night). The ALCAN starts in Dawson Creek---it is mile 0 on the Milepost book which guides you all the way up, so OH BOY!!!!! Today we travel NW on Route 97 (the ALCAN is a number of different routes) to Liard River Hotsprings Provincial Park where we will be for 2 nights.
Happy tracking! Anny

Beating the Heat

2007-08-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

August 2, 2007

Great Falls, Montana

Cassidy and Chris are making a fire---it’s the first night we’ve been able to have a fire due to drought and burning restrictions in the West. We are in Great Falls, Montana at yet another KOA and yeeha---it’s S’mores time!!!!! We had a cool night in Billings last night-swimming in the pool, kids riding their bikes around the area. They had 3 (three!) whole food stores and we just had a yummy stir fry for dinner. We got a late start….1pm, and took RTE 3 up from Billings to Great Falls. There are 3 large forest fires West of here and the southern end of Glacier is on fire. It is hazy here with a bright orange sunset from all the smoke. We happened to hit the Montana State Fair and may venture out tomorrow---catch a little horse action. Biked several miles along the old Lewis and Clark Trail today in the heat, visited a great Lewis and Clark Interpretive site and almost lost Teslin to heat stroke. Plan to spend another night before starting the trek through Canada. Days have been consistently in the 90’s throughout the trip with a couple of 100+ so looking forward to cooler days and nights. We noticed it is down to the 40’s in Calgary at night-ahhhhhhhhh! Harry Potter Audiobooks fill our days while traveling- (we’re on Book 4 already), Cassidy has his eyes open for birds, Teslin for advertisements for Waterparks, and mom and dad for exciting stops along the way. More to come!!!

The Ruges

Leaving the east

2007-07-31T09:13:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Boy it feels wierd to be on the road fulll time!!! Thank god were listining to Harry Potter on tape. We started with the 1st book and now we are on the 4th. Yesterday we saw 2 wild bison, at least a thousand Prairy Dogs, About 100 Pronghorns, and abunch of birds including 4 babies. We are planing to leave tomorrow from the campground we are staying at. We are staying at the KOA campground in South Dakota.
We are also having some problems with our dog little bear because the people who are taking care of him cant have him any more.We might have to adopt bear out of the family, but i hope we can find some one else to take care of him until we pick him up in about a year.
Teslin

Back to the Sage!

2007-07-30T07:47:00.000-05:00

July 30, 2007
Badlands National Park, S.Dakota

The miles of corn and soybean fields of Iowa and SW Minnesota have given way to the vast expanses of tan colored rolling hills of the prarie. As we came in to the Badlands area, Pronghorn antelope, mule deer, enormus jackrabbits and western birds started popping up. We entered the park near sunset on the full moon, the setting sun illuminating the spires and craggy outcroppings so magnificently even the kids tore themselves fully away from Harry Potter. Cassidy kept calling out birds--western kindbird, mountain bluebird, prarie chicken (he is still unsure which one), and very common nighthawks. It is 8am and he has been out birding with Chris since 6:30.

Chris just returned with some fresh sage......it feels like a full circle has come since we met in Chinle and took long walks on the mesa through the sage. Although the landscape is quite different, the expansiveness is the same. Restful, open, quiet. Romantic!

We spent the last 3 nights at Gull Point State Park on Lake Okaboji in northern Iowa. Chris's sister Sherri was there and her sweetie John. John took us all out on the Lake in his boat and towed a humongous intertube for the kids. Teslin kept asking him to speed up by rolling her hands. John who is used to towing water skiers gave them quite a work out with circles and speed. Teslin then added more desperate stopping motions. It was all great fun and they kept asking for more.

The campground was like a city in the woods---wow! It amazes me how close people are willing to stay to go camping. It happened to be over a weekend so it was particularly crowded, but it makes the space out here seem even more precious. The night we drove from Fort dodge to Okaboji, we passed through another of those midwestern storms.....We were driving straight into a vast purplish-black cloud that was forming these ghastly V-shapes in it. Cassidy was asking what we do if we see a tornado, and Teslin was reassuring us all that the safest place was in a car. hmmmm. Lightning, winds, pelting rain, we were waiting to be swept away to Oz in big funnel cloud. Chris actually had sore arms from keeping the trailer on the road through that one. Luckily it was going south and we were going North. Luckily I wasn't driving! By the time we reached Okaboji, it had cleared and 99% humidity and deep puddles were the only traces left.

The storm had an amazing effect on the reptiles in the campground: MUDDPUPPY MANIA!!! The bathroom was at the top of a hill and the grounds outside it were literally filled with Muddpuppies and frogs. Mudpuppies are big, thick black salamanders. They are very cute and not too quick. Then there were all sizes and shapes of frogs. They must have been flooded out by the storm and were climbing to high ground. Cassidy and Teslin had alot of fun watching them and rescuing them from the bathroom doors.

Other children were not so kind and caused Cassidy and Teslin great distress in their antics. There were 3 bothers in particular that we named the 3 billy goats rough. They were all under 8 and the youngest was maybe 4 or 5. These were the same 3 that hurled themselves down the hill we were camped on riding rickety scooters starting at 7am. They went so quickly that their scooters shook from side to side....should I mention the lack of shoes or helmuts? Horrible Horrible. Horrible. Chris and I were thinking about the Epocrates oath of healthcare providers and if that applied just to doctors or nurses too. ...then there was the fact that we weren't licensed in the state.... Later in the day, the middle billy goat threw the youngest billy goat to the ground because he wouldn't give up his Mudpuppy. This caused such a fight that the mother was hailed by the eldest billy goat. Before she got there, i intervened and tried to keep the blood to a minimum. When mother goat arrived, I told her they had been fighting pretty bad. She looked at me plainly with the expression that matches a teen saying "Duh!" and said "that's what brother's do". Chris thinks we could make a little money on the side with campground parenting classes. No doubt.

Cassidy had the odd experience of being stalked by young sports fans. He has been living in his Iowa Hawkeye t-shirt and is sporting a new Hawkeye hat. Plus we have a big garrish black Hawkeye door mat in front of the Pop-up. Cassidy first noticed something was up as he rode his bike thru the campground and certain boys would scowl at him and follow him around on their bikes. Then we went to Arnolds park, a permanent amusement park near Spencer, and it was at the bumper cars that Cassidy got his first real taste of The Big Ten drama. 2 oversized Crabbe abd Goyle types took after Cassidy in the bumper car ride. They kept cornering him and smashing his car. Cassidy kind of shrug it off, but I must say, it was a bit creepy. Things just aren't like this in the Happy Valley! And people say the Yankees and the Red Sox are bad!

Well....we are staying in a beautiful KOA out in the middle of nowhere near the s. entrance to the park. It has electricity, wireless internet and Navajo Tacos for dinner. We're in heaven. If Chris and Cassidy return from birding and Teslin ever wakes us, we will venture forth into the sites of the area. It is great to be back in Indian Country again, and we look forward to sorting out all the history with the kids. We hope they will leave here with more of an impression of Crazy Horse than Mt.Rushmore.

Fast food follies

2007-07-30T07:43:00.000-05:00

7/24/07

JOLLY OH!!!! I must write about Hardees. I know, I know. But I must. There we were…..hungry, weak, and just plain dull-headed from the mid-day Fort Dodge heat when we passed a Hardees’s. My brother Mike shot into my head and words of Hardee praise filtered in. I shrieked, Chris turned, we went in. A/C….a huge cauldron of fresh brewed iced tea, and no line. Oh my….the woman behind the counter…..in fact Everyone behind the counter, was Very Friendly! It’s alright hon, she kept saying as we all stared blankly at the menu. We ordered, she took visa willingly, happily even, she gave us a number and we sat down. It actually took a few minutes—they were back there actually cooking our order. Can you believe it? Really! Our food came…..they got a couple things wrong and were Very Apologetic, said we could keep the mistakes, and went and made us just the right thing. Then here’s the kicker………Hon herself came over and Asked Us How Everything Was. Can you believe it???? How is everything? At a fast food joint? And you know what? It was good! We had to pinch ourselves a bit. We’re not sure where we are, but we sure have left the Northeast! Anyway……HARDEES. MAY THEY ALL BE SO GRAND!!!!

WOW!!!! We're in Fort Dodge, Iowa, surrounded by Hawkeyes and Ruges

2007-07-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

We've now been on the road for 6 days.....had a wild trucker-led voyage across NY, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and into Iowa in 2 days. Harry Potter audio books 1 and 2 kept us from wrestling Chris off the I-80 sooner, and we made great time. We had a flat tire on the pop-up West of Chicago but otherwise our only trauma was at the gas pump. We saw Chris's friends John and Jerry Kinnamon in Iowa City over dinner. The tornando siren went off during supper, but the worst of it passed (we thought). We went back to sleep in the pop-up in a great campsite North of Iowa City(Sugar Bottom Recreation area) and had an unreal night of nearly constant thunder, lightning and torrential rain. We survived dry, a bit sleep deprived, and fully aware that these were not Northeastern storms anymore! That was Thursday and we headed up to the grandparents in Ft. Dodge via lunch with Gretchen Ashcroft in Cedar Rapids.

We will be here in Fort Dodge until Wed the 25th while we try to organize all of our belongings that were shoved into the pop-up at the last moment. We also have to get the Sequioa's wrinkles removed from the tailgate (Anny had a little stress induced mania in the garage in Belchertown before we left and pulled out of the garage with the tailgate up--common I hear....). We've ordered 2 beefy radials for the pop-up in hopes that we can survive the AL-CAN better than I-80. We are also visiting with Chris's extensive family and looking forward to beefing up on some of Grandma Ruge's famous cinnamon buns.

Our move is seeming a little more real as the road rash washes away.....we are looking forward to the great North and camping at a relaxed pace. We miss you all!
The Roving Ruges 4

2007-07-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

Boy- who would have known how hard it is to get a house emptied out. We sure have a lot of stuff. Anyway, we gave up and came to the Cape for a week with the 'rents before returning home to finish the house stuff. The kids are getting their last visits in with the Grandparents for awhile and we are trying to make some sense of our pile of stuff. We'll be coming back through to finish the work in Belchetown next Wednesday-wish us luck!